Dan Majerle fired after seven seasons as Grand Canyon head coach

The Grand Canyon Antelopes joined the rest of college basketball in having their season abruptly cut short on Thursday, the day on which they were scheduled to open WAC Tournament play. On Thursday evening, the school announced that the tenure of head coach Dan Majerle was over after seven relatively successful seasons.

Majerle never took the Antelopes to the NCAA Tournament or NIT, but in seven seasons his teams were 136-89 overall and appeared in three CITs and two CBIs. This past year was Majerle’s only losing record (13-17) and he had just come off four-straight 20+ win seasons. Nonetheless, GCU President Brian Mueller decided “to move in a new direction with [the] men’s basketball program.”

GCU was the first head coaching job for Majerle, who spent 13 years as a player and coach with the Phoenix Suns and has become a fixture in the Valley of the Sun.

Former UNLV, New Mexico State head coach Marvin Menzies, who spent last season as GCU’s associate head coach, has been given the interim role heading into the spring.

GCU is a great mid-major job with one of the best game day experiences in the country. Menzies is a logical choice, but here are a few other names that make sense: Arizona State associate head coach Rashon Burno, Houston Rockets assistant (and former GCU assistant, Arizona assistant/player) Matt Brase and former Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson.

credit to Darryl Webb/AP Photo for the image