Basketball | Giles is dismissed from OSU squad

C.J. Giles couldn't save Jay John's job as men's basketball coach at Oregon State.

So a day after the school fired John, the Beavers also decided to part ways with Giles, a former Rainier Beach High standout whose troubled stay in Corvallis lasted just 10 games.

Beavers interim coach Kevin Mouton told reporters Monday that "it wasn't a discipline thing or any rule he had recently broken or anything like that. We just felt it was time for us to make a move and go from there."

Giles read a statement to the Times on Monday night saying he was called into a meeting Monday with athletic director Bob DeCarolis and Mouton and told that "they wanted a fresh, new start and I would not be returning on the team."

Giles said when he pressed them on reasons, he was told it was nothing specific and that "I would be OK because I was going on to bigger and better things."

Giles, a 6-foot-11, 240-pound center, enrolled at OSU last January after transferring from Kansas, where he was kicked off the team after several legal run-ins. John hoped Giles could give the Beavers the low-post scoring and defense that could make them a winning team, which in turn would help preserve John's job. Instead, John was fired Sunday with OSU at 6-12 overall, 0-6 in the Pac-10.

After becoming eligible Dec. 8, Giles played 10 games, starting six. But he struggled to stay on the floor, fouling out of six games. He was also suspended for one game at Arizona two weeks ago for reportedly missing one practice and showing up late for another. He then was reported to have had words with Mouton before a practice for the Arizona State game two days later.

His last game with the Beavers came Saturday at Washington. He fouled out after being whistled for a technical foul with 1 minute, 5 seconds remaining following a brief altercation with the Huskies' Jon Brockman, who was also given a technical.

Giles averaged 6.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 18.1 minutes this season.

Indications were that Giles' academics were not an issue.

"In the past here I have not been perfect, but I have tried really hard and I have gotten things together academically," Giles said in his statement. "I have also accepted responsibility when things have not been perfect. This came as a shock to me as no one had addressed this with me or let me know that I had done something that would cause me to be released from the team. ... I would just hope that with a new interim head coach that clear expectations would have been set and I would have been given a chance to meet those expectations."

Giles, who said he did not want to take questions, said he would stay at OSU and finish the academic year.

As a fourth-year junior who would have to sit out a year after a transfer, he would not be eligible to play at the Division I level next season. His basketball options, then, are either to turn pro or play at a lower level.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com