Men's Basketball Potential Coaching Candidates Profiled

After the initial big discussion of who would be realistic candidates to replace JJ, I decided to go a little more in depth on each of the candidates. I am going to break these down into two groups. The first group will be what I would refer to as Premium Options, this is the group that I expect will take at least $2 million annually to hire as a coach. The second group will be the Realistic Options, those that we could hire in the $900,000 to $1.5mil range. All salaries are as best I could determine as publication is scarce on several of these candidates. This should give everyone a better idea of who these candidates are beyond the initial discussion and it will be right at the top for people to access the information rather than having to dig way down into that post. These coaches are all proven winners with clean programs that have brought mid major programs to the forefront and had success in developing talent with every day hard work. They are in no particular order inside either group.

PREMIUM CANDIDATES:

Buzz Williams
Current Position: Head Coach, Marquette
Years as Head Coach: 7 Years (Marquette, New Orleans)
Record: 153-86 (78-49)
Last Four Years: 92-47 (46-27)
Current: 17-15 (9-9)
Years Coaching: 24 Years (Navarro CC, Oklahoma City, Texas-Arlington, Texas A&M Kingsville, Northwestern State, Colorado State, Texas A&M, New Orleans, Marquette)
Played at College/Pro Level: None
Tournament: 5 NCAA (1 Elite Eight)
Current Salary: $2.8 Million
Recruiting Focus: His focus seems to be the traditional basketball setup. Smaller, fast guards, lanky swing players for the small forward and big solid players for the four and five positions.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Williams focuses his offense on hard lane play by his big men. He expects all of his lane players to be able to create a shot once catching the ball with their back to the basket. This requires finding big men with the ball handling skills to be trusted to put it on the floor and guards capable of the outside shot to prevent teams from crashing the lane.
Defense: Williams uses quite a few zone sets to force opponents to take bad shots. It requires his guards to be extremely quick to the open man and transition well on screens. His other focus is playing transition defense to prevent easy fast break points for the opponents.

Anthony Grant
Current Position: Head Coach, Alabama
Years as Head Coach: 8 Years (Alabama, VCU)
Record: 170-83 (87-39)
Last Four Years: 86-52 (39-27)
Current: 9-10 (3-3)
Years Coaching: 20 Years (Stetson, Marshall, Florida,)
Played at College/Pro Level: Forward, Dayton
Tournament: 3 NCAA, 3 NIT
Current Salary: $1.9 Million
Recruiting Focus: He currently focuses almost entirely on the south, half of his roster is from the state of Alabama. Does not seem to have any local players on his current roster which is surprising with the time he spent at VCU. I would have expected him to have better in-roads in this area than he appears to.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Could not determine a set offense for Alabama under Grant
Defense: For the third time in as many years, Grant's squad displayed an aggressive, disruptive and disciplined style that resulted in one of the top defenses in the nation during 2012-13. Alabama led the SEC in conference games with 9. 1 steals per game while ranking second in the league and 18th nationally in scoring defense, holding the opposition to 58.4 points per game. The Tide held 24 of 36 opponents below 60 points during the 2012-13 season.
Academic: Grant's teams have been just as successful in the classroom, with his 2009-10 and 2011-12 teams posting a perfect 1,000 score in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate (APR). Five of Grant's teams have achieved that feat and the program boasts an average APR score of 985 during his tenure.

Mike Lonergan
Current Position: Head Coach, George Washington
Years as Head Coach: 21 Years (GW, Vermont, Catholic University)
Record: 413-197 (214-81)
Last Four Years: GW: 23-38 (12-20) Vermont 48-19 (25-7)
Current: 15-3 (3-1)
Years Coaching: 25 Years (American International, Colgate, Maryland)
Played at College/Pro Level: Point Guard, Catholic University
Tournament: 1 NCAA, 2 NIT, 1 CBI, 9 NCAA Div III Playoffs (2000 Division III National Champion)
Current Salary: Undisclosed, Est. $1.5-$1.8 mil per year, Signed until 2016
Recruiting Focus: He played high school ball at Archbishop Carroll and has many ties to the DC area in regards recruiting. Now he is using it to recruit to a local team for a change. He also has brought in several high profile international players but the majority of his roster comes from Maryland, Virginia and the District.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Flex Offense, Almost run and gun, High focus on Big men rebounding on the offensive end.
Defense: High tempo, in your face defense looking to create mistakes

Greg McDermott
Current Position: Head Coach, Creighton
Years as Head Coach: 20 Years (Creighton, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State, Wayne State)
Record: 364-230
Last Four Years: Creighton: 80-30 (37-17) Iowa State 15-17 (4-12)
Current: 18-3 (8-1)
Years Coaching: 25 Years (North Dakota)
Played at College/Pro Level: Northern Iowa
Tournament: 5 NCAA, 1 CBI
Current Salary: $1,369,949 Signed until 2020
Recruiting Focus: His focus seems to be on Iowa as he spent quite some time there as a coach, so the Creighton roster is made up of five Iowa players. The rest of his current roster is scattered across the country so he appears to have the flexibility to go after the players he feels best fit his style of play.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Runs a strictly set play half court offense for the most part. Very methodical and clock consuming.
Defense: High pressure man to man defense, rarely if ever switches to a zone set. Creating turnovers and altering shots are a big focus.

Shaka Smart
Current Position: Head Coach, VCU
Years as Head Coach: 5 Years
Record: 127-41 (54-21)
Last Four Years: 110-37 (49-20)
Current: 17-4 (5-1)
Years Coaching: 14 Years (California (PA), Dayton, Akron, Clemson, Florida)
Played at College/Pro Level: Point Guard, Kenyon College
Tournament: 3 NCAA, CBI Champion 2010
Current Salary: $1.5 million, signed through 2028
Recruiting Focus: While VCU has benefited from recent runs in the NCAA, Shaka still recruits primarily close to home. Almost three quarters of the current roster comes from the District, Maryland and Virginia while the rest of the team is all from the East Coast. He focuses on lanky speed players that fit his system of play.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Transition offense when creating turnovers, set plays feature high guard screens allowing the ball handler to penetrate the lane to create layups or open shots for big men.
Defense: HAVOC, featuring full court press and press after made baskets, last two years they have ranked 1st nationally in Steals per game and turnover margin.

Gregg Marshall
Current Position: Head Coach, Wichita State
Years as Head Coach: 16 Years (Winthrop)
Record: 355-153 (179-66)
Last Four Years: 111-33 (54-18)
Current: 22-0 (9-0)
Years Coaching: 28 Years (Randolph-Macon, Belmont Abbey, College of Charleston, Marshall)
Played at College/Pro Level: None
Tournament: 9 NCAA, 2 NIT, 1 CBI 2010 NIT Champion
Current Salary: $1.75 Million under contract until 2020
Recruiting Focus: Marshall recruits nationally and focuses a high amount of his effort on prep school prospects to bring in talented kids that dont get picked up at premier Division 1 schools.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Runs primarily all his plays using the Triangle stack originally created at UCLA. His offense requires precision passing and the ability to take the open shot.
Defense: 50 Gap Defense is designed to clog the middle of the court and force outside shots with a hand in their face.

All of these guys would be a big improvement but are going to cost about $2 mil to $2.5 mil a year to bring in, so if Babcock can swing that, then I am all for these guys getting interviewed.

REALISTIC CANDIDATES:

Danny Manning
Current Position: Head Coach, Tulsa
Years as Head Coach: 2 Years
Record: 38-28 (21-11)
Last Four Years: 38-28 (21-11)
Current: 21-12 (13-3)
Years Coaching: 10 Years (Tulsa, Kansas)
Played at College/Pro Level: Power Forward, Kansas (1988 Natl Champ)/Seven NBA teams over fifteen years
Tournament: CBI, NCAA
Current Salary: Undetermined
Recruiting Focus: Manning has an advantage recruiting big men due to his career/coaching past. He seems to favor a fast paced team though in coaching Tulsa so far with a real focus on guards with the ability to shoot and pass. Seems to especially like slightly taller guards to allow 1-on-1 mismatch from the guard position.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Ball Screen Offense, very Guard play intensive
Mannings offense revolves around these points:
getting around the edge
splitting the defense
beating a trap
refusing a ball screen
two dribble finishes
pick-and-pop
Defense: Essentially a reverse of his offensive strategy, Manning expects his guards to play man to man defense with the ability to beat screens. High intensity defense that forces a significant number of turnovers leading to the fast break transition on offense.

Steve Pikiell
Current Position: Head Coach, Stony Brook
Years as Head Coach: 9 years
Record: 140-151
Last four years: 84-45 (49-15)
Currently: 15-6 (7-0)
Years Coaching: 22 years (UConn, Yale, Wesleyan, Central Connecticut, George Washington)
Played at College/Pro Level: Point Guard, UConn
Tournament: 3 NIT appearances in last four years.
Current Salary: Undisclosed, signed extension in 2012 to coach until 2017-18 season
Recruiting Focus: Most of his roster is second tier talent from the NY/NJ market which is where Stony Brook is located. He has some ties to the DC and Richmond area and pulled at least one guard out of there this last year. He also was in the mix for several of the big talents coming out of DC the last couple of years but ultimately couldn't steal them from some big name programs.
Basketball Style/Info:
Offense: Pikiell emphasizes the importance of key ideas like spacing, ball reversal, post touches and shot selection. He uses a specialty zone offense that puts players in constant motion and keeps the knockout player just one pass from the ball.
Defense: 2-2-1 defense, which features three simple components-no middle, no lay-ups, good defense. Teaching and practicing these key concepts eliminates game-day guesswork and over-thinking. In 2012 the Seawolves had the nation's sixth-best field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot only 37.8 percent, and the nation's 13th best scoring defense at 57.5 points allowed per game. Pikiell's squad held teams under 50 points seven times during the year, including allowing only 37 points to Hartford. He is also huge on his team being able to rebound the ball effectively, as they were 8th in the country in rebounding margin.

Derek Kellogg
Current Position: Head Coach, UMass
Years as Head Coach: 6 years
Record: 102-80 (41-45)
Last Four Years: 73-59 (30-34)
Current: 17-2 (4-1)
Years Coaching: 16 years (George Mason, Youngstown State, Memphis)
Played at College/Pro Level: Point Guard, UMass
Tournament: 2 NIT Appearances in last three years
Current Salary: $665,000 signed through 2017
Recruiting Focus: His current roster has kids from all over the country so it seems he goes after the talent that fits his system regardless of where they are as long as they contribute what he needs. Texas and the NY/NJ area seem to be his core but he has players from Seattle to Miami. He began coaching at George Mason so has ties to the DC market, he also took in Donte Clark, who committed to Tech before he failed to qualify, showing some similarity in player type between JJ and Kellogg. UMass currently have two players from the DC market on their roster.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Up Tempo, Dribble Drive Motion offense
Defense: P.A.I.N. Pressure Agitate Interrupt Neutralize, Diamond full court press

Randy Rahe
Current Position: Head Coach, Weber State
Years as Head Coach: 7 Years
Record: 155-78 (102-27)
Last Four Years: 98-36 (56-12)
Current: 10-6 (7-1)
Years Coaching: 25 Years
Played at College/Pro Level: Point Guard, Buena Vista
Tournament: 1 NCAA Appearance, 2 NIT Appearances, 1 CIT and 1 CBA
Current Salary: $275,000 (Private Money not included) signed deal in 2011 to stay until 2019
Recruiting Focus: mostly a West Coast/Texas guy so he would need to make in roads, but that's where your assistant coach hires become abundantly important. Half his current roster is from Texas.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Pick and Roll movement offense. In 2012, Wildcats were the best shooting team in the country, finishing first in the nation in field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage. The Cats also finished in the top 10 in the nation in four other categories and were one of just eight teams in the nation to win 30 games during the season.
Defense: "Be hard to score on and rebound the ball," said Rahe. effort, defense, rebounding Multiple look defenses

Donnie Tyndall
Current Position: Head Coach, Southern Miss
Years as Head Coach: 9 Years (Southern Miss, Morehead State, St Catharine College)
Record: 189-102 (87-45)
Last Four Years: Southern Miss: 27-10 (12-4) Morehead State: 57-35 (38-14)
Current: 18-3 (5-1)
Years Coaching: 24 Years (Iowa Central, Morehead State, St Catharine, LSU, Idaho, Middle Tennessee)
Played at College/Pro Level: Guard, Morehead State
Tournament: 2 NCAA, 1 NIT, 1 CBI, 1 National Junior College Tournament
Current Salary: $500,000 plus incentives. On contract until 2018
Recruiting Focus: has NYC on lock down, and draws almost half his roster from that talent rich environment which is hard to picture as he gets them to go down to Southern Miss, so I have to believe he could sell the same kids on Blacksburg if he needed to. He is also really good at identifying incoming foreign talent and getting them through the qualification challenges.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Mis-direction Double Set Plays. Slow, methodical offense.
Defense: You cant win if you cant score. In 2012, Southern Miss was top 10% of all schools in points allowed per game. So much of defense is just effort and toughness, and we demand that, Tyndall said. We dont have great size, but our depth and our press wears on teams. Defense is something you can control. Defense is effort, and youll find that our teams are always going to give great effort.

Tod Kowalczyk
Current Position: Head Coach, Toledo
Years as Head Coach: 12 Years (Toledo, Green Bay)
Record: 189-172 (94-92)
Last Four Years: Toledo: 38-58 (18-30) Green Bay 22-13 (11-7) Tough first year at Toledo going 4-28.
Current: 15-2 (3-1)
Years Coaching: 25 Years (Minnesota-Duluth, New Hampshire, Saint Anselm, Rider, Rutgers, Marquette)
Played at College/Pro Level: Guard, Minnesota-Duluth
Tournament: 2 CBI, 1 CIT
Current Salary: $370,000 signed through 2018
Recruiting Focus: focuses primarily on his talent rich backyard in Ohio, but has made some in roads in the last couple years to Maryland and DC.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Fusion Offense = Attacking Ball Screen Motion offense. His players are rarely standing around on the court which would be a welcome change from JJ.
Defense: Statistical analysis and preparation for every game but doesnt seem to have a preset defense Each point scored is assigned to a Toledo player, falling into categories such as mental discipline, transition, or poor position. Nine of Detroits 75 points were the result of well-executed offense rather than poor defense.
Academic: The Rockets also have displayed significant academic improvement under Kowalczyk. The teams most recent Academic Progress Rate figure was 959 with an expected mark of 981 for the 2012-13 season. The Rockets also posted a 2.982 team grade-point average in the 2013 spring semester.

Greg Lansing
Current Position: Head Coach, Indiana State
Years as Head Coach: 4 Years
Record: 72-48 (36-26)
Last Four Years: 56-44 (29-25)
Current: 16-4 (7-1)
Years Coaching: 23 Years (South Dakota, Indiana State, Iowa)
Played at College/Pro Level: Guard, South Dakota
Tournament: 1 NCAA, 1 NIT, and 1 CIT in four years.
Current Salary: $219,000 signed through 2017
Recruiting Focus: focuses on his backyard, bringing in Indiana and Illinois (Chicago) talent to bolster his roster but he does have kids from outside this zone, spread from Florida to Canada. Doesn't seem to have much in the way of local connections though.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Continuity ball screen offense to constantly have players in motion and exploit weaknesses in transition defense.
Defense: Shell Drill Defense or Box and One to protect the perimeter and make driving the basketball difficult.

Tommy Amaker
Current Position: Head Coach, Harvard
Years as Head Coach: 17 Years (Michigan, Seton Hall)
Record: 303-207 (131-119)
Last Four Years: 90-29 (45-11)
Current: 15-3 (2-0)
Years Coaching: 25 Years (Duke)
Played at College/Pro Level: Guard, Duke
Tournament: 3 NCAA, 7 NIT, and 1 CIT 2004 NIT Champions
Current Salary: $775,000 signed through 2018 (Turned down Miami $1.1 mil/5 Year offer in 2011)
Recruiting Focus: Recruits nationally, has a genuine challenge in finding athletes that are capable of meeting Harvards admission requirements as part of his recruiting needs. Focus is on extremely athletic players in the 1-3 spots and solid ball control and shooting skills in his 4-5 spots to run his offense. A native of Falls Church, Va., Amaker began his career in college basketball with a highly successful playing stint at Duke so he has plenty of local ties.
Basketball style/info:
Offense: Inside-Out Big Man Presence drives his offense, very focused on solid in the paint contributors to create opportunities on the floor.
Defense: Highly aggressive, extremely physical defense contesting every shot, his players are usually capable of defending multiple positions on the court.
Family: Married to Stephanie Pinder Amaker and I see no mention of children at this point.

As you can see from their profiles above, there are quite a few similarities between the coaches so I went ahead and placed them into a spreadsheet to make comparisons easier.

This first spreadsheet will show you how they stack up in career wins from top to bottom.

As you can see, Mike Lonergan has the most wins far and away, but he also has the most experience. Gregg Marshall this year has his team out to a 22-0 start but almost every candidate on this list has their team in a solid position to compete for an NCAA berth except for Alabama.

The second spreadsheet shows how these coaches stack up in terms of salary to get an idea of what its going to cost to bring our next coach in. Hopefully this summary is helpful. There are two salaries that say zero because I was unable to find a reliable source on what these gentlemen are making.

DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.

Comments

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

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If it ain't orange, it better be maroon...and if it ain't maroon, it better be soon!

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Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hy!
Tech, Tech, VPI

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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"Hokie religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." Han Solo

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Not the bagman VT deserves, but the bagman VT needs right now.

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Five star get after it 100 percent Juice Key-Playing. MAN

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Outside it's night time, but inside it's LeDay

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

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Outside it's night time, but inside it's LeDay

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

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Outside it's night time, but inside it's LeDay

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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Outside it's night time, but inside it's LeDay

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Live for 32. Ut Prosim. Let's Go, Hokies.

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

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Lifelong Hokie. Football enthusiast. Hoo Hater.

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ME Class of '16
VA --> AL
I'd rather be golfing.

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uva - the taint of the ACC
Callused perineum is a symptom of being a uva fan

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"Runs up the hill! Into the Tech student section! Here in Charlottesville!"

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Joffrey, Cersei, Ilyn Payne, the Hound, Jeff Jagodzinski, Paul Johnson, Pat Narduzzi.

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.

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Marshall University graduate.
Virginia Tech fanatic.
Formerly known as JWillHokieAlum.

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Marshall University graduate.
Virginia Tech fanatic.
Formerly known as JWillHokieAlum.

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You will see this game, this upset and this sign next on ESPN Sportscenter. Virginia Tech 31 Miami 7

His decision was made after a phone call with longtime Virginia Tech assistant coach Bud Foster. All Foster told him was, "We win. They don't."

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Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

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"For those who have passed, for those to come, reach for excellence."

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"For those who have passed, for those to come, reach for excellence."

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I have no idea why my username is VT_Warthog.

Arkansas blew a 24-0 lead in the Belk Bowl.

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.