College Hoops Coaching changes

Are we nearing the end of the carousel ride? About a month ago I checked out a list of coaching vacancies and I swear former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery was rumored to be a top candidate for at least six of them. Now it looks like things are winding down. Small (Santa Clara) Medium (Utah, New Mexico) and large (Colorado) have made their choices and Montgomery is still available. Has anyone heard anything about what his status is? Is he angling for a Pac-10 job?
And which schools upgraded themselves the most? the least?
I've got Minnesota and Tubby for best upgrade and Iowa/K State for the least

 

K-State hired from within. They promoted Frank Martin in order to keep that top recruiting class.

 

Too lazy to look. What did Iowa do with their opening?

 

Iowa hired Todd Lickliter from Butler. A solid hire, but it doesn't have as much sizzle as what Michigan and Minnesota did.

 

If we wanted some sizzle, then I would head to the local Sizzler for steak. It was a solid hire and there wasn't much hoopla to it anyway. Michigan didn't have that much pop to Beilein coming, though it cost them $2.5m to give to WVU, in turn to get Huggins out of Manhattan, Kansas.

Dan, not many big names wanted to come to Iowa, even for all of the free steaks and corn cobs. Lickliter is a much better upgrade and more of what Iowa needs than an ego-driven drama queen like Alford. Sexy picks doesn't always mean a good hire.

Back to the subject, what is Monty doing these days?

 

Long Beach State upgraded to Dan Monson.

And Monson upgraded his living location from the land of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 lakes. Especially for winter. At least he has his Minnesooooooooota buyout to help with the housing.

But now he's in a conference whose membership encompasses a single state, with gyms that hold 3,000 and will still not be filled.

 

Has any one mentioned yet that Huggy Bear is a pile of shit?

 

Fixed.

 

As oposed to his years at Gonzaga, when he was in a conference whose membership emcompasses three states, with gyms that hold 5,000, and were usually not filled anyplace outside of Spokane.

 

First job, while trying to make your mark, vs. third job, when you just came off a very disappointing stint in a major conference.

I would guess that a decade-plus ago, Monson relished the challenge and the opportuntiy at Gonzaga. Now, dude has an opportunity again, but I wonder how enthusiastic he'll stay if the Pac-10 teams don't start noticing him in the first couple years. A lower-mid-major gig like Long Beach State (or any other Big West or West Coast Conference gig) should go to an assistant who is looking to make his mark in that first head job.

 

I'll I've heard about Montgomery was that he was doing some TV work this season in the Bay Area, but HE DID introduce himself to the new Oregon AD when he did a Duck game. Ernie Kent was reported to be on the hot seat, folks up here had Oregon letting him go then hiring Mark Few, who is also tight with the Oregon AD or Monty. Kent kind of put the kabosh on that strategy, but I was surprised Kent's name didn't come up more for some of the other jobs that came open. He's been hearing footsteps for a few years and his son Jordan is graduating this spring. Plus - I don't see the Ducks doing better than they did this year, no matter if they got Larry Brown and Roy Williams to share the duties. Maybe if Oregon State gets off to a slow start next year they can hook up Montgomery. And I take back what I said about the Iowa hire being the shakiest, Arkansas getting rid of a coach who took the team to the dance for a coach at a very mid-major who didn't is a bigger reach.
Has Arkansas hired a new AD yet? And what was Broyles thinking trying to hire a coach while he's heading out the door. No wonder they were having a hard time finding a coach.

 

Michigan did not have to pay WVU. Beilein will.
And speaking of pay, anybody who thinks Minnesota did a good job in paying $1.8 million for Tubby Smith needs to examine him as a recruiter and needs to reconsider the value of a dollar.