East Tennessee State fires Murry Bartow after 12 seasons

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) East Tennessee State has fired coach Murry Bartow, who won 224 games and reached three NCAA tournaments in 12 seasons.

Bartow was 224-165 at ETSU and 327-248 in 17 years overall. ETSU went 16-14 this season and lost eight of its final 12 games, including each of the last four.

In a release Friday announcing the move, athletic director Richard Sander thanked Bartow for his service and successes but said ''when evaluating the current state of our program, we have decided that it is time for a new direction and a change in our head coaching position.''

Bartow led ETSU to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2004, 2009 and 2010.

Before coming to ETSU, Bartow went 103-83 with UAB from 1996-2002. He led UAB to the NCAA tournament in 1999.