2020 MBB coaching carousel

[micropolitan guy]

Thanks to Jake from State Farm, we can now start on of my favorite annual threads!

WMU basketball coach Steve Hawkins out after 17 seasons

Hopefully a certain Jesuit school in Buffalo will be a participant.

Wyoming fires Allen Edwards.

Wyoming fires men's basketball coach Allen Edwards

 

[Neutral Corner]

 

[Chef2]

Majerle out:

Grand Canyon dismisses Majerle after 7 seasons

Pitino?

 

[DanOregon]

Didn't realize Grand Canyon U was located in Phoenix. But I guess that name was taken.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Majerle out:

Grand Canyon dismisses Majerle after 7 seasons

Pitino?

Majerle has six good years and one mediocre one. And he’s out. To me, this suggests they have a heavy hitter taking hacks in the cage and ready to go.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Tim Cluess resigns at Iona, health reasons. Pretty good low mid-major job.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Some schools just couldn't wait. They just had to whack their coaches, I guess. Looks pretty bad in this context.
The question now -- especially for the public schools -- is whether traveling to interview a new basketball coach counts as "essential" travel.
At the moment, the virus appears to have given Shaka Smart, Danny Manning and Jim Christian a stay of execution. I suppose nothing should be considered surprising after the past few days, but the people who would be counted on to come up with the cash to pay buyouts took a bath in the markets this week.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Well, the season is over. For everyone. Why wait to fire somebody, and to start looking?

Not being snarky, but why would Manning and Christian get a stay? They had no games left to play, both under .500 so postseason play was impossible. Most coaches are paid off through the general budget, not through booster buyouts.

Texas at least had an outside shot of making the NCAAs and would have gotten an NIT berth.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Bad pub. Fire a coach with the nation in a health crisis canceling the rest of the season and your school doesn't look so good. Voters at state schools may wonder why it doesn't apply to you the administrator.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Bad pub. Fire a coach with the nation in a health crisis canceling the rest of the season and your school doesn't look so good. Voters at state schools may wonder why it doesn't apply to you the administrator.

Maybe, but virus or not BC and WFU sucked, both schools played a complete season, and both coaches have consistently underachieved. Christian made a lot of money at BC and TCU but he never came close to matching the success he had at Kent State.

Administrators still owe it to their fans to do what's best for the program, hurt feelings or not.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Maybe, but virus or not BC and WFU sucked, both schools played a complete season, and both coaches have consistently underachieved. Christian made a lot of money at BC and TCU but he never came close to matching the success he had at Kent State.

Administrators still owe it to their fans to do what's best for the program, hurt feelings or not.

What's the rush?Wait until the crisis passes. Guarantee you no one in Boston will care if BC fires its coach on Labor Day.

 

[micropolitan guy]

What's the rush?Wait until the crisis passes. Guarantee you no one in Boston will care if BC fires its coach on Labor Day.

Probably, but that would limit your candidates, right? And they do care at Wake.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Majerle has six good years and one mediocre one. And he’s out. To me, this suggests they have a heavy hitter taking hacks in the cage and ready to go.

Maybe. This is an incredibly strange move to me. Hiring Majerle put the program on the map in Phoenix. He's pretty beloved. I think locals will largely cease to give a **** now.

 

[HanSenSE]

Was the NABC convention axed along with the Final Four? Always been a meat market for coaches.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Maybe. This is an incredibly strange move to me. Hiring Majerle put the program on the map in Phoenix. He's pretty beloved. I think locals will largely cease to give a **** now.

Normally when something like this happens it means the administration of the school has become delusional.

 

[Neutral Corner]

Pitino to Iona.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Pitino to Iona.

Terrible look.
Perhaps Tim Cluess, who was on leave for 2019-20 with an unspecified health issue, resigns as coach on Friday and says he'll move into an "advisory position." The next day, word leaks that Pitino is the new coach.
Perhaps Cluess determined weeks or months ago that this was it. Maybe Iona then began wooing Pitino.
ESPN story linked above doesn't reference Pitino as one of the possible candidates.
But it certainly is interesting.

 

[sgreenwell]

"Pitino to Iona" seems similar to "Harrick to Rhode Island," from when I was growing up. I doubt Rick can play by the rules (or keep it in his pants), so I imagine Iona might secretly be hoping that his pumps the program up for a couple years and then leaves before the sanctions / penalties come rolling in.

 

[swingline]

Was that Harrick leaving UCLA?

 

[micropolitan guy]

Pitino to Iona.

Wow. That 8-hour busride to WNY to play Niagara and Canisius will be quite a comedown from the charters he flew and the high life he lived at University 6. But the Canadian Ballet in Ft. Erie is excellent, so there's that.