Freshman guard Tanner Wozniak said seniors DeJuan Wright and Jeremy Allen suggested the walkout before the banquet as a way for the players to show their displeasure with Thomas’ dismissal. FIU fired Thomas with two years left on his contract, ending a three-year tenure in which the Panthers went 26-65 and failed to win more than 11 games in any single season.
“We didn’t want to disrespect the program at all or anything,” Wozniak said by phone. “We just wanted to show our support for Isiah Thomas. He was a great coach, a mentor and a father figure to us. He didn’t have a winning record, but you can’t build a program in three years.”
The timing of Thomas’ firing was what shocked both him and his players most. Instead of beginning the search for a new coach immediately after an 8-21 season; FIU waited a month to get rid of Thomas, decreasing the pool of available candidates and making it more difficult for the new coach to land a recruiting class with the spring signing period starting Wednesday. When Thomas called a team meeting Friday afternoon following a routine spring workout, Wozniak said players thought it might be to finalize plans for Easter brunch on Sunday. Instead, the coach walked in with a dazed look on his face and announced to the team, “I want to let you know that I have been let go and the whole entire staff has too.” “Everyone was stunned,” said Wozniak. “We didn’t know what to think at first. He was saying his good-byes to everyone and everybody took it pretty hard. It was a pretty hard time because we all loved him as a coach. He was there for us every time.”