Recent Comments
I agree, it seems to me that he also thinks whoever that candidate is, he has the budget for him and his staff above paying the other two HC's still on the roster.
And catch!
Well, next year when Moorehead or another coach from any sport is poached from us and we can't match or even raise the offer we know why. We're paying three, head basketball coaches...
Agreed, Whit won't go the AC path. No way.
If you are going to make this move now, I think that there might be some thought to taking out a loan. If Whit has in his mind that he is going to make the best move for this program then he has to have the checkbook open this year. He will just have to account for that open checkbook when he goes to balance the bills when he is fundraising.
Agreed, let the SEC have him.
I'm going to go out on a limb and speculate that Whit already has a candidate. And I'm not talking about having one in his crosshairs, I'm talking serious mutual interest. The question is whether said candidate is currently coaching in the tournament (which we are all hoping).
Hear, Hear!
I love the nTelos add "We'll buy out your contract"
Rob: Your great work on this before comes to the forefront on the TKP Tracker, relevance is yours.
My bet is Whit goes after an existing head coach or a guy who's had head coach experience. Otherwise, why fire JJ?
The key points to that are:
1. This is the ACC, We have already seen what bringing an AC in to the ACC as an HC gets you - he does not want to repeat that.
2. You want all your players and recruits to WANT to play for whomever comes in.
3. You want to send a message that VT is going to rebuild our Basketball team as fast as can be and generate some buzz and revenue! By announcing JJs release the day after the ACC tournament is over, Whit made the statement that is what he is going to do. So, your in this with both feet, no reason to stop now.
4. You must set a precedence for recruiting in 2015 and beyond. Face it, for teams like VTs - our season is over and recruiting starts immediately (well if we are in an NCAA quiet time it starts immediately after that is over).
Funding might limit our available choices, but there are some good coaches out there with middle Atlantic pasts and resume's that want to coach in the ACC. Bring 'em in for interviews and let's get this train rolling!! No where to go but up!
Seriously need to hire someone with proven success a lower program and need to do it NOW. We can talk for days about JJ's lack of success on the court but we actually had a decent class (for us) coming in and I really don't want to lose them. Hopefully, someone can come in and start working on putting this dumpster fire of a program out instead of letting it burn a little longer.
JJ is a class act and I really hope he lands somewhere that he can do well.
There are some solid prospects on that list. I hope that's not the route that Whit is taking though.
and VCU before that. But he went from success at VCU to not doing well at Oklahoma a football school (like Tech) with decent basketball history
And those on the fence about transferring.
I agree that long term is what needs to be the ultimate focus, but if all the folks on here are going to be quick to demolish JJ for not delivering regardless of the hand he was dealt, than losing recruits better not be the fall back for whoever is brought in next. Double edged sword when it comes to how we look at coaches. I am just glad that Whit did it the right way, waiting for the ACC tournament to conclude, talking with JJ 1-on-1 and then making his decision from there. I agree with several of the pundits on twitter that Whit probably has some confirmation of interest from at least a couple of his top candidates to make this move.
Happy Belated TKP. Seriously this site is the cats ass, all that and a bag of chips, etc etc. It's my one stop shop for Hokie everything. I don't live in VA anymore, or even regionally where I could catch some snippet of news. So, before this beautiful bitch came along I was going to 4 or 5 different online newspaper sites, and subscribed to Beamerball (Not anymore, although I do miss the videos). So thank you for this guys, all of you.
Some good stuff from SI re: potential assistants:
http://college-basketball.si.com/2014/03/11/coaching-carousel-top-assist...
now, i dont pay attention to basketball. i should, i guess, but i just never liked basketball. at any rate, i never quite understood why greenberg was fired; my last year or so at tech he brought a buzz (i.e. time on espn) that seemed to stay with the program all the while he was there. all i know about the jj era is that we sucked to high hell. where do/can we go from here? can we even attract anyone?
wasn't capel the head coach at oklahoma?
Honestly, long term integrity of the program is more important than keeping a couple recruits right now. Keeping Bibbs would be great, but I'd much rather take the time to hire the right guy for this job than to move quick in hopes to keep a class intact.
Moving knee-jerk to keep a class is supposedly why we hired JJ, which is how we got in this mess to begin with.
These guys weren't on my list because in all the discussions on this topic the main sticking point was that the fan base wanted someone that had proven Head Coach experience. These guys don't deliver that.
I wish him all the best. I hate to see people fired but I'm optimistic that we'll go after somebody that can get us competitive.
Time to panic.
This^^^!
I said in some earlier threads that Whit is going to show who he is. This is the 1st step in that process and it is in a high profile part of the VT athletics program. Yea, I feel for JJ, but a new direction is what was needed. OK, Whit, what's next?
Don't forget Whit already shocked the world by snaring Tubs from Lubbock a few years ago for the football program. Though word on the street indicated Tubs wasn't loving life in Texas, it was a coup nonetheless.