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Mark Price fired by Charlotte barely into third season

By Brad Berreman

BALTIMORE, MD - DECEMBER 20: Head coach Mark Price of the Charlotte 49ers watches the game against the Maryland Terrapins at Royal Farms Arena on December 20, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - DECEMBER 20: Head coach Mark Price of the Charlotte 49ers watches the game against the Maryland Terrapins at Royal Farms Arena on December 20, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images) /
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Just barely over two seasons into his tenure, Mark Price has been fired as head coach at Charlotte.

Mark Price was a four-time NBA All-Star with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he transitioned into a career as an assistant coach at that level. His turn as an assistant for the Charlotte Hornets put him in convenient proximity when the college job at Charlotte was open.

The 49ers are 3-6 this season, with a current four-game losing streak. They are 30-42 over two-plus seasons under Price, including a 16-20 mark in Conference USA play. On Thursday, Price was fired from his post as head coach.

The 49ers’ record was not great under Price. But the school has not made it to the NCAA Tournament since 2005, with one NIT appearance in five seasons under Price’s predecessor Alan Major.

But, via The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte athletic director Judy Rose was not too complimentary of Price’s work.

"We’re trending in the wrong direction, “Our record shouldn’t be our record against the competition we’re playing. But where we are in our season, we can get back on track."

"We haven’t come out ready to play,” Rose said. “That’s why I say he’s lost his players. How can we come out playing like that? I don’t think the players are playing to the top of their capabilities. We didn’t see a lot of passion on the floor for us to get back on the right direction."

Assistant coach Houston Fancher, who was the head coach at Appalachian State from 2000-2009, will take over as 49ers’ head coach on an interim basis.

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The move to hire Price created some buzz, and little else, for the Charlotte men’s basketball program over the last couple seasons. Better results may have come at some point, but an inability to quickly rebuild a program that’s stuck in neutral in a lower-tier conference cost Price his first major head coaching job.