New coach search...

TitleWave said:

None of the above (Howland possibly excepted) - remember the mantra "Nationwide search...nationwide search...nationwide search."

Pearson, either - "Nationwide search...nationwide search...nationwide search." NOT a former assistant who could be booked into T-town on the 4:11 Greyhound out of Athens.

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What classifies as a nationwide search? Pitino isn't close by. Cronin isn't, either. Lavin is in NYC.

Hit the post button too soon. Mods, please delete...

I think Howland would be a great choice. Proven guy, has tremendous passion to get back in. I think he would really elevate our program quickly, especially not being in the spotlight like at UCLA. Has said that his next job is his last one. I think we would do very well with him at the helm.

After that, Brad Underwood at SFA intrigues me, as does Archie Miller at Dayton. Both of those guys are up-and-comers that can coach and are doing very well in their current positions.

Archie Miller has a very good record at Dayton. He very young, and I think he could build a top level program here. Howland is 57 and while he said his next job would be his last, how long would he be here before heading to the retirement home? My question on him is can he recruit 18 year old kids in the south?

Just for fun, how long until people start tracking planes?

All Howland has to do is have Russel Westbrook give the recruits a call, and he will do fine recruiting the south

You guys can't be serious about Howland. If you think a guy with zero personality is going to out-recruit that scumbag at API...........we might as well have kept CAG.

If we do hire him, he will displace Mitch as the coach I can't stand the most.

wsims74 said:

All Howland has to do is have Russel Westbrook give the recruits a call, and he will do fine recruiting the south

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I agree.......and for people talking about his age, he's only a year older than calipari

I doubt the region will matter when it comes to recruiting for Ben Howland.....he's a household name, every recruit will know who he is

He's definitely someone that will reignite the fanbase instantly in my opinion

cuda.1973 said:

You guys can't be serious about Howland. If you think a guy with zero personality is going to out-recruit that scumbag at API...........we might as well have kept CAG.

If we do hire him, he will displace Mitch as the coach I can't stand the most.

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Are u serious.....just look at he players he recruited while at ucla.....his last year he had he top class in the country

pchil86 said:

I agree.......and for people talking about his age, he's only a year older than calipari

I doubt the region will matter when it comes to recruiting for Ben Howland.....he's a household name, every recruit will know who he is

He's definitely someone that will reignite the fanbase instantly in my opinion

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He last coached in 2013. Most recruits wouldn't know him, especially in the Southeast.

Ben Howland.....

http://www.si.com/more-sports/2012/02/29/ucla

There are more articles like this out there.

KrAzY3 said:

I'm not sure what the criteria is for saying the Alabama job is not a good one. They are paying their coach a top 25 salary, they have the second richest athletic department, they are somewhere between second and third all time in the SEC (only reason they are not a clear second is mediocre coaching the past few years). The Wimp era proved that by recruiting the surrounding area they could have plenty of talent (c'mon, 5 first round picks on one team?). There is absolutely nothing bad about the program, but the fact that they've assembled a string of guys who have never actually had post season success as head coaches.

So, that's why I'm not too big a fan of Prohm and I find it a bit ironic that you disparage the Alabama basketball program, then suggest a guy with ties to it. If it is actually a bad program, rule #1 should be look outside of it, right?

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We might not have a choice Krazy. People seem to think it's such an attractive job but is it really?
On the surface, yes.
The money is excellent, the University is a fabulous place, and there are many positives.
But a big name coach is going to do his homework and see poor overall attendance and a continually diminishing talent level overall in the state.
The answer to that would be to recruit high level recruits from out of state. The problem there is again, they visit a game and there's 6,000 fans in attendance. That same recruit then visits elsewhere and can't hear himself think the crowd noise is so loud.
There's a ton of obstacles that will have to be overcome no matter who the next coach may be.
Remember also, in the last 50 years we've never really hired a proven head coach.
That's because it's very difficult to get one to come to T-Town unless he does indeed have some ties with Bama. C.M. would be the exception but even he wasn't proven when he took the job.
We'll have to see what happens. If I had my choice I'd like to see us go after Tommy Amaker. I think he could get the type of players we need to be successful again.
sip

Alasippi said:

The answer to that would be to recruit high level recruits from out of state. The problem there is again, they visit a game and there's 6,000 fans in attendance. That same recruit then visits elsewhere and can't hear himself think the crowd noise is so loud.
There's a ton of obstacles that will have to be overcome no matter who the next coach may be.
Remember also, in the last 50 years we've never really hired a proven head coach.

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I do believe that there are issues, but part of that is bringing in a guy who might be capable of handling those issues. Alabama isn't going to get a guy like Calipari, I think we all know that, but they can get a tarnished upper level coach, for instance like what happened with Bob Knight, Bruce Pearl (which is already haunting a lot of Alabama fans), and yes even Ben Howland. That's one way to do it, but it isn't ideal.

The other is to just throw money at the problem, and that should be able to go a long way if they are willing to offer enough. I think it makes sense to go after a guy like Gregg Marshall and offer him 3 million, if nothing else you are making the clear statement you are willing to invest in the basketball program. Either way, as you alluded to, they haven't hired a proven coach and we see where that has gotten them. People are even bringing up Richard Pitino, really? His resume looks like Mike Shula's, ok his dad was a good coach, now back away slowly...

But, I decided to check attendance since you brought that up. The last season Alabama made it to the NCAA tournament, their attendance was 27th. That's not bad. However, last season their attendance was over 2,000 lower for each game. That's a big chunk of change that's being left on the table. If you then take that lower level of interest and consider the lost revenue overall and it has to be substantial. Alabama desperately needs to bring in someone that knows how to build and run a basketball program. Not just a guy who won some games in a crappy conference, not some guy who got an automatic bid, they need someone that has demonstrated true success and they can afford to go out and get someone if that's their priority.

pchil86 said:

Are u serious.....just look at he players he recruited while at ucla.....his last year he had he top class in the country

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That is a pretty weak argument. We could both recruit top players to UCLA. It is UCLA.

RTR91 said:

He last coached in 2013. Most recruits wouldn't know him, especially in the Southeast.

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Exactly.

cuda.1973 said:

That is a pretty weak argument. We could both recruit top players to UCLA. It is UCLA.

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Howland is not at the top of my list, but he does serve as a consolation prize of sorts. A lot of the names people are bringing up, are coaches who haven't ever made the sweet 16 and in some cases, guys with a grand total of 0 NCAA tournament wins. How does anyone at all know that they know what they're doing really? To get back to Bruce Pearl, he made it to the Sweet 16 before going to Tennessee, they didn't have to hope he could do it, they knew he could do it.

The advantage with Howland is in the very least he knows what a top level program is supposed to look like, he knows what it takes to get to the final four. No Alabama coach, at Alabama or anywhere else has ever been a head coach in a final four game. Just think about that. So, the advantage to Howland is may be he could come in and make things more like UCLA if nothing else. If he got things on track, his replacement (he is old anyway) could have more to work with. I'd prefer some other options, but Howland is a better option than (insert coach here who hasn't ever really done anything).

KrAzY3 said:

Howland is not at the top of my list, but he does serve as a consolation prize of sorts. A lot of the names people are bringing up, are coaches who haven't ever made the sweet 16 and in some cases, guys with a grand total of 0 NCAA tournament wins. How does anyone at all know that they know what they're doing really? To get back to Bruce Pearl, he made it to the Sweet 16 before going to Tennessee, they didn't have to hope he could do it, they knew he could do it.

The advantage with Howland is in the very least he knows what a top level program is supposed to look like, he knows what it takes to get to the final four. No Alabama coach, at Alabama or anywhere else has ever been a head coach in a final four game. Just think about that. So, the advantage to Howland is may be he could come in and make things more like UCLA if nothing else. If he got things on track, his replacement (he is old anyway) could have more to work with. I'd prefer some other options, but Howland is a better option than (insert coach here who hasn't ever really done anything).

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Exactly......what I'm scared of is that we hire an unproven coach with a gaudy mid major record against bad teams....i.e. Murray St.....it would be similar to what we did when we hired and grant.....not saying that mid major coaches aren't good but just saying its a risk/reward type of deal and I don't think we need to go that route again.....maybe not Ben Howland (although I don't think hats a bad choice) but someone that is proven and has shown he can win at a major program

Howland can only repeat his UCLA recruiting success if he brings his relationship with the Pump brothers with him. I doubt that happens because they are adidas guys.

At this point I don't wanna be picky, but I also hope we stay out of Murray St. and VCU! Be there, done that! Let's shoot for the moon.....

I am not on the Howland bandwagon, however going to multiple final fours is something only a handful of other coaches can claim. Whichever coach we hire I hope that a final four appearance is on his resume.

I keep seeing people saying the talent level in Alabama is bad. There is talent in Alabama every year that chooses to go elsewhere to school is the problem. Cousins and Bledsoe come to mid off the top of my head. We need to shut down the border and get every top kid instead of them ending up at UK or Uconn or where ever U. The good players we have gotten from inside the state either haven't panned out or haven't been developed. Alabama has always needed to get some kids from Mississippi to be successful like Hollywood, McDyess, Mo Williams and McKey. We are not getting those recruits now. It is closer for most kids in Mississippi to come to Alabama than either Ole Miss or State. We also have to be able to recruit Atlanta well.