Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
"It blew me away," junior forward Justin Weidauer said.
"What else can happen to this team?" senior center Jeff Campbell asked. "This is a serious blow. We're having a tough enough time just playing basketball."
Reid, who won at least 20 games in six of his seven seasons at Brigham Young, was abruptly fired Tuesday after a 1-6 start this season.
Athletic director Rondo Fehlberg said it was not the team's slump that led to the firing, but Reid's failure to bring out the fans, many of whom were perturbed last month by remarks Reid made to a prized prep recruit -- and a Mormon -- who chose Duke over BYU.
Despite more than 15,000 season tickets, BYU's attendance this season is around 7,000 per game. Fewer than 4,000 attended last weekend's final round of the Cougar Classic.
"It's so obvious it screams at you," Fehlberg said. "The bottom line is, you have to have a program people want to contribute to. Otherwise, you might as well turn out the lights and go home."
"Despite Coach Reid's record and all he has accomplished, support for the program has deteriorated over the years," Fehlberg said.
Reid, 49, led the Cougars to five NCAA tournament appearances, and his 152-77 record is the best winning percentage in school history. Reid's teams won three WAC titles and averaged 22 wins a season.
The coach has been offered a to-be-determined post in the athletic department, but Fehlberg said he's unsure whether Reid will take it. Reid made no comment Tuesday and did not attend the news conference.
Assistant coach Tony Ingle was named interim head coach to lead the team beginning with Saturday's game against Georgia in Atlanta. A search for a new coach is expected to be completed by the end of season.
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