I've never been much of a fan of the National Invitational Tournament. Like many college basketball fans, I think the NIT stands for "Not In Tournament", because inclusion there just means you aren't in the Big Dance, and we all know the NCAA Tournament is the one that really matters. After yesterday's disastrous 72-68 loss to Baylor, though, we need to get used to the idea that the NIT is as far as this team will go this season. As long as Mark Turgeon is the head coach at A&M, we need to get used to the idea that the NIT may be as far as ANY team under him will go during a season.

Speaking of Turgeon, isn't it about time for Bill Byrne to admit he made a mistake in hiring his good buddy, and go out and get us a real basketball coach? The fact that Turgeon had a losing season in his last year at Wichita State should have been a warning blaring at us, loud and clear, that he wasn't the man for the job at Texas A&M. Turgeon has given us warning signs, this season and last season, that he can't handle being the head coach in a big-time basketball conference like the Big 12, but I've tried to be patient and give him time. Well, the time for patience is over, and his time has run out. It is time to call a spade a spade, and the simple fact of the matter is, Mark Turgeon is a poor head coach in the Big 12 Conference.

Turgeon is too sensitive to what others think about him, cares too much about whether or not he is liked by the media or fans, and is simply not mentally tough enough to coach a team in this conference. As for the technical aspects of coaching a team, Turgeon can't match up with other Big 12 coaches. He is often out-coached, and it is getting to the point of being downright embarrassing. When you get your ass kicked by Scott Drew, it is time to hang it up and look for a job in another field.

The problem is, Turgeon is Bill Byrne's fair-haired boy. Turgeon was an assistant coach at Oregon when Byrne was the athletic director there, and that previous relationship is one of the reasons Turgeon was brought to A&M. Given that relationship, and Byrne's unwillingness to admit he is wrong (see Melvin Watkins and Dennis Franchione), I think we're stuck with Turgeon for another two seasons, if not longer.

I'd like to see us go after a proven winner, like Jamie Dixon at Pittsburgh, but I think by the time we fire Turgeon, it will probably be following the 2011 season, and we'll be back where the program was after Watkins left it. It doesn't have to be this way, because we now have the best practice facility in the nation, a fanbase that will support the team, and a visible commitment to basketball. Things have evolved greatly at A&M since Billy Gillispie first arrived here, and thanks to BCG (and the ineptness of Dennis Franchione) A&M has become a basketball school. However, I think Byrne's stubborness will lead us down a path of destruction to our basketball program. Instead of hiring someone who will just need to instill some discipline and take us to the next level, where we are a fixture in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, and a constant challenger to win it all, which was the next level we could attain after Gillispie left, we will need to hire someone willing to do a complete rebuilding job of our basketball program.

When you lose to a team on a six-game losing streak, things are not headed in the right direction. When you lose to a team on a six-game losing streak after you've had a week to prepare for the game, something is really wrong with your coach and your team. For all of the money we are paying for our program, for all of the money Mark Turgeon is being paid in salary ($1.2 million per year, to be exact), the results we are seeing are unsatisfactory, and it is time for a change.