s.Oliver Baskets parted ways with head coach John Patrick with immediate effect. - Photo by Dennis Grombkowski/Bongarts/Getty Images
s.Oliver Baskets announced on Thursday on their website that they were parting ways with head coach John Patrick with immediate effect. Other than the short, two-paragraph release, there was no immediate response to the move, which was decided Wednesday night and told to the American coach on Thursday.
The decision was taken by the managing board and the Sport und Event Würzburg Baskets GmbH management. Patrick, who had a contract for next season, had his exit meetings with the players on Wednesday and was due to meet management on Friday.
Patrick arrived in Würzburg before the 2011-12 season from BG Göttingen where he guided the low-budget club to the 2010 EurocupChallenge title. The coach took the promoted side s.Oliver Baskets to the semifinals of the Beko BBL playoffs, where they upset higher seeded Alba Berlin in the first round but lost in a 3-0 sweep against ratiopharm ulm in the semifinals.
Despite the success on the court, there was a bit of turmoil off the hardwood, especially at the end of the season.
“We continued until the end, just like you expect from professionals. But we didn’t see any future with him as coach in Würzburg. And we told management that in the last couple days,” one unidentified Würzburg player was quoted in the Würzburg Main Post.
One controversial incident was defensive specialist Chester Frazier deciding to leave the club after Game One of the semifinal series against Ulm, which set off a whirlwind of speculation and blame as to why the guard left so abruptly to take a job as an assistant coach with Kansas State University. It’s unclear if the Frazier incident had any impact on the club’s decision to move on without Patrick.
It’s also unclear when s.Oliver Baskets management, players or Patrick will make a comment on the firing.
As of now, only Alex King and Maximilian Kleber (with an opt-out clause in his contract) have contracts for the 2012-13 season with Würzburg.