Manhattan College Must Rid Itself of Barry Rohrssen After Season

If it wasn't official before, it most definitely has to be now. The Manhattan College Jaspers need to purge themselves of head coach Barry Rohrssen upon the conclusion of the 2009-10 season.

Forget that Rohrssen's players, with the exception of Darryl Crawford, have not developed under him.

You can also forget that he couldn't keep Rashad Green and Chris Smith in Riverdale.

You can even forget that Rohrssen is as clueless as the typical grandma when it comes to designing an offense and adjusting a game plan.

What matters now is that the Jaspers are 7-14 with a dreadful 2-9 record in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play. With seven conference games remaining, the Jaspers, once again, cannot finish above .500 in a league with the No. 15 RPI.

Games against second place Iona, third place Fairfield, fourth place Saint Peter's, and an underachieving but talented Niagara team appear on the Jaspers' upcoming schedule.

Loyola Md. (twice) and Marist, the other two teams on Manhattan's slate, are both beatable. However, the sole 'W' on Marist's resume came against the crew from Riverdale.

It is not inconceivable to say that the Jaspers could lose out. After all, they have dropped 11 of their last 12.

Sure, they'll most likely pick up a victory at home versus Marist and they'll most likely knock off one or two more opponents. But, three, four, or five conference wins is not respectable and unacceptable.

Even if the Jaspers were to win out, they would be incapable of passing first place Siena, who eliminated Manhattan from the race for first with a win over Saint Peter's tonight. Yes, with seven games left, the Jaspers know they cannot capture first place.

If this were an "off" year, it would be different. However, the fact is that Rohrssen has not made the Jaspers into a winner after four years. With the exception of a 10-8 MAAC record in 2006-07, the Jaspers have not eclipsed .500 in conference.

In the Rohrssen era, the Jaspers have only finished above .500 once.

The consistent losing is a result of minimal—which might be an overstatement—player development, weak recruiting, and a confounding, ineffective coaching strategy.

It's time for the Manhattan athletic department to find a replacement for their incompetent head coach.

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