FWST: TCU fired a good man, and now must decide what kind of basketball program it wants
BY [big steaming pile]Â [email protected]
Trent Johnson is not prone to emotions but he had to stop himself several times to compose himself.
More than once he took several deep breaths as he expressed his feelings and described being fired as the TCU men’s basketball coach.
“Yes — I was very surprised,†Johnson said in a phone interview.
Johnson said he landed from a recruiting trip at 6 p.m. Sunday and learned that he was losing his job about 40 minutes later in a conversation with TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte.
On Monday morning, Johnson said his players came to his house where he formally told them he is no longer their coach, although news had leaked out the previous evening.
This was the part of the interview where Johnson grew emotional.
“The thing I struggle with is the kids, the players,†he said. “These guys need this school. They need this place. Regardless of how many injuries we had and regardless of being out of our facility and in a high school gym for a year and a half, they never complained. They bought in to everything. I talked to them constantly about becoming men, the academic part, and they did it all.†…