Josh Dollard’s dismissal Thursday from the Auburn basketball team was just one more blow to fifth-year coach Jeff Lebo’s program.
He should be accustomed to those blows by now.
Including four players who left before Lebo ever coached a game, Dollard is the 14th scholarship Auburn basketball player to leave the program. Some, like high-scoring guard Tony Douglas, could have helped win games. Some left because they were overmatched. But the exodus has served to further dampen fan enthusiasm remains for Auburn basketball.
A boost is coming with the opening of a new arena in 2010, but that does little to help now.
It seems so long ago that Auburn was winning the 1999 Southeastern Conference championship and playing in front of roaring, sellout crowds at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. Even in 2003, the Tigers barely squeezed into the NCAA Tournament and went to the Sweet 16, falling by a single point to eventual national champion Syracuse.
With NCAA trouble looming, Cliff Ellis left at the end of the 2004 season. Lebo took over what appeared to be a team ready to contend. But Marco Killingsworth, Brandon Robinson, Lewis Monroe and Dwayne Curtis left town. Lebo was left with a team of guards.
There was progress in the 2006 season. The Tigers lost a heartbreaker at Ole Miss in the regular-season finale that kept them from sharing the West Division championship. But Dollard missed all of last season, Quan Prowell missed part of it, Korvotney Barber was injured and lost for the year early and Auburn sank back to the bottom of the SEC.
Dollard figured to be Auburn’s bellcow this season, and now he’s gone. That leaves Barber, healthy again, to fight the odds on the inside. The Tigers will have to rely heavily on the experience in their senior class and on a recruiting class that is, on paper, Lebo’s best.
Guard Frankie Sullivan, a high school superstar at R.C. Hatch, is in school and working. So is Francis Aihe, a 6-foot-9 forward from Sante Fe Community College in Winter Park, Fla. Tay Waller, perhaps the best 3-point shooter Lebo has signed, from Okaloosa-Walton College and Johnny Lett, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Okaloosa-Walton, are finishing up work but are expected to qualify. The status of Kenny Gabriel, a high-scoring 6-foot-8 forward from Charlotte, N.C., is uncertain.
The bad news for Dollard came Thursday afternoon. Lebo said Dollard was dismissed for violating athletic department policy.
"Auburn has supplied Josh with all the resources for him to be
successful," Lebo said. "Josh understood his requirements and
responsibilities to be an Auburn student-athlete, and he has fallen
short in fulfilling what was clearly communicated to him."
Dollard missed all of last season for what was termed medical reasons. As a sophomore, he was suspended for the first six games but finished as the team's leading scorer with 12.5 points per game and leading rebounder with 7.0.
"I have had the opportunity to be successful on and off the court at Auburn," Dollard said. "Due to certain circumstances, I am unable to continue my career here at Auburn. I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in my career at Auburn, and I would like to wish my teammates, coaching staff and Auburn family much success in the future."
Dollard, who would have been a fourth-year junior, has the option of remaining in school at Auburn. He is 12 hours short of finishing his degree in 3 1/2 years.
