Amaker says he has been fired by Michigan

I could put up an argument on that whole "best one in the state," especially since The Best AD UK's Ever Had arrived in Lexington.

But it's too late, and we've already hi-jacked this thread enough.

I did just look, and UofL is ranked 23rd in the Directors Cup, UK 42nd. Somewhat shocking, honestly. I didn't think UK would be that low.

 

UK's best AD was C.M. Newton. No one will ever top him. Ever. Mitch Barnhart pales in comparison.

Nor will anyone top Jurich here. Both men set the bar way too high for anyone else.

 

Newton was VERY good, I just wish he'd have given two shits about that little sport everyone in the SEC likes to play. It's some game with a brown ball in these big ass stadiums.

I defend Barnhart to the death though. He gets an undeserved bad rap from a lot of people around here.

 

Look for 2 names, Brad Brownell and Chris Lowery, to make the jump to a major conference school soon. These are the 2 sharpest YOUNG coaches out there, and both already have stellar reps. Don't know if either will get the Michigan job, but these 2 aren't gonna be in mid-major land much longer.

 

Barnhart set the football program back at least 2-3 years thanks to his bungling of the Guy Morriss situation. His coaching search was comical. I still chuckle when I read that Bill Parcells was interested in becoming UK's coach.

He found a stellar replacement for Keith Madison, but DeMoss hasn't panned out as expected/hoped. UK has always had solid non-revenue sports, but fans don't judge ADs on the non-revenue teams. It's football and basketball, especially the latter, that define an ADs succees. The latter sport especially defines an AD at UK.

 

Newton hired Pitino. He hired Tubby. Football doesn't matter to a UK AD, period. Think the Duke/North Carolina/Indiana/Kansas ADs have a lot of pressure to get the football hire right?

But . . . didn't Hal Mumme field some solid teams before he went through that Kentucky athetics rite of passage known as NCAA trouble?

 

This went from a Michigan basketball thread to a UK football thread. Both programs are meaningless.

 

Interesting topic, but between the oversized egos of coaches and the incessant demands of ADs/boosters these days, are there any career jobs?

You think the guy who follows Coach K is going to have a chance to turn it into a career job? If he hasn't made a Final Four in his first four years, he's going to get the Tubby Smith treatment from the dickhead fans. Tubby's not going to make Kentucky his career job. The idiot fans have assured him of that. Bill Guthridge and Matt Doherty, the guys in between Dean Smith and Roy Williams, were run off in almost no time flat.

I understand why Roy Williams left for a job he didn't give a shit about...but he still left Kansas. So is it really a career job?

Rick Pitino left Kentucky. He's at Louisville now, but he'll surely be best-known for his time at Kentucky. So is either gig really a career job?

How many guys did UCLA run off becaues they didn't measure up to John Wooden?

A situation has to be perfect for job to be a career job. Villanova (where Rollie Massimino could have had a career job) can be Jay Wright's career job. Will anyone argue UConn is Jim Calhoun's career job? But he came into a situation where there was almost nowhere to go but up (sorry Dom Perno but it's true). But UConn would not qualify as a career job as outlined earlier in this thread, and there is no way Calhoun's replacement is going to get more than five years to take the beloved Huskies to the Final Four.

It seems like Kansas can be Bill Self's career job. Still wouldn't want to be him if they lose tomorrow.

I don't think there's one big school coaching job in America that is a sure-fire career job. Who even knows if those exist in the mid-major ranks?

 

Elite programs where you wouldn't trade up, or try to Saban your way into another college job for more money:

Kansas
North Carolina
Duke
Kentucky
UCLA
Indiana

Schools just outside the line. You shouldn't leave. You've got a passionate fan base, good facilities, at least some tradition, and they pay you well. Even if you do leave for one of the elite six, it might be a lateral move. You could finish your career here and have no regrets.

Louisville
Syracuse
Connecticut
Maryland
Florida
Ohio State
Michigan State
Arizona

Because of its history, could be in the next group, a great, almost elite, program. Instead, it's either run by fools, can't find the right coach, or just not in a good place geographically:

Michigan
Arkansas
Oklahoma State
Cincinnati
Georgetown

 

Agree that it could be Bill Self's career job. I'm convinced that the only program that could have lured Roy away was the Tar Heels, for obvious reasons. Had Roy been able to say no to Dean Smith twice, the arena to replace Allen Fieldhouse in however many years probably would have been named for him.

 

Wouldn't/couldn't a Pittsburgh or an Illinois fall into that last category as well?

 

It hasn't been a good week for Dookies, huh?