Clemson Coaching Search Should Include a Look at Bobby Lutz

So, it’s more than a week into the post-Oliver Purnell era in the upstate, and Terry Don Phillips has yet to offer Bobby Lutz an interview?

Phillips made the correct decision last fall when he hired Dabo Swinney from an interim position to head football coach. Let’s hope he does right by the hardwood team and, at the very least, gives the former Charlotte coach a ring.

Initially, Lutz doesn’t seem to make sense because he was fired from the Charlotte job. More accurately, Lutz refused to leave a ship that started to sink years ago when the Big East chose two other basketball-only schools (DePaul and Marquette) over the Forty Niners in the great Conference USA realignment. Lutz had previously been on the short list for jobs at Wake Forest and NC State, but made it clear that he wanted to remain at his alma-mater, where he had previously walked on to the team.

Lutz’s record while at Charlotte, when they were a member of a more powerful C-USA, was nothing short of stellar. In the recruiting arena, Rodney White was a “one and done” lottery pick during the glory years of Charlotte hoops. His year included a C-USA tournament title.

Lutz also turned plenty of heads when the tremendously talented Martin Iti chose the program over virtually every other school in the land. Iti’s work ethic wasn’t quite as advertised, but that’s not the point. Evidently, Lutz was able to sell a program and a school that couldn’t even offer prime football seats during recruiting season.

Remember (pre-rehab) Michael Beasley? Lutz and the ‘Niners were a frontrunner for his services as well, before Bob Huggins took the Kansas State job and upset the apple cart. Evidently, he can recruit at an extremely high level.

Not only can Lutz recruit, but he can win as well. At one point in time, the C-USA Tournament was being referred to as the “Bobby Lutz Invitational.” Lutz won that crown in his first season at the helm in Charlotte, then won it again in 2001. At the time, Cincinnati was a feared conference member. Lutz had no trouble beating the Bearcats, either during the regular season or in tournament play.

Lutz has won games in the NCAA tournament, something that Oliver Purnell never was able to accomplish. He has wins over teams from the ACC, SEC, and Big East on his resume. The night Syracuse hung their 2003 NCAA banner at the Carrier Dome, Lutz was there to smash the Orange on their home floor. NC State opened the RBC Center with a four team tournament that included Charlotte. Lutz and his team cut the nets down in that one, too.

Here’s a trivia question for you: which team was the first to ever win a conference tournament by winning four games in four days? You guessed it right if you said Bobby Lutz in 1999. That run included wins over Cincinnati in the semifinal and Louisville in the title game. With Clemson’s history of having to play on Thursdays in the ACC Tourney, such history might serve the Clemson program well.

By the way, Lutz has Clemson ties. He was a graduate assistant under Cliff Ellis in his first coaching gig. It might be time to get this Tiger back in town.

Clemson is a football school with a potentially great basketball program. Charlotte is a suitcase college with a poorly funded athletic department. That lack of funding is trumped only by athletic director Judy Rose’s apathy. Lutz won when he received only a little support. Imagine what he could do with the Clemson fan base and IPTAY behind him.

If Terry Don Phillips wants rejection, he needs to make a push to hire Butler’s Brad Stevens. If he wants the Tigers to look as hapless as they did under Larry Shyatt, former Boston College coach Al Skinner should get the nod. Ron Bradley might be able to keep the Tigers competitive, so long as he scraps the concept of a 40 minute press and gets some players who can hit jump shots.

If he wants a winner on the court, the answer may lie just over two hours up I-85.