I’m going to miss Rich Conover.

The man who led Binghamton women’s basketball since 2002 was as personable and engaging a coach that this school had ever seen. He was the kind of guy who knew every media member by name, and went out of his way to say hello to you.

He never lost his cool and he always blamed himself for losses. He never called out his players publicly, and unfortunately that might have cost him his job.

I guess charm and class can only get you so far in Division I basketball.

There’s no question Conovor’s team underperformed this season. With two preseason All-Conference players, four impact seniors, a couple of talented underclassman and a predicted third place finish, the stakes were never higher for the team.

But was the fifth place finish and subsequent first round exit in the America East Tournament Conover’s fault? Was it his fault Laura Sario’s production dropped by three and half points per game? Or that Vermont and Albany emerged as major players in the AE?

The knock on Conover has always been that he’s too lenient. That he’s too calm and doesn’t motivate. Maybe that’s true, but did a team this talented really need to be motivated?

Until this year, the team was on the rise. It won first round playoff matches two years running; Conover was only a few years removed from a Coach of the Year award.

But I guess the powers that be were tired of being middle class.

It’s still unclear exactly why the coach was “reassigned” to another position. The higher ups are being coy, saying only that they are looking to the future. Well, if they’re looking to the future, why make the move now?

Why reassign the coach a month and a half after the season ended, and why promote Nicole Scholl on only a one-year basis, saying a national search will take place next year?

This isn’t a knock against Scholl, all signs point that she’ll bring excitement and energy to the program. The knock is against the timing.

Fire Conover or don’t. Give Scholl the job permanently or don’t. Don’t turn 2008-09 into a lost season.

But now as the team “looks to the future,” they have a coach that has no guaranteed future and one of Binghamton’s best guys has been likely sent packing out of town. Yeah he’s been “reassigned,” but we’ve seen what happens to coaches that get reassigned. Conover will be a WNBA scout in Orlando before the year is over.

Let’s hope this really is the right move and Scholl’s energy is what the team needs. If not, the “future” might be a lot farther off than the administration thinks.