Figure that this deserved its own thread instead of random tangents in others.
So far, here's what we've got with some of the big ones listed here:
Pitt
Out: Kevin Stallings
In: Jeff Capel
Louisville
Out: Rick Pitino, interim David Padgett
In: Chris Mack
UConn
Out: Kevin Ollie
In: Dan Hurley
Memphis
Out: Tubby Smith
In: Penny Hardaway
Georgia
Out: Mark Fox
In: Tom Crean
Ole Miss
Out: Andy Kennedy
In: Kermit Davis
Xavier
Out: Chris Mack
In: Travis Steele
There's a bunch of mid-majors looking for new coaches, so if anything interesting pops there we can include it in the discussion below.
EDIT: Updated with the Pitt & Louisville hires, added Xavier to the list.
EDIT 2: Xavier elevates top assistant Travis Steele to HC.
Forums:
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Comments
Rumor mill has sources saying that Chris Mack is in Louisville's sights. Additionally, there's persistent rumors that Shaka Smart's camp has reached out to Louisville, though I'm not sure I believe that.
As for Pitt, it will be interesting to see where they turn next after Hurley turned them down. My guess is that they zero in on Seton Hall's Kevin Willard, who is a Pitt grad. If they go after an up-and-comer, my next guess would be Buffalo's Nate Oats.
Shaka has sort of underwhelmed at Texas so far. For as successful he was a VCU, he hasn't gotten Texas to where they used to be a decade ago.
The thing is though, it's pretty easy to explain away the results. In Year 1, he did a solid job making the tournament with some holdovers. Year 2, he pretty much had no point guard after the presumed starter (Tevin Mack) was dismissed from the team. Year 3, the best 3-point shooter and perimeter defender on the team was diagnosed with leukemia midway through the season, but they still made the tournament.
It also doesn't help that the AD who hired Shaka is gone too. I can understand why he might be interested elsewhere, though I wonder if Louisville might be even more of a pressure-cooker than Texas. Basketball at Louisville is the center of attention, while it's second fiddle at Texas.
I have always been on the side that thinks Shaka Smart is a bit overrated. His success is really defined by the Final 4 run. Other than that, I feel like he had the same level of success at VCU as Capel, Grant and Wade (he just stayed longer). I feel like next year is a big year for him at Texas to turn the corner. As VT fans, we want success for Shaka at Texas because I would get really worried if that job were to open up next year.
I'm not sure I agree with this.
I don't agree with it at all.
It's not a tangible thing, but the element that sets Shaka apart from the others is how he's almost universally loved by his former players. He created a culture at VCU, and it's why he had assembled arguably the best VCU recruiting class in history until he left for Texas - he had signed Kenny Williams (UNC), Jordan Murphy (Minnesota) and Tevin Mack (followed Shaka to Texas but ended up getting booted after his freshman year).
Shaka isn't the best x's and o's guy of the bunch (that's probably Wade), but I firmly believe he's the best program-builder of any of them. Capel and Grant didn't stick at higher-level jobs the first time, and we'll see how Wade does next. He might get there, but I think his ego & personality may hinder him at the next level (it's basically an open secret that most of the VCU team hated Wade by the time he left).
It might have been a bit of a stretch... I do agree with you on the program-building qualities and I didn't know he was recruiting at such a high level.
I did I look into the numbers briefly and Anthony Grant surprisingly had the "best" resume of the 4 at VCU. A higher win percentage (.752 vs .744), more regular season titles (3 vs 0) and an equal number of conference tourney titles in half the number of seasons (2). There is something to be said about Shaka sustaining the success for 6 years vs just 3 but I found the comparison interesting.
By the raw numbers... sure, Grant was more successful, but context matters.
He did that in 3 CAA seasons, where the most bids the conference received to the big dance in any year during his tenure was 2, and the other two years the CAA was a 1-bid league.
During Shaka's 3 CAA seasons, the CAA had 1, 3, and 1 tourney teams in those respective years. During his 3 years at the helm once VCU moved to the A-10, the competition increased significantly. The A-10 had 5, 6, and 3 tourney teams during those seasons and VCU made the big dance every year. Plus, they made the finals of the A-10 Tournament every one of those years under Shaka, winning it in his final season at VCU.
I think Shaka is pretty easily the best of VCU's coaches and it came during one of the more difficult competitive stretches in VCU's history.
The Chris Mack to Louisville rumors have been heating up significantly.
Vince Tyra was elevated from interim AD to permanent AD today, and there are even rumblings that families of certain recruits have been told that individuals currently associated with Xavier are recruiting for Louisville.
We might see something within the next 24 hours on the Louisville front.
My co-worker went to high school with Chris Mack and he heard from his circle of friends the same thing that assistants said they are recruiting for Louisville now. Also worth noting, Chris Mack's wife is from Louisville. Also also worth noting, Chris Mack is from the west side of Cincy and west siders don't leave. Ever.
Charlotte
Out - Mark Price
In - Ron Sanchez (UVa Assistant)
ECU
Out - Jeff Lebo
In - TBD (worth noting that Dave Odom is on their search committee... could be influential in getting UMBC head coach Ryan Odom)
Ryan Odom should be able to parlay his success into a low tier P5 job. Going to ECU would feel like settling since it's one of the worst high mid major jobs in college basketball. I know it's a big jump from the America East to the P5/6, but he was remarkable at UMBC. They were in the basement of the America East for a long time and he turned it around in just a couple of seasons.
There's a lot of chatter about it coming out of Greenville, but I agree. At this point the ECU job is below him. At worst, I think he would do well to come in and fill the shoes of a coach who gets swiped from a high mid major.
Thing is, there's not really a low-tier P5 job available this offseason unless you see Pittsburgh as that option. And Pittsburgh has already shown they're swinging for the fences. I doubt they take a risk on a guy who's only head coaching experience is two seasons in a low-major conference, even if he did pull off the only 1-16 upset in history.
And if you're Odom, do you take the risk and stay at UMBC when your stock is extremely high?
Despite ECU's history of basketball ineptitude, they're arguably in the 7th best basketball conference in the country, 9th at worst depending on your view of where the AAC, A-10 and MWC stand. Plus, the moves that UConn and Memphis just made should increase the competitiveness across the board.
Agree, ECU is a terrible job right now. The American literally had dozens of fans at their tournament, despite a couple very good teams in Houston and Cincy. That league is on life support and ECU is at the bottom of it. I would stay far away from that job- major rebuild in a state with 8 better programs in it.
lol I thought you were comically exaggerating with the '8 better programs', but then I went through it in my head and I can name 9, arguably 10 that are better...
Duke, UNC, NCSU, Wake, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Asheville, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro, Davidson... Phew, that's not good for ECU. And really, you could argue that NCCU is stepping up and has passed them in recent years with their recent tournament appearances.
Nope, I really was not trying to exaggerate. ECU is that bad.
No arguments here... ECU was always my "well, at least we're not...." during the James Johnson years.
I get that ECU has been a historically poor program. Only two NCAA appearances in their entire history is telling.
That being said, I believe they're in a much better position to succeed now than they ever have by being in the AAC due to the quality of opposition. It just depends on if they're willing to put in the resources to do it.
I have my doubts that they are though, since they've always put football success ahead of basketball. The other thing is that ECU's fanbase is not thrilled with the overall direction of their athletics department. They don't like the guy in charge and that's never a good sign.
But realistically, if you're playing UConn, Cincinnati, Memphis, Houston & Wichita State every year in basketball and have the right guy in charge, you should out-recruit UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Asheville, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro, NC Central, and probably Davidson. There's no reason they can't be the fifth-best program in the state, but they have to show they care first.
LOL- that's awesome!
well would ya just look at these two turning a new leaf? community moderation success story
I'm not so sure letting go of Padgett was a great idea. I know he didn't take the team as far as its potential might have suggested, but does anyone really want to go to that mess?
It would have made sense in my mind to hang onto him for one more year, let the NCAA stuff work its course and then make a move.
I knew URI wanted to keep Hurley, but no way could they afford to triple his salary to keep him. Heck, depending on where he was living in Rhode Island, he might not even have to move to coach at UCONN. The schools are only a bit more than an hour apart.
My hope is that whomever Louisville hires, VT might be able to beat him one day. We haven't beaten them in ACC play, so maybe the new guy will be the difference.
It's hilairous to watch Pitt fans convince themselves every 2 years now that they're going to lure Sean Miller away from Arizona.
Dude just put a potential #1 overall pick in the NBA and they legitimately thought he was gonna come coach a school that just went 0-19 and tried to nickel-and-dime their coach out of his buyout.
The only way Pitt pulls Miller is if Miller is convinced that he's used up his goodwill in Arizona or sees the program taking a dive next season after this year's embarrassment, and even then there are better programs he could go to.
Even more interesting is that he's under the FBI wiretap cloud and still said no to Pitt
He is pretty sure he is innocent and can prove it. Or at least never admit it if you don't think they can prove it.
That being said, I would rather live in Arizona than Pitt.
I was honestly hoping for many scum coaches to go down in flames with this FBI investigation. But, I doubt that will happen. Miller will somehow weasel his way out of any accountability in paying Ayton 100K to play college basketball, and people will still cry for a pseudo NBA because its only "fair" to pay the players for all the "billions" they rake in. This will end with status quo I'm afraid.
I am not going to touch if he is guilty, Ayton is guilty, etc. I don't know enough. I know Ayton was cleared to play this year.
My biggest laugh is the middleman who got the charges dropped because he admitted he took the money from the shoe companies and kept it rather than giving it to the athletes or their families. As he said, what was the shoe company going to say, the middleman stole our illegal bribes?
LOL, yep. Its all dirty. and I have to listen to Boeheim and K whine about how much "Nike" does for AAU, and how important they are, etc. etc. Give me a break. Nike wants to make millons off endorsements for these kids- period. They want a "Tiger Woods"- buy low, sell high. (Duh). so by funneling 100K to Ayton, stashing him at a "nike" school for a year, they are banking he will sign with them when he turns pro and make them a bunch of money/sell a bunch of shoes. an Adidas or Under Armour school was not getting Ayton under any circumstances, because of his ties to Nike's AAU money and shoes they give the kids - Coach K equates this to nearly curing cancer, BTW. at any rate, the entire thing is dirty and needs to be blown up. VT can not compete consistently against Duke or Syracuse when Nike is hand delivering them much higher rated recruits- its impossible. AAU is why both Gary Williams and John Thompson quit prematurely- its a cess pool.
Something has got to change....
There are rumors out there that the university's general counsel killed talks with Sean Miller. Don't know how true that is, but a lot of people with supposed inside knowledge had Pitt working on contract details with him up until this past weekend, although Hurley was always a first priority.
I've seen this floated by sources fairly well-connected at Pitt, so who knows what the truth is at this point.
is Louisville's job tainted with their transgressions? Or does a new coach just flip the page on that and gave them back to a final four contender in a few years?
I could see it either way. I could see guys like Mack and Smart not even considering it.
Or.....who knows. Maybe be "we used to have a brothel" is actually recruiting advantage....
#TurnoverChainz
I think it's too quick to come to any finishing conclusion on this one.
I wonder if Kevin Willard's connections to Pitino (his dad was a frequent assistant to the old vampire) hurts or helps his candidacy.
Willard needs to jump, he's graduating a bunch, he's done a nice job at SHU and they are notoriously cheap.
I'm at the NJCAA National Championship and Buzz got here yesterday. Said he had never been to Blacksburg a day in his life but he came to work for Whit and now he loves it. Didn't know where else to put this.
This is an appropriate enough thread. Thanks for preempting the Buzz to the Big 12 talk that usually pops up this time of year.
In some lower-profile coaching carousel news, recently-fired-from-Memphis Tubby Smith appears set to take the job at his alma mater High Point.
Tubby Smith's career...
Question about that gif. Did that guy die?
EDIT: Apparently that is a woman named Angel Collinson and she walked away from that.
https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/29/sport/skiing-angel-collinson-alaska/index...
I could tell that person still had control of their body. When they get knocked out it looks 100x worse then that.... I've watched too many extreme skiing videos. Rarely do people die except from avalanches and doing that over rocks.
I fully expected her to hit one of those big rock formations later in the video.
Also, what is the true angle at which she's falling?
By my calculations the true angle is a downward sloping mountainous angle.
I called NOAA to send us the snow friction on that face of the mountain that day.
Also a metaphor for his coaching career. "Tubby Takes A Tumble"
Looks like Pitt has decided to hire Duke assistant coach Jeff Capel.
Nothing confirmed yet, but lots of sources are reporting it. Seems like a solid hire even though he flamed out at Oklahoma. He's known to be a great recruiter, and he did well at VCU during his stint there.
that would be a steal. He's Duke's best recruiter and the heir apparent to Coach K...
A blind monkey could be a great recruiter at Duke.
True, but the Duke staff is very open that recruiting went to another level when they hired Capel. As crazy as it is to think, their recruiting will take a bigger hit than you'd think if he goes elsewhere. He's their primary guy who helped land pretty much all their top recruits in recent years.
There's no way that coach K isn't the single best recruiter in college basketball. He is the slightly less dominant slightly more personable Nick Saban of the sport.
Now you have to wonder how many of the current kids decide not to transfer
Think this still works out great for Duke, less they lose his recruiting prowess. Capel either flames out at Pitt, considering that he is inheriting arguably the biggest dumpster-fire of a p5 program. Or he rebuilds slow, gets them winning again and re-entrenches his reputation as an able coach at this level and then Duke has the opportunity to hire him whenever coach K retires/replaces the devil.
And if he is still just treading water @Pitt, they'll hire one of coach K's other former players/assistants.
You have to think Pitt administration knows this too? Perhaps their program is in such dire straights that they'd take 3, 4 years of rebuilding with Capel to lose him to a conference rival, with the notion that at least he'll leave the program in a better position than Stallings did?
I'm somewhat surprised that any power conference team is going after Capel. Yes, he "recruits" well but there's been long-standing rumors on the AAU circuit about "Capel and the Duffel Bag Boys." Seems like a big risk with the FBI investigation still ongoing.
He did get the #1 overall pick in the NBA draft to go to Oklahoma.
Though, he was among the youngest coaches and hottest names in the NCAA at that time. I don't know if the recruiting success he had when he was ~30 in his first stint, will carry over to this reclamation project of Pitt basketball + his own coaching reputation.
If I were a Pitt fan, i'd be mixed on this hire. I think Capel has the means to get them back to the middle of the pack in the ACC in 3 years. If he has tremendous success though, he will leave for his alma mater if/when Duke comes looking. That can never be a comfortable feeling for any fanbase.
Justin Fuente something something Oklahoma
Good thing he never graduated :)
Let's just hope the mighty Murray State Racers don't come knocking.
Anybody heard anything about Buzz to Texas A&M? I was told their coach, Billy Kennedy is stepping down due to health reasons. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's back in 2011 and Buzz might be on their radar if so.
FTFY
(If I didn't do it somebody else would have)
Nope.
EDIT * checks comment history of Vatech03
It's on another VT website and I know for a fact that don't post click bait.
Is that the same source where you posted this gem after Frank Beamer's retirement?
Buzz to aTm has been widely discussed on TSL for 10 days or so now. Apparently Buzz has been sniffing around. aTm gotz all the monies and a lot closer to Buzz and his wife's fam. {Big negative, you would have to share a zip code with Jimbo}
But that doesn't mean that a.) Kennedy is really stepping down or b.) that Buzz would be their choice.
Thank you for the insight. Real Sources or just "discussed" by random people that Buzz is sniffing?
Chris Coleman at TSL, he's reliable.
I totally agree with you on Kennedy stepping down or not or even if Buzz would be their choice. Just saying Buzz could be a possibility if Kennedy does step down.
TO be fair, his first post is this one
With Pitt confirming the Capel hire & Mack confirmed by Louisville, it looks like Xavier is the next domino in line.
Associate Head Coach Travis Steele seems to be the name floating around the most, but other names being floated are Pat Kelsey (Winthrop HC, Xavier alum & former assistant), John Brannen (Northern Kentucky), and even former HC Thad Matta.
What ever happened to Pat Kelsey reneging on UMass and going back to Winthrop, 2 days into his job in Amherst?
How about Seth Greenberg looking at that ECU job...? Saw something while trolling around on the interweb. Never much cared for Greenberg. He had trouble keeping good assistants around.
via GIPHY
WT-oh, ECU! Got it.
Seth has things way too good in the studio to come back to coaching at such a terrible program.
And honestly, I am happy for him. He did what he could for us as a basketball coach and actually spoke up when we got shafted by the Dance Committee. He seems to enjoy being on air as a commentator/analyst and is much better than most of the talking heads.
Staff stability didn't seem to always be an issue with Greenberg but it does appear things turned bad around the program in 2011. Up until that point assistants had only left for comparable or arguably better jobs, but Ryan Odom left for Charlotte, Bill Courtney didn't work out at all, Adrian Autry left after just one season, and the word was John Richardson was largely related to recruiting ties (Dorian Finney-Smith).
Couple of new(ish) bits of information...
Xavier has elevated Travis Steele to head coach in the wake of Chris Mack's departure for Louisville.
It also appears that ECU has hired Joe Dooley from FGCU.