Paul Klee: Denver basketball should not be this bad, and Pioneers should move on from Rodney Billups

Feb. 27—DENVER — Nobody wanted this to happen.

Of course nobody wanted this to happen.

In a perfect world colored in crimson and gold, Rodney Billups would be the men's basketball coach at the University of Denver for decades. That would mean he won, and there are few things in sports better than a university alumnus coming home to lead the beloved to glory.

But that didn't happen, and now this needs to happen: DU must fire Billups, whose fifth season ended Saturday afternoon with a 80-76 loss to Nebraska-Omaha inside Hamilton Gymnasium. It ended with Billups, the 38-year-old former George Washington High and DU guard, exiting the court with head still high and a 1-19 record against Division I competition this season.

It ended the way far too many DU games ended the past three seasons, with middle-of-the-pack talent nosediving to a last-place finish in the Summit League. Twice, including this year, DU finished last and missed the league tournament. The other time it finished second-to-last, and this isn't the ACC or Pac-12 we're talking about here. This is a Summit League with outposts in Vermillion, S.D.; Fargo, N.D.; and Macomb, Ill. Have you been to Vermillion, Fargo and Macomb? They're not more desirable to 17- and 18-year-old basketball prospects than Denver.

Promise.

But this wasn't just bad basketball being played in south Denver, on a campus that seems to sprout another red-brick building each time a Subaru parks in front of the original Chipotle down the street. This was bad-bad basketball. Over the past three seasons, this was 17-65 basketball. Now it's time to move on, before talented junior guard Jase Townsend opts to play his senior season elsewhere, before bouncy freshman Sam Hines decides DU is not the place for him, either. Suitors are lurking, already.

DU athletic director Karlton Creech, who declined my interview request, should not wait. The Pioneers should move on and have their next coach by Final Four time in early April.

DU is viewed as a good job, not a great job, in coaching circles. And a good job in a great city is going to draw serious interest. Last week I was told of nearly 20 coaches — from an SEC assistant to a Big Sky head coach to a guy who just needs a job — who want their name thrown in the hat. The smart money's on a coach with previous head coaching experience, as plucking Billups from Tad Boyle's staff at CU-Boulder simply didn't work out. That's too bad, because CU assistant Mike Rohn deserves his shot.

The AD didn't want to talk to me, and Billups didn't do postgame media this season. No sweat. Here's a handy-dandy three-step plan to making my neighborhood program relevant again:

1. Hire a coach with a clear vision for DU's identity. As one former Pios assistant said: "They've got a major identity crisis. What does DU (basketball) want to be?" When DU has been good in the past it had a straightforward, obvious identity, such as when it ran the disciplined Princeton stuff in the Joe Scott era.

2. Pursue membership in the West Coast Conference. Nothing against the Summit League, but the WCC is a delightful fit for DU. WCC officials attended a DU game at Santa Clara, and there had been mutual interest in the past. But the WCC's not taking DU when DU basketball goes 1-18 vs. Division I competition.

3. Stop playing in Magness Arena as the Pios did in previous seasons. Play in Hamilton Gymnasium. It's a basketball gymnasium, and when the Pioneers are rolling, in anything, the locals buy in. The whole 'hood shows up. The other team doesn't want to show up. Embrace this neighborhood and it will embrace you.

There's not a whole lot missing in DU athletics, but the gaping hole in the ship is a competitive men's basketball program. DU's other sports are maxed out. Lacrosse is nationally ranked. Women's gymnastics is nationally ranked. Hockey's in a transition year, but you know the next Frozen Four's around the corner. Then there's men's basketball, the worst program in the Summit League and one of the worst in D-1.

There are 357 Division I programs this season, and only nine are worse on defense than DU, and more than 340 are better on offense. On a campus like DU's that should never happen, which is why a coaching change must happen.