What Happened At Clark? We Still Don’t Know

Interesting story today by Kate Zot about the surprising firing of Clark College basketball coach Mike Arnold. As you can tell by the comments on the story, a lot of people are bewildered by the move, and a lot them are angered by it. We’ll continue to follow the story, but in the meantime, I talked to point guard Derek Owens.

“I was definitely shocked,” Owens said. “I don’t see a reason for it. There was nothing that happened in my mind that caused it.”

Owens said Arnold met with players. “He kept saying, ‘I did nothing wrong; I did nothing to deserve this.’ That’s the first thing you think when a coach like that gets fired.”

Arnold led Clark to a 25-4 record this year and its first division championship in 16 years. But the Penguins lost their first two games at the NWAACC tournament.

“Yeah, we had a great team and we lost in the first round,” Owens said. “But that’s on us, the players.”

Meanwhile, Owens said, the players have just as many questions as the fans.

“I’m sure that’s what everybody wants to know — what happened,” he said. “We’re as confused as everybody else.”