{"id":429416,"date":"2018-03-09T13:51:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T19:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/?p=429416"},"modified":"2018-03-09T14:57:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T20:57:00","slug":"south-alabama-searching-for-new-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/south-alabama-searching-for-new-head-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"South Alabama searching for new Head Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-429423 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/USAGraves.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Scott McInnerney<br \/>\nWNSP Reporter<\/p>\n<p>MOBILE, AL \u2013 Matthew Graves will not be returning next season as the head coach of the South Alabama Jaguars\u2019 men\u2019s basketball team.<\/p>\n<p>The news came Thursday afternoon after the team fell to Troy in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Wednesday. Athletic Director Joel Erdmann joined Randy and Creg on Sports Drive Thursday to discuss the news.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were in the fifth year of our contract, and we just didn\u2019t get where we needed to be,\u201d Erdmann said. \u201cMatthew is a tremendous young man and a tremendous basketball person. He\u2019s ethical and has a deep values system. A lot of things were accomplished off the court, and we just fell a little short on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his time at the helm of South Alabama\u2019s basketball program, Graves posted a 65-96 overall record. The Jaguars finished 14-18 for the second straight year.<\/p>\n<p>Since Graves took over, the Jags have only won two games in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and never finished a season with a winning record.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the day, I think Matthew has put us in a place where the cupboard is pretty full,\u201d Erdmann said. \u201cThere\u2019s some great, young talent in that locker room, and we needed to arrive there quicker in terms of years. I know it is not a case of a program being broken. It just needs a push.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Erdmann, the University of South Alabama is conducting a nationwide search for a new head coach starting immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am open-minded,\u201d said Erdmann. \u201cI would always prefer a head coach with a background and recruiting connections. We have had success with assistant coaches who are seasoned enough and ready to move one chair over. Whether it\u2019s an existing head coach or an assistant coach, we\u2019re going to do our best to find the best fit for where we are right now and where we want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For more, you can listen to the full interview below and tune into Sports Drive weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.<\/p>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-429416-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/ErdmanJoel3-8-18.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/ErdmanJoel3-8-18.mp3\">http:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/ErdmanJoel3-8-18.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>By Scott McInnerney WNSP Reporter MOBILE, AL \u2013 Matthew Graves will not be returning next season as the head coach of the South Alabama Jaguars\u2019 <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/south-alabama-searching-for-new-head-coach\/\" title=\"South Alabama searching for new Head Coach\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4489,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,117,151,176],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-429416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-featured-news","7":"category-news","8":"category-south-alabama","9":"category-top"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429416"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":429428,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429416\/revisions\/429428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}