Is There Life After Morgan State for Coach Bozeman?
Todd Bozeman’s track record cannot be denied. In four years at California he reached the NCAA Tournament three times. However, the first of those times Bozeman was an interim coach after Lou Campanelli was fired with ten games left to go in the 1992-1993 season. Bozeman rallied the troops and ended up taking Cal to the Sweet Sixteen, upsetting defending champions Duke along the way. As a result, Bozeman, at 29, was the youngest coach ever to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Cal would once again reach the tournament in 1994 and 1996, although the 1996 tournament never happened according to the NCAA.
Bozeman resigned in the fall of 1996 after admitting that he paid $30,000 to the parents of a Cal recruit. That led to an eight year “show-cause” ban on Bozeman. That meant no NCAA school could hire Bozeman without permission from the NCAA until 2005. In 2006 Morgan State took a chance on Bozeman. These Golden Bears were just a plain bad team prior to Bozeman’s arrival. In his first year Morgan State finished with a 13-18 record. The next three years Bozeman led Morgan State to three MEAC regular season championships and two NCAA tournaments.
The question is now whether or not somebody else will take a chance on Bozeman? He is a great recruiter and has completely turned around Morgan State. Despite the disappointing season in 2010-2011, the Bears should be back atop the MEAC standings in 2011-2012. This is also a coach with experience at a major program. Will another major program come knocking?
The scandal at California is still fresh in most minds and the other rumors that surrounded Bozeman after the payment scandal broke has not helped his reputation. But, in the end, Bozeman has paid his dues and is a good coach. It may take another stepping stone before the whispers of taking over at Maryland or Texas A&M are taken seriously, but do not be surprised if Bozeman gets some offers sooner or later. The college game is apparently where Bozeman wants to be and despite all the time spent scouting in the NBA, he is not that old.
Before serious offers start flooding in, Morgan State likely needs to take the next step. That means they need to garner some national attention by either giving a #1 seed a run for their money in the NCAA Tournament (which would first inevitably involve winning during the “First Four”) or making a little run in the NIT. This year Coach Bozeman and Morgan State should be in one of those two tournaments.
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