The delay in either announcing a contract extension for Coach Dave Wojcik or his dismissal is mystifying.
New AD Marie Tuite was hired in mid-May. She certainly is familiar with San Jose State University men's basketball since her tenure with Spartan athletics began in 2010.
If she wishes to make a coaching change, then do it. If an extension for Wojcik is in order, issue it.
Generally, a coach is let go soon after the season ends but having the top position in SJSU athletics unfilled until May prevented that sort of timeline. But we're nearing two months into Tuite's heading of Spartan athletics and it's past time for a move to be made.
Now maybe, just maybe, Tuite has extended an extension offer to Wojcik and he has turned it down due to some of the terms. That scenario/stalemate would leave Wojcik in the final year/season of his contract.
How that would effect recruiting is, well, complicated. November 2017 is the next signing period and an extension, if it is coming and acceptable to Wojcik, is not likely to occur by that time. The odds are next to none of a coach in the final year of his contract signing a new recruit in November.
But will Sienna commit Jake (Bellarmine College Prep) Wojcik ink his letter-of-intent then or wait until the second signing period in April 2018? What about his buddy Logan (St. Francis) Johnson -- in which time frame will he make his choice official? Neither of these guys are four or five star talents but they play very well together, making the other more effective. Wojcik is the shooter and Johnson the dribble drive guy. Yes, SJSU has offers out to other prospects but these two reside at the very top of the Spartan board when sign-ability is taken into account.
As to what factors involving an extension might be of concern to Tuite, try the Jordan Baker/Frank Rogers, etc. suspension-then-dismissal scenario back in 2015. We have a good idea as to why those suspensions took place but not actual evidence so we won't speculate.
Much more recently, Terrell Brown's recent dismissal doesn't help the case for Wojcik.
A number of transfers have also taken place: Rashad Muhammad, Darryl Gaynor Jr., Cody Schwartz, Leon Bahner, Matt Pollard and these may also be a negative factor.
However, let's make the case for offering Coach Wojcik a two-year extension on top of this coming season. It's less than some have suggested because fielding a winning program hasn't been achieved, at least as yet.
But credit Wojcik and his staff for the bringing in of Walter Graves III, Noah Baumann and Keith Fisher III who are all set to make their debut in the 2017-18 season. The potential of all three is so much higher than anyone from the earlier classes of signees, save for Brandon Clarke (and even he wasn't all that heralded at the time of his signing). So recruiting has picked up which was a necessity and remains so.
Three years (or less), provides ample time for putting in place a winning program. If the Spartans are a winner this coming season or even the next then the odds are better for Tuite and Wojcik to have a meeting of the minds. We say the sooner the better for long-suffering Spartan fans.
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