After multiple days of silence and speculation, Wright State officially announced the firing of men’s basketball head coach Billy Donlon on Friday, Mar. 18.
“It’s the difficult part of our business,” Athletic Director Bob Grant said. “This change in direction is based on a six-year analysis.”
During his six years as head coach, Donlon posted a 109-94 record with a 53-49 record in the Horizon League. The Raiders made three conference championship appearances in the last four years, but could not get over the hump.
“I expect us to be at a level where we are competing in the top 100 in the nation every year. We’re working to win against ranked opponents and appearing in some kind of regularity in the postseason tournaments whether it’s the NCAA or the NIT. We need those things to energize our fan base which I believe is the best in the league."
Grant had taken heat on social media by fans who disagreed with the decision and for the time it took to make the decision official.
“I feel like we’ve slid backwards a little bit,” Grant said. “That’s caused a little apathy out of our fan base, out of our students and we need to get that back and that’s the main emphasis behind the change.”
“I want Wright State men’s basketball to be the bully on the block. Like our baseball team is and like our women’s basketball team is.”
