On Friday, University of San Diego basketball team lost in the 2nd round of the West Coast Conference tournament.
Sunday, USD lost its head coach.
Sam Scholl has been fired after 4 seasons as head coach of his alma mater. Scholl was 50-67 overall at USD, including a 15-16 record this season.
Executive Director of Athletics Bill McGillis announced the decision via an emailed statement and said the university will begin a search for a new head coach.
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“Decisions like this are very difficult, especially when it involves people you care so much about,” said McGillis. “Coach Scholl is an amazing man, and he has been a tremendous mentor to the young men in our program. Although we have not achieved the competitive progress we expected, Sam has poured his heart and soul into USD basketball, and he has led our program with great integrity from day one. Both as a student-athlete and as a coach, Sam has represented the university with great class, and no one cares more about the Toreros than he does. We are truly grateful for Sam’s leadership and wish him the very best moving forward.”
Scholl called coaching at USD "the honor of a lifetime."
Before being named head coach, Scholl was a longtime USD assistant coach and former player.
Scholl took over the program on interim bases in 2018, when Lamont Smith departed mid-season in a controversial situation. After that season, Scholl was promoted to head coach.
Scholl's best season with the Toreros was 2018-19, when his team won 21 games and made the NIT Tournament.
