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Sources: Seton Hall's Kevin Willard is expected to be a primary target to replace Buzz Williams at Virginia Tech. Hokies' AD Whit Babcock has been prepared for this departure and has had a list of potential candidates for weeks. #shbb— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 3, 2019
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Not another one....
Yea this is getting ridiculous. This tweet has been posted in almost every other thread, like "Hokies Basketball Coach Search"
Maybe we should make a new topic any time somebody is rumored to be a candidate to replace Buzz! /s
interesting
Why the hell do we need another topic on this?
SOMEBODY START A THREAD EXPLAINING THE FACT THAT THERE ARE CURRENTLY TOO MANY BASKETBALL THREADS
TKP seemingly out of control this week. 10 different basketball threads 40 new 'insiders'
Where are my random off season posts and condiment arguments.
Best fast food dipping sauce?? Go.
There's no right answer to this question as all sauces are good (if they're actually a SAUCE)
Honey Mustard: Hardee's
Chick-fil-a: Polynesian sauce and CFA Sauce
are definitely up there.
You are so wrong on this point.
I'm all about that CFA sauce. I recently had sweet and spicy siracha at CFA though, and gotta say, that was pretty delicious with nuggs.
You can't handle this sauce
Yummy.
COOKOUT (special) SAUCE THA GOAT
Zaxby's Zax Sauce
Popeye's Mardis Gras Mustard
Bojangle's Bo Sauce.
All viable candidates. I haven't had Zaxby's in ages.
I'm all about that Zax sauce too.
Popeye's Mardis Gras Mustard is liquid crack
Zax Sauce. If you think otherwise, you're wrong and probably a loluva fan.
Zaxbys is trash.
Here is the unofficial list of #Sauces to get you FULLY DIPPED into DORK MAGIC
Chick-Fil-A: Polynesian
McDonald's: Hot Mustard
Arbys: 50:50 mix of Arby's Sauce and Horsey Sauce
Hardees: Sweet Baby Ray's
Burger King: Zesty Sauce
Don't @ me, bro
McDonalds Hot Mustard is a critically underrated sauce in the sauce game. I tried it the first time because I asked for buffalo sauce and they gave me Hot Mustard. Now it is a staple in my sauce rotation.
You were lucky! Usually I ask for Hot Mustard and end up with Honey Mustard.
If you mix about 50/50 horseradish sauce and ketchup, you get a pretty good almost-BK Zesty sauce.
My daughter used to work at the local Chick-fil-A. She said customers would request "Pomeranian sauce" all the time. I told her she should have told them they didn't have any more Pomeranian sauce but had "Chihuahua cheese" instead. Yes, I make my kids roll their eyes a lot.
Chick Fil A Honey Roasted BBQ
Zax Sauce tastes like vinegar and shoe soles, and anyone who thinks fast food fried chicken is (a) good and (b) enhanced by 'sawce' doesn't deserve to have their opinion taken seriously
Honey Mustard from Macado's
Counterpoint: Ranch from Mac n' Bobs
I can't argue with that!
This is the best and most informative basketball thread so far today!
Raising Canes sauce and it's not even close. Chicken, fries, toast all go in it.
You mean the thousand island dressing??
LOL!
I love Cane's & their sauce too (& their lemonade).
We're lucky to have so many insiders here. Because of them we knew that Buzz was staying/leaving for $3.5m/$4.0m/$4.5m/$5.0m/$5.5m/$6.0m annually because he loves Texas/Blacksburg more and has a great/shaky relationship with our AD.
Not to Mention we know with certainty our next hire is definitely willard/wojo/marshall/cronin/shaka/odom/k/tomlin/hurley/dawkins/jesus/oats
This candidate would be a major mistake. He is named in the FBI reports and there was enough there that Seton Hall obtained outside counsel to prepare themselves in the event the FBI does decide to add him to the list of those charged.
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...
Agreed, I think Willard is a solid coach but I would prefer Wojo or Marshall.
AS ALWAYS LTREP SHOWS UP WITH THE DEEP INFO
Mayonnaise
Mayonaise.
That was a great album. Loved the acoustic and electric tracks.
The only mayonaise that is worth a damn is the various flavored mayonaise at Good Stuff Eatery, otherwise, get that garbage out of my face.
People who hate cheese are idiots. Change my mind.
Is that a shot at French?
Gonna be honest here, I've stayed out of the food threads for a long time but had seen cheese hating mentioned at one point and thought there was a large group on here that is anti-cheese. If theres just one person, I semi-apologize for the aggressiveness but stand by my love for cheese.
This is a direct shot at French don't be sorry about it he's wrong
Cheese disliking lurker checking in
Want....to.........downvote......so................bad.....LEG
I'm mortified that we've been talking to other schools' head coaches for weeks during the tournament! Do we have no decency to wait until it's over before we try to steal their coach away? What a distraction! /s
Except that nobody from our program leaked a bunch of info the the media about it. I am guessing Whit probably did most of the work himself or with people he highly trusted in the department to keep their mouths shut. A&M did not as it seems they got their boosters involved who apparently can't keep their mouths shut.
And I know your comment was in jest, but we showed how to do this the right way, if in fact Whit has been working on this for months (assuming we get a good coach.)
via GIPHY
It's my opinion that this is a smoke screen around the real candidate who's probably still playing his season out.
Interesting theory.
Shaka Smart it is then.
Speaking of which, Shaka has taken the Justin Fuente route of exceeding expectations in the first year and then kind of going backwords.
Shaka's wiki page is currently defaced at the time of me posting this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka_Smart
Smoke screen is what I've been hearing too, still haven't heard anything different on the Marshall/Wojo end
In the nicest possible way I am asking, what makes me believe whatever you're saying right now is credible?
I have a friend that's really good friends with boosters for Tech, I would be surprised if he's wrong. Stated previously he's usually about 9/10 on anything he tells me, talked to him once today he said nothing new from his end.
Ok...lets put your friend to the test.
We should submit 10 questions to him....and see how he does.
1. Is Wojo the next coach?
2. Are you sure?
3. Really?
4. What about Gregg Marshall?
5. Really? damn...
6. Well, then is Willard the next coach?
7. Will the next coach "Walk" Jon Kabongo?
8. Is Blackshear leaving? Is Chris Clarke coming back or transferring? Are all the recruits following Buzz?
9. Is Landers Nolley transferring and will he be eligible to play for Texas A&M right away? How many returning players do they expect back? How many players will the new coach bring with him? Will we tap into the transfer portal? Even if we don't sign Wojo, can we still get his top recruits? Would Gregg Marshalls wife be best played by Jane Lynch if a Lifetime movie were made about her life? Do you envision Marshalls wife being a food critic in the Blacksburg area? If so, what would her favorite restaurants be? Is it true that Wojciechowski prefers the nickname "Chowski", over "Wojo"?
10. Is there anything else you want to tell me?
I'm not hearing this, I'm running on vibes up in here.
To be fair that's as reliable as a good portion of the sources between here and twitter.
Sooooo, one of....
NCAAT
Tom Izzo (Michigan State)
Chris Beard (Texas Tech)
Tony Bennett (Virginia)
Bruce Pearl (Auburn)
NIT
Shaka Smart (Texas)
Casey Alexander (Lipscomb)
CBI
Brian Gregory (South Florida)
Dave Leitao (DePaul)
CIT
Dan D'Antoni (Marshall)
Linc Darner (Wisconsin-Green Bay)
Hmmm....unpacking this a bit...
- I think you can safely cross Izzo and Bennett off the list. They definitely aren't coming here.
- Pearl is an excellent coach, but has had NCAA issues in the past, and he's in a pretty good spot right now. If he's moving, it's because he's been forced out, IM(ns)HO.
- Beard is a really attractive candidate, but I'd be surprised if he's moving. Would be a homerun, for sure.
- I can see Smart being a target, but given Texas' recent struggles (NIT notwithstanding), and the history of VCU coaches' performances post-VCU, I'm hoping he's not the guy.
- Alexander has come on strong the past three years with Lipscomb, earning NCAAT and NIT bids, along with a 72-30 record, but still is a bit of a reach.
- Both Gregory and Leitao struggled in previous ACC gigs (Georgia Tech and Virginia, respectively). I doubt they're the target.
- Darner has had an impressive career at the DII level (293-117 at Saint Joseph's and Florida Southern, with one DII National Title), and has won 3 years out of four (75-63) at W-GB. A reach candidate, but possible.
- D'Antoni is an interesting candidate, with a 95-77 record in five seasons at Marshall. Other than a single year at Marshall as an assistant ('70-'71), that's the only college experience he has. In between, he was a HS head coach for 30 years, and an NBA assistant for nine. His records were mostly improving year-to-year (11, 17, 20, 25, 22 wins) and he made it to the 2nd round in last year's NCAAT.
This would be a whole different level of hire, where the actual quality of the coach is surpassed by the level of shade thrown at the 'hoos.
Leitao struggled in previous ACC gigs
Uh, you mean former ACC coach of the year Dave Leitao??
Umm, yeah, I guess. Looks like he tailed off pretty sharply after year 2...
2005–06 Virginia 15–15 7–9 T–7th NIT First Round
2006–07 Virginia 21–11 11–5 T–1st NCAA Division I Second Round
2007–08 Virginia 17–16 5–11 10th CBI Semifinal
2008–09 Virginia 10–18 4–1211th
God I miss those days
Pearl already has an assistant at Auburn under the FBI probe in trouble. I want nothing to do with Pearl, let him continue to drag down the SEC when it blows up again. It took Tennessee until this year to recover from what he did to them.
Pearl's not leaving the Plains, he's building a blue blood program at AU, and got the program on track in the final four with 2-3 star recruits.
Lol you mean 4 and 5 stars right
Blue blood program???
Yes 2-3 stars recruits. Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky gone down in last three tourney games. Blue bloods Final Four, and Bruce Pearl not going anywhere.
One final four a blue blood does not make.
.
Geez, UCLA must've really sucked in 1966 and 1974.
Could you imagine 10 national championships in 12 years at VT? I'd be ecstatic with just one!
'66 was Texas Western over Kentucky at Cole Field House.
'74 was NCState, but UCLA actually beat them in Dec that year by 18.
NCSU is a blue blood, just ask any of their fans.
This is why I'm amused by anyone who thinks Coach K is the GOAT.
All the GOAT Swag!!
Let's toss in a round of golf with a Hole-In-One AND a Double Eagle!!!!!
.
linky
That's "Nick Saban might be able to shine my shoes if I allowed it" levels of GOATness.
Haha yeah John Wooden is on line 1 from the grave
Point is Bruce Pearl is continuing to build the Auburn program and is not leaving there. He just beat 3 true blue blood teams in a row KS, NC and KY, and is in the final four. A very positive upward trajectory for that program. Thus far the only 4-5 stars that AU gets are Gus' recruiting classes.
Wiley, Okeke, Purifoy, Spencer, and Harper were all 4-stars
Damn, you bros are right. I had bad info from my 18 yo soon to be AU Tiger. Pearl is slaying it coaching and crootin with a bunch of 4-stars. Hope VT can get a coach and recruiter to get us to that level.
Don't look now, but they just made the final four without their best player.
FWIW, VT has more wins all-time over the history of the basketball program than Auburn. (#73 vs #80)
Choosing between Leitao and Gregory is obscene.
Where there is smoke, there is fire...or weed or cigarettes or...
Seriously, isn't it great we have Whit!
Look at his hires across all sports in the last 5 years. Not only has Buzz raised the profile of our program, but coaches want to work for Whit!
Sorry to say goodbye to our basketball coach and the experiences we've had for the past 5 years, BUT I AM SOOOOO GLAD, we still have the AD who facilitated the whole thing!
I just have a good feeling.... Facilities upgrades, new coach, same AD.... it will sure be a "new normal", but we have something now that wasn't nearly as abundent 7 years ago... momentum, expectations, optimism, and an AD to facilitate. It's gonna be fun to see what's NEXT!!!
Dixon finishing deal barring major stall to be UCLA's next head coach. One more domino down
But seriously...why not Jay Wright?
According to my sister's ex-boyfriend's second cousin twice removed's dog, he's the second option if Gregg Popovich turns us down.
The only question I would have if we hired Jay Wright is where Whit's statue would go.
That would probably be the biggest coach changing schools since Roy went from Kansas to UNCheat.
One can dream.
He makes 3.8 million a year so maybe a bit of a stretch. ACC is the best league in basketball so if we could offer him the cash I don't see why he wouldn't come. There's a little bit of "tradition" at Nova sure but money should overcome that
He will not be the next coach at Tech
Cool. That wasn't the point of the comment. Also we know Whit is successful in part because of his can do attitude and keeping all options on the table. There's many people who would've said Buzz Williams was impossible to get as well. I hope Whit calls everyone coaching in a lower conference or making a salary we can top. Idc if it's John Beilein, Mark Few, Randy Bennett, Rick Barnes, won't succeed if you don't try.
He'd be a great hire, but it would take a miracle to pry him away from Nova, I fear. He's got a great gig there, in a very winnable conference, and he's from the Philly area. Life probably doesn't get much better than that for him. I know money talks, but we'd never be able to blow that salary out of the water, which is what it probably would take to get him. But it's fun thinking of the possibilities there.
Because a coach in his hometown making lots of money at one of the best basketball schools in the country and winning titles.... If we called him, he would just laugh. Might as well call K or Roy while we're at it
Yep, if anything he'll take over the Sixers in a year or two if they don't make a big leap under Brett Brown.
You know Kevin Willard is definitely in play because his name anagrams to Valid Wrinkle.
This may be your best anagram work yet
Stay positive HokieNation!! By the way the Arkansas fan base is hilarious everyday they wake up telling everyone how they've signed a new coach only to have signed no one, I think UVA may have competition for most delusional fan base
This may have been addressed already or in a different thread, but what are your sources most recent thoughts now that Wojo has come out saying that he's happy/staying out at Marquette?
I actually was pretty busy at work most of the day today so I haven't reached out today, I'll check back in the morning to see if I can get an update for us
I live in Arkansas.....15 minutes from the university.....they have been delusional for both basketball and football for 20 years. Yesterday I had a good friend of mine that posted on Facebook the amount of final four appearances of current SEC schools. And he stated "where we've been, where we're going". I had to be the guy that wrote this back to him because it's asinine.
First his list:
For those of you that are confused about the Hogs and where we've been and where we are going. Final Fours by SEC teams:
Kentucky 17
Arkansas 6
Florida 5
LSU 4
Auburn 1
Georgia 1
Mississippi State 1
South Carolina 1
My response:
For those not confused, save Georgia, every team on this list has been to a final four since the last time we went.....where are we going? Take out miss state and the 5 remaining schools have all been to a final four within the actual lifetime of a 16/17/18 year old recruit that they are trying to get on campus.
Tradition is great, but when your last claim to tradition was 24 years ago, it is not irrelevant, but damn close in the context of a program.
Willard is no longer pursuing the opportunity.
https://www.app.com/story/sports/college/2019/04/06/seton-hall-basketbal...
I'm not sure what to think about a guy who would have been a disappointing hire publicly pulling out of a job search that is supposed to be private.
That wouldn't have been a disappointing hire. He'll be in the NCAA tourney next year.
Or... He never was a candidate, and his agent smartly turned chatter on the interwebz into a raise. We many never know if Whit ever even reached out to him?
Hey Seton Hall
via GIPHY
Well, they have a good coach, and now they're having to pay him.
He got his money, and already has a really good team built for next year at Seton Hall.
So at least our coach search is getting other NCAA coaches raises.
Based on Whit said the other day about leaks having motives, it makes me think Willard was never a serious candidate from the start.
Also makes me think that no matter what people are "hearing", the reality is we probably don't really have that much of an idea of who is a serious candidate and who isn't.
I think we approached him and he got a raise out of it.
What we do know is that Whit will go after a good quality coach, and that he probably won't be telling us who. Also, we did Willard a solid by getting him some more cash and probably an extension.
Per one of the more trusted guys on TSL, expect something at 6pm today
EDIT: Another saying Willard wasn't one of VT's top choices, and was merely pursuing a raise from Seton Hall
I'm assuming it's not a coincidence that 6PM today is also when UVa plays Auburn? Whit, you cheeky bastard.
This guy is somewhat connected to the program and very tuned into college basketball:
He hasn't said who he thinks it'll be, but he's fairly certain he knows:
I love be my what wait hold on lemme read that again
It just be my 100% like that sometimes.
This guy needs to get tuned in to proofreading.
So basically this guy is saying that Whit not only stole aTm's thunder, he will steal the LOLUVA Final Four thunder tonight as well?
#savage
One can only hope
I don't think any announcement would steal UVAs thunder unless Tony Bennett is our next coach.
Zion is our next coach!!!!!
The reaction of commentators would not be allowed on non-premium cable or internet streaming. Even then, it would probably be pixelated in some countries.
If that's his plan, it better be damn big hire. Something worthy of actually grabbing some headlines. If its just Ryan Odom, that's just some stupid trolling that a child would do. "Omg! We hired the coach of the 16 seed that beat UVA! Way to own them Whit!". Yeah, like UVA actually cares at that moment considering they are in the Final Four with a damn good chance of winning it. I'm all for cracking on UVA, but if that is actually the thought process with announcement (if its Odom), that would be embarrassingly weak. It's something UVA would do.
There are random people on twitter saying we're gonna announce Odom at 6pm. Is there any actual legitimate justification for this rumor, or are people just making this up?
A mix of both. That KipTJam twitter account, who has been plugged in on things relating to VT sports in the past, is implying there's an announcement at 6pm tonight (also UVA's game time) so I wouldn't say he's random but most everyone else I've seen is. Then there's some talk behind the paywall sites (but I don't know if its fan or sourced) that its Ryan Odom. On Twitter, there seems to be a few VT, UVA, and UMBC people talking that it could be Odom (just speculation, not sourced). FWIW, KipTJam didn't give any hints on who the candidate might be other than to say he's about 75% sure he knows who it is
Would we really make an official announcement on a Saturday evening, that no one will care about (nationally) due to the final 4?
I hope not.
It would be a completely weak troll.
UVA is probably going to win it all, and Whit thinks he's gonna tweak them by announcing the (mediocre IMO) hire of the guy that beat them last year? 16 over 1 was hilarious, but it'll carry no weight if they win the Natty this year.
Thought this was interesting, given how he was connected to the opening before Mike Young was hired...
Seton Hall's Kevin Willard suspended for tampering with former Syracuse player Taurean Thompson
Tampering with a player sounds like something you'd do as a coach for Pedo State.