The Charlotte 49ers have fired head coach Mark Price, the university announced Thursday morning. Assistant coach Houston Fancher will serve as interim head coach, effective immediately.
Nine games into the 2017-18 season, the 49ers are just 3-6 and have lost four in a row, including two games to KenPom sub-200 teams (Chattanooga and James Madison).
In two-plus seasons, Price has gone 30-42 overall and 16-20 in Conference USA. Charlotte has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2005 and has not finished above .500 since 2014.
"We appreciate all that coach Price has done for our program," athletic director Judy Rose said in a press release. "His background and knowledge were assets to our young players and we appreciate him sharing his talents with our team. This was a difficult decision, especially as we make plans to open conference play, but we do feel it is in the best interest of our basketball program."
Price is already the second Conference USA coach to leave his job during the 2017-18 season. Now-former UTEP coach Tim Floyd abruptly announced his retirement at the end of November after the Miners lost a buy game to Lamar.
Charlotte’s next game is Monday at East Carolina.