French Thoughts on Basketball Potential Hires

I am no expert on basketball, and I made it abundantly clear in the discussion Johnson that I felt Babcock should retain him and use the $800,000 buy out money to building the football infrastructure. I also am not a passionate VT basketball fan, as I grew up a fan of Syracuse, Arizona (Sean Elliott was my favorite college player of all time) and my beloved East Tennessee State Buccaneers (if you are in your 30's and from the very SW tip of VA or from East Tennessee you understand why.)

That being said, I love to watch and play basketball and I want the overall health of the VT athletic program to be well. A great basketball hire is a great first step into turning the basketball program into a REVENUE GENERATOR, not a loss leader as it currently is. Winning, of course, is the best first step, and that comes with bringing in a good coach. Second of course is improving Cassell Coliseum (I couldn't go to a game if I wanted too because I am way too tall and too fat to fit in the seats) but that is a secondary discussion.

It is easy to throw out speculative names and hot mid-major coaches, but the focus of the AD should be identifying coaches that fit a checklist. If I were Mike Babcock, this is the checklist I would put together.

1) Any new hire must be a well-established recruiter in the DC area private/prep school system. Washington DC has been one of, if not the top, area for high school talent outside of the specialized "basketball factory schools" like Oak Hill and Huntington Prep.

2) Said coach needs to establish a foothold at Oak Hill. No school is better positioned to engage with Oak Hill players than VT, yet I can't recall the last time VT got a lauded Oak Hill player. I don't pay as close attention, but I recall Jeff Allen being the last Oak Hill guy they got.

3) Coach must have a proven record of coaching strong defensive basketball.

4) I am less worried about offense, but I would like to see a track record of coaching offensive sets built around pick and roll basketball. Your post players have to shoot from 15 and out. Your guards need to drive the ball. Virginia Tech won't be able to recruit perimeter shooters that make Princeton and motion offenses viable.

5) Market price of $1.3-1.6 million dollars. Add incentives tied into Cassell attendance to sweeten the deal.

I know there are folks who know more about basketball than me, but that would be my wish list. Let the discussion begin. What is your wish list? And who meets this criteria.