By Don Owen
NKyTribune reporter
Cleveland State fired men’s basketball head coach Dennis Felton and his entire staff on Friday, but the dismissal apparently had nothing to do with the Vikings’ 22-44 overall record the past two seasons under Felton.
That’s according to what Cleveland State athletic director Scott Garrett said in a statement Friday after firing Felton — who had been out on the road recruiting the previous day.
“We take our mission to provide CSU student-athletes with a transformational experience very seriously,” Garrett said. “Our coaches operate with the expectation that they should build a culture supportive of our student-athletes in the classroom, accountable for their conduct as representatives of the University, and for their performance on the court. We will seek a new leader for our program who can deliver on this commitment.”
Dennis Felton
Before pulling off that upset, Cleveland State was 0-12 on the road last season.
It wasn’t the first time the Vikings had pulled off a stunner against the Norse with Felton as the head coach. Two years ago, Cleveland State shocked regular-season champion NKU in the Horizon League Tournament, 89-80, at Detroit. Going into that game, the Vikings owned a 10-22 record.
NEW FORMAT: The 2019-20 Horizon League men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will include all 10 teams, with the top-two finishing squads in the regular season earning byes to the semifinals.
The first round will feature teams placing third through 10th competing on campus sites at the highest-available seeds on March 3, with four games being played.
The opening-round winners will meet in the quarterfinals — which will be re-seeded — on March 5. The highest-remaining seed will face the lowest-remaining seed, while the other two first-round winners will play to earn a spot in the semifinals in Indianapolis. Second-round matchups will also be played on campus sites at the highest-available seeds.
The semifinals will re-seed as the No. 1 seed will face the lowest-remaining seed, and the No. 2 seed will play the highest-remaining seed. The semifinals are being held March 9-10 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.
NKU WOMEN TO PLAY EKU: Eastern Kentucky has released its women’s basketball schedule, and the Colonels open the season against NKU on Nov. 6 in Richmond.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams since Feb. 5, 1983, when Eastern Kentucky posted a 90-61 win over NKU in Richmond. NKU owns a 9-4 lead in the all-time series with Eastern Kentucky.
Eastern Kentucky finished with a 2-27 record last season and was winless (0-18) in the Ohio Valley Conference. NKU posted an 11-18 overall record last season. The Norse finished 10-8 in the Horizon League.
NKU MEN RECEIVE ACADEMIC AWARD: The NKU men’s basketball squad was recognized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches with the 2018-19 Team Academic Excellence Award. It marked the second straight year NKU received the honor.
Following a 3.09 GPA in the fall semester, the men’s basketball student-athletes elevated their spring GPA to 3.11 for a yearly average of 3.10. To be considered for the award, the NABC requires a 3.0 GPA averaged across the two semesters.
Drew McDonald
Drew McDonald and Dantez Walton helped lead NKU in the classroom, as the duo earned Horizon League All-Academic honors this year. McDonald posted a 3.40 GPA and was a three-time academic all-league honoree as a marketing major, while Walton collected his first academic award thanks to a 3.57 mark in organizational leadership.
McDonald also earned distinction as a member of the DI-AAA ADA Scholar Team and Google Cloud Academic All-District IV honoree, while also being one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award.
Contact Don Owen at don@nkytrib.com and follow him on Twitter at @dontribunesport
