2013 College hoops coaching carousel thread

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Flip Saunders

And I thought Pitt's AD was stupid...

 

[mateen]

The Flip Saunders theory is strictly unfounded rumor at this point, I might add. Given Teague's extensive connections in college basketball coaching circles, I highly doubt that will happen, no matter how well it would play with Minnesotans, who are the most parochial people on the planet and assume only people with prior ties to the state are worthy.

 

[DanOregon]

The Tubby thing is weird.
You sign a guy to a three year extension in July, his team makes it to the round of 32 and he gets fired?
And it isn't like the Big 10 has proven to be a disappointment in the tourney with a quarter of the Sweet 16.
Shaka wouldn't be Smart to take that job when better opportunities are available.

 

[Chef2]

Anyone think Tubby ends up at UCLA?

 

[Starman]

Anyone think Tubby ends up at UCLA?

no, hell no -- they need somebody young and fresh, not a worn-out dude over 60.

 

[JosephC.Myers]

I'm a little surprised about Howland and Tubby, but it goes to show that if a school pays out a lot of money for a coach, you'd better win and win fast.

 

[Armchair_QB]

So when was the last time two guys coached against each other in the first round of the NCAA Tournament then were both out of work by the following Monday?

 

[LongTimeListener]

I don't see why anyone would be surprised about Howland. UCLA folks weren't even all that happy when they were going to the Final Four, because the style was so godawful boring. Then they've been a mid-tier program for the last few years, and the SI story was a complete embarrassment that was costing them quite a bit in recruitment. Yes, they got Muhammad, but they still aren't kings of the West Coast; as one example, Aaron Gordon is one of the top recruits in the nation but never had UCLA on his list because his brother Drew had such a bad experience before transferring.

It wasn't looking up at all for them.

 

[JosephC.Myers]

So when was the last time two guys coached against each other in the first round of the NCAA Tournament then were both out of work by the following Monday?

Yeah, you'd think getting to the second round of the NCAA's might be enough for you to keep your job, much less getting to the NCAA's, but I guess not.

 

[exmediahack]

If I'm Minnesota... I think the priority list goes Shaka Smart, Brad Stevens and - if those two do not work out... bring Tony Bennett as close to "home" as he will get without being in Wisconsin.

I'll never understand how Minnesota isn't better in basketball. They are the only Big Ten campus (I'm not counting Northwestern as they have academics and are in Evanston) in a truly major-metro area which should be a recruiting draw - both for in-state and around the region.

When I lived there, I always though having an actual "media", complete with two competing papers, kept the need to stay clean much higher at Minnesota than every other Big Ten town with their relative "wink-and-nod media".

 

[mateen]

I think you have a point about the media coverage - the academic fraud under Haskins, while plenty bad, wasn't that much worse than you'll find at a lot of places; it's just not certain that in those other places there are reporters as dogged as George Dohrmann was in exposing it. Going further back, though, anybody would have reported on the multiple rape charges and horrible academic performance under Dutcher, and the rampant NCAA violations under Musselman.

And while the facilities are old and that's a real issue, in some ways it's a better job than ever because the talent pool in Minnesota is so much better than it used to be. Twenty years ago and more you could only get big men out of Minnesota, but nowadays there's enough in-state talent at all positions that if you can get the top ones to stay home you've got a good start.

 

[Starman]

If I'm Minnesota... I think the priority list goes Shaka Smart, Brad Stevens and - if those two do not work out... bring Tony Bennett as close to "home" as he will get without being in Wisconsin.

I'll never understand how Minnesota isn't better in basketball. They are the only Big Ten campus (I'm not counting Northwestern as they have academics and are in Evanston) in a truly major-metro area which should be a recruiting draw - both for in-state and around the region.

When I lived there, I always though having an actual "media", complete with two competing papers, kept the need to stay clean much higher at Minnesota than every other Big Ten town with their relative "wink-and-nod media".

Sludgeball coaches taking jobs at any of the second-tier B1G basketball schools (Minny, NW, Iowa, PSU, Nebraska, Rutgers) are pretty much dooming themselves to setting fourth place as your program ceiling.

Wiscy plays sludgeball. Sparty plays sludgeball. OSU plays sludgeball. All three of those teams are perennial top-20 teams. If you come in to one of the second-tier league schools and try to install a sludgeball system, the players you will be trying to recruit will be the guys high on the lists of those teams. You are going to lose most of those battles.

(Under their current coaches, Purdue and Illinois play sludgeball too, so when and if they get good you will be butting your head against them as well.)

I think in large part that's what sunk Tubby. He was trying to do the same thing the big boys were already doing (better).

 

[JosephC.Myers]

If I'm Minnesota... I think the priority list goes Shaka Smart, Brad Stevens and - if those two do not work out... bring Tony Bennett as close to "home" as he will get without being in Wisconsin.

I'll never understand how Minnesota isn't better in basketball. They are the only Big Ten campus (I'm not counting Northwestern as they have academics and are in Evanston) in a truly major-metro area which should be a recruiting draw - both for in-state and around the region.

When I lived there, I always though having an actual "media", complete with two competing papers, kept the need to stay clean much higher at Minnesota than every other Big Ten town with their relative "wink-and-nod media".

Sludgeball coaches taking jobs at any of the second-tier B1G basketball schools (Minny, NW, Iowa, PSU, Nebraska, Rutgers) are pretty much dooming themselves to setting fourth place as your program ceiling.

Wiscy plays sludgeball. Sparty plays sludgeball. OSU plays sludgeball. All three of those teams are perennial top-20 teams. If you come in to one of the second-tier league schools and try to install a sludgeball system, the players you will be trying to recruit will be the guys high on the lists of those teams. You are going to lose most of those battles.

(Under their current coaches, Purdue and Illinois play sludgeball too, so when and if they get good you will be butting your head against them as well.)

I think in large part that's what sunk Tubby. He was trying to do the same thing the big boys were already doing (better).

Yeah, it's going to be hard to sell a top-notch coach on a situation where the best you can do most years is 4th place.

 

[zagoshe]

Why the **** would Shaka Smart, Brad Stevens or any coach of any reputation take the Minnesota job? The program is lame, it is a ****ing joke and a graveyard for coaches. This school was really stupid to fire Tubby Smith because he is as good as it gets for them.

 

[Big Circus]

bring Tony Bennett as close to "home" as he will get without being in Wisconsin.

HELL TO THE NAW

 

[Jake_Taylor]

bring Tony Bennett as close to "home" as he will get without being in Wisconsin.

HELL TO THE NAW

I don't think you have much to worry about until Bo Ryan hangs it up.

 

[Starman]

Minnesota, and the other non-top-tier B1G schools, need to go with a different style and a different system. If a new coach comes into a program which is not a marquee attraction and tries to recruit the same players to run the same system as the league powerhouses, it's a losing battle.

That's what Michigan is doing and it seems to be paying off. They have a lot of highly-touted recruits but they weren't all high on the lists for the sumo-wrestling teams. And now that Michigan has been good for a couple seasons it is back on the radar for the 'burger boys.'

IU is playing a real fast pace this year but IMO that may just be a temporary aberration because they have Oladipo, a lightning bolt, on the roster. Left to his own devices I get the feeling Crean would want to go to grind-it-out ball like his mentor Izzo.

But IMO a guy like Smart or Stevens could get better faster at one of the mid-tier schools playing an uptempo style.

 

[DanOregon]

It's funny, the same things I'm hearing about what UCLA is looking for in the next coach - youth, energy, style - are the things Lavin had and why they wanted more of an x and o guy when they dumped him.

 

[LongTimeListener]

It's funny, the same things I'm hearing about what UCLA is looking for in the next coach - youth, energy, style - are the things Lavin had and why they wanted more of an x and o guy when they dumped him.

Huh?

Lavin was a ****ing idiot. Any high school coach in the state could have done better with that talent.

 

[DanOregon]

I'm not arguing that - but the Bruins were regularly in the Sweet 16 with him and figured a more x and o guy would get the program to the next level. Now you hear they want a guy with a more exciting style of play to energize the program.