Cal St Northridge fires coach Braswell after 17 years

LOS ANGELES (AP) Bobby Braswell is out as men's basketball coach at Cal State Northridge after 17 years that included three 20-win seasons and two NCAA

LOS ANGELES (AP) Bobby Braswell is out as men's basketball coach at Cal State Northridge after 17 years that included three 20-win seasons and two NCAA tournament appearances, along with off-court problems.

Incoming athletic director Brandon Martin, who played for Braswell in high school, announced the coach's dismissal on Tuesday after his contract wasn't renewed. Martin says a national search for Braswell's successor will begin immediately.

Martin currently is senior associate AD for administration at Oklahoma and doesn't officially begin his new job until April 1.

Braswell had a 251-258 record at Northridge. The Matadors were 14-17 this season, when they won their first seven games and then lost six of their final seven. They finished ninth among 10 teams in the Big West with a 5-13 record, and failed to make last week's conference tournament.

The Matadors made the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history in 2001 and again in 2009, losing to Kansas and Memphis in the first round each time. During the 2000-01 season, they upset UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, giving Northridge its first-ever win over a nationally ranked team.

But Braswell's tenure included problems off the court.

Last year, Northridge was banned from postseason play after failing to meet grade and graduation requirements.

In January 2009, Braswell's son, Jeffrey, along with two players on the Northridge team were arrested on charges of commercial burglary and grand theft for allegedly stealing more than $6,000 in merchandise from an electronics store where the younger Braswell worked. He was convicted of a misdemeanor.

In 2003, Braswell's top assistant, John Dahlager, didn't have his contract renewed after he allegedly tampered with a player's grades in an incident that Northridge self-reported to the NCAA.

The 50-year-old Braswell had deep ties to Northridge, where he was a two-time Big West coach of the year. He graduated from there in 1985 and returned as the program's fourth head coach in 1996.