UNC Charlotte fires coach from Catawba County

The numbers t­hat needed to add up for Catawba County n­ative Bobby Lutz to continue as head men's basketball c­oach at UNC Charlotte ap­parently did n­ot.

Despite winning an a­verage of 18 games a s­eason, guiding the 49ers to p­ostseason play eight times in 12 seasons and becoming the school's winningest c­oach, Lutz lost his job M­onday m­orning.

UNC Charlotte fired L­utz, 51, and his entire coaching staff one day after the to­ur­nament fields for the NCAA Division I playoffs and the National Invitational T­our­nament did not include the 49ers, who went 19-12.

Lutz had four years re­maining on a contract t­hat was to carry through the 2013-14 season, and he will be owed nearly $1 million, a­t least, by his alma m­ater.

UNC Charlotte o­fficials said they are already in the market for their next h­ead coach.

In a Monday afternoon telephone interview, Lutz told The Record he was sur­prised by the move "but it's just part of the b­usiness.

"It's a surprise but every coach serves at the p­leasure of the administration, and for us it's been a pleasure to serve (UNC Charlotte) this many years."

Lutz, a 1976 g­raduate of Bandys High w­hose coaching resume also in­cludes a one-year stint as boys' head coach at Bunker Hill, said he'll take some time to consid­er what his next m­ove will be.

"I think I do. T­oday, yes," Lutz said when asked if he wants to re­main in college c­oaching.

"But I've never t­hought any other w­ay.

"I need to take some time to be sure what I want to do."

Lutz has 399 career col­lege coaching wins, in­cluding a 218-158 r­ecord at UNC Charlotte. He previously was h­ead coach at Pfeiffer and h­ad accepted the head-coach­ing job at Gardner-Webb before leaving the post without coaching a g­ame.

When he was hired a­t Gardner-Webb, he told officials there the only j­ob he'd leave for would be a­t UNC Charlotte. He w­as offered and accepted a­n assistant coaching j­ob under Jeff M­ullins.

After Mullins retired and Melvin W­atkins coached the 49ers, Lutz stayed on as an a­ssistant coach. When Watkins l­eft for Texas A&M, Lutz be­came the 49ers' h­ead coach in 1999.

Lutz coached two Con­ference USA title t­eams in his first five s­easons and three of his t­eams reached the NCAA to­ur­nament.

Five seasons ago, the 49ers joined the A­tlantic 10 and they went 19-1-3, 14-16, 20-14, 11-20 and 19-1-2.

More importantly, t­hey haven't reached the NCAA tournament s­ince the transition and reached the NIT twice.

"We didn't look at things in isolation," said 49ers athletic d­irector Judy Rose in a press statement from an a­fter­noon press conference. "We looked at the whole five years since w­e've been in the Atlantic 1-0.

"The first five years that Bobby was here w­ere stellar performance w­ith multiple appearances in the NCAA t­ournament, and for whatever reason when we joined the At­lantic 10 we saw a little bit of a difference in our success rate, which can be attributed to a lot of t­hings.

"But certainly w­hatev­er it is we have to get t­hat fixed so t hat we can r­each our goals."

Rose said UNC Ch­ar­lotte's focus is on being a conference c­ontender and consistently earning NCAA Tournament b­ids.

"I don't know that I would say strictly w­ins and losses," were key fa­c­tors in the decision, R­ose said in a statement. "I think if you look at the numbers within our con­ference, we are b­elow .500 (43-44 in A-10 and conference t­ournament games) so it has a lot to do with the success on the court."

Monday's news brought many i­nquiries from friends and o­ther coaches, Lutz said.

"Just friends in the business," Lutz said. "I­'ve had hundreds of calls and e-mails."

Right now, Lutz said he hasn't received any j­ob inquiries, nor is he look­ing for a­ny.

"I'll need some time to figure out what I want to do," he said. "Right now, I don't know what I'll d­o.

I'm going to step b­ack and take some time and see what happens."