We have seen the jobs at LSU, Illinois, Washington, Morehead State, Missouri, NC State and Indiana come open and get filled so far.
Will Wade is leaving VCU for LSU, VCU is hiring Mike Rhoades, so now the opening is at Rice.
Syracuse extended Boeheim when Mike Hopkins, their coach in waiting took the Washington job.
Seems like Steve Alford is parlaying his Alonzo Ball score into a $30 mil deal with Indiana, so UCLA will be on the hunt for a new coach.
Cal is also hunting as their head coach Cuonzo Martin took the Missouri job.
Oklahoma State is looking again after one year as Brad Underwood took his "dream job" of Illinois.
Long Island University fired Jack Perri so they have an opening.
Duquesne has fired Jim Ferry so they are hunting for a new coach.
UMass fired Derek Kellogg and hired Pat Kelsey from Winthrop, so now Winthrop is in the coaching carousel.
UNC Wilmington is left searching after Kevin Keatts took the NC State job
These are the ones I see so far. It will be interesting to see who fills some of these jobs.
Comments
VCU fans are PISSED about Wade taking the LSU job.
Can't say I blame them honestly - they lost a top 15 recruiting class when Shaka left, and they might end up losing a top 25 class this year with Wade's departure.
Also, I may well be wrong about this, but I don't see LSU working out that well. Jury's still out on Shaka at Texas, but Capel at Oklahoma and Grant at Alabama didn't work out for either. Plus Wade is going to be going up against a much better lineup of SEC coaches now - just look at the list, there's no real easy out anymore.
Wouldn't be shocked to see a former VCU assistant like Mike Rhoades (Rice) or Jamion Christian (Mt. St. Mary's) end up with the job.
this brings joy to my heart. Growing up in richmond we would go see vcu games before the city became overrun by hipsters who thought they knew basketball. That team needs to drift back to being irrelevant again because their fans are the most annoying in the city.
Well, we're going to just disagree here.
I grew up in Richmond too and visit often since both my parents and in-laws are still there - VCU basketball having a national profile is good for the city.
Every fanbase has annoying fans. Even VT. As a freshman during VT's tournament year, my roommate and I had season tickets with a group of hardcore basketball fans. Most of the guys in that group were from North Carolina, so they grew up Duke & UNC fans, but they knew basketball because it was their passion. During that season, I felt that the student section was pretty knowledgeable because it was filled with people who just loved the game and there had not been a history of success with Hokie basketball.
The next season, we weren't all able to get tickets due to the demand after the NCAAT appearance - those of us that did were severely disappointed, since we were then surrounded by a bunch of obnoxious fans who knew nothing about the game and it really soured my experience that year. Just shows that there are obnoxious fans everywhere.
Yea we still have a ways to go as a fan base in our basketball knowledge and expectations.
Don't hate us because we are consistently the best basketball team in the state.
I guess you mean VCU as 'us' in this statement and if that is the case I think UVA has a bit of an argument with that. VCU has had a good run over the last 10 years but not a great one. The Final 4 run was very impressive and put them on the map, but take a way those 3 weeks and they really only have 1 A-10 title and lots of first and second round exits.
I hope VT can get to 7+ straight tourney trips one day but I also really want to schedule VCU yearly because we can compete with them and it may bring their fanbase down a notch in thinking they are worlds better than VT which is what I feel their perception is now.
Eliminating each teams' best run in the dance since 2007, VCU has 4 wins and UVA has 5 wins in the tournament.
VCU has never been higher than a 5 seed. UVA has been seeded 1 (twice), 2, 4 and 5 during that stretch. Yet, they could only manage one more win (1 fewer if you don't throw out each teams' best run)?
VCU has missed the tourney twice. UVA, five times since 2007.
I'll take VCU's past 10 seasons over those of LOLUVA every single day and twice on sundays
Fair enough, I just think from a national perspective UVA would currently be perceived as the top team in VA. Over the past 5 years they have consistently been in the top 25 throughout the course of the season whereas VCU seems to just hover in the 20-40 range.
... ugh I feel dirty defending UVA
I'll agree that that is the national perception of the two, but I don't agree that it's actually a fact. Either way, as a fan, I'd rather have a team that overperforms expectations regularly than one who does the exact opposite
University of Virginia: Falling Short of Expectations Since 1819
VCU is tied in sixth place with 7 consecutive years of NCAA tournaments.
Nothing is finalized yet, but it looks like Mike Rhoades is going to be VCU's next coach.
Really good hire, and it might be a guy who sticks around for a bit. For reference, he was the head coach at Randolph Macon for 10 years before becoming an assistant at VCU under Shaka Smart.
checks out
Indiana Head Basketball Coach Brad Stevens.
Ha, nope. Brad Stevens isn't leaving Boston anytime soon. NBA coaching will always be a bigger draw than college coaching, especially when a coach is as successful in the NBA as Stevens has been. Add to that Boston's basketball history, a good young core and Brooklyn's first round pick this year, Stevens is set up for the near future for incredible success in a place that loves him.
Indiana is going to get Steve Alford or maybe Gregg Marshall.
I'm not sure how serious that first comment was, but also worth noting: The Celtics are second in the East currently.
The treasure chest is not just full of Brooklyn picks, they've stockpiled an unbelievable amount of picks (some protected). Boston's gonna be winning some Championships in the not so distant future, Stevens isn't going anywhere
2017 first round draft pick from Brooklyn
2017 second round draft pick from Cleveland
2017 second round draft pick from L.A. Clippers
2017 second round draft pick from Minnesota
2018 first round draft pick from Brooklyn
2019 first round draft pick from L.A. Clippers
2019 first round draft pick from Memphis
2019 second round draft pick from Detroit
2020 second round draft pick from Miami
they have all the picks
God that would suck to be an OK State fan. Your team makes the tournament under a first year head coach after a pretty great season, gets bounced opening day, and then loses said head coach over the weekend. If you were a recruit under Underwood, why would you ever want to commit to a guy who may very well take the next hot job this time next year? Never heard of coaches to be one-and-dones...
It's their own fault for cheaping out on Underwood in the future with a promise to renegotiate his deal....then not offering to renegotiate. OSU fumbled that badly.....now every coach out there will look at how badly it was done and ignore their DM's.
Underwood made it clear that the Illinois job was one he considered to be on his "dream job" list. Not sure money or other enticements meant much on keeping him at OK ST.
Underwood previously spent about 10 years as an assistant coach at Western Illinois.
Every time you all say Underwood, I can't help but think how cut throat a Frank Underwood team would be
Wichita State must be a hell of place to coach considering Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois were all looking for coaches and couldn't pull in Greg Marshall
It's that sweet, sweet Koch brothers money.
Depending on the source you read, Gregg Marshall is one of the 10 highest paid coaches in college basketball with a salary hovering north of $3 million annually.
He has the money but he also is essentially a walking diety in Wichita. Any of those other places and he becomes just a face around town amongst other faces. He dominates his league, where if he moved, he likely would find competition alot stiffer. Only thing that might kick start him to move is if his team keeps getting low tourney seeds because of their mid-major status. The longer he stays the more permanent I think he becomes there.
...and he has a private jet to use for recruiting.
Maybe they all called Marshall, met him and his wife in person and then the schools were like....."Nah....don't need any of dat."
VCU is like the Houston of college football. Good program that has always had really good coaches that eventually bolt for brighter lights. That's not necessarily a bad thing per se, because they have developed a culture of winning and I don't that going away anytime soon.
At some point one of their coaches needs to realize he's got a good gig with VCU and stick to beating the brakes off of A-10 teams year after year. None of the past 3 that left have gone on to do jack:
Capel got fired 5 years after bolting for OU
Grant got fired 6 seasons into his time at Bama
Shaka just tied a 35 year old record for losses in a season
and LSU just doesn't seem like a good fit for WW, to me
It's way too early to tell, but I think Mike Rhoades may end up being a guy who sticks around longer than the others.
He's a guy from PA who got his start in coaching in the Richmond area - first as an assistant at Randolph Macon, then as the head coach at the same school before joining Shaka's staff at VCU.
The guy lived in the Richmond area for almost 20 years. He could certainly have higher aspirations, but I think he's a good a bet as any to stick around for a while since he knows the area and this is almost like a homecoming for him.
I hope you're right. Like you said upthread, good VCU basketball teams are good for this city.
Yeah Capel got fired after five years at Oklahoma, but that was after he banked an extra $6.5 Mil plus a $1.75 mil buyout over that time over what he was making at VCU, and its not like he fell that far. He is the Associate Head Coach at Duke and will battle for that seat in a few years with a couple other Coach K disciples.
Grant got an extra $8.4 mil at Alabama, plus is owed a $5 mil buyout but that is reduced by any current salary. He is an assistant now with the Oklahoma City Thunder making about $800,000 a year so at that rate, will see about an extra $1M from his buyout.
Shaka Smart is where things get weird because VCU offered to bump Shaka to $2.8 from the $1.8 he was making to keep him from going to Texas. That is the same amount he took from Texas to go there with annual increases built in so that this year he made $2.9M. His transition could turn out the worst of all of them so far.
Will Wade is getting $2M annually from LSU, where he had been making $1M at VCU, so he stands to gain about $1M a year from his new contract. I agree that he also faces a pretty tough challenge at a football school that is not exactly located in a basketball hotbed in terms of recruiting to have as strong a program as he had at VCU. An extra Million a year though goes a long way towards a nice retirement, even with half going to taxes.
VCU AD says he offers to match it.
There's a lot about Wade's departure that doesn't make him look good on the way out:
- AD offers to match salary and meet every one of Wade's checklist items, yet he bails anyway
- Didn't tell his players or administration before news leaked, supposedly still hasn't met with the team
- Current players openly alluding on social media to being fine without him
Take it all with a grain of salt, but there's already stories trickling out about personality traits that make him somewhat hard to deal with. I think people forget that the guy has only been a head coach for 4 years, is only 34 years old and still has a lot of maturing to do. He's burned a lot of bridges at VCU in the 18 hours or so since the news came out though.
I also think every major recruit he pursues is going to get pitched, "Are you sure he'll be there in 3 years?"
Even though Capel eventually got canned by OU, I don't think it's fair to say he went "on to do jack." Replacing the Griffin brothers is not an easy task at all, and he still got that team to the tournament twice, including an appearance in the Elite 8.
The rest of these names are hard to argue, however.
Agreed. And in that Elite 8 game against UNC, the Sooners started 0-15 beyond the arc and finished the game 2-19. That's just rotten luck. That Tar Heel team that went on to win the Big Dance was loaded with guys that are still in the NBA too (Psycho T, Tyler Zeller, Ty Lawson, Danny Green, and Ed Davis).
Any chance Buzz could poach somebody from VCUs current class?
Anybody we would want?
They have a solid class, but looking at the bare minimum of information, it doesn't look like there's anything better there than what we have coming in.
And I'm not sure how many schollys we have tied up for next season already anyway
None. If Wilson returns on scholarship, as was reported in February, there are no spots open.
Winthrop added to the OP as UMass hires away Pat Kelsey
That's a great hire.
There's also reports that Duquesne is pursuing Monmouth's King Rice. People may scoff at that move, but apparently their administration is getting serious. For reference, here are rumors that they're exploring a $40 million renovation to the Palumbo Center.
If that pans out, the A10 will have made several outstanding hires.
EDIT: Just kidding about King Rice to Duquesne. Now reports saying he was never in talks.
Well that didn't last long
Do we need to be concerned about Okie St trying to go after Buzz?
Not if they keep in the same budget area that they used to get Brad Underwood. If they open the pockets and the perks its always a possibility.
They would probably need to triple their BBall HC salary budget from $1M to $3M to get Buzz.
I would expect the Underwood situation sours most coaches on that environment. I would expect they end up with someone like the guy from FGCU for about $1M again.
Are any of Buzz's assistants ready to jump to a HC role? McNeily maybe?
I think that the current crop of assistants would likely have to take on a smaller program. Isaac Chew was probably the closest. McNeilly seems the most involved in the in-game action but experience wise, Jeff Reynolds has already been a head coach multiple times, coaching Air Force, Wingate, and North Carolina Wesleyan, and Roccaforte also has head coaching experience at Lamar.
One challenge that I see for coaches under Buzz is being able to garner enough attention to get the opportunity to interview. Buzz is such a big personality that there is little room for his assistant coaches to get much spotlight. Buzz wouldnt actively prevent any of his coaches getting better because that would just be against his nature but I think there is some overshadowing effect of Buzz being himself that does transfer.
I also have to wonder if Roccaforte or Reynolds have reached the points in their careers where they want another head coaching gig or if they are satisfied being assistants in an ACC program. Roccaforte has been coaching since 1989 at Centenary College. Reynolds got his start in 1981 at JMU.
Montgomery County and Tech is such a nice place to live, who would want to leave?
I love the NRV, but after 4.5 years there, I was ready to leave after graduation.
I can definitely understand this sentiment, as I headed for larger pastures after I graduated. But now, after many years away, I would go back to live in the 'burg in a heartbeat. Love visiting every chance I can - and with a daughter now attending VT, that's on the upswing.
It's a wonderful place in the fall, but that's why I just drive six hours to see the football games.
Thompson out at Georgetown.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18984268/georgeto...
Thats a big opening. Not quite as much as when the Big East was dominant but still a fairly strong Blue Blood school. Going to be a ton of candidates for that one.
early names: Ewing, Amaker, Shaka, Crean, DHurley, Li'l Pitino, Christian (MtSM's), AMiller, Marshall
Ewing, obviously, is very intriguing. Apparently he's very close to the Thompson family, which complicates things. Amaker is a pretty safe move, probably not a lot different than JT3. Shaka doesn't make sense to me, he needs time to build his system and he's 2 years in at UT. Crean is a backup plan. DHurley could be the best move they could make. I don't know what to make of L'il Pitino yet. This doesn't seem like the move Archie has been waiting on. And Marshall is an asshole, so if Gtown hires him, that would be great.
Only one person qualified for that job...
Would he hold practice though?
For those worried about Buzz... Oklahoma State promotes Mike Boynton to head coach.
To make things more interesting, they hired an independent firm to do the search that came up with that decision.
Wow. Talk about easy money.
"So have you completed your exhaustive search for a head coach?"
"Um...yeah...totally. After our, you know, super exhaustive search we have determined that the best fit would be...that guy over there. Yep. Definitely the best option from all the coaches we looked at. Now where's our check?"
.....and yet another time when Doug Gottleib gets passed over. Better luck next year, Doug!
Wasn't even worried. Buzz has been too busy looking fly as hell on CBS to negotiate a contract.
And to top it off, the guy who runs the search firm (Fogler) was Boynton's college coach at South Carolina.
Things that make you go, "Hmm..."
That reminds me of when the NCAA hired an independent firm to come up with a name for the football playoff and they ended up with "College Football Playoff."
Keith Dambrot to Duquesne from Akron.
I think that's a great hire for a moribund program, and his connection to LeBron can't hurt.
Sources: Patrick Ewing has a multi-year deal to become Georgetown's coach. He will start immediately, leaving Charlotte's staff now. - Wojo
I think this is a great hire. I for one have been waiting to see Ewing as a head coach. He will need to surround himself with coaches with recruiting experience as that isnt a factor in the NBA but other than that I really have thought he got passed over a couple times because other teams didnt want the day to come to have to fire an NBA legend if things didnt go well.
I imagine that he also had some closed door sessions over the last couple weeks with John Thompson because of the delicate situation of replacing his son but still carrying on the legacy of Georgetown basketball. Its well known Ewing considers JTII to be a father figure.
There wasn't really another choice. They tested the waters on the big coaches like Shaka, Mack and one other, but it didn't make sense to hire a guy like Hurley or Amaker or Crean if Ewing was available.
It will be exciting to see how it works out. I would like to see Chris Mullen pull it together as well.
I can't see Mack leaving his alma mater especially now that Xavier's in the Big East, getting a 2 seed last year, and making an Elite 8 this year. When Sean Miller left Xavier was still more of a stepping stone mid-major. There's very little room to move upwards from that program now.
But can he recruit, does he have the AAU connections to make an immediate impact on the trail?
I specifically said above that he would hire a coaching staff that was a heavy lean towards recruiting since its not something he has had to do in the NBA. Beyond that, how hard is it going to be for him to gain traction on the recruiting trail. Won a National Title at Georgetown, 15 year NBA Hall of Fame career, 15 more years as an NBA assistant coach. He will likely run a pro style offensive set and be able to say to kids and their parents "if you want to make it to the next level, I know exactly what they are looking for and can mold your time here at Georgetown to see that you make it."
I agree with you on all accounts.
I think Ewing is a great hire for Georgetown, even if the optics of sticking with someone from the Thompson tree isn't what a lot of the fanbase desired.
We'll see how he approaches the other aspects of the job, but I think Georgetown (and Ewing by extension) needs to do a better job with media access, marketing the program and making the fan experience something worthwhile. For the longest time, Georgetown was about winning but they didn't offer much else as a fan. Little engagement, and for someone who lives in NoVa like me, you basically forget that Georgetown basketball is a thing. That needs to change, even if the competition is stiff with entertainment options in the region.
I think Georgetown needs to separate itself from Verizon Center as a start. Even when they draw 7000 people the Arena sounds with echoes because of how empty it still is. They need to either find a way to expand McDonough to hold 7000 or they need to find a way to construct another facility. There just is no excitement to recruit from with games at Verizon Center. The only part time option I see for them is moving to DC Armory, which can hold as many as 10K. Until something changes there it's always going to be a challenge for any coach to convince top talent to come there. Doesn't help that they are also in the diminishing Big East.
I understand the idea, but the Armory is such a haul from Georgetown
Students already don't want to make the trip from campus to Chinatown, especially since you can't Metro there. I agree that they need an on campus site. Villanova moved back on campus and they have a huge home court advantage.
That's not entirely true regarding Villanova's on-campus facility. Yes, they play most of their home games at The Pavilion, but they still play about 5-6 games per season at the Wells Fargo Center.
I think a better solution for Georgetown at the Verizon Center for the immediate future would be to do what Seton Hall does at the Prudential Center - basically, they limit seating to the lower bowl and dim the lights on the upper deck. It makes the game environment a bit more intimate and allows fans closer to the action.
An on-campus arena for Georgetown is just a pipedream. While they could probably find space for one, the bigger issue is parking. You can have the nicest 6,500 seat arena in the world, but you're not likely to fill it anyway if there's not adequate parking.
People say it's hard for students to get to games at Verizon now since there's no metro, but it also works the opposite. If there's not enough parking nearby, you can kiss goodbye to the majority of paying customers.
Georgetown's best solution? Just win, baby. If they're a perennial top 25 program again, you'll start to see attendance climb again. It's no different from how things were in Blacksburg before Buzz's arrival, and now look at where we are. Winning cures all (well... maybe most) ills.
So they were doing construction on McDonough when i was there, but I think that they have ZERO intention on having their games there. Its just too difficult for anyone to get to that isn't on Georgetown's campus. Not having a metro stop really screws them.
I am in agreement with you that there is no current intent to upgrade McDonough. They essentially spent a ton of money adding an 144,000 square feet addition to it that supports all athletes but with that came an overall of the basketball practice facilities, meeting rooms, locker rooms, and offices.
I find the metro excuse pretty weak, even if it does require a bus to get to Foggy Bottom. Once on the Metro, making it to Verizon is not difficult.
I agree that DC Armory is a hike but I would only suggest it as a temporary location while they find a way to build somewhere else. If American University can find a way to have their own arena that seats 4500, you cant tell me Georgetown cant do it as well but up the seating a bit. If I was going to pick a spot on their campus that didnt involve expanding or replacing McDonough, it would be the big green space marked baseball fields near almost all of the student housing and there is an additional green space next to it just off 35th StNW that could be turned into a parking garage that would likely offset the parking requirements. Of course then they lose a ton of green space on campus but most of it appears to be practice fields for some sport already.
the metro excuse is huge. mainly because you have to take a bus from campus to the metro. I was there for one year as a grad student and only made it to one game because it is so difficult to get over to the verizon center. its not like walking across campus to get to cassell.
And the main issue with doing it on campus is that they just don't have to parking to accommodate outside parking. especially with the hospital being a part of the campus and having their own needs.
Majority of the student body these days lives off campus at Tech and parking is pretty scarce for basketball so many of them are forced to take a bus. Even those that just have to walk across campus usually are doing so in freezing Temps for the majority of basketball season so no cupcake walk, especially anyone coming from upper quad. Having to catch a bus to Foggy Bottom, which then takes one train change to get to Verizon is not much more difficult and definitely better protected from the weather. At least at Georgetown you know you are getting a ticket if you make it to the arena.
As for parking I specifically laid out that as part of building on campus they would need to build a parking garage to accommodate the arena. With DC building code they could build a six story garage with two underground and four above figuring about two hundred and fifty spots per floor, giving them fifteen hundred parking spots which should benefit the campus in general but also give them the space they need for basketball games.
I understand that, but you also have to take into account that buses in blacksburg are free for students to use. Georgetown not so much. Also the buses have to fight the dc traffic to get where they are going. It is a huge pain is what I'm saying.
Strongly disagree with this statement. The Big East had 7 of their 10 teams make the tournament this year. 2 of them (Xavier and Butler) made it to the Sweet 16 and Xavier went to the Elite 8. For those keeping track, that's one more team than the ACC sent to the Sweet 16...
If the argument becomes, "Well, they don't play their traditional rivals any more." That's a bit more understandable, but they still schedule Syracuse & UConn annually. They just see them once a season though so it alternates when they come to DC.
By my comment I wasnt just referring to men's basketball. This is a conference that is on the outside looking in when it comes to football so the monies available for television contracts and other forms of income are significantly decreased compared to the Power 5 schools. Then there is the fact that they only have 10 schools total and while yes, this year, 7 out of 10 made it to the tournament, that hasnt been the case consistently since the reallignment. One other aspect and its something that has been touched on above is the arena's that these schools play in as a conference. Its a mess with splitting arenas amid falling attendance. Four of their ten teams either relocate their top games off their campuses or all of their games are already off their campus. The Big East has gone from being regularly #1 or #2 in average attendance by conference to being regularly fifth, only beating out the PAC-12 of the Power Five programs.
I will give them this. They are no longer a target as a conference if any more realignment happens barring one of them starting a D1 football program. Essentially all 10 schools have basketball as their top priority athletically.
Yeah I look at the times right now as the last great hurrah of the non-Power 5 basketball powers. It's only a matter of time before the revenue streams of the major conferences start to completely leave the mid majors behind. Once that starts to take hold (and when you have programs like VT and Northwestern beginning to make a push you can argue it's already happening) the gap will grow to a chasm. I really think that in 5-10 years we may see a run where the non Power 5 programs all fall out before the Elite 8 annually and with maybe 1 from that group making the Final Four in a 4-5 year span. It's just going to be too difficult to keep up with the Joneses.
There are too many good college basketball players and not enough playing time on power 5 teams to accommodate them all. Power 5 teams might have amazing facilities and more money but ultimately the players dream of making it to the NBA and know they won't achieve that riding the pine so I believe there will always be highly competitive mid majors. Sure Georgetown and other bigger name mids have had lean years but VCU, Gonzaga, Wichita St, St Mary's, Dayton and others have had a fair amount of success.
UNC asst. C.B. McGrath has been hired @ UNCW.
San Diego St. coach Steve FIsher is retiring. That's a pretty good job, right? I wonder who gets it.
They have a coach in waiting taking the gig. Brian Dutcher.
James Johnson has returned to the ACC as an assistant at NC State.
Wasn't he at Miami?
yup, Director of Basketball Operations at Miami the last few years
Guess I missed it. DoBo's usually dont catch my radar as most schools these days use that position to slot someone they owe a favor too, like the high school coach of a kid they want to recruit.
Thad Matta out at Ohio State...
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/19550448/thad-mat...