It's the time of the year when basketball coaches are looking over their shoulder for the unemployment ax. Tennessee State started the firing season by cutting ties with coach Cy Alexander on February 6 and naming Mark Pittman interim coach. Alexander, who was in his sixth season at TSU, went 67-107 overall and 48-56 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

In 24 years as a coach, including a successful run at South Carolina State, Alexander has a career record of 344-306. TSU went 15-17, 10-10 in the OVC with an appearance in the tournament championship game in 2008, but never developed into a consistent winner. For 2-24 N.C. Central, the situation is pretty dire, too.

Henry Dickerson's Eagles are going to finish their second Division I season much like the first with more than 20 losses. Central is struggling with no conference affiliation after leaving Division II, a killer road schedule and flagging support for those rare home games. Speculation is rampant about Dickerson being on the outs and being replaced by assistant LeVelle Moton, an NCCU alum who has been on the Eagles bench for two seasons.

Job security may be less of an issue at N.C. A&T, where Jerry Eaves is trying to get the Aggies past .500 for the first time during his six-year tenure. A&T had a five-game win streak, including three in a row on the road to get to 13-13, two victories shy of last season's 15-16 mark. If the Aggies can keep the momentum and get past the first round of next month's tournament, Eaves may have earned another season.