Ricardo Patton's days coaching the CU men's basketball team could be over as soon as Feb. 24 when the Buffs take on Kansas State at home, according to a source close to the men's basketball team.
The source cited Athletic Director
Mike Bohn's displeasure with the way Patton handled Feb. 14's game against Kansas both during and after the game. More so, there was significant displeasure in the athletic department with the scenario being played out in front of a home town crowd.
However, Assistant Sports Information Director
Andrew Green said Bohn categorically denied the report.
"Absolutely not," said Green, quoting Bohn. "We're honoring Patton at the Nebraska game (at home on March 3), and expect him to fulfill the remainder of his contract."
CU is reportedly pretty far down the road in selecting at least final candidates for a permanent head coach, although some candidates may have teams competing during the postseason tournaments.
There are some around campus who think
Ceal Berry may take over for Patton during the interim while the search committee is looking for a replacement.
If that happens, she would become only the second woman to ever coach a Division I men's college basketball team.
Teresa Phillips, the then-athletic director at Tennessee State,
coached the Tennessee State men's basketball team for one game during the 2002-03 season when head coach
Hosea Lewis was suspended.
Patton held out
Kal Bay,
Richard Roby and
Xavier Silas for the first five minutes of the game against Kansas, citing an apparent lack of effort by those players during practice.
After the game, Patton made some comments about his players' commitment that may have rubbed members of the team the wrong way. When asked if he thought the players were quitting, he said, "It certainly resembles that to me."
The comments have drawn the ire of many fans in the last few days. Roby has even gone on record saying that there was a lot of "butting heads" going on between the team and the coach in recent days.
The Buffs play Feb. 17 at Texas Tech and Feb. 21 at Iowa State before returning home for the Feb. 24 game.