New coach search...

Anticipating a new Marshall in T'town, but if that ain't the culmination of the coach search, please let there be one certainty to come from it: No Barns, er, Barnes - "oleaginous clown" doesn't cut it as job criteria.

TitleWave said:

Anticipating a new Marshall in T'town, but if that ain't the culmination of the coach search, please let there be one certainty to come from it: No Barns, er, Barnes - "oleaginous clown" doesn't cut it as job criteria.

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I cringe at the thought of Barnes.

I am no basketball coach, but I can see a team with good fundamentals. Wichita State has very good fundamentals skills which make them the exception not the rule. College basketball is suffering from kids growing up with poor skills because they are not taught them at a young age. They all want to dunk and shoot 3's instead of learning to block out and shoot mid range shots.

I think Marshall will take the program where it has never been, at final four and a shot at a championship. He will leave WSU because he understands he can't get the top level players to win a championship. For all the talk about mid majors, when was the last time one won a championship? Texas will not give him total control of the program which I think he wants. We are going to do what we should have done a long time ago, hire a great coach, give him the reins and get out of the way.

I'd like LD's opinion of him as a coach.

Sorry. Already covered.

WMack4Bama said:

Not sure if this has already been discussed, but umm...in terms of them being able to match the money..

Yeah

about

that

But in any event, call me a skeptic...but I just don't see Marshall coming here. The national perception of us is a lot different than our perception of ourselves. I think he stays put.

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I'm not worried about national perception, I'm more concerned about Marshall's perception. Gut feeling is that his perception does not match national perception.

WMack4Bama said:

Don't hold your breath man. I really, really feel like a lot of our fans are setting themselves up to be disappointed here by putting all of our "eggs" in one basket.

But if it does, happen Mazel Tov!!

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I'm optimistic that we will get Marshall but I'm not unrealistic enough to think that it is a done deal. From everything that I can gather Coach Battle has given Marshall a VERY attractive offer and that is all I, or anyone, can expect him to do. Go for the best with your best and let the chips fall where they may. If Marshall turns us down, there are other good candidates out there. The fact that we went all-in for Marshall lets me know that the AD is serious about the basketball program and will do what it takes to make it successful. If we are continuing to strike out after our 3rd candidate (whoever that might be) then I will start to get concerned that we might wind up with a Mike Price-type of hire.

WMack4Bama said:

Not sure if this has already been discussed, but umm...in terms of them being able to match the money..

Yeah

about

that

But in any event, call me a skeptic...but I just don't see Marshall coming here. The national perception of us is a lot different than our perception of ourselves.I think he stays put.

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I don't know whether we get him or not, but I agree 100% with your comments about our perception.

If the Koch brothers were going to shell out large sums of money for the sole purpose of keeping Marshall at WSU they would have already done so. Marshall has been offered more money several times by other schools and turned them down. Anyone in their right mind would know that the offers will keep coming in and will increase over time. If they wanted to lock him down by offering huge sums of money they would already have done so, IMHO. Typically (not always, but typically) donors such as the Koch brothers do not donate their money to people but for buildings that will bear their name. Plus, the Koch brothers cannot touch the SEC Network. I don't think (myself included, until recently) have understood the impact that the SEC Network will have on member schools to be able to recruit as well as provide additional funds. I think the SEC is about to become a very competitive basketball conference.

The facts are there are a lot of things that make sense for him. The money is more than fair, he will likely be able to work with Darren Boatright as the new AD who he knows and feels comfortable with, he is seeing the effect the SEC network has had on the exposure of the program, and he can compete for recruits that he can't attract at Wichita. Does all this add up to him coming, I hope so, but nothing is guaranteed. I know he is a very good and may be a great coach so we need to do everything possible to get him here and put him the position to win at the highest levels.

If we do not get him, it won't mean we don't get a good coach and whoever it is will be a decided improvement over our last one.

Well, I see we will have some competition seeking a new coach. Tennessee has fired their head basketball coach, so they will be beating the bushes to find a replacement as well.

Whatever we offer him, I hope that it is not only enough to lure him away from WSU, but enough to keep him here long term, kind of like we did with Saban. Our BB program needs stability and total rebuilding, which takes time. $3.5-$4 million sounds like a lot, but in the scheme of things and given the size of our war chest lets be honest, it's not really that much. We probably keep that much in the petty cash drawer. I would not want to have to worry about losing him every time a big name 'basketball' school job opens up. Let's get him AND lock him down with a generous long term contract.

Crimson Speed said:

Well, I see we will have some competition seeking a new coach. Tennessee has fired their head basketball coach, so they will be beating the bushes to find a replacement as well.

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UT-Knoxville will not be competing with us for a new coach given their financial situation. UT-Austin might be competition but at the moment they still have a basketball coach and it appears that will not change until next week, if at all.

Crimson Speed said:

Well, I see we will have some competition seeking a new coach. Tennessee has fired their head basketball coach, so they will be beating the bushes to find a replacement as well.

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It has been stated by several others, but UTe doesn't have the current financial situation to search in the same coaching circle we do. Their short list may have some big names on it, but they lack the finances to go for that kind of hire it seems.

Didn't Miller just sign an extension, coach at Dayton?

What about the young guy at Memphis? Pastner?
Lavin was just let go after five years at St. John's? (working off memory here)

If it means anything, didn't Miller just sign off on a contract extension to 2022?(sorry, just saw the post above mine)

4Q Basket Case said:

Looks like there's a pretty strong consensus on the board that Marshall is our first choice, and I'm strongly in that group. But things don't always work out as we want, and you have to have contingency plans.

Who's your top backup?

Mine was Ben Howland. Now that he's off the market, it's Archie Miller.

What say you?

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If Brad Stevens had any interest in coming back to coach college basketball then he would be far and away my top choice. But I don't think that is going to happen so perhaps Shaka Smart would be my next pick. I agree that Howland would have been next had MSU not snapped him up so quickly. Kudos to them for making that move. After Smart then perhaps Archie Miller but I don't know much about him. I prefer more proven winners than the younger guys who have had some success but only at one place for a short period of time. Those guys, more often than not, do not pan out in the long-term after switching to higher profile jobs. However, I can't think of anyone that meets that criteria that is looking for a job. Just read a few pages back on Barnes (not available at this moment) and Crean is at least 1 year away from having his buyout drop to a level where Indiana can fire him or some other school would be willing to buy him out.

If you have a perception problem you have one of two choices. Try to change it, or live with it. I'd rather attempt to change it. There is no good reason that Alabama basketball should accept being mediocre.