BasketballFiringOhio Valley

Jay Spoonhour fired after nine seasons as head coach at Eastern Illinois

A day after getting eliminated from the OVC Tournament, Eastern Illinois announced that it would not be renewing the contract of head men’s basketball coach Jay Spoonhour. In nine seasons with the Panthers, Spoonhour was 119-157 overall and finished below .500 in all but two years.

“These decisions are never easy to make, especially with a person like Coach Spoonhour,” AD Tom Michael said in a release. “We felt that it was time to take the program in a new direction under different leadership.  We wish Jay and his family nothing but the best.”

The EIU job is a tough one, as the program has been to just two NCAA Tournaments in 41 years at the Division I level (the last being in 2001). Per the release, a national search for Spoonhour’s replacement will begin immediately.

 

credit to Edward Marlowe/Paducah Sun for the image