Questions surround Adras’ resignation

Former NAU men’s basketball coach Mike Adras abruptly resigned Friday afternoon, leaving behind 13 years of head coaching experience in Flagstaff.

For the most part, Adras compiled a solid career manning the sidelines, finishing with a 193-170 overall record and taking the program to multiple conference championship game appearances, including a berth in the 2000 NCAA Tournament.

But, why now? Why decide to abruptly quit a program at this time? It certainly can not be attributed to the team’s rought start this year. That has more to do with losing a boatload of experience and trying to implement new guys in a system.

Watching Adras prowl the sidelines is definitely an entertaining experience, one that often gets us in the media talking and joking at his expense. He is an intense guy, and nobody who has seen him coach can question his fire. The problem is how far would he be willing to take it?

In the hours after his resignation, allegations began to swirl about Adras being overly aggressive in his techniques, causing many past and present players to develop rifts with him. Some players were dismissed while others left due to them not being able to handle his personality.

The only reason that has been given for Adras’ departure is he is looking to “pursue other opportunities”. The thing is, nobody decides to quit out of the blue to search for new chances elsewhere during the middle of the season. Something had to happen to spark NAU’s head honchos, president John Haeger and athletic director Jim Fallis, to realize that enough is enough, calling the resignation itself into question and potentially having it be referred to as a firing or “forced” resignation.

Not only is Adras sudden decision questionable, but so is the man chosen to replace him. Dave Brown, who for the past three years has had a headset strapped on as a member of the radio crew calling the action, was hired on an interim basis. Brown has spent time as an NAU coach, leading the women’s team in the mid-1980s while before that, he started the men’s basketball program at Yavapai College.

The choice to hire Brown begs a bigger question — why him? Why not one of the assistant coaches who have spent more time with the team in practices, in games and on road trips, developing solid relationships with them? One source indicates that it is because neither of them were designated as an “associate coach” and were therefore not ready to step up to the plate. But surely you can give one of them a chance, right? Brown had not coached a game since 1990 before Saturday’s win over CSUB, yet he was given the reigns?

Nobody quite knows the details of Adras’ decision or what exactly went down leading up to his resignation, if that is what is going in the record book. The program’s future is even cloudier, even as Brown got the first win in Game 1 A.A. (After Adras).