2013 College hoops coaching carousel thread

[mpcincal]

I know the tournament is far from over, but UCLA just made this news official and I figure this is as good a place to start as any.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21940447/official-ucla-fires-howland-

 

[DanOregon]

Since you always seek to replace someone with someone who strength was a weakness of the previous coach, I figure UCLA will go younger with a "player's coach." Josh Pastner would work, though the early word is Shaka Smart, maybe Jay Wright.

 

[JayFarrar]

Pastner would be an intriguing choice. Been successful at Memphis and has Pac-10 roots in having played at Arizona.

Well he was on the team since, as I recall, his main role was to keep the team GPA up. Dude was working on his doctorate when his eligibility ran out.

 

[HanSenSE]

Two openings in LA, with USC also open. Jamie Dixon staying at Pitt, as per the Press-Telegram.

 

[DanOregon]

USC might just be the worst job in the Pac-12. You'll always be second fiddle to football and there always seems to be some internal stuff going on.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I would probably go for Brad Stevens over Shaka Smart, but everything I read seems to indicate that Dan Guerrero has it bad for Smart, and who could blame him.

Who knows though, at the rate things are going, I'm half-expecting Andy Enfield to get a call...

Pastner has been rumored for the USC job. I'm not sure that's a move that makes a lot of sense. I know USC got a ton of (deserved) bad publicity when they interviewed Tim Floyd earlier in the month.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It seems like there is a lot less movement this year than in previous years...

I know Howland wasn't well-liked by the higher-ups at UCLA, but I think the way he was fired would give coaches pause about taking that job. Obviously, it's a top job, but some of the names that were floated when the hiring was first announced seem pretty stupid. Billy Donovan? Please... If he wouldn't leave for Kentucky, a school where he has coached before, why would he even consider UCLA?

You would think that a job like UCLA would attract interest from a top coach from a top conference. A couple years ago people seemed to indicate that Brad Stevens was waiting for the Indiana job. Well, that job isn't likely to open anytime soon. I think Shaka Smart was wise to avoid Illinois and North Carolina State, but he would seem to be a better fit in the SEC, Big 10 or ACC than he would in the Pac-12.

 

[Moderator1]

Why?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Because those are the areas where he has coached and recruited before. It doesn't have to make a difference, but it could.

 

[Machine Head]

Anybody have an extra 2.5 they can wire Minnesota?

The general mood around the program was that the Gophers needed two wins in the tournament for Smith to feel safe. That’s not to suggest Teague would base his decision solely off two games. But coaches don’t typically lose their job after taking their team to the Sweet 16.

Teague’s policy is to wait until after the season to evaluate any program publicly, but now he must address Smith’s situation in the next few days. It serves no purpose to have this cloud hanging over the program any longer than necessary.

Teague and Mike Ellis, his senior associate athletic director, are smart basketball people. They’re hell-bent on elevating this program’s stature and profile. Smith’s $2.5 million buyout is hefty, but he looks tired right now. The whole program looks that way. It needs some life and fresh energy.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/199795911.html

 

[Mark2010]

Tubby's the best coach the Gophers have had in a long time. I'd be careful about shoving him out the door too quickly.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Tubby's the best coach the Gophers have had in a long time. I'd be careful about shoving him out the door too quickly.

Minnesota is one of those jobs that with a coach like Tubby, if you're going to fire him, you better make sure you can get someone better.

I kind of felt the same way about UCLA firing Howland, but I don't think he was fired for losing. I think they fired him because they didn't like him and the way he did business.

 

[DanOregon]

I think UCLA was jammed up. With two years left on his deal, Howland needed to be extended or cut loose.

 

[PopeDirkBenedict]

Tubby's the best coach the Gophers have had in a long time. I'd be careful about shoving him out the door too quickly.

Minnesota is one of those jobs that with a coach like Tubby, if you're going to fire him, you better make sure you can get someone better.

I kind of felt the same way about UCLA firing Howland, but I don't think he was fired for losing. I think they fired him because they didn't like him and the way he did business.

Tubby's gone.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21948116/tubby-smith-out-at-minnesota

And I can see why. With the B1G so loaded (IU, Michigan, MSU, Wisky, Ohio State all loaded for the long term), promising coaches at Iowa & Illinois, with Painter always tough at Purdue ... Minnesota seemed stagnant. Never awful, but never good enough to contend for conference titles. Tubby's weaknesses as a recruiter were exposed -- Bo Ryan stole Jordan Taylor, Jon Leuer and Jared Berggren right out from under Tubby's nose.

In football & men's basketball, Minnesota is consistently one of the most underachieving BCS schools in the country. It's a very good school academically, the flag ship school of the state and is located in a major metro area (as opposed to most of the B1G schools). There is no reason it can't compete for conference titles, beyond its own ineptitude.

 

[Big Circus]

Tubby's gone.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21948116/tubby-smith-out-at-minnesota

Just putting this out there...Minny's AD is Norwood Teague, who hired Shaka at VCU.

 

[Mark2010]

Tubby's the best coach the Gophers have had in a long time. I'd be careful about shoving him out the door too quickly.

Minnesota is one of those jobs that with a coach like Tubby, if you're going to fire him, you better make sure you can get someone better.

I kind of felt the same way about UCLA firing Howland, but I don't think he was fired for losing. I think they fired him because they didn't like him and the way he did business.

Tubby's gone.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21948116/tubby-smith-out-at-minnesota

And I can see why. With the B1G so loaded (IU, Michigan, MSU, Wisky, Ohio State all loaded for the long term), promising coaches at Iowa & Illinois, with Painter always tough at Purdue ... Minnesota seemed stagnant. Never awful, but never good enough to contend for conference titles. Tubby's weaknesses as a recruiter were exposed -- Bo Ryan stole Jordan Taylor, Jon Leuer and Jared Berggren right out from under Tubby's nose.

In football & men's basketball, Minnesota is consistently one of the most underachieving BCS schools in the country. It's a very good school academically, the flag ship school of the state and is located in a major metro area (as opposed to most of the B1G schools). There is no reason it can't compete for conference titles, beyond its own ineptitude.

How does the budget stack up with those of other B1G schools?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I think UCLA was jammed up. With two years left on his deal, Howland needed to be extended or cut loose.

Maybe... I mean, I can see that. I don't think they ever forgave him for missing the tournament twice in three years. I think they fired Lavin after missing it once. Harrick made the tournament every year he was there...

It reminds me of what happened to Arkansas a couple years ago. The team was making progress, had some good recruiting classes, they fired the coach, and miraculously, it didn't fix everything...

 

[mateen]

It's a gutsy move to get rid of Tubby Smith now, but there's a very good argument that it was only a matter of time and it's better to be ahead of the curve. For whatever reason something is wrong in that program - witness how they seem to get worse during the course of the season every year - and keeping him around surrounded by question marks would probably make it impossible to get any of the three current Minnesota high school juniors who are being nationally recruited (one - point guard Tyus Jones - is so highly sought after that Tom Izzo flew directly from his NCAA game on Saturday to watch Jones in the Minnesota state high school championship game that night).

And the idea mentioned above that Gopher basketball perenially underachieves I can buy, but I'm not so sure that's true of Gopher football. Yes, it's the only Division I program in the state, but that's a state with very few DI level football players, there are maybe 30,000 people in the state who care at all about Gopher football, most of whom are so old that they remember when the Gophers were actually competitive nationally in the early 60s, they're fighting for attention in a market that isn't that big and has all four major sports, and the local media, if you throw out Sid Hartman, seems to actually root for their continued failure. Other than Indiana and Purdue, no other Big Ten school faces such an uphill battle in football.

 

[mateen]

Credible sources in Minnesota are also saying there's already a verbal agreement with Smith's replacement, who's widely presumed to be either Smart or Flip Saunders (hiring a guy who's been in the pros and hasn't recruited in over 25 years would be par for the course for the old AD, Joel Maturi, but you have to assume Teague is smarter than that).

 

[Moderator1]

Assuming is dangerous.