NIU decides to dump Patton
After four unsuccessful seasons, Northern Illinois athletic director Jeff Compher fired men’s basketball coach Ricardo Patton on Wednesday.
The move came less than 24 hours after the Huskies wrapped up their fourth consecutive 20-loss season.
Patton, 52, finished with a 35-83 record at NIU. He has one year and $300,000 remaining on the contract he signed when hired on March 19, 2007.
“We should be playing for conference championships,” Patton said when hired. “The support is there. We will have no excuses not to be successful.”
Patton won just 30 percent of his Mid-American Conference games and the Huskies never finished better than a fourth-place tie in the six-team MAC West.
“I appreciate the hard work and dedication to Northern Illinois University and our men’s basketball program that Ricardo and his staff have shown over the past four years,” Compher said in a statement.
Patton and his staff struggled to form productive relationships with Chicago area schools.
Of the 16 recruits Patton signed and suited up during his four years — a group that doesn’t include incoming freshman point guard Zach Miller of Glenbard East — four hailed from the Chicago area.
Traditionally, NIU’s better teams have featured a significant Chicago presence.
While Compher might detail later in the week the qualifications necessary for Patton’s successor, it seems clear Windy City connections will be important.
Compher has hired Collegiate Sports Associates — owned and operated by Todd Turner, his former boss at the University of Washington — to aid his search.
“I have no doubt that with the support of President (John) Peters, our alumni and the Northern Illinois University community, we will attract a highly qualified candidate to lead our men’s basketball program,” Compher said in the statement.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Northern Illinois follows UIC’s lead — as well as Compher’s recent search that led to Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Doeren replacing Jerry Kill as the football coach — and focuses on top Big Ten assistants with at least a decade in coaching.
Michigan State’s Mark Montgomery and Minnesota’s Vince Taylor rivaled Wisconsin’s Howard Moore for the UIC job last August.
Clemson assistant Rick Ray, a former NIU and Purdue assistant who recruited extensively in Chicago, also fits the profile.
Ray was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Rob Judson in 2005-06 when the Huskies went 17-11 — one of NIU’s two winning seasons since its last NCAA Tournament appearance in 1996.