Seth Greenberg, Maccabiah basketball coach, fired from Virginia Tech

NEW YORK (JTA) — Seth Greenberg, who will coach the US men’s basketball team at the 2013 Maccabiah Games, was fired by Virginia Tech.

The Atlantic Coast Conference school made the announcement on Monday in a news conference.

“We needed to go another direction in our men’s basketball program,” athletic director Jim Weaver said, USA Today reported.

Greenberg, 56, led Virginia Tech to a record of 167-117 in nine seasons. The Hokies made the NCAA tournament in the 2006-07 season and the NIT five times.

Weaver said Greenberg was “shocked” when told he was being fired Monday, USA Today reported. The athletic director also said that the rest of the athletic department had a “family environment” — and the basketball program didn’t.

Greenberg, a member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Commack, New York, has won nearly 400 games as the head man at Virginia Tech, South Florida and Long Beach State.

At the Maccabiah Games, the US team under Greenberg will be trying to win its second consecutive gold medal. Greenberg served as an assistant coach for the 1989 men’s basketball team — an experience he has called “life altering.”

In a statement earlier this month on being named coach of the Maccabiah team for the July 2013 Games, Greenberg said, “This volunteer position is important to me because any time you can represent your country and your faith in the same event, it’s something very special.”