John Cooper will not return to the Miami RedHawks as head coach of the men’s basketball team next season, as Miami officials have declined to renew his contract.
Cooper went 59-100 in five full seasons in Oxford, including a paltry 29-59 conference record. Cooper never won more than 13 games in a season in his tenure as coach, winning 13 games in his first three seasons before falling to 11-21 this year.
Miami University athletics director David Sayler announced the firing was effective immediately.
“With the support of Miami’s board of trustees and the president, we are making a commitment to Miami basketball,” Sayler said in a press release. “For years, Miami basketball was the pre-eminent leader of the Mid-American Conference and we plan to take all necessary steps to make that happen once more.”
Cooper did not coach the RedHawks in their loss to Western Michigan in the first round of the MAC Tournament earlier this week due to sickness. The RedHawks were a 12-seed after posting a 4-14 conference record.
Cooper was not the only coach to receive the ax Friday afternoon; women’s basketball coach Cleve Wright was relieved of duties as well.
Wright had a record of 35-87 during his four seasons coaching the RedHawk women. Miami went 5-13 in the conference this season and had an overall mark of 11-21, earning a 10-seed in the MAC Tournament, where they lost to Western Michigan in the first round.
Wright never won more than 11 games in four years, posting records of 8-23, 7-23 and 9-21 prior to this season’s mark.
Sayler said a national search for replacement coaches would begin “immediately.”