I will start with a brief disclaimer. At this point in my sports reporting life, I would not consider myself a University of Maine athletics insider. Heck, for the first time in almost two decades I don’t even have media credentials to cover the games.
So there could be more to the Richard Barron dismissal story than I am aware. And I’ll tell you this, there damn well better be. Otherwise, dumping Richard Barron as head coach of the Maine men’s basketball team ranks right up there as one of dumbest things Black Bear administrators have ever done.
When Barron took the men’s coaching gig a presidential term ago, I wrote that if he can’t turn that deadbeat program around, nobody can and they should just fold the tents. Well perhaps instead of an exhaustive search for a new coach, it might be easier to just pull the plug on what has been arguably the worst Division I men’s program in the United States the last 20 years. Because if Barron couldn’t win here, I’m not sure who can.
I personally don’t think even Mike Krzyzewski could turn UMaine men’s basketball into a perennial winner. Not even kidding.
“Time for a new voice” is the quote from athletics administrator Ken Ralph regarding the change with four games left in the season. I wonder what voice he thinks might’ve been able to lead and rebuild this program better than Barron’s the past two years during a worldwide pandemic?
This program blows during the best of times, let alone during the challenges of COVID.
The Black Bears have exactly two winning seasons in the last 20 years, a record of 182-380, and not a lick of postseason success during that time.
They still remain one of the only longtime Division I programs in the entire country not to sniff the NCAA basketball tournament.
Barron took over the job with basically an empty cupboard. He did not win a lot of games, but I guarantee he was building something.
It’s a monumental challenge for anyone to find players from America or abroad who wish to commit to four years in a Black Bear basketball uniform. And with new NCAA transfer rules, it will be impossible to keep any talent on the outpost that is eastern Maine.
But by all means, let’s move on from a guy who’s done nothing but rebuild programs and win in his career. By year four and five at both Princeton and with the University of Maine women’s team, he turned cellar dwellers into 20 game winners. I think he could perhaps have done the same here, but now we’ll never know.
But this I do know. Richard Barron certainly deserved more years to try. It doesn’t take a University of Maine Athletics insider to see that.
Jeff Solari is the founder of the Maine Sports Chowdah, Maine’s only free weekly sports email newsletter. He has been in sports media since he was 17 and is not shy with his opinions or perspective on the world of sports. The longtime sports broadcaster is a graduate of Mount Desert Island High School and the University of Southern Maine. Previous gigs included WLBZ-TV and WCSH-TV, host of “The Shootaround” talk radio show on WZON and stints with “Downtown” and “The Drive.” Solari has won more than 15 Maine Association of Broadcasters and AP broadcaster awards.