By snoadmin
President F. King Alexander and Athletic Director Vic Cegles might disagree, but Long Beach State men’s basketball coach Larry Reynolds deserves a contract extension if the 49ers win the Big West Tournament.
Although, even a conference title might not be enough for Reynolds to return next season, something Reynolds fully understands.
“If you win the [Big West Tournament] and go to the NCAA Tournament, some people will say great he has done what he was supposed to do,” Reynolds said, while sitting in his office last week. “Other people will say he has to win one or two more in the [NCAA] tournament if he wants a contract extension.
The only people that really know what is happening is the administration, and everything else is speculation, and if you start doing that you can drive yourself nuts,” Reynolds said.
Even though Reynolds is currently the coach of a first-place team, his job security situation isn’t an enviable one.
In 2002, Reynolds was hired to a five-year contract by former Athletic Director Bill Shumard. In his first three seasons at LBSU, his team struggled terribly, as the 49ers went 21-63 over the span.
It seemed like more of the same last season, with LBSU starting the season 2-5, but Reynolds’ strategy of signing junior college transfers like Aaron Nixon and Kejuan Johnson started paying dividends, and LBSU went 16-7 for the rest of the year and made it all the way to the Big West Conference championship game.
The other major development last season, when LBSU got a new president and athletic director, both of whom played basketball in college.
So Reynolds is currently a leftover from a previous administration, with a new basketball savvy administration and a contract that runs out at the end of the season. As stated earlier: not a good situation.
No matter what happens this weekend, it will be very tempting for Alexander and Cegles to put their own thumbprint on the men’s basketball team by hiring a new coach. But if Reynolds can prove he can turn a 10-21 team into a conference champion in two years, he deserves to keep his job. If LBSU comes up short this weekend, then Alexander and Cegles can dump Reynolds with a clear conscience.
For Reynolds, he knows the best thing to do now is stay focused on the present, and try to not think about what might happen in the future.
“I have been living with this scenario for 2 1/2 years, so what’s two more weeks.”
