Bye Bye, Coach Whitford, Maybe

According to a report from Jeff Goodman at ESPN, Ball State men’s basketball coach James Whitford is leaving Ball State for the greener pastures of Duquesne University in the Atlantic-10 Conference.

Per this tweet from FanRag Sports, quoting CBS’ Jon Rothstein, the deal isn’t quite done.

After winning 12 games total during his first two seasons, he has won 21 in each of his last two. While losing a great player in Franko House, he has three super sophomores in Trey Moses, Taylor Persons, and Tahjai Teague. If it were me, I would see what the next two years with these great players would bring.

While it’s not surprising that Whitford would be receiving offers, and might even take one, it’s quite surprising that it would be Duquesne.

The Dukes have had one coach out of seven finish his term with a record over .500 since 1982. That’s a lot of suck.

If he does, in fact, leave, we will wish him the best. We’ll be pulling for him to win that 14th game next season that has alluded so many in Pittsburgh. If he stays, those of us that are not Ball State fans will most likely resent the continued success.

UPDATE at 8:54 p.m. EDT: Shortly after publication, ESPN came out and said due to an editorial error, their original story was released prematurely. There has been no ink on the dotted line as of yet.

We’ll keep you updated.