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The University of Washington is parting ways with head men’s basketball Coach Lorenzo Romar today, ending a 15 year stay with his alma mater.
ESPN’s Jeff Goodman first reported the news:
Washington has parted ways with Lorenzo Romar, sources told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) March 15, 2017
Percy Allen has also gained confirmation from two sources:
Two sources confirm Lorenzo Romar is out at Washington.
— Percy Allen (@percyallen) March 15, 2017
Players were asked to come to campus at 3:30pm today (Wednesday) to discuss the future of the program.
The termination is somewhat of a surprise due to a report last week that Romar was staying on. But, that report was sharply refuted as no official decision had yet been made.
Romar suffered his worst year since taking the reins in 2002 as his team went 9-22 and 2-16 in conference. The Huskies missed the tournament for the 6th straight year. This, despite having the projected No. 1 player in the NBA Draft, Markelle Fultz.
Speculation arose that Romar would stay as he has one of the nation’s top incoming recruiting classes in the nation with Michael Porter, Jr. as the top recruit.
Romar’s 2011-2012 team was the first team to win the regular season Pac 10 title but left out of the NCAA tournament. At 24-11 and 14-4 in conference the Huskies made the Final 4 of the NIT.
Romar led the Huskies to 3 Sweet 16 appearances (2004,2005 and 2009) and a No. 1 seed in the West in 2004.
He finishes with a 298-195 overall record at UW and a 143-127 conference record.
It’s a bittersweet day for longtime Husky fans. While many fans had grown weary of the losing, Romar is one of the nicer guys you can meet. He ran a clean program without major scandals and produced a lot of NBA players.
Obviously, there are a lot of questions yet to be answered including what is to become of next year’s recruiting class. Stay tuned.