As if last night's gut punch wasn't enough, it seems all but inevitable that we'll be hit a second time with the departure of Buzz to A&M.
This is a thread to discuss the future of basketball in Blacksburg, and namely focus on who will be leading our Hokies next year in Cassell.
Please feel free to suggest anyone else, especially those that are rumored to be linked to Tech.
Mick Cronin (Cincinnatti)
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47 years old, has been the head coach at Cincinnatti (his alma mater) since 2006. Prior to his current gig, Mick was an assistant at UC, then Louisville, before taking the Murray State job.
He's a Cinci native, and his current contract (extended in 2016) pays him $2.2M per year and runs through 2022-2023.
There have been some rumors of disgruntled fans, who are not satisfied with his NCAA tournament record: his teams have made the Dance every year since 2010-2011 but have advanced to the Sweet 16 once (2011-2012) and lost in the first or second round every year since. Overall, Mick's Bearcats have been 296–146 (.670) and 135–87 (.608) in conference during his tenure.
The Bearcats are slow (338th in adjusted tempo per KenPom), and defensively focused, ranking 27th in adjusted Defensive efficiency.
The obvious connection between Whit and Mick: Whit was AD at UC from 2011-2014, when he joined us in Blacksburg.
Recruiting wise (going by 247 Rankings), Mick's last 5 years look like:
2019: 105
2018: 65
2017: 58
2016: 63
2015: 53
Kevin Willard (Seton Hall)
A native of Huntington, NY, Kevin Willard (43) has been coaching at nearby Seaton Hall since 2010, a job he took after coaching Iona.
After struggling to place higher than 10th in the Big East for his first three seasons, Willard's teams have ended the regular season at 3rd in the conference 4 years running and parlayed each of those finishes into NCAA tournament appearances. They also won the Big East tourney in 2016. This season the Pirates were up and down, beating tournament teams in St. Louis, Maryland, and Villanova, suffering a 4 game losing streak in January and a 3 game losing streak in March but qualified for the NCAA tournament, where they lost in the first round to Marquette. Overall, he's 169–126 (.573) and 70–90 (.438) in conference at Seton Hall.
Seaton Hall ranked 85th in Offensive Efficiency, 57th in Defensive Efficiency, and 100th in Offensive Tempo.
He's currently earning $1.8M/year and does not have a buyout listed on the USA Today database.
Recruiting ranks at Seton Hall:
2019: 76
2018: 85
2017: 45
2016: 60
2015: 85
Ryan Odom (UMBC)
Do you like trolling UVA fans? Then do I have the coach for you!
You may not recall, but in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, a #1 seed lost to a #16 seed. That had never happened before! In fact, it was the *number one overall seed*, and they still lost! By 20!
That team was UVA. They lost to Odom's UMBC Retrievers.
44 year old Odom has had quite a few stops in his career, serving as an assistant at Furman, UNC Ashville, American, Virginia Tech (from 2003-2010, under Seth Greenberg), and Charlotte (where he was interim head coach). His first full time head coaching job was at some school called "Lenoir–Rhyne", which I had to look up. He coached there for a year before taking the UMBC job in 2016.
His Lenoir–Rhyne Bears team made the quarterfinal of the NCAA Division II tournament in 2015, and while at UMBC his Retrievers advanced to the CIT Semifinal in his first year, defeated the Hoos in his second year, and did not qualify for the post season this year. He's posted a 67–36 (.650) overall record and 32–16 (.667) in conference at UMBC.
This year's UMBC team was significantly slower than the team that ran UVA out of the gym in last year's NCAA tournament, ranking 311th in Offensive tempo, 313th in AdjO, and 120th in AdjD.
247 does not have any class ranking information for UMBC during Odom's coaching tenure.
He is currently earning a base salary of $425K through 2023, and his buyout is $168K (LINK)
Mike Young (Wofford)
Radford native and Emory & Henry grad Mike Young has coached at Wofford since 1989, as an assistant and as head coach since 2002. He's 299–244 (.551) overall and 173–124 (.582) in conference (SoCon). His Terriers have been the Conference regular season and conference tournament champion 4 times since the 2009-2010 season, and they won the conference tournament in 2014.
During that time period, they have qualified for the NCAA tournament 5 times, advancing to the 2nd round this year (defeating Seton Hall), but falling to UK. The 2018-2019 team is Mike Young's most accomplished squad, finished 18-0 in conference and ending the year with 30 wins.
Wofford ranked an impressive 11th in AdjO, 55th in AdjD, and 277th in Offensive tempo.
247 does not have any class ranking information for Wofford, and he is not listed in the USA Today database for salary. A 2015 estimate put him at $161K LINK
Mike Rhoades (VCU)
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Just down the road in Richmond, Mike Rhoades had big shoes to fill after the departures of Will Wade and Shaka Smart.
Rhoades coaching career began at 25, when he took over for Randolph-Macon legend Hal Nunnally. After a decade in Ashland, he accepted an assistant coaching position at VCU in 2009. He had a 3 year stint at Rice before returning to coach the Rams.
While VCU's defense may not have the same national attention as it did under Shaka, the Rams ranked 6th in AdjD in 2019, 178th in AdjO, and 136th in Offensive Tempo. He's 43–23 (.652) overall and 25–11 (.694) in conference with the Rams.
247 VCU class ranks:
2019: 125
2018: 90
His current salary is $1.2M.
Gregg Marshall (Wichita State)
With a $3.5M current salary, and the many other times he's been linked to jobs, this may not be worth discussing, but his name does always seem to come up due to his connections to SWVA. Plus he lives in Kansas, and that has to suck, right?
Gregg is a native of SC, but went to High School at Cave Springs in Roanoke, and played at Randolph-Macon.
He's coached at Wichita State since 2007, where he's run up a 307–112 (.733) record (158–48 [.767] in conference), 6 straight NCAA tourney appearances (with a Final 4 run in 2012-2013 and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2014-2015.
This year's Shockers were 120 in AdjO, 47 in AdjD, and 144 in Tempo.
247 class rankings:
2019: 44
2018: 62
2017: 125
2016: 72
2015: 57
Steve Wojciechowski (Marquette)
Man, would maroon & orange be unpopular in Milwaukee if Whit snags two coaches in a row from the Golden Eagles.
Wojo is a Baltimore native, was a McDonald's All American, and played under Coach K from 1994-1998, where he earned NABC Defensive Player of the Year and slapped many a floor.
After a year playing pro in Poland, Wojo returned to Duke in 1999 as an assistant coach where he was promoted to associate coach in 2008. Wojo was hired to replace Buzz at Marquette in 2014, and has a 97–69 (.584) overall record, including 43–47 (.478) in conference.
During his tenure, Marquette has two NCAA tourney appearances (both ending in the first round) and made the NIT quarterfinal in 2017-2018.
The Golden Eagles finished this season ranked 32nd in AdjO, 44th in AdjD, and 116th in tempo.
Wojo's current contract runs through 2022 and pays him $1.7M.
Most salary info from USA Today (LINK)
KenPom stats from the man (and VT grad!) himself (LINK)
Comments
That's a real nice picture of Gregg Marshall.
Also I thought his $15m buyout is for Wichita State to fire him but not for him to leave willingly.
Edit: Gregg Marshall's buyout for leaving Wichita State of his own volition is <$500k
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article37868070.html
We're about as likely to have the Wichita State mascot as head coach as we are Gregg.
Wouldn't want him anyway.
Ah, good point.
USA Today database is "School Buyout", which I mis-read.
Man these seem like sad options.
Candidly, I think the Buzz hire set a bar that Whit won't clear this time.
Buzz was in a unique scenario and negotiated a contract that was entirely in his favor. I'm not sure we'll find another miracle situation like that again.
Last time I checked, VT was a very real program with real prospects.
So actually a pretty decent gig with proven potential.
I never suggested otherwise.
But Whit out-kicked his coverage, and I think topping it will be difficult.
It won't be a miracle to get a good coach.
That's all I'm saying.
Yes, Buzz is unique, but so is Whit, and so is VT. Yes, Buzz was a perfect fit, but if anything, it's an even MORE attractive job now.
I think Buzz is one of the best coaches in basketball.
If we replace him with someone at his level, I'll be very surprised. Happy of course, but surprised.
He's a good coach, that's for sure.
But he hit VT running, and everything clicked. If he decides to go to A&M, we'll see what happens.
Plain and simple... well said. (Sad but true)
Gregg Marshall is a former national COY with a Final Four on his resume. If you think that is sad, either you are clinically depressed or don't know basketball.
Nah Marshall's obviously legit but also, as summarized, the one least likely to actually come here. Hence, a depressing list.
Why do you think he's so unlikely?
I mean the Koch brothers are Wichita State boosters and one of them is very into the basketball team. Cash and powerful people surround Gregg Marshall.
Just seems like a situation that could be hard to pry him out of.
None of these guys will be the next Virginia Tech coach
Cool, thanks for your helpful input.
I've scoured all of the boards and these names come up the most often.
Sorry, it's a good list, I just dont see any of these guys as real candidates because typically everyone you see in message boards typically is angling for a raise.
Exception is Marshall, and he's been known to be a very poor interview.
If Gregg Marshall wants to be the coach at VT, he will be the coach at VT.
If we could hire Gregg...he's making $3.5M. That's what they're reporting Buzz would get at aTm. Why wouldn't we just match that and keep Buzz?
It sounds like Buzz has been offered a contract with a higher AAV then A&M's offer, but he's not interested.
So, home to Texas is the real reason. I wonder how his kids are takin this.....
Link and you get a leg
http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/814043#comment-814043
Alum07's post from the Buzz to A&M is 'done' thread.
I've seen similar thoughts on other boards.
Because it's not solely a money decision
Because Blacksburg is not in Texas
And thank God for that.
Cronin and Marshall are very very real options
Love Marshall and hate Cronin as far as fits. Very different guys. Would love to see Marshall bring his energy and enthusiasm back home
Saucy sources worthy of checking flight tracker?
It's worth noting that Wichita is in the NIT Final 4 so even if he is a real shot, we might not have had a chance to interview yet.
Screw A&M, Whit needs to get Jay Wright after the "down" year Nova had. I hear he's always wanted to coach in the ACC, so here's his chance.
Wojo is the most likely outcome
For all we know Whit may have a total wildcard candidate no one is talking about. In Whit We Trust.
Rick Pitino! *runs for dear life*
Not Rick, but I might take a long look at Richard. He's done really well at Minnesota...i think he now has the top 3 winningest seasons in Minnesota history and he's been there either 5 or 6 seasons.
RichRod?
Car RichRod
I literally checked out this thread to see Fireman's response!
😂
Looks like Schiano is free too.
It's finally Foster's time to be a head coach! /s
Gregg, Shaka, Wes.
Hard no to Shaka. If you can't win at Texas you probably aren't winning here either.
For some reason I think Shaka would work. But I agree with your logic.
I'll gladly accept the job.
FWIW Steve Wojciechowski (Marquette's current coach) just deleted his Twitter account
Probably just couldn't handle getting roasted by Murray State fans.
What about the Murray State coach? The last time a head coach from Murray State came to VT it worked out pretty well from what I can remember
What about Hurley from Arizona State? I'm pretty sure he recruits well.
That wouldn't be the Hurley I'd want. Unfortunately Danny just finished year 1 at UConn
Please not Danny. I watched him whine too much at URI, pick up about one technical a day, and his teams never hit free throws. I think his brother now at Arizona State was the real coach of the two and made Danny look good.
Next coach will be a splash. Will have ties to the state. And will keep our recruits on board and keeps guys here. This time I am not feeling anxiety about like before. Whit will keep moving us forward.
Mike Tomlin?
SPLASH
I get it!
He's a former swimming/diving coach.
Haven't heard anyone mention Tommy Amaker or Johnny Dawkins. Both should know the area a bit, Amaker from Falls Church, Dawkins from DC, and both put in significant time under Coach K, followed my multiple coaching gigs, so they should know coaching and the ACC, albeit the pre-expansion ACC.
If Amaker came down, it would probably mean retaining Weber as he played under Amaker at Harvard.
Gotta think that Dawkins is odds on favorite to be the next Duke coach and won't risk that by taking another interim ACC job. Amaker tasted the big time at Seton Hall and Michigan and seems to like being under the radar at Harvard.
There will be a line out the door for that job. And even then who knows what Duke will do, they've never been here, they were meaningless before Coach K. Its truly all that he built, so it makes sense to stay in family, but that's a long line itself.
I wouldn't call Duke meaningless prior to Coach K. Four Final 4's from '59-'79, with some other Elite 8 and NIT runs in there. And this was before 64/68 teams in the big dance and you had to win your conference to make it. While not spectacular, its a lot more than a ton of other schools.
I think Coach K will coach another 10 years. Seriously. Why not? Why would he step down? He answers to nobody, makes his own rules, is a god without exaggeration on campus, and gets paid a ton of money from Duke and Nike. He hasn't done day to day recruiting in years and doesn't have to. I see him coaching 10 or so more years. Plenty of time for Dawkins to get some ACC head coach experience before then.
While your points are valid and any one of us woild likely never give up those things, K has had several significant health issues over the years. At this point, I believe K is running 1 year at a time and will leave when the right situation presents itself with his successor (right = what K wants). 10 years is borderline crazy talk as K is 72. Regardless, of the perks it requires energy, passion and isn't void of stress. The "want to" part has to factor in eventually.
Dawkins is already 55 and if the opportunity doesn't come soon, I believe it's likely Duke would go with someone younger on the coaching tree. I'm not against Dawkins - just unsure if there is someone better.
I want a coach who can use the allure of the ACC and a Sweet 16 run, to pull in better recruits, the Buffalo coach was an ideal scenario. Granted he's at Bama now. But someone like him.
If Whit gets Nate Oats to pull a Manny Diaz on Bama I'll double my Hokie Club donation the same day.
Oats just signed a long term extension at Buffalo before jumping ship. Why not go it again?
Not going to happen.... but we probably could have had Oats if Buzz would stop tanking around. He's doing us a huge disservice atm
Bama hired Oats while we were still in the tournament.
Also that post is a joke. I don't actually expect us to pay Oats' huge first contract year buyout.
Am I the only one who wouldn't be against Thad Matta? Guy won consistently at tOSU and was a good recruiter as well. May be on the older side, but someone to consider nonetheless.
I would take Matta above anyone. But not sure he's ready or if he isn't waiting fir a better job (Zona?)
Marshall above Cronin.
No preference between Wojo and Willard. Either would be solid hires.
I'd be fine with Matta as well. It was troubling how badly he underachieved (and had friction with assistants) the last few years at OSU, but I really do think that was a case of being burnt out. The relationship had soured and it was best for both to split.
Regardless of who it is, I do think we need a name to keep things going along and he'd be a name. By "name" I mean a coach that has high level basketball coaching experience either at a power 5 conference or a traditionally strong basketball conference like the Big East. If we dip into the small schools to get an up and comer, I'd expect a drop off and a few years to build back up
Not Mick Cronin. That's all I ask.
Why?
Boring style of play, rumored to be a difficult personality.
I think he would've been a good hire post greenburg, but we've been spoiled by Buzz.
UVA was boring for several years... and now? Title contender.
I think in a past thread described him as having a relatively low ceiling but a high floor. His teams have a really distinct identity and hard-nosed style that helps them win a good deal of games, but they never make runs in March.
He's a raging a-hole and his teams haven't accomplished much of note. I really only ever watch Cincy in the tourney and every time I see him I come away unimpressed.
If he's our worst case - a guy who has made 9 straight tournaments - I think we're in very good shape. Mick is a polarizing guy, but I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to him.
EDIT: Also, as much as some outsiders hate him, most Cincy fans seem to love him. Seen some fans worry about him leaving some tweeting at him to "please stay" and stuff like that
Counterargument: He's known as "Mick the Dick" because he's a dick.
If I was an east coast AD with a vacancy I would take a look at Johnny Dawkins. He's coaches in ACC and AAC so he knows a lot of the east coast teams. He had a decent record at Stanford, though his conference record wasn't great, it is Stanford. A lot of teams could do worse than some one with 2 NIT titles in 11 season of coaching.
Steve Alford? Personally, it would be a big no from me, but would he be considered do you think?
Good God, he would recruit Lamelo Ball wouldn't he? I'd rather hire Dick Vitale as coach
Big no for me on Cronin and Odom. Cronin seems to be a major asshat (the Narduzzi of basketball), and Odom's only claim to fame is beating UVA once. Odom doesn't seem to have the numbers to backup a move to an ACC school but that's just me.
1. Marshall
2. Willard
3. Rhoades
Would be my top 3. Whit could potentially have someone in mind/lined up that we've never heard of though.
Seton Hall has been implicated under FBI stuff so Willard does not excite me at all... Cronin would be much better than him. Cronin has had way more success too. 9 straight tournaments. He's fiery and his opponents hate him, but Cincy fans really like him. Just because he's a hot head, we shouldn't place him below much worse candidates.
Also fun fact: Chris Clarke and Anthony Harris were both recruited by Cincinnati. Wishful thinking on Clarke, but maybe Cronin could get them afterall
Cronin's teams have also underachieved in tournaments. Unless someone has numbers to say otherwise, I just don't think his teams have been that good. And unless he came here and proved me wrong about his personality, I'd rather avoid that.
First of all, if he can just regularly make the tournament that would be success at VT.
Second of all, almost all of the alternatives have done worse in March. Willard is 1-4 in the tournament and Wojo is 0-2. Gregg Marshall is pretty much the only candidate who has actually done better in the tournament than Mick.
For me, Cronin is way higher than anyone besides Marshall on my list. I think he could do well here
If Clarke gets reinstated, I assume he could use this past season as a redshirt and have one more year of eligibility? Does anyone know if he is still enrolled at VT?
I've seen him around campus several times (mostly at mccomas, once or twice on the academic side), so he appears to be a student. Even though I brought it up, I doubt he plays for us again. He could redshirt, in theory. But I feel like the only way that would happen is if they cleared him of any serious wrongdoing. Because if he did something very wrong, it would be a weak punishment to basically just give him another year at school for free
We play in the best conference in the country, have one of the best ADs in the country, respectable academics, idyllic college town and have a sports-passionate fanbase. I think we can do better than everyone on this list.
Who do you think is a realistic target then?
Chris Beard
Edit: Didn't realize Beard was a Texas native. There are plenty of high caliber coaches who view Virginia Tech as a destination hire. Maybe it's a great coach at a "marquee program". Maybe it's an assistant coach in the NBA.
Second Edit: Jerry Stackhouse in talks with Vanderbilt, that's the type of hire I could get behind.
I'm all for aiming high, but there's no way Beard is leaving his home state to come to VT.
Hell, I'm hoping A&M has a change of heart and goes for Beard instead of Buzz. But I've also heard rumors that if Beard leaves, it would be for the Texas job.
WHAT?!?! The guy has one year of experience coaching in the D-League, and you want him coaching your team? Just because someone has an unknown amount of potential doesn't mean it's a good hire.
Marshall would be a A+ hire and is the kind of coach who would take us another step higher than we currently are. He's the kind of coach who would win a National Championship at the right spot.
Gotta say I'm hoping whit can pull another rabbit out of the hat because none of these guys outside Marshall bring any excitement for me, gotta agree with Cronin being similar to Pat fucking narduzee so I'd hope we go somewhere else
Pat Narduzzi is in a douche bag class all on his own.
I think Cronin is in the same class for what its worth. Even L'ville people think he's an a$$, and thats saying something.
There's a lot of hate for Mick, but I think he'd be a good hire.
And his son could grad transfer here. We may need some players.
2 ncaa tourneys in 11 years.
K's main man. He wouldn't mess that up.
Let's add Buzz Williams to this list at least until we hear an official announcement from VT, Buzz, or A&M.
Anyone think about Russell Turner from UC-Irvine? He and his wife (who is a freaking doctor btw) are from Roanoke. He took a depleted UC-I program and has finished top two in their conference every year for the last 6 years. He was also an assistant at Wake ('94-'00) so should be at least somewhat familiar with part of the ACC. How do you guys feel about him?
Not my first choice, but if we swing and miss on some of the bigger names like Marshall it might be worth a shot. He would be in it for the long haul which would be nice...
This is who I'd keep an eye on
I hear he's rumored to being courted by Vandy as their next HC. Sounds like he's another up-and-comer with good, local ties, though, like a poor man's Marshall.
My heart is not ready for this. Dont break my heart Buzz! BUZZY COME BACK. YOU CAN BLAME IT ALL ON ME
He can blame it on all of us.
I love Buzz too. Still remembering the video of him introducing the team to veterans, the importance of the national anthem, and basic respect for your fellow human. Buzz, if you stay you can knock my water bottle off the table all you want....
Honestly, im just sad. Hard to think about the next coach already.
Steal another Marquette coach??
Ehhhhhhh dunno how I feel on that one
Be careful wearing maroon in Milwaukee if this goes down.
If this were to happen Marquette fans would feel about VT how we feel about TAMU
We're both caught in the cycle of a basketball coach.
I'd be good with Wojo, he'd be the best of the coach K tree
Picking nits here but you could make the case that the best of K's tree is Tommy Amaker. K's tree isn't all that impressive when you really break it down. There's some "fine" coaches but no one that really knocks you over.
I'd be fine with Wojo if he indeed is the man we get though. I think he's a solid coach but I must admit, I'm just a tad underwhelmed at what he's done at Marquette. I figured they'd be more of a factor to win the Big East (tbf, Villanova exists) and make more noise in the tournament. But he is just getting started there so probably just outsized expectations on my part because I thought he was gonna be the hot coaching prospect that set the world on fire right from the get go. Good reminder that it takes time (and maybe that time can be with us)
Nitpicking my own nitpick. Was thinking about it more last night and I missed the obvious best coach from K's tree;
Mike Brey.
I'm sure he's a great coach but he's got the personality of a brick wall.
We might be able to flip Robbie Beran from Northwestern if Wojo becomes our coach. Collins' Duke pedigree play a huge role in landing Beran.
Wojo was also a high school legend in Baltimore, so he probably has ties to a number of Baltimore/DC-area coaches, plus you factor in the Duke pedigree, and we might have something. I remember him being a pretty hard-nosed player back in the day, so I kinda think he'd probably be a good fit for the program.
Yeah, if that went down, I don't think I'd be wearing any of my VT clothing flying in or driving around Milwaukee anytime soon. That would just be asking for trouble.
I always hated Wojo and his stupid floor slap....but if he can win, I'd let by-gones be by-gones
This twitter thread is amazing
....MTV's Dan Cortez
Thanks Wikipedia
On April 1, 2014, Wojciechowski was hired as the new Marquette head basketball coach, replacing Buzz Williams, who left for Virginia Tech. On April 1, 2019, Wojciechowski left Marquette to take over for Buzz Williams at Virginia Tech. He also listed for sale his ocean front property in Arizona so that he could buy the Biltmore Estate.[2]
George Strait is extremely disappointed in your life choices.....
any property can be ocean front if its large enough.
Or if you wait long enough
I would like to throw Tubby Smith's name in the ring
Aren't you supposed to end that sentence with /s?
No he actually did pretty good at Memphis and was only forced out because Penny wanted the job. He would be a good bridge coach if the candidate pool isn't the best right now (which I don't think it is).
Tubby is like 68 and did a dreadful job at Memphis. I'm hoping this was a joke.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/h...
The ring throws it right back out.
Will Wade. Too soon? 🥴
Kelvin Sampson, Wojo, Chris Beard, or Eric Musselman
I am pretty sure that he is one of the best and has been for a long time. Top 10-15. I will never forget the angst that a friend of mine who has coached some in high school and college (and lives, eats, and breathes basketball coaching) had when he heard about us hiring Buzz. Why did he have the angst? Because he is a UVa fan and said there was no doubt that we would be among the top teams in the ACC in a few years. Getting to that point as quickly as Buzz did is not easy to do.
I think we get a Top 30-40 coach and end up as a 6-10 team in the ACC. We all hope for more but that seems reasonable in my estimation.
UMBC guy please....Would love to stick to UVA more often
We need someone who is relatively young with lots of energy. I believe that can take many forms, but the established big name coach of 20 years I don't believe is a match for VT in its current state. I was a huge Nate Oats fan, but the guy from UC Irvine is an example of someone who fits perfectly. He isn't a name and does have risk though.
You are going to have to find an identity and grind at Vt. Buzz personality was perfect for finding this path and making it work for him and the school. They don't need to be Buzz, but that path is one that identifies.
The cool part is that the program profile is elevated so much that talk of bigger names isn't a pipe dream anymore. If an established coach with high energy is available then prove me wrong please.
Other names to keep an eye on: James Jones (Yale), John Brannen (Northern Kentucky), LeVelle Moton (NC Central), Randy Bennett (St. Mary's)
Love LeVelle, but that's to big of a step up for him to go from MEAC to ACC. He needs several intermediate steps before he gets major conference looks
I would just focus on Wojo at this point.
LeVelle Moton is the top candidate for Georgia State.
Our top candidate right now is Brent Williams
Inspired choice.
Who actually goes by Brent? This guy needs a nickname.
A nickname that give confidence to those who work with him and fear for the people who play against him
A nickname that he himself takes seriously enough to get a haircut to match.
If he'll stay, let's ALL get one.
"Not Buzz"
/s
New idea: Take Bruce Pearl from Auburn
Hard pass. He's a cheater and does not seem like a good guy.
Not only a cheater, but a convicted (by NCAA) cheater. See dictionary under "smarmy"
I feel like I'm missing something. He hosted a recruit at a bbq and then lied about it, turning a minor violation into a big one. Y'all make it sound like he had the team going to fake classes or something. Is there more to the story?
There isn't any more to the story, unless someone wants to put Chuck Person's FBI entanglement on him since he was on Auburn's staff under Pearl. I spent too long trying to figure out what the deal with Pearl was (Auburn grad and fan), and came up with "dude hosted a BBQ for recruits and got in trouble for lying about it to the NCAA".
Chuck Person's violation was while he worked for Pearl. Might be my military mindset of being responsible for those you delegate to but I absolutely put the FBI case against Person on Pearl, because I have a hard time believing that their shoe-apparel company chose to approach just the assistant coach or that Pearl was not aware of the circumstances. Its possible he is clean but I don't believe it. Not fair that he is guilty by association and before proof (same with Willard at Seton Hall) but why risk bringing something like that to Tech if you do not need to. Having a coach get a show cure notice is not good news for anyone involved and if you have a list of seemingly as good coaches without that cloud hanging over them go with one of them.
This. Just like Pitino says he knew nothing about any of his assistants causing problems with recruits or players at any of his stops. He was the head coach, he is supposed to know what is going on.
Willard might be innocent, but if given the choice between three equal choices, why take the one with baggage?
I struggle with some of the coach should know everything going on under him. No one can be that many places at one time. If you want to say that they are the CEO and they take the blame fine, let's put some more CEOs in jail where they belong, instead of slaps on the wrist.
However! Pearl did something wrong and then realized it was wrong and tried to cover it up instead of of saying oops, my bad, let's fix it. That is not a leader. He would have to kill an interview on how he has changed. He's a great coach, he did a lot of great school oriented things at Tennessee, supported other sports, supported the women's program. There is a lot to like, but when you make a mistake you have to own up to it, especially when a leader.
I agree with this. Sometimes the head guy is not guilty of the crime. In that case, the extent of his "responsibility" is to enable the investigation and terminate the offenders. If an investigation finds the head guy is complicit that's a different store. I have worked in many organizations where lower-level managers were actively undermining upper-level managers. To think that the commission of a crime is something they wouldn't hide is ludicrous.
Basically, there's a difference between being "responsible" for your organization and being guilty by association for the acts of people under you.
He's also a winner and a really good basketball coach. Literally everyone is a "cheater" in college sports 😂. You really think he's that much worse of a person than Gregg Marshall or anyone else we're looking at? No way. What it really comes down to with this criticism is do the student athletes trust him and can he be more likeable in front of a camera. History suggests yes on both counts
There have been 14 NCAA men's basketball coaches with Show-Cause penalties...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show-cause_penalty
Bruce Pearl is one of the 14.
According to the list, so is Kelvin Sampson. His name has been tossed around here too.
A lot of names have been brought up. Doesn't mean they are viable candidates, actual candidates, interested in living in SWVA, or even available. And fwiw, nobody on that list should ever be coaching at VT.
Given he's going to be coaching in the Final 4 this weekend, I don't think the show cause held him back too much
Oh, and TIL that Brad Greenberg got slapped with a Show-Cause as well for his time at Radford of all places
Just because a coach made the Final 4 doesn't mean I want him on the sidelines at VT. There are a lot of guys that don't have Show Causes that made the Final 4 that I wouldn't want either.
Lets actually win something before we debate how honorable we want our winning to be.
The NCAA might beat us to it.
So, up to this point, no news is good news? I really hope so!
Should he aspiring to better... We can pay up to 3.5 mil with the lure of the ACC. All of these non ACC coaches making less than $3 mil should be in play.. Not saying they'd take it or are a fit but that we should be able to attract a established high level coach.. Off the top of my head:
Frank Martin
Matt Painter
Mike White
Cuonzo Martin
Chris Beard
Bruce Webber
We've talked to White. There is some interest there but he's probably working for a better deal at UF.
Martin too. I wouldn't be surprised if he has some interest.
Painter is tried/true Boiler. Beard is a Texan wanting to stay a Texan at TT, UT or a&m.
Cuonzo kinda sucks. Webber has had good teams and terrible teams.
Interesting. I'd be surprised if he left Florida, since he's played/coached in the southeast his entire career.
Frank Martin seems more realistic, as he's bounced all over the place in his career. It would be interesting if he left only a few years after taking South Carolina to the Final Four.
I love VT and might get crucified for this statement, but either of those guys leaving their current gigs seems like a lateral move to me. White especially so, but I could potentially see Martin making a move since he's had a couple .500 seasons since their Final Four run (using Buzz's own logic of moving on before your current school has a chance to fire you).
Living in Columbia, I've watched more USCe basketball than I'm proud of in the past 3 years. Other than the Final Four run, a total fluke btw, that team has reached its men's basketball ceiling. Frank's' a good coach, but he can't win here. The women's team dominates the headlines come basketball season because Dawn Staley is the second coming to folks around here. He'd leave if he got the right offer. Not so sure he'd leave for Tech.
^^All pure speculation. I have no sauces to give me the inner workings of Frank Martin's mind.
The craziest thing about that Final Four run is that South Carolina had never even won a tournament game before in the modern era. The last time they won a game in the tourney before that was 1973.
Martin has been at USC for 12 years, hesmade tye NCAAs only once.
He's also from Miami. May be waiting fir Larranaga to retire.
Frank Martin has been at South Carolina for 7 years.
ACC or not Purdue is a better job than VT. Painter is an alum, he's not leaving. Frank Martin is Buzz 2.0- he will have one foot out the door as soon as he gets here. He is a competitor and underdog though - so that fits the VT persona. Interesting name. No thanks on Bruce Weber. He's not a big game coach- that gets you eaten alive in the ACC on a night in night out basis.
Any long time Hokie should realize (once they look at the resume) that Bruce is a fan of taking questionable characters from other schools and riding them to the sweet sixteen.
Honest question about this list. Why would F. Martin, White or C. Martin want to leave their current schools when we've been told, ad nauseam, that being in the SEC is the path of least resistance for conference championships compared to the ACC? If this is the case, why leave an SEC school? Isn't that one of the arguments currently being made for why Buzz would go to TAMU?
Listed those to make the point that the list above was way too uninspired given its an ACC job and with Whit's chops as an AD - bigger names are on the table.... when Buzz was mentioned many of us said 'yeah right. no way given the money he's making and the quality of the program he's at' but it did happen. Would not shock me at all if someone like Mike White is hired.
You gotta reach out to Dell Curry here right?? He's coached two of his sons to be pros, and he was really good. Plenty of experience.
No. He has no professional coaching experience.
He turned down an assistance coaching job with the Hornets because he'd rather watch Steph play.
He's gotta be bored with the NBA like everyone else though. I bet even Dell is tired of watching the Warriors win it all. Plus Tech is a way better job than working for Michael Jordan.
All of this reads as sarcasm but I fear it is not.
Could be. :)
Jesus now we have gone from former players without experience being football assistants to former basketball players being the HC of an ACC team?
Welcome to the show!!!!! Grab your popcorn and cozy up.
I'm waiting for the TSL crowd to talk about if it's not a coach who has made the final 4 they don't think it's good enough. Much like with football.
"You gotta think Steve Kerr is looking for a challenge after the last few years."
There was a legit serious thread on TSL a few days ago actually discussing wanting Seth Greenberg back. I kept looking for /s but was a bit stunned to realize it was actually serious.
I am probably one of the bigger defenders of the Greenberg years being more fun than they are remembered but that era of Hokie hoops had run it's course.
Maybe it could have been different if there were more $$$s to invest in the program around 2010 but most resources were directed toward getting a practice facility.
The transition to the next era was handled as poorly as possible, it is hard to believe an AD in the ACC could have come up with Weaver's plan.
Greenberg is an NIT coach, with a terrible offensive philosophy. VT can do miles better right now.
Greenberg is an announcer on ESPN.
But I agree. Looking backwards isn't the right move right now.
This would be a weird move but I kinda LOVE it. What I don't love is when people shit on giving football position coaching jobs to former players because they don't have coaching experience. We need to start giving our alums a coaching start so we can have some future prodigal sons return home when we need our next head coach!!
There is zero reason a persons first job should be as a P5 coach. GA hell yes, QA yep, behind the scenes yep but no way on the field coach.
Another guy to look at would be an easy steal and has been to more final fours than Buzz. Porter Moser from Loyola Chicago. I'm not sure if he's ready for ACC ball but also he's never really been given any crazy talent
Lots of coaches have been to more final fours than Buzz.
Not really
Lots is a bit ambiguous, but by my count there are 27 active HC's that have made a final four appearance. I would say that's at least "quite a few"
That's a list of damn good coaches. 27/380 some
or a good deal less than 1%derp. It's not every coach on the block. Its guys who've been a few times like K, Roy, Cal, Izzo, Boeheim, Wright, Beilen, Few, Self then a few guys like: Crean, Beard, Pearl, Bennett, Howland, Larranega, Moser, Webber, Martin, and only a few more. Who of those would we have a shot with besides Moser?When I say "this guy has been to more final fours than Buzz". "Well that's a lot of people" isn't really a coherent response. Its like 15 legendary coaches and then a handful of really good coaches that made a run
Math, it'll get after ya
10%. Math is hard
Lmao tuff
29 if you count coaches that would take a college position (Rick Pitino and Thad Matta)
Or NBA coaches like Billy Donavan yeah yeah but two of those are up there with legendary coaches and the other did a pretty damn good job at Ohio State
I dont see anyone getting Billy Donavan to come back to college next season. Thad and Rick would probably jump st the chance to be HC in college again.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-buzz-williams-in-blacksburg?
I just want a coach that has complete focus on the team AND wants to be in Blacksburg for a long time. It's frustrating when Buzz has one eye on the team and one eye on other openings every year. Just give me a coach that wants to be posted up in Blacksburg like Self, Izzo, K, Williams, Wright, and Boeheim. If it's Buzz, then so be it. If it's not, then give me someone else.
As of right now, we aren't a destination job and that is something we have to live with. Looking at NCAAT Championships...
Lawrence - 3
East Lansing - 2
Durham - 5
Chapel Hill - 6
Philly - 3
Syracuse - 1
Blacksburg - 0
One of these is not like the other
Glad you didn't look at Elite 8's...
You're right that one was so much shorter than the others s/
A lot of those places have the championships they do and are destinations because of those coaches though
That's just not coaching in 2019.
Tom Izzo, Coach K, Roy Williams, John Calipari, Jim Boeheim, et al would like a word. All top coaches
Roy Williams left Kansas. Calipari has only been at Kentucky 10 years and rumor is this deal has an out for an NBA job. So 3 coaches out of 351 or 0.00854700854 of all Div 1 coaches.
That I've named. I'm sure we could find more. 5 years is a fairly short stint in the grand scheme of things. How long was Matta at OSU? Mark Few? Gregg Marshall? Jay Wright? There are a lot of guys building legacies. Sure everyone wants to get to the top the key is becoming a destination not a stepping stone
https://herosports.com/college-basketball/longest-tenured-coaches-divisi...
Here is the list. Buzz isn't a normal coach and that's part of his image he isn't going to stay anywhere for 15 years. So who on this list should Tech realistically try to be like?
The original post said "that's not coaching in 2019" as if every coach worth having is job hopping every five years. Your list proves my point - you find the right guy, the right fit, and you can be successful and be a legacy. Will there be a down year sometimes? Or course. Everyone isn't Duke. Should Tech position itself to be a destination instead of a stepping stone? Absolutely if you are in the ACC and you are willing to pay top dollar. Tech isn't Middle Tennessee State there are some advantages
Echoing what Fireman said, but unless you're coaching at an elite school, it's not realistic.
All of these coaches are at 'basketball bluebloods;' you can't compare them to VT.
I just think you're underestimating how tough it is to find a coach who is good enough to coach in the ACC AND is willing to stay at a school like VT for a long time. I'd rather focus on hiring the best possible coach (who is still a culture fit), than finding a coach who will be here forever. UVA made the best possible hire at the time, they didn't focus on finding a career guy, they focused on finding a proven winner. That's what we need to do. Hopefully, we'll get lucky too.
I think he more means new hires in 2019. All of those guys were hired a looooooooong time ago.
ummm, I am thoroughly underwhelmed by this list. Hoping for Whit to pull a semi-big name away that folks won't expect...just like with Mr. Buzz.
I remember when there was a segment of VT fans who thought Buzz wasn't a big enough name during our last coaching search.
I hope you think Marshall or Wojo is considered a big name, because it's the best we'll do.
Seems like there is more speculation/comments/threads on this than when we were hiring a football coach.. VT Basketball has indeed arrived!
VT Flight tracker Alert
This is the content I like.
Nothing like flight tracking!
Flight tracking and speculation. Just what I live for!
Doesn't get any better than this.
When we're hiring, anyway. Not so fond of it when we're being poached.
This thread is pretty wild. Whoever is running The Tech Lunch Pail account has a future in investigative journalism.
I despised Wojo as a player, mainly because I hate everything Duke, and he was just another in a long line of very punchable Dookie faces, and he slapped the floor like a fool.
It will take me a long time to get over those years of inherent dislike if we hire slappy as our next head basketball coach.
I think winning one or more tournament games would do it.
I mean the guy can coach and he can recruit. He's long been assumed to be the heir after K leaves, or at least he was until Capel came back. With both of them now gone, who knows.
But yeah, he would be a good hire. Not a huge splash in name, but a guy who can come in here and win a lot of games for us, and possibly get us to that next level we now have a taste for.
Seems like his recruiting has gotten worse at Marquette over the years. Also, their fans seem to want him out. Plus no tournament wins since he got there (they got embarrassed this year) worries me. I'm not quite sold on him, especially if he demands a big contract.
They got beat by Ja Morant, a tragically under seeded Murray St team.
But he had Marquette in the top 15 most of the year.
Correction: The got BLOWN OUT by Ja Morant.
The few times I saw Marquette late in the season, they looked like a lost team.
their best player got injured late in the season, wasn't the same team after that.
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2019/4/1/18285219/marquette-golden-eagles...
Exactly. We should know how that feels.
Well Wojo is 0-2 in the tournament, losing by 20 and 19 points so i'm not optimistic
You'll get over it if we keep winning
My next question for TKP:
If we do indeed get Wojo from Marquette to VT, to replace Buzz who we got from Marquette to VT, who should we have Marquette hire to be our next head coach in waiting. Please let your speculation run wild, but hear me out as I try to come full circle from my post last week.
If we are starting that pipeline, I want Russell Turner to coach Marquette.
Or Odom, McMahon or Miller. All need to take that next step.
Seems no secret McNeilly drew up the last two plays on Friday night. Seems like he is a damn good X and O guy, just needs a little HC exp
I'd have Marquette hire Coach K or Roy Williams. But that's just me
My question about Wojo is: If he does well here, which I think he could because I think he's a very good coach, wouldn't he inevitably bolt for Duke when K calls it quits?
Does it matter?
If he did good enough here that Duke wanted to hire him I would take that in a second.
Not that Wojo would be this good here. But would Dabo go to Bama now? He's more endeared by Clemson fans than he ever would be following in Saban's footsteps. Duke Bball = Bama Football, Coach K = Nick Saban....just food for thought.
Clemson football =/= VT basketball
Wait, are you suggesting that the VT basketball isn't on the same level as the 2nd best football program in the country?!?! /s
No one said they are. But I would counter that Clemson Football was about where VT Basketball is now before Dabo. With the point being if Wojo ever made VT Basketball that relevant would it be in his best interest to follow in Coach K's footsteps or continue to build something that he created?
Well, in order for us to be on the level of Clemson football, we'd have to be a national power and relevant for a LONG time. Clemson football is #14 on the all-time win list for FBS, and has been successful for decades. VT basketball, in order to match that comparison, would need to win several conference championships, show up in a Final 4 or a few, and ring up a lot of 25-30 win seasons. Just sayin. So in that regard, Wojo won't be around for that level of success...it will be decades after him if he were to show up in Blacksburg.
Clemson's last ten win season prior to Dabo was 1990. They had not won an ACC regular season Championship since FSU entered the ACC. Their lone national title then was in in 1983. They were a doormat to us every time we played them. Even when they were ranked highly, we knew it didn't matter. Now take VT Basketball who gave Duke everything they wanted in the sweet 16. We're competitive with the best teams in the nation. Given all of that I don't really understand how you can't at minimum compare the 2 programs.
Frank Howard and Danny Ford would like a word...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemson_Tigers_football
Even if you look at just the last 10 years, name an accomplishment of VT basketball other than we gave it a swell effort against Duke in the sweet 16. Clemson is hanging banners in football.
Clemson is hanging banners NOW. I think the point being made is that the state of the program when Dabo took over was "meh" at best, and all their success was in the relatively distant past, and not that relevant to today. As far as Dabo was concerned, he was taking over a mediocre program and building it from scratch, and he built it up to the national power it is. If a coach came to VT basketball, a currently "mediocre" program, (this year notwithstanding) and built it into something like Clemson, it may not be worth leaving for a "better job". We can get into differences of funds and history, but the two situations are not incomparable.
Thank You. That's all I've been trying.
Only one national title? Wow, they were garbage. /s
That kinda cuts the argument off at the knees. Yeah, Clemson had some down years, but they had proven it before, and they already had the blueprint and the proof to do it again. That's a lot different than something like VT basketball where making the tournament in back to back years was a major accomplishment for the program last year because it hadn't been done in forever.
How relevant is a national title in 1983 to the years Dabo took over really?? None of the recruits were alive or knew much of anything about that. I mean, Pitt won a national title like 7 years prior in 1976. If some coach came in and turned Pitt into a national champion would we act like that previous title was relevant to the job that new coach had done. Because they already had a "blueprint and the proof to do it again"??
So being #14 on the all-time win list doesn't mean anything? (Clemson football...)
For a school and program as a whole? Sure, they can be proud of it and it might help recruiting a very small amount. But for a coach trying to build a program *today*?? Not really. Not a lot of recruits will care about what your program did 30 years ago. Syracuse, Pitt, Navy, GT are all hovering around that top twenty in all time wins. If a coach turned them into what Clemson is now, would that honestly be less of an accomplishment than getting VT basketball to a national power? Cuz as it stands today, their "pedigree" doesn't mean jack squat to kids now. With maybe the rare exception. It's a "What have you done for me lately?" world for recruits.
Even by that metric, if you go by *today* we're 11 years away from even thinking about being close to Clemson football. And that's gonna require a lot more than a single Final 4 appearance.
So to go back, if we DID have that level of success, yes, Wojo leave every time for Duke. Why? Because of the level of the program.
And going by what you've presented, I guess we should take down the Hokie Stone in the tunnel that everyone touches before the game, right? History means nothing. Mystique. Program success or the people around it, right?
Nope, traditions are a separate thing entirely. Those can appeal to kids and some programs have better ones than others. Traditions are tied with history for sure. But having been a good team 30 years ago is not inherently tied to good program traditions, in the same way that we can have excellent traditions to sell to kids, but have not actually won any championships at all. Clemson has some good traditions, but that would be true whether they used to be really good or not. The point is that having been good in 1983 and having won a lot of games a long time ago are not what matters to recruits. I mean, BYU won a natty in 1984, but that's not helping them in 2019...
I'm not sure we can say for sure what matters to any particular recruit. A storied tradition isn't "nothing". Which is why teams like Clemson and Alabama blow recruits away with shrines to themselves and to their histories. It's not everything, but it's something. One more thing to help justify a recruit's decision.
One thing we should be able to agree on is that something worked at Clemson.
Something definitely worked. My money is on resources, facilities, and Dabo being the biggest things.
EDIT: With tradition and history definitely playing a role.
That's really all I'm saying. The intangibles help you get the tangibles, like coaches, resources, recruits.
Side note: Anybody notice that they changed the signs beside the Hokie Stone in the tunnel?
Guessing the "plastic" ones were broken at one point, possibly during a big game entrance and an extra hyped up hit to them. Maybe. I like the new ones though.
The relevancy is that they did have a history of success in football, some traditions, a lot of supporters who remembered "the good old days", and a story to tell.
Wasn't a "slam dunk", but they did have a story to tell, and were still one of the most attractive football programs in the ACC.
Now do Pittsburgh or Georgia Tech. If they become national powers like Clemson, it will have approximately nothing to do with their previous success in the 80's.
Clemson never completely completely lost relevancy. They have 18 ACC titles.
They haven't failed to win at least a conference championship in any decade since the 1940's.
Edit: [Ooops, actually one decade, the 2000s, but even that decade, they went to bowls just about every year, if not every year]
That's still 20 years though. In any case, the point is that Dabo had a little bit to work with, but not much (some relatively distant historical success, and some "tradition"), just as a basketball coach coming to VT would have a little bit to work with, but not much. (some recent success and a bit of historical success). I think the "blueprint for winning a natty" is way overestimated, since a blueprint doesn't really apply 30 years later with different coach, staff, admin, etc. but I will concede it's not nothing. However, history only matters so much and doesn't get you wins on the field. So from the perspective of a coach taking over a team if somebody took VT basketball to the heights of where Clemson football is, I still maintain it may not be worth leaving. We view Duke as a more historically relevant program and more desirable (because they are), but those things change, and if somebody stuck around long enough here and had sustained success, that entire paradigm could shift.
It's all part of the sales pitch, to both recruits and donors. The infrastructure, resources, and support is what's important, and of course, the coach.
Exactly, but infrastructure, resources, and support can all be provided, even absent a great deal of history. So we should do that, and change the view of the program to keep a coach around long term. I know it's pie in the sky to say "we can be duke". But we definitely can't be duke if we keep saying that we can't, instead of doing our best to become that. Duke wasn't Duke either until they made that commitment.
This is true, but the intangibles help you get the tangibles.
Duke has the resources BECAUSE they have the history AND the recency.
Notre Dame gets the exclusive CBS contract BECAUSE they have the tradition and the history. So they have a little more staying power and are regularly overrated, which helps them stay relevant (and snag the favorable deal with the ACC) even when they fall short.
I am convinced Coach K is immortal and will coach for 50 more years.
He'll coach until someone stabs him in the heart with a wooden stake
Twitter says Buzz has told the team he isn't returning. I just hope we get that supposed "recruiting bump" when hiring a new coach... still waiting on that for Fuente though..
You mean like averaging a top 25 recruiting class the past three years? That type of bump?
Or average per player ranking going up?
Should start to see results on the field then, eh?
Lol wait til after this cycle is over. I bet we have no more than (3) 4* recruits.
So back down to the mean? Because that is a Beamer average class.
No, not that kind of bump, considering we had top 25 classes for 20 years before Fu was hired.
2010: 28th
2011: 35th
2014: 28th
2015: 29th
*edits
Composite.
2002: 44th
2003: 27th
2004: 41st
2006: 32nd
2007: 29th
Rivals only
But sure.
Cherry picked nonsense. Is recruiting maybe -slightly- improved? maybe? We just went 6-7 and had one guy invited to the combine. OK. Did we get any significant "bump" when Fuente was hired? nope.
Yup, ask loluva about recruiting numbers and 4stars and what records it produces...
...And to sum up LOLUVA's stellar recruiting I offer this tweet:
Wait you clearly stated Tech had top 25 classes for 20 years from 1996-2016 or '95-'15 i went through and listed every class that was worse than 25th for years that have rankings. That's not cherry picked it's just actual data not the shit you spew without fact.
Also it's like you either don't know or refuse to acknowledge the guys in this years draft class are BEAMER recruits. The last two years of Beamer recruits have had the smallest senior class I can ever recall.
You took my post literally of course and I never said ALL the classes were top 25..should have clarified. Go ahead and "average" Beamer's last 20 classes. And compare that to Fuente's last 4.. If it is significantly different, I'll give you a cookie. By significant I mean 10 spots better. THAT is a recruiting "bump".. not .0007 individual player ranking better. And question for you... what is Fuente's first recruiting class in your mind? 2020?
Yes my mistake I read what you wrote and assumed that's what you meant. Jesus this explains so much about you.
Show me where I said every class was top 25? Thanks
"considering we had top 25 classes for 20 years before Fu was hired."
You're honestly a huge net negative on TKP.
Despite him being wrong and backtracking, at least he isn't being intentionally hurtful or rude. It's not a good look for either of you.
Are you serious? All he does is belittle others, spew made up BS and just be a general unbearable poster on the board.
Deep breath...
I'm not seeing much other than some passive aggressive sarcasm in this thread. But I guess some might see that as an egregious transgression.
Cherrypicked nonsense.
Go through a hundred of his prior posts/threads and if you don't see any combatativeness and rudeness, I'll give you a cookie.
Well aren't you just a delight lol.
It's ironic you think that when he just used DC Wilson's own words.
DC isnt exactly a delight either lol.
Hard-on posts, from you especially, against dcwilson40 will now earn this gif from me. Why? Because it's appropriate.
Edit: I have the feeling that I'm going to get hammered on this, though whether it's from the gif choice or the defense of DC (who does have some solid points from time to time, your "All he does is..." comment is a bit of hyperbole), I'm not sure. Oh well. Insomnia, it'll get after ya.
Thought this gif was reserved for Fireman?
That's why I replied to Fireman. I'm hijacking "his" gif.
My bad. With so many replies it gets hard to determine which comment someone is replying to.
What's a Hard-On post?
Are they marked with NSFW?
Right there
I vote all drinks be bestowed to dcwilson
Is that supposed to be a punishment or a reward?
It's an admission of guilt
You are literally cherry picking and then saying he is cherry picking by calling your bluff.
David Teel saying Hokies source says not true.
Teel Tweet
What have you done to our beautiful Basketball Coach Search thread?
If McNeilly was really the Xs and Os guy behind the scenes this year then I would be interested. Buzz says he only spends 10% of his time on Xs and Os but I think we looked pretty sharp this year.
Cronin and Dixon potentially to UCLA?
UCLA CRONIN?
FTFY /s
But imagine how wild it would be for UCLA to decide to use all the money they were gonna spend on Cal to instead try the first dual head coach setup.
FBI implicated Willard, coaches who have never won a single tournament game, etc. Cronin doesn't look too bad right now
I am not a fan of either but Willard shouldn't be on any list until the FBI thing is settled.
Alright just throwing out more names since nothings really stuck. What do y'all think about Craig Smith at Utah State? West-Midwestern guy but he's won big wherever he's been. Could be the next Chris Beard.
An outside of the box hire would be to hire someone like Will Hardy. Hardy currently works as an assistant head coach for the Spurs, is on the younger side (graduated from Williams in 2010) and to top it off, he's an RVA native. Flank him with seasoned veteran assistant coaches and we're off to the races.
The ACC is not a conference you break in a guy who has never been a head coach before.
Correct, although many hokies will tell you that James Johnson is really Red Auerbach, just needed more time and was dealt a bad hand... LOL
Cmon, bud, that's like saying that Bon Jovi lyrics are just as good as Rush lyrics, which we all know is bunk.
SWISS CAKE ROLLS!
Really glad I don't know any of these Hokies because I may have felt the need to Ut Prosim them into the duck pond.
You don't know them because they don't exist and what he said is not true.
If Buzz recommended McNeilly to be promoted to head coach, would you even consider it in Whits position?
Only if they wanted to put an interim tag on him for one year while Whit does a National search and the program is known to all around as needing a new coach, maybe. Even then it affect recruiting and the line for a new beginning. And this is far from ideal...so, I'd only give this like a 15% like rate. So, to answer, no.
Buzz Williams... hell of a coach, motivator, etc. But he is a weird dude- very weird. Not sure I would give him carte blanche on recommending a new coach for VT. He might recommend another weird dude like him, and I doubt that lightning would strike twice in blacksburg. Just my opinion.
No.
I'm serious, we should only be looking at guys who have had success as a head coach in the D1 level. Someone who either had had a run at the top of a lower tier conference or has had success at a lower 'power' conference. That's just the caliber of coach you need to have success in the ACC, especially now when everyone is loading up on top coaches.
Beyond the fact that he's never been a head coach in meaningful games (only Summer League), his only jobs in basketball have been in the pro game.
College basketball is an entirely different beast, and it's rare to see success from someone who's never been a part of it. Patrick Ewing is doing ok at Georgetown, but they're in a much different place with their program than VT.
Basketball wise this may be somewhat true but any time I hear a Ewing interview, I cringe. Definitely not one to talk off the cuff and also not one to really expound even when prepared for the press.
A name I haven't heard tossed around a lot that I think could be a good fit but may not have interest would be Fran Mccaffery from Iowa
You mean Tim Sands 2.0?
Fran is a decent coach, but he is prone to eruptions of anger every now and then that are really embarrassing.
Case in point, from barely more than a month ago:
Iowa suspends McCaffery 2 games over tirade
Also, his son was a freshman at Iowa this year, so I'm not sure how much he'd want to leave right now.
Oh, so he's like Cronin, except he directs his anger at adults, instead of opposing players
Are there any women's coaches who people might feel could handle a men's basketball team?
Dawn Staley and Becky Hammon are two that would get the job done.
Really?
You don't think it would impact recruiting? I understand that Staley has huge success at South Carolina, coaching women. Hammon has been highly regarded as an assistant.
What makes you think they would both get the job done at the ACC level, as a head coach?
I don't think they could jump into an ACC job, but I do think they would be better than most at coaching men's teams. Hammon will be the first. She had the respect of the entire NBA. No issue in getting recruits.
I'd rather not be the program who tries to find out
I agree. While it would make a splash, I would want no part of it.
I think this post is referring to coaches of women's teams (i.e. Aurriema at UConn)
I took it as hiring a female.
But we would not consider hiring Auriemma or any male coach of a female team.
Auriemma has already said he has no intention of moving over to the men's side, because its just a completely different game.
I definitely didn't mean I think we should hire him specifically. Just the first women's coach that came to mind.
FWIW I read it the way I did because he wrote "women's coach" as opposed to "female coach".
I'm definitely talking current coaches for winning basketball teams that would be up for the challenge. If this is too political, feel free to drop it. I just felt if we're talking coaches, we should include capable, proven coaches regardless of gender.
Its not too political to me. I just don't think its realistic.
Hokies are not hiring a female coach, nor do I think its realistic that they were considering one for the job.
I would think you would need a female coach to be on a Power 5 staff, and get heavy experience.
Just being honest....you would have to consider the impact on recruiting, fundraising, etc.
Absolutely considering the hit because of everything involved. It would definitely be a challenge, but I'd consider it far from unrealistic. Highly improbable. Incredibly difficult to break through certain barriers and stigma. It's why there aren't many female coaches of any men's sports teams, especially the bigger ones. But the question was more hypothetical than actual, since we are talking in hypothetical terms until Buzz leaving is confirmed from the only source that matters.
But a Hokie is leading the way in the NFL, with Bruce Arians hiring two position coaches with Tampa Bay for this upcoming season.
Lori Locust as assistant defensive line coach and Maral Javadifar as assistant strength and conditioning coach.
Link Here
Are you suggesting we hire a female football coach to coach our men's basketball team? Now that's thinking outside the box!
This would never work, we're in the ACC now not the Big East.
That's awesome. Thanks for the link.
Well if it's Wojo we should get one recruit out of it as his one commit had an offer from....
https://247sports.com/player/dexter-akanno-46058484/
You overlooked this
https://247sports.com/player/symir-torrence-46048261/
Sweet thanks...
Does he have any commits that are over 6'7"?
Maybe that's what we should be looking at in a basketball coach. ;^)
Maybe Wake Forest went with Danny Manning because they were looking for a coach over 6'7".
It has not worked out so far.
/s
If a player preps at VT academy, he should be destined for VT. It should be a law or something.
F that.
It's okay, we can cuss now.
#startcussin
I really hope not. I don't want anything to do with a coach that has been implicated in an FBI investigation.
This would be a big mistake in my opinion. I would lose a lot of faith in Whit if this hire actually happens.
https://www.nj.com/setonhall/2018/02/kevin_williard_cant_plead_ignorance...
https://nypost.com/2018/02/23/isaiah-whiteheads-37k-puts-seton-hall-in-c...
https://nypost.com/2018/02/24/seton-halls-plan-to-prove-innocence-in-fbi...
Willard's name was never actually in the FBI reports, only the player (Whitehead) and the assistant coach (Morton) who coached Whitehead in high school.
While I don't like the optics of it, hiring someone close to a recruit itself isn't a violation and it happens fairly frequently.
My order of preference at this point would likely be
1. Ryan Odom, UMBC
2. David Richman, North Dakota State
3. Matt Mcmahon, Murray State
Is that because you don't think Marshall and Wojo aren't possible or that these are better coaches?
Personally I'm on the fence about Marshall. I think the biggest need we have, is a coach who is going to continue the style of play that can beat teams that out-recruit us because of name recognition. Our success from the 3 point line neutralized a lot of the recruiting hurdles we had as a program, and I would like a coach that can continue that effort. I also want a coach that can bring in some length, and athleticism as well. If Marshall or Wojo can do that great.
Ever hear of Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet?
I think he can coach teams that shoot the 3....
I wont even question Whit as to whats possible but I don't see this as a final stepping stone for Wojo, and he just got Marquette on track so I also don't see enough desire to leave that program so soon. Marshall is almost the opposite, he is essentially a god in that small Kansas town where almost everyone knows him. He is already making $3.5M from Wichita State so our offer would likely have to be a significant upgrade to even get him talking.
The second reason is along the lines of the other comment below your regarding being able to recruit the talent that can compete with the Duke, UVA, UNC guys but don't show up on their radars so they are available to us. For that I prefer the younger up and coming coach that has had to scrape and scrounge for talent at the smaller school to compete, which is where I am drawing my list from. I also could see one of those three making Tech home.
Odom knows the area, plays a similar style to Buzz, recruits similar players as Buzz and could continue to keep us relevant I believe. He has led UMBC to over 20 wins each of his three seasons there, where they were a seven win team the year before he took over the program.
Richman has led North Dakota State to the tournament two times in five years, and only had one losing season in that time. His guys play scrappy defense, like to run and shoot the three much like the recent Hokies, with attempts at 24th in the Nation.
McMahon and Murray State shows he knows how to identify talent, with the emergence of Ja Morant this season. He has led Murray State to a first place finish in the OVC three of four seasons, and has two NCAA tournament appearances. He would be able to bring in the talent that would keep us competitive.
Didn't ask the question but just wanted to take a minute to thank you - great insight.
Thanks for the insight.
Wichita has a population of 390k and is over 160 square miles in footprint.
Facts will get after ya.
Yes that is true but if you have been downtown there and seen how Marshall interacts with the populace you would understand my reference. ESPN followed him around town a few times and of course people were falling all over themselves to talk to him which yes has a TV bias but they also showed him meeting with the mayor and city council amd it was obvious he was very familiar with them and very buddy buddy. I acknowledge that any coach is going to be at least a minor celebrity but it was not minor in the case of Marshall and Wichita.
Wichita is a basketball "town", they are passionate about having a good coach and are smart enough to treat him well.
I grew up watching Livingston, Carr, and McDaniel, and (in general) liked living there. Doesn't mean I didn't leave as soon as I could.
As the only Hokie in an office full of WSU alums, really hoping VT doesn't hire Marshall just so people don't blame me.
Thanks for the write up on each. I have heard zero mention of any of these three however....as serious candidates for the job. I think we are aiming higher than these guys honestly.
Higher profile isn't necessarily a good thing unfortunately. I get that everyone expects a household name after getting Buzz last time but in basketball circles, these three are highly respected. Two of the three won National Awards either as head coaches or assistant coaches. They know how to win in difficult locations. They know how to recruit and also have the high energy motor to put together a roster that can compete in the ACC I believe.
Ryan Odom:
When is the last time an ACC school hired a coach ACC from such a small school?
A large part of this perception is because of how many tenured coaches the ACC has. Once you get to those with ten years or less you start to see plenty of small schools like Wright State, UNC Wilmington, Ohio, Tulsa, and even Mike Brey coming from Delaware.
Look at the list.
Syracuse - Boeheim - 42 years - Asst at Syracuse prior to HC
Duke - Coach K - 39 Years - Hired from Army after a 9-17 season there.
Notre Dame - Mike Brey - 18 Years - HC of Delaware prior
Florida State - Leonard Hamilton- 16 Years- HC of Washington Wizards prior
North Carolina - 15 years - HC of Kansas prior
UVA - Tony Bennett - 10 years - HC of Washington State prior
Clemson - Brad Brownell - 8 years - HC of Wright State prior
Miami - Jim Larranaga -7 years - HC of George Mason prior
Boston College - Jim Christian - 5 Years - HC of Ohio prior
Wake Forest - Danny Manning - 5 Years - HC of Tulsa prior
Georgia Tech - Josh Pastner - 3 Years - Hired from Memphis
Louisville - Chris Mack - 2 Years - HC of Xavier prior
NC State - Kevin Keatts - 2 years- HC of UNC Wilmington prior
Pitt - Jeff Capel - 1 Year - Duke Assistant prior
Virginia Tech - null - 0 Years - n/a
UMBC and certainly NDSU are way below any of those schools, right? Wright St was a 14 seed the only time Brownell* got them to the tourney, so that's close to the 16 seed UMBC. Mason was a 11/12 when Larranaga took them to the Final4. Tulsa was a 13.
Murray St, I could see. Maybe Odom because of his connection to VT but we would probably have to strike out on a number of other guys to get to Odom. The NDSU coach? Needs multiple stops before becoming an ACC coach, IMO
*If memory serves, the Brownell (and Bzedlik) hires were largely panned when they were made. Clearly everyone was right about Bzedlik, but Brownell continues to float around in the middle-of-the-ACC waters.
I am not as concerned with the quality of the school that they are coming from. If anything to me that is even more of a positive, especially in todays recruiting environment. They have shown the ability at what I consider the toughest level to recruit, smallest schools in D1 level, where you have to identify "OKG" type players because otherwise you have no shot at recruiting many top 300 guys and they have shown that the talent they put together was good enough to compete with top schools at least once in a while without the benefit of the ACC moniker behind them and the budget and staff to get real top talent. Just ask #1 LOLUVA.
We would have a riot if we hired ".589 Winning % At NDSU" David Richman. I don't care what the basketball world thinks about him, our fanbase would crap themselves. And it's nice to have fans, important even. That's why I think you will see a very familiar name as the selection.
I like McMahon a lot but he's got another stop before he's coaching in the ACC. Odom won one big game, has some good genes and has some ties to VT. He would be okay, but we would only offer Ryan Odom if we got no's from about 8-10 other people first.
If the Willard rumor that just popped up has any legs, I'd gladly bail out and take Odom.
Why isn't Painter or Dawkins on our list? Are they really too far out of reach? Not joking, legit don't know...
Lot of moving parts. Some have a large buy-out in order to leave current school. Some are happy where they are. Some don't want to be in a big pond like the ACC. Some just don't make the list...and maybe Whit has a wish list and hit it out of the park in the first one or two on the list.
Painter is coaching at his alma mater, and just took his team to the brink of the Final Four.
Dawkins might consider the job, but his name has been attached to other schools so far.
My only concern with Dawkins is his inability to get Stanford over the top in the PAC 12. He was there for eight years and only managed a third place finish once but more often than not finished 7th - 9th and during a time where the PAC 12 wasn't stellar basketball. He finished with a sub .500 record in the PAC 12. He has had much more success at UCF but even there I am not sure he can sustain it. I don't know enough about their overall play and how much to attest to having someone 7'6 down low to protect the paint and four seniors in your top seven rotation players.
So looking at the evidence out there and not "my source tells me" (translation: I read a fan speculation post behind a paywall and now I'm posting to sound like a big shot"), what's the most concrete stuff we know about?
Based on the flight tracker stuff, it sounds like Wojo was interviewed or at the very least, inquired about. Like TechLunchPail said in that Twitter thread with the details, all those flights to and from Blacksburg to the Marquette area don't seem to be coincidence. There appears to be more smoke there than just pure speculation and wishful thinking.
Then there's Rothstein's mention of Kevin Willard and there's some flight track path from the Seton Hall region as well so I'd mark that down as legit.
But is that the only two that go beyond random speculation as of right now? Any others worth mentioning (legit candidates, not your wishlist)?
So the plane that TechLunchPail tweeted about flew to Gary/Chicago Intl on Monday. There were originally flights scheduled back to Blacksburg yesterday, but they never happened. And now the plane is scheduled to fly to Manassas airport today, not Blacksburg. One theory was that the flight back to Blacksburg was going to have Wojo and family on it for an announcement. Another theory might be that it was flying Wojo back after an interview and now the plane is being used for other purposes. Who knows other than Whit and the plane's owner of course, but the point is...it was supposed to fly back to Blacksburg yesterday and now it is scheduled to go to Manassas today. Make of that what you will.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N233FT
Well...Justin Robinson is from Manassas....with all his eligibility exhausted, the Hokies are turning to Coach #5....meet your new coach, Justin Robinson.
but actually I'd be so down for this in like a decade or two
Wojo Update: TechLunchPail, who had the flightracker stuff to begin, says the flights actually were just a coincidence. This throws a huge bucket of water on the Wojo to VT embers.
https://twitter.com/techlunchpaild/status/1114128942850506753
I don't know much about college hoops, so I googled the top coaches of all-time, to see who we could target as the next Hokies coach.
I figure, we need to "Go Large or Go Home"...i figure, why not start at the top of the list?
Maybe we could post this as a poll for the community?
Anyway people, let me know your thoughts on these potential candidates for our Hoops Squad?
The top 6 names on the Bleacher Report list of the Top 50 Coaches of All-time are:
1-John Wooden
2-Vince Lombardi
3. Dean Smith
4. Bear Bryant
5. Knute Rockne
6. Patches O'Houlihan
#PatchesOrRiot
Hope you have a shovel and some necro magic...
Since Dawn Staley was mentioned earlier in the thread (twice, but once in the context we're talking about), lemme make the case for her.
-Took over a Temple program that was in really bad shape and immediately turned them into a strong program (while she was still an active WNBA player, mind you).
-Goes to South Carolina when it's essentially an NIT school and builds it into a national force
-I imagine she understands the ACC geographic footprint pretty well. She's a legend for what she did in playing days at Virginia. She coaches in the state of South Carolina, played professionally in Richmond and Charlotte.
-Brings a resume of greatness and credibility that most of the other candidates don't have (Gold Medals, Olympic Flagbearer, Olympic Coach, Naismith Hall of Famer, etc.)
-7 Reg. Season Conference Titles, 8 Conference Tournament Titles, 5 Conference Coach Of The Year Awards, 2 Final Fours and a National Title
I actually think Dawn Staley would be a good fit.
Thanks, but no. Last time we hired an ex-LOLUVA player, that didn't work out too well.
What kind of experience does she have recruiting mens basketball?
None, I believe.
Recruiting is recruiting, right?
Info alert:
Thank god in regards to the first tweet. Search Firms are such a ripoff. You're literally paying someone to do your job for you.
Agreed. Means that the AD isn't prepared for his #1 job duty and donation dollars are being spent poorly.
Particularly since the AD STILL has to do the heavy lifting.
Most of the lists of possible candidates look pretty similar.
What I like about Whit is that he seems to hone in on someone really good fairly quickly.
UVA uses a search firm for Bennett. They were tired of Jon Oliver screwing up searches.
This article is interesting....VT Search
I hope he's wrong about who we end up with. I'll be really disappointed if Cronin is the guy
Jamie Dixon is negotiating with UCLA according to ESPN, may change college search landscape. Historically similar program to us, not as much recent success.
UCLA?
Pretty sure he means TCU since that's where the opening will be...
Ah, that makes more sense, lol
Yes, I was talking about TCU haha
Y'all can call me crazy or whatever but I tell you who I would consider JUSTIN ROBINSON he knows the system he would be able to keep the recruits and I guarantee he could coach. Sounds just crazy enough to work.
Yeahhhhhh... there are things that are crazy and there are things that are beyond crazy, and that might be the latter... but I like your optimism!
He'd make a great assistant. Tons of energy - but you need years of experience before you can lead a major program. My daughter just graduated college last year...she's smart, but doesn't have what's needed yet to lead a seasoned staff team. Just no.
Sorry but Paul Debnam called dibs #sauces
Just no
Willard looks like a legit possibility.
WILLARD
MORE
If he's clean per the FBI issues, he's a really good choice. Dude can recruit and will rebuild the roster post haste. He beat out Buzz for Tyrese Samuel this past year. The Hall was 58th in D, 85th in adjusted O and 100th in tempo on KenPom. We were 10th in O, 20th in D and 333 in tempo. Their schedule was 43rd vs our 46 for comparison.
All these leaks feel like Willard is trying to get himself a raise rather than Willard is trying to get himself a new job
VT COACH SEARCH
Nice overview by Duke site
Was better than the Goodman writeup in that it was honest about our program, while not trashing it.
NOOOOOO to Turgeon.
NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Can't argue with that at all. We're definitely not the kind of fanbase who is going to sit back and sip on how others just don't appreciate the complexities of the defensive game in basketball. We want points and we want highlights, because that will bring people to Cassell.
Guys, I need more unfounded rumors and embedded tweets from unreliable sources.
k thanks
I heard from my roommate's sisters cousin boyfriend that Saban wants to try and win at a new sport since Dabo has beaten him now a couple of times.
Confirmed,
SatanSABAN will take over VT women's volleyball.I heard Urban Meyer, which checks out since his daughter played volleyball at GT.
User name checks out.
Anthony Harris released from LOI...
HARRIS
It's the right thing to do but I would like to at least see the new coach brought in and given a chance to sit down with these guys to try and retain them before they're released. Maybe that's in poor taste to keep them waiting though idk.
Harris said in the article he will still consider VT, so I guess at least he will give the new coach a shot.
Well, he can't go to an ACC school because he signed his LOI, so no Duke and Wake
Is there really any question where he's going?
Seeing that he's from Virginia and his finalists were all regional schools, I tend to think it is an open question- especially if he isn't restricted from other ACC schools.
I will be shocked if he ends up anywhere other than aTm
Y'all, save yourselves the heartache and just mentally prepare for this entire recruiting class to follow Buzz to aTm
I think its safe to assume they are all gone. If any stay, I will view that as a nice bonus to whatever miraculous coaching hire Whit pulls off.
The more I look at it, we really need to take a look at Hurley from ASU. That program has improved in the conference and overall record wise every year, so a nice trajectory as Buzz did, he KILLS recruiting (top 10 national class last year) . We need someone who can rebuild the talent level quickly. only concern is a big (+$2 mil buyout)
He said all the right things and I wish him nothing but the best but I would be willing to bet he ends up at A&M with all of our other recruits, Wojo would be a good hire in this extent in that if he brings his recruits with him there wouldn't be much drop off as Marquette actually has a guard that's higher rated than Harris currently signed, something to keep an eye on for sure, no sources just my thoughts
Wojo has one commit, a mid 3 star we also offered
He's got one 2019 signee (#356, #42 CG) and one 2020 commit (top 50, #4 CG)
Powell, who I believe is Seton Hall's best player, just declared for the draft. Willard gone?
Reports are that he hasn't signed an agent so he can still withdraw.
Maybe Willard told him he was leaving?
or maybe he wants to get paid? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
edit: sounds like as of now, he is just testing the waters. Not hiring an agent, so as of now, he can return next year
Why can't football adopt that simple rule? No agent means you can return.
As of this year you can declare for the draft, hire an agent, and still return. You can't take money though. That's for basketball. Not sure about football.
...because it makes too much sense. NCAA is just about stupidity.
Without looking into, in kids carpool line, how much prep do Kids do for the NBA draft? Is there a combine? For NFL a lot of kids move to facilities around the country to train, their agent pays for the training, food and housing during this time.
There is an NBA combine but it's mid-late May. Yeah, it's less feasible to do NFL prep as a full time student for sure
Is it really? Students have a lot of downtime and you can only work out so many hours a day. Time management is key, but I do not understand why it wouldn't be possible.
Not all players do those, and if you make school return a possibility for the kids that don't get selected where they want, I think even less would do it. They would be relying more on their pro days and the film from how ever many years of work they have put in on the field.
I can't recall a single player who stayed in for spring term after declaring for the draft. The NBA draft occurs after most colleges are out for the summer if the kid chooses to stay in classes. NFL during spring term.
Am I the only one that the longer the wait lasts the more I begin to feel uneasy about the next guy?
I wouldn't worry. Whit has already said there won't be any leaks.
And given that there were no leaks last time when Buzz was hired until the deal was basically done, I'm sure it will be much the same this go-around.
Its not that I dont believe in Whit its just more along the lines of the longer it goes does that mean Whit is having to work his way down the list is all.
Bryce Drew?
Drew signed three recruits — Darius Garland, Simi Shittu and Aaron Nesmith — who each rated among the nation's top 75 incoming freshmen, according to various prep talent ranking services.
Lets think about guys who are not already part of the rumor mill (like buzz when we hired him). How about Leonard Hamilton (FSU)? Mark Few (Gonzaga)? Steve Prohm (Iowa State)? Greg McDermott (Creighton)? I believe all of these guys are making 2.25 million or less at their schools now unless they received better contracts recently.
Hamilton is in the twilight of his career. Mark Few won't leave Gonzaga for anything but a blueblood, and even that is unlikely. Prohm just signed an extension. McDermott turned down Ohio State two years ago, but is probably the only one on this list that is even remotely obtainable.
Leonard Hamilton, believe it or not is 70 years old. That dude lives right.
Especially after all of those years with the Baltimore Police Department. You'd think that stress would have aged him.
That's a deep cut
give me frank martin please and thank you
Is this just so you can have a ton of Screaming Face memes? Otherwise I don't see this. He has had one really good season while at South Carolina in seven years. That is also their only NCAA tournament appearance.
And that was because he had one really good player in 7 years.
Any insights or thoughts on what assistants, if any, are expected to be retained or are definitely out. I admit I know very little about any of them, their histories, resumes, loyalties, etc.
My guess is they're all gone, just a hunch though
Jamie McNeillly has already been reported as joining Buzz. McNeilly was a pivot piece in bringing NAW in. He is also the Uncle of Cashius McNeilly who had reported interest in VT, but CBs moving to aTm
I have not seen any other reports on the other assistants.
McNeilly was also the primary recruiter for Jon Kabongo and Emmanuel Miller (Class of 19 commit).
Damn I was hoping we could atleast keep ahold of Miller for his size etc
McNeilly had potentially three or four more Canadians in the classes of 20, 21, and 22 including two huge post players as well which is also tough to see go
Including a silent commit from his nephew that we just silently lost.
You think Bongo is going to leave as well? I felt like the only reason he came to VT was McNeilly.
I wont be surprised if they all leave especially if the coach plays a totally different style of basketball
I'd like to see us hold on to Christian Webster, smart and personable and a good recruiter, he was key for getting Nolley.
BIG (letdown) if true!
Really not feeling this hire, but in Whit I trust
My initial reaction.
I can tell my expectations are completely out of whack. Four straight tournament births isn't something to turn your nose up at when you look at our program history. I was really impressed with how Seton Hall closed out the season to cement their birth this year too. I guess I'd consider it a good but not exciting hire. I just hope we stay scandal free.
I had the same initial reaction. Hopefully his success at Seton Hall is due to his coaching and not the lack of competition outside of Villanova after the football schools started the AAC.
Outside of this season, which was considered a down year for the Big East when they had 4 teams in the tourney (out of 10), here's the number of teams from the Big East in the NCAA tournament:
2016: 5
2017: 7
2018: 6
Seton Hall has been in the tournament each of those years, so yeah, the Big East has been a really good basketball conference the last four seasons.
I feel like if it wasn't for the FBI thing this would be a home run hire. Whit knows what he is doing, he wouldn't hire a coach unless he knew there would be no trouble with having him be our coach.
True, I guess when I look at the big east schools I see Villanova and a bunch of solid teams that can make the tournament but not make it out of the first weekend most years.
Interesting
that's weird...why...because he wants the Seton Hall job or because Willard is his buddy and thinks it would be a good move...or some other reason?
They're buddies I guess. Supposedly Cronin did a similar thing with Buzz in 2014 given the Cronin-Babcock connection
Are Cronin and Willard close? A lot of people concerned by NCAA/FBI probe and Willard's ties to Pitino. So since Whit has very likely talked to Cronin, and Cronin says, look I'm staying put. And then either Cronin suggests Willard or Whit asks Cronin about Willard. Very interesting. Makes me wonder if Cronin vouched for Willard to some degree. If Willard is the guy, will be very interesting to see if at some point Whit feels the need to publicly address FBI probe or if he just keeps quiet on it since it would just stoke unwanted conversation.
The fact that FBI probe is in the same sentence as Willard makes me nervous. Why take the risk? I understand he might not be directly implicated in things, but I don't think it's worth it. I've always been very proud of the integrity that VT sports has had (at least in my lifetime).
Remember recently the shady basketball recruiter that got implicated with helping recruits cheat on tests, and he was "associated" with Buzz (pictured behind our bench at a game this season) because he was "associated" with everyone. Buzz said, yes, I know him, because everybody knows him. Guilty by association is not a thing. Coaches in Pitino's tree shouldn't be held back, but yes, they will get extra scrutiny. I trust Whit on it.
Cronin was reportedly the one who matched Buzz and Whit up on the blinddate last time.
Maybe there is more to this Willard thing that I thought. It looked like a clear negotiation tactic for him, using his guy Zags to help him look more interesting than he is though the press.
I still don't believe it's Willard.
Willard is a little underpaid for a guy who has made 4 straight tournaments. Guy makes less than Danny Manning. He's going to get a raise out of this either way.
Willing to donate to up his salary at SH
If it ends up being Willard, Whit is obviously aware of the whole FBI thing...you'd have to think for Whit to even entertain hiring him, he would have to be 100% certain that nothing could come back to bite him.
I'm good with it
I'd be happy with Willard. He's coached Seton Hall to the tourney 4 years in a row??
If he can get Seton Hall to the tourney 4 years in a row I'd say he shouldn't have a problem making regular appearances in the tourney with VT. That's all I want out of Tech bball. Make it to the tourney and see if we can make a run.
I agree that Willard would be a good hire.
If people really want to scrutinize Willard as a candidate, I think it's fair to ask how quickly a guy can adjust who has coached and recruited almost exclusively in the Tri-State area for his entire career. Recruiting in the ACC will carry its own weight, but he'll have to branch out of his home base to get talent to Blacksburg.
All that said, I think he'd be fine. But it's a legitimate question - in my opinion, moreso than the FBI probe.
FWIW, if you look into Seton Hall's recruiting targets beyond this year, Willard has a few guys in the DMV that are interested. I suspect that interest would be beneficial to us if Willard came to Blacksburg. Being the ACC means a lot more to those DMV guys than it would going to New Jersey.
The other thing about Willard is just how good a job he's done at Seton Hall. Seton Hall has a lot of obstacles now. The Big East basically died. NJ and the area they are in isn't all that great. Their alumni still have really high hopes like PJ is still there. Seton Hall was basically becoming a dead end job before Willard got there. It took a little bit of time, but he's built it back to respectability. He's gotten talent to go there. He's gotten to the tourney 4 straight years and won the Big East tourney. If he can do that there, one would think he can do just as well and more in a better conference in a stronger recruiting area.
Brother lives less than 10 minutes from Seton Hall. People he's talked to really like Willard and not happy he's being mentioned. Tells me something. Of course he just took a team picked 8th preseason to the NCAA too.
And South Orange is a beautiful area. Some of the nicest neighborhoods you'll see. There are major $$ there. Its like the old money neighborhoods around DC
If it's Willard then so be it. It's probably a good hire, even though he's not my first choice. I was really hoping Frank Beamer would take a stab at this whole basketball thing.
Imagine Foster as a basketball coach. Little scoring, but defense would be fun to watch!
So...UVA?
I don't know why but this comment made me imagine this team with Frank as HC:
Erick Green
J. Rob.
NAW
Delaney
KBJ
with a bench of Jeff Allen, Deron Washington, and Paul Debnam.
I was happy when I thought of this team.
That's a team that would really get after ya.
Remember what Whit said about not believing all the names you here. There is probably a good chance Willard's lobbying for a pay raise at Seton Hall, and they are very likely a preseason top 25 squad next year if he stays.
Not saying we don't hire him, but Willard is also likely to be a much more sought after candidate next offseason.
My only doubt with this Willard thing, Whit said "Anything that's leaked out there has a motive."....so obviously we're hiring someone that has not been linked to the job yet.
Calipari to VT, book it!
We're going to give Calipari the double lifetime contract.
brad calipari getting that lifetime contract as well
Just discovered the @stupidwillard twitter handle.
Someone clearly dislikes the man.
Now StupidNarduzzi, that has real potential.
I've been trying to look at twitter accounts of potential hires, and man, Buzz's twitter game is next level. Most of these coaches just don't even have a personal twitter from what I can see.
And yes, StupidNarduzzi would be great! So much material.
Who? Oh yeah, the little funny guy.
Was fine for a while, but no longer interests me, even as I fondly remember him karate chopping a cup of water.
#BeenThereDoneThatStillHaveTheTShirt
Always felt like I needed a decoder to figure out what he was saying
I was at about a 50% proficiency rate, which I thought was pretty good. But it was fun looking at the faces of whoever he was talking to.
I wish laser would tell us what he really thought of Buzz. Some of the faces he made when Buzz went on not addressing his questions...I would like to know what he was thinking.
..and if it is Willard, there's this (from SH Bio)
Seeing multiple reports that Arkansas and Gregg Marshall are in final negotiations to get him to leave Wichita State
There's been a ton of Twitter noise about that but I never believed it could actually happen.
SEC, basketball edition.
+1 if Marshall actually leaves WSU and its for fucking Arkansas and not VT I'm going to be fucking pissed.
Wait, what?
Arkansas basketball has history on their side - as in, a national title and multiple Final Fours.
Plus, Marshall has lived in that area of the country for a while now, and he hasn't lived in VA for over 30 years.
Yes, but we're talking 1994.
And they haven't gotten beyond the second round since 1996, which is well before any current recruit or current college basketball player was born.
don't worry, Arkansas still blew a 24 point lead in the Belk Bowl.
I forget that Arkansas is even a state
Man, that's a huge shame.
Arkansas has a sizable budget advantage ($130M to $87M) but you'd think we'd be able to pull him over them.
Who the hell would want to live in Arkansas?
Fayetteville, AR is actually an amazing city. The same doesn't go for Fayetteville, NC
I lived in Raeford for a year and man driving into Fayetteville was just demoralizing
The Duggars, IIRC.
Curious. Where are you seeing it? I've searched and all I can find is a bunch of fans talking what ifs. No verifieds or guys that look like they might know (minus one guy who claimed it would be announced today in a conference which clearly didn't happen...unless that press conference is at 11pm on Friday night, lol)
This doesn't make sense. I live here in Arkansas 15 minutes from Fayetteville and all my friends are diehards and I don't even see an inkling of this rumor on Facebook. Searched twitter and nothing. I know that's who they would like to get and his name has been thrown around as a wish (just like our fans), but haven't heard anything other than that
Edit: the big rumor going around here is Arkansas is waiting on Beard to finish up so they can talk to him. Beard coached one season in Little Rock, so it is giving them hope.
They would have to pay him crazy money to go there. He's earning already what the head football coach in Arkansas is. His daughters live in Lubbock. He's a Texas alum (probably eyeing that Shaka May be out soon), and just won coach of the year with a team in the final four......only reason to go to Arkansas is if they back up the brinks truck and make him the 3rd highest paid coach in the country.....which they could easily do. Always look past arkansas' revenue when looking at coaching hires. There are three Fortune 500 companies and many other big wigs within a 20 mile radius of Fayetteville. If Arkansas really wants a coach they will pony up like they did last year when they offered Gus malzhan 50 million to come coach......majority of that offer wasn't from their revenue, it was being promised from the powers that be.
My apologies Robert.....I questioned this last night. Still never saw reports of it or any chatter on the usual channels, but from my #sauces here closer to the situation confirmed that the Marshall hire was a done deal, but a board member with ties to beard held it up.....I bet the they are regretting that decision now.
No worries, I knew Marshall had met with Arkansas at least three times and was hearing reports of his offer being in the $4.6M area which definitely would have put him up there in terms of top coaching pay.
The suspense of knowing diddly squat is excruciating
We've gone from:
to:
Remember when we thought the delay meant good things like buzz staying around? Pepperidge farms remembers
Those were the days!
BREAKING: dont really know shit. No sauces. Don't know how to post pics via my phone. But I do see a flight leaving Blacksburg to Cincinnati scheduled for tomorrow on flightaware.... Enter Mick Cronin...
I just looked it up and you are correct, but the plane flying to Cincy is a 1974 Cessna. Please tell me VT rolls with something better than a 4 seater 1974 plane with a single engine and 4 seats....
It's the Rolls Royce of the 1940's. What more could you ask for...
Man got his raise.
Yep, I just go back to how Whit runs his hiring and how few leaks happen until it's a done deal.
Yea a lot of coaches are going to have leaks saying they were offered this gig to get their raise.
There were predictions out there that he wouldn't leave Seton Hall. Unfortunately for us, he has a championship team already built for next year at Seton Hall, which gave him a compelling reason to stay, so our offer gave them a compelling reason to give him a raise. Would have been a good get for VT.
Next man up.
I promise you we didn't offer him
Jamie Dixon has apparently pulled out of negotiations with UCLA
So no Wojo, Willard out, Marshall looking like Ark, Cronin UCLA or renegotiating Cincy.
This is not going real well at this point in terms of the names mentioned but in Whit I trust. Maybe he pulls a 'Whit' and we get Mike White, Hurley or Jamie Dixon?
Hard to say if any of the rumored names were actually on our list, but if we actually are having to move this far down the list of established big conference guys then just give me Ryan Odom.
I would be coo with it. I think Odom has a lot of potential
Ryan Odom? The guy who's only claim to fame was one upset (albeit the biggest ever) over a 1 seed? I personally am skeptical that he could come in and keep us competitive. If he hadn't beaten the BooHoos I guarantee we wouldn't be talking about him right now.
He's had multiple 20+ win seasons as a head coach and was an assistant at VT for 7 years. His teams are fun to watch and can score points. What's wrong with that?
The guy is definitely working hard this week.
I hope he manages to pull a rabbit out of his hat on this one. Quicker is better at this point.
Live look-in at "quicker is better"
Matt McMahon signed a 4 year extension at Murray State.
Oats signed an extension with Buffalo a week before he went to Bama
We are stealing Oats from Bama. Might be the only win over them for a while.
Are you kidding me? We would dominate them in wrestling!!!! Also, probably track
And don't even mention bass fishing.
Unfortunately I think Bama has us in bass fishing too...
Feels like we're falling prey to "perception is reality" here. And the perception is fast becoming "no coach wants to touch the VT job as we watch the program skeletonize before our eyes". Coach turnover, top to bottom. Players in the portal, players rumored to be entering the portal soon. Commits and top targets looking elsewhere. There's not a ton of incentive for a top target coach to take this gig - at the moment it's not a big step up from (for example) Seton Hall, Marquette, Wichita, TCU.
This is taking too long. And every hour we wait it gets worse. At this point unless Whit pulls a rabbit out of the hat with one hand while sawing his assistant in half with the other, this hire may be notable as much for how long it's taken as for who we actually hire. Especially if we make an (again, perceived) underwhelming hire.
Maybe my (our?) expectations are too high. But the longer this drags out, the less power we have in the hiring process - not to mention the perceived power loss for the program itself, one week removed from a thrilling Sweet 16 showing and a sort of mini-"arrival" of our hoops team.
In Whit I Trust.
Up Whit's Sleeve I Hope.
I think this is absolutely the biggest overreaction we can have right now. If May rolls around and we are in the same spot, red alert absolutely. Whit has only officially been able to negotiate since Wednesday. Even if he had someone lined up, they still need to negotiate the specific contract and buy out. Buzz was a sure thing at TAMU but we lost on a Friday and he wasn't announced until Wednesday.
Would it be awesome if we announce Buzz gone on Wednesday and new awesome best coach ever on Thursday, yeah. But it hasn't been a week yet. Breathe.
Don't underestimate the impact/importance of the Final Four. Every coach and most ADs in the country are gathering there this weekend networking and drinking (basically the same thing really). Bet Whit is there finding his guy.
Leg. I can see why you'd say that... It was really more of a "the naysayers' narrative is this" comment I was making - I personally feel surprisingly level-headed re our prospects/our current "place in the world" - we are a "top of the middle" program in an elite conference and our coaching search reflects that.
I have no issue with our hire being predicated on the timing of Buzz's exit and entrance at aTm - but all of our targets are coaches who are done with their seasons (personally I don't think we were ever in it for Marshall - but I'd love to be wrong about that✋). I know that a lot of my VT friends have only become annoyed since Buzz officially announced - the perceived notion being that Whit's known forever and people were hoping we had a plan that would launch right after the first domino - Buzz - fell.
All this being said, if you're willing to wait until May to get antsy? Whew boy - you're the most patient fan in Hokie Nation!
I wouldn't overplay it, but I think it's pretty normal for fans to be nervous at this point in a coaching replacement.
Plus, we're impatient sports fans, and we get a little poke from a sharp stick every time Buzz sends out a tweet about how thrilled he is to be at A&M.
I'd bet during Whit's pitch to Buzz he spun being at/near rock bottom as a positive.
The next VT coach, much like Buzz, has an opportunity to put his stamp on the program - and while I'm sure there's a part of the fanbase that will be upset at how bad next year will inevitably be, the expectations *should* be very low next year.
Whit is going to have to find someone with interest in building a program (again). There are some raw materials in place, but they're also going to have to build a foundation that suits them.
I'll bet James Johnson is available
I bet we can pay him less than Duke assistants.
Ryan Odom's name is being thrown around pretty heavily today. Can't say I know a lot about him. #sauces on TSL saying the same
I have a friend behind the paywall at vtscoop telling the same thing a lot of Odom talk. Kiptjam said 6pm tonite whatever that means
Am I the only one that finds it a little cheesy that we would have a 6pm announcement of UMBCs coach minutes before UVAs final four game tips off? I am all for trolling UVA but that doesn't sounds like a Whit move to me.
This comment aged pretty well.
It's already fun watching the "that's the best we could get" mob forming on twitter.
Well considering names that have been thrown around, it would be a little disappointing, given his level of experience. I'd almost just rather hand over to Jamie Mcneilly
You should go back and read what Whit said. Those names were thrown about by people who had no clue or were connected to that coach to get a better deal at current school.
This is kinda funny 24 hours later
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I think this would universally be seen as a garbage hire if not for one fluke game against UVA but I'm sure we'll meme it into a brilliant move nonetheless.
I love this hire (if true). Great coach, respected in basketball circles and fits the profile of what we need - high energy, willing to build his own brand, destination type of hire etc.
Phantom - not really sure why you have that opinion. That may be all you know about Odom. He is Dave's son, loves Vt (was an assistant for 7 years with Seth), turned around UMBC very quickly as they were horrible prior to him (amongst many other things). He is an up and coming coach who many top coaches consider one of the better talent evaluators in the business. The entire we have to hire an established name is such a celebrity culture thing and totally unnecessary in basketball.
Everyone wasn't a name coach until they were. Who is smarter? The school that hires a "name" or the school the hires a guy who creates his name. Time will tell his success, but I want to be a leader and not a follower.
He has like zero notable accomplishments as a HC outside of one fluke upset. This program is at a point right now where the wrong hire will send it right back to complete irrelevancy. We need somebody with some legitimate, established success, not to be taking risks on an "up and coming" guy. This "want to be a leader and not a follower" thing is so stupid, we're not a program that can afford to take risks like that right now.
His accomplishments have been against weak competition.
Hard pass.
So when does someone have a notable accomplishment for the first time? Why did those people hire that person from your point of view
If he hadn't upset LOLUVA in a fluke of epic proportions, we wouldn't know his name at all. Going from the American conference to ACC ball is a HUGE jump. It's one thing to hire an up-and-coming coach (ala Fuente) but this would be like the football program hiring a DIII coach...
Well.....
Trust Whit. He said no leaks #GreatDayToBeAHokie
There's chatter around Wofford head coach Mike Young.
I assumed that's referring to a new contract offer by Wofford to Young wasn't received as planned?
That seems to be the case, or at least how I read it, which is obviously interesting.
Yeah, starting to see some smoke around Young in Twitter. We'll see if any of the local media guys start to confirm.
Does that make it ironic that a decent #sauce I know told me the new flavor is Russell Turner from UC Irvine?
Or just a mix of funny and sad?
As painful as this is, I prefer it to a "national search" that chooses a former assistant from VT.
Seems a little odd, though, to go after someone who will cost $3 million, and then to target someone who may cost significantly less. Though maybe that leaves some room to pay for some really good assistants.
Mike Young seems like a very solid coach. If he can adapt to recruiting in the ACC, I think he'll grow on us.
Given the choice between Young and Turner I would pick Turner. Once he built up UC-Irvine he found a way to sustain the success (nothing but winning seasons) whereas Young has had a few losing seasons sprinkled in all throughout his time at Wofford. Both guys have experience building up programs that didn't have much (Young was only Woffors's second coach in school history, I didn't realize how young their basketball program is.) but I feel Turner has sustained success better.
Sigh. I guess we'll wait for the hire but man how long is it gonna take to build this thing back up, if ever under the next coach? A team left with, what, like 2 scholarship sophomores, potentially little to no incoming class, and a coach that may be someone that needs a significant amount of time to adjust to life in the ACC.
This sucks so hard and the BooHoos likely being crowned Natty Champs tomorrow and Bennett becoming UVAs Izzo for the next 20 yeats is just salt in the wound.
if we can't be important in basketball, we must work hard to make basketball unimportant*
*if LOLUVA wins Monday
Right, make a meh hire and then say "we don't care about basketball!"
So question with rumors of Young from Wofford being in the mix what does he bring that Odom from UMBC didn't? I think they both have potential to be good hires but I'm not seeing the vitriol that came out with Odom rumors as the Young rumors?
I think it's pretty much equally received as an underwhelming hire looking around at other boards, but I think people don't know what to believe now with all these false rumors. Also I think yesterday's rumor at the same time as the uva tip and with Odom made a lot of people think we were going out of our way to troll the Hoos, which would have been embarrassing if true.
Isn't it a stretch to say hiring a former assistant is going "out of our way". If Ryan Odom has a bad record (he doesn't), was never a Tech assistant and was expensive, that would be going "out of our way". Hiring a young, seemingly effective former assistant at a salary with room to grow is hardly going out of our way. The troll factor is just a bonus.
The rumors are just to get those coaches pay bumps. We won't know our coach until whit wants us to know
He must be making some friends, then, as multiple coaches will get a raise out of this search (or at least the rumors of it).
I would rather have Odom over Young.
Odom has been successful at his low level school in his three years, while it took Young 10+ years to have success at his low level school.
Though I doubt it'll be either of those two.
I would agree I think Odom is better hire of two but I think both have upsides.
I'd rather have Odom too, if this is the route we're taking.
I know it's only been a few days, but I can't take this supsense.
Also, I hope I am wrong but I am getting the impression that we are reaching out to and being turned down by a lot of people.
No way that Odom, Mike Young, or Russell Turner would turn us down, I think Tech is putting out feelers on them in case they miss on their big name targets
I would agree with that logic, but haven't we already missed on all of the big targets?
I don't think so, I think Marshall is still option 1 and the fact the media isn't linking him to us at all is actually giving me more optimism that my source was indeed right this time. I'm really hoping so regardless if we have to pay him more than what we would have payed buzz if we can have sustained success in basketball and then get some success going again in football that is only going to generate even more money for our university, for all sports not just football and basketball, going back to the old saying gotta spend money to make money
According to who? All we've heard so far, including from the Washington Post, are rumors.
Go back to what Whit told us when he kicked off the process: Don't believe anything unofficial, as many will use rumors to support their own agendas.
247 boards are saying not to expect any announcement today or tomorrow so the suspense will continue
Lol and now I'm seeing Jeff Goodman reporting Young will be our next coach. Gross, I hate the hire.
2 straight losses to end the season. One to duke, now this.
You are forgetting the loss to Texas A&M for the fourth coach in as many years in between there.