Unsure future awaits fired coach

Three days ago the NIU men’s basketball team wrapped up its season with a 68-63 win over Chicago State.

Then, just before noon Wednesday, the inevitable happened. After three seasons as the head coach of the Huskie roundball program, the ax fell-Jim Rosborough was fired.

The 44-year-old Huskie boss had just put together his best season at NIU, an 11-17 campaign, which rounded out his career record at 28-56.

Now out of a job, the former NIU coach said he is unsure where his future will take him. “I like coaching,” Rosborough said Wednesday afternoon. “But as to whether I stay in the coaching end of athletics or some other area I don’t know. I’ll have to see. We (Rosborough’s family) have a home. The kids have a school. So we’ll stay here for awhile.”

Rosborough’s appointment to the NIU program was his debut as a head coach. Previously, he serves as assistant coach to Lute Olson at Iowa from 1974-1983, then worked under J.D. Barnett at Tulsa as the top assistant coach for the 1985-86 season.

While at Iowa and Tulsa, Rosborough was exposed to winning teams. He was an assistant with six NCAA tournament teams, including one Iowa club that reached the NCAA Final Four.

On April 24, 1986, Rosborough became NIU’s 21st head men’s basketball coach. His optimism was high, along with his goals.

“I’m very excited about the possibilities at Northern Illinois,” Rosborough said at the time of his appointment. “If I were to personally pinpoint an area or a university that would be perfect for a head coaching position, you could not pick a better one than Northern Illinois.

I’m not so sure it isn’t the best kept secret in the Midwest. We’re talking about an area that’s hungry for wins. We’ve got to put a good product on the floor. The future here is great.”

But the future here is over for Rosborough. Assistant coach Robert Collins will take over as interim coach of the Huskies until a replacement is named.

One of Rosborough’s top credentials prior to getting the job at NIU was his recruiting connections. At Iowa, Rosborough recruited All Americans such as Ronnie Lester and Kevin Boyle, 12 National Basketball Association draft choices and numerous All-Big Ten players.

One of the premier players Rosborough brought to NIU was sophomore Donnell Thomas from Chicago’s Robeson High School. The 6-4, 209 pound foward (known as D-Train‘) was the cornerstone of Rosborough’s first recruiting class.

Every player on the current NIU squad was a recruit of Rosborough’s.

“We have good kids in our program,” Rosborough said. “It will be difficult to face the fact that we won’t be with these kids anymore. I would like to thank everybody, espically the high school coaches, that have been helpful and supportive. I told the players to handle this with class and dignity and that’s what we anticipate.”