The Hardest-Working Paper in America | 
Friday, April 26, 2024
College Sports Sports

Alabama parts ways with basketball coach Avery Johnson after 4 seasons

By  Associated Press
   
SHARE Alabama parts ways with basketball coach Avery Johnson after 4 seasons
ap19075015877738_e1553448385131.jpg

Alabama head coach Avery Johnson watches the action in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kentucky at the Southeastern Conference tournament Friday, March 15, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Avery Johnson is out as Alabama’s coach after making the NCAA Tournament only once in four seasons.

Athletic director Greg Byrne announced Sunday that the Crimson Tide and Johnson “made the decision to mutually part ways.”

Johnson’s buyout under a contract extension reached in August 2017 would be $8 million.

He led the Tide to a 75-62 record in four seasons, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament last year. Alabama lost five of its last six games this past season, including a first-round upset by Norfolk State in the NIT on Tuesday night.

Associate head coach John Pelphrey will serve as interim head coach.

Johnson, a former NBA player and coach, had success on the recruiting trail, landing five-star prospects in Collin Sexton and current freshman Kira Lewis Jr. Sexton left after one season and was an NBA lottery pick.

Next Up In College Sports
Minneapolis will host Big Ten basketball tournaments
Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn will enter NBA Draft
Illinois gamblers bet $286 million on March Madness
Notre Dame’s success will start on the lines, new coach Marcus Freeman says
Former Bradley, NBA coach Dick Versace stood by his players and by Chicago
Note to self: It’s the players, Stupid
The Latest
Cook County Democrats selected Monica Gordon on Friday to appear on the November ballot as the party's nominee for Cook County Clerk in a special election.
Politics
Cook County Democratic leaders pick Monica Gordon to run for Cook County Clerk
Gordon will run in the November general election to fill the rest of the late Karen Yarbrough’s term as Cook County Clerk.
By Kristen Schorsch | WBEZ Chicago
 
Chicago Cubs' broadcaster Harry Caray sings "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch at Chicago's Wrigley Field in 1989.
Columnists
Why did Harry Caray always say ‘Holy Cow?’ It could be linked to a 1930s flying bovine. No bull!
In 1930, a 15-year-old Harry Caray was living in St. Louis when the city hosted an aircraft exhibition honoring aviator Charles Lindbergh. “The ‘first ever’ cow to fly in an airplane was introduced at the exhibition,” said Grant DePorter, Harry Caray restaurants manager. “She became the most famous cow in the world at the time and is still listed among the most famous bovines along with Mrs. O’Leary’s cow and ‘Elsie the cow.’”
By Michael Sneed
 
Rome Odunze
Bears
A day later, Rome Odunze's pairing with Bears still 'surreal'
Rome Odunze can keep the group chat saved in his phone for a while longer.
By Patrick Finley
 
IMG_3006.jpg
Bears
Bears QB Caleb Williams arrives at Halas Hall embracing enormous expectations
“What’s there to duck?” he responded when asked about the pressure he’ll be under in Chicago.
By Jason Lieser
 
Renderings of the proposed new Bears stadium
Letters to the Editor
Don't give away taxpayer money for a new Bears stadium
Not a dollar of taxpayer money went to the renovation of Wrigley Field and its current reinvigorated neighborhood, one reader points out.
By Letters to the Editor