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SMU to fire basketball coach
12:46 PM CST on Friday, February 27, 2004

By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News


SMU will hold a 4 p.m. news conference today to announce the firing of men's basketball coach Mike Dement.

Dement was told about his dismissal by athletic director Jim Copeland this morning, according to school officials.

Dement will inform the team before today's scheduled 1 p.m. practice. An interim coach for the remainder of the season will probably be named at the news conference.

Dement, who has one year remaining on his contract, had asked SMU for an extension before the start of the season. Copeland said he wanted to extend the contract, but said he would wait to evaluate his coach at the end of the season.

The 39-point loss to Boise State last night, SMU's second worst at Moody Coliseum, apparently was too much to handle for Copeland. SMU has lost by double figures seven times this season, including a 35-point loss on national television to Oklahoma State and an 80-40 loss at Rice.

SMU (10-15) started the season 6-3 with wins over Texas Tech and Purdue, but has lost 12 of 16 games since. The Mustangs are 4-11 in Western Athletic Conference play.

Dement, in his ninth season, has a record of 138-120 at SMU. Since going 8-20 in his first season, he has won at least 15 games each year, but has failed to coach SMU to an NCAA tournament berth.

SMU was 21-9 in 1999-2000, but lost in the first round of the NIT in Dement's lone postseason appearance at the school. He has a career record of 260-243.