Firing was needed to move program into new potential

I remember being in the media room following senior night at the UCF Arena on March 2, seeing an emotional Kirk Speraw bid farewell to the team's only senior and his son, Drew.

A colleague made note of the fact that it may very well have been Speraw's last game as the Knights head coach and Monday it certainly turned out to be true.

UCF nation was full of turmoil over the firing of the tenured coach in what could have been the biggest uproar we have heard from the fan base for its basketball team.

Speraw's firing is one that leaves plenty of question marks.

For starters, how could UCF fire the man that almost single-handedly built a basketball program from the ground up?

How could UCF fire a man whose roster for this past season featured 12 underclassmen, with seven of those freshmen?

Many saw this as a team with a bright future with the likes of sophomore guard A.J.

Rompza and the most talked about UCF recruit, freshman guard Marcus Jordan.

All throughout this season, we heard talk about how this was the foundation for a better program, yet also rustlings from disgruntled fans that were tired of mediocrity and looking for change.

Breaking down this firing is a tough sell, like why this sleeping giant of a school has yet to hit paydirt.

For a man that broke the all-time wins record at this institution, where he coached for nearly two decades, this was not the sendoff any Speraw supporter could have imagined.

Not many athletic programs fire a coach when they reach the top of the list in all-time wins, but in this case, UCF did its best to be the wild card.

The Lute Olson protégé took the reins of this upstart program and quickly made a name for himself by taking the Knights dancing in two of his first three seasons.

After making the NCAA Tournament in 1993-94 and 1995-96, the program went stagnant and did not have a reservation for the big dance until the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons.

The Knights transitioned into Conference USA in 2005-06 and made their biggest jump the following season when they finished in second place behind Memphis with a 22-9 record and an 11-5 mark in the conference.

Many have argued that Speraw took ‘his' team as far as he could and despite being a class act, it was time somebody else commandeered the Knights to get them over the hump to the next level.

UCF Director of Athletics Keith Tribble said in a statement Monday that he evaluated the basketball program for several years since his arrival and that the timing was right to take the team in a different direction.

When it is all said and done, the man that was colloquially pointed at from the student section and revered as "Kirk, Kirk, Kirk, Kirk" may just have overstayed his welcome.

His overall record since UCF joined C-USA is 84-70 and his conference mark was 40-38.

In the overall picture, Speraw's winning percentage was just less than 55 percent and the program became one of potential and "what if's" instead of having high expectations each season. If anything, it seemed as though the fan base began to dwindle because it felt UCF was not going to accomplish anything.

The Knights' showing in the conference tournament was discouraging. In UCF's first C-USA appearance, the team picked up a win in the opening round but dropped out in the quarterfinals.

In year two, the Knights entered Memphis with a No. 2 seeding but were one and done after losing by two points to Rice.     

It was not until this season, three years later, that UCF finally won another conference tournament game.

In a way, these postseason blunders were the jury on Speraw's tenure at UCF.

In recent years under Speraw, the Knights have been inconsistent. For years, many have speculated how much longer he would be at UCF while the team struggled the past few seasons in C-USA and fans began losing interest. 

There is a saying, "what must be done eventually should be done immediately."

The athletic department took action, in need of somebody who could bring excitement back to the UCF basketball program and raise the fans' expectations of this team.

Sadly for Speraw, that was the missing tool.