Jackie Sherrill, Ben Howland "not pleased".
Yep! Did Alabama Arkansas and Auburn all of a sudden become good jobs or did they finally hire 3 of the the best coaches in the game? I know BK would want the job but man if he didn’t succeed it would be an awful way for him to be remembered. There’s a danger when a legend goes back home they can tarnish their memory. Like I said, Odom is who I would be monitoring along with a few others.
And he had the immeasurable benefit of many years of close mentorship from an outstanding, proven college head coach, as well as the benefit of inheriting a rebuilt and rising program coming off a great year and with a lot of returning talent.
I’ve said it before, but if Marcus Carr was an all-big ten player, Xavier is going to accomplish that and more. Xavier’s style of play is going to be one of the biggest mismatches in that conference.
If Pitt is serious about getting back to winning basketball games and returning to national relevance, the decision makers can't afford to take any flyers. If Jeff Capel can't make it happen, realistically what chance does BK have?
X is going to a prorgam that has an established PG, an AA-level big man, and other good guards in place already. He won't be lead dog on that team and he won't be permitted to try to take on a primary scoring role. Carr didn't have those impediments at Minnehaha. He was a volume shooter if there ever was one.
The irrational hate for his game on this website is insane. He was a top 10 offense creator in the country last year with one other competent offensive player. He’s gonna be a star with TJD
Carr is much better. You people dont realize how low Johnson's bball IQ is. Its a huge detriment. Honestly, I would be surprised if he starts over Lander, who didnt play much last season but was a Top 30 recruit.
Much like how amazing it is a running back makes an OL suddenly look better, it will be amazing how “low IQ” Johnson will suddenly look smart when he either is going 1 on 1 with a less athletic player at the rim or dumping off to the best big in the country.
Well, that assistant was the defense coach and head recruiter, too. I wonder how things would have turned out w/o 2 Willard recruits they were able to keep. Ricky Greer was a big help.
Capel had the benefit from many years of close mentorship from arguably the greatest CBB coach ever and he has nothing to show for it. Anyone who acts like hiring is a science is an idiot. It is all luck.
Sometimes it is just right place at the right time versus wrong place at wrong time.
Beyond being chosen as the right guy at the right time, it is even more rare to remain the right guy at the right time. Lots of above average coaches get fired when they regress to the mean (Ben Howland, Tom Crean, Rick Barnes, Tubby Smith, etc.).
Much like how amazing it is a running back makes an OL suddenly look better,
Actually anyone who thinks hiring the right basketball coach is “all luck” is the one who may not be the sharpest tool in the shed.
How well did Shaka Smart do at UT? Crean at IU (or Georgia)? Billy Gillispie at UK? Cuonzo Martin anywhere? What has Howland actually accomplished at Mississippi State? Zero NCAA wins in six seasons.
Which is kinda why I'd go outside the box and hire BK super super cheap but ensure he has one of the most expensive staffs in the country.
I am writing this because Jock Sutherland deserves your attention. A great Coach, a great Pitt man, a gentleman, an athlete, and a scholar, and a patriot. It really is amazing what he accomplished at Pitt, and then took over and had the Steelers turned in the right direction. On top of that, WWII broke out when he was 52 years old, he enlisted in the Navy and became a Lt. Commander.
Of course there are no sure things. But if you hire a Shaka Smart, who had an excellent track record at VCU, and it doesn't work out, you can't call it a bad hire. Every other major program loooking for a new coach wanted him too. If you hire a Brandin Knight, with zero track record as a head coach and zero demand for his services from any other P5 programs, and it doesn't work out, you should probably lose your job for it. Not to mention this is still a full ground-up rebuild at Pitt in Capel Year 4. Not the best situation for an unproven head coach.
My position as well, and I feel the same way about football coach hires.
Maybe so. I have no quarrel with the Capel hire, it looked good on paper and checked a lot of boxes at the time. It's starting to look more and more like he wasn't the right guy. I don't think anyone is expecting NCAA tournaments and 24 win teams yet, but certainly a stable program base and an upward trajectory over the past 3 years would be a good sign. We have neither.
I don't think there is a one size fits all hiring model. For example, UGA football hired a longtime high level assistant with no HC experience and he has excelled there, but he inherited a loaded program that was in excellent shape already. He didn;t have to make radical changes and/or build from the ground up. He just took it up a notch.
I disagree the program is in far better place now than when he was hired
Let’s see if you still disagree at the end of next season.
As I said
You love to throw that binary term around santimoniously, as though nobody but you is capable of seeing the big picture. How is it binary to view the existing state of all facets of the program as a whole versus where it was when Capel took over? It just underwent a mass exodus that included 2 of its best 3 players, the remaining top player is unlikely to return, and we have one lightly recruited player in our 2021 recruiting class. Going into 2021-22, Capel should have had an upperclass-heavy team that has been developing together for the past 3 years. he should be having some success and consistency in his recruiting. Instead, he doesn;t have enough warm bodies to field a pickup team and is scrambling to find anyone he can to fill out his roster. This is regression by any measure, not just by wins and losses and by the margins of winning and losing. Going into year 4, Capel is essentially starting over, but with a lot less momentum and a lot less to sell than he had 3 years ago. If Champ doesn't come back this year's team could give Stallings' 2nd season a run for its money. If he does, another 6 ACC win season would be an achievement, regardless of how many third tier transfer scraps he's able to cobble together this summer. The outlook is grim.
This is a lot of word vomit
Yea, I don't think they improved much at all. 3-15 in a very good ACC (3 number 1 seeds) is about equal to 6-10 in what I think was the weakest the ACC has ever been.
The roster is in a shambles after year 3. The program has essentially imploded. You’re measuring “iimprovement” by doing better than 0-18 and losing to certain teams by less than years past in a watered down ACC season. You’re ignoring the state of the program entering year 4.
Also the team will likely be worse in Capel Year 4 than Capel Year 1. Capel quickly improved upon an 0-18 team and despite the record, had a respectable 1st season all things considered. Fast forward 3 years and the team has actually gotten worse.
How many schools will have an upperclass-heavy team that has been developing together for the past 3 years?
Yea but when you land 3 pretty good recruits to play for an 0-18 team, you kind of expect that they are going to be with you for 4 years considering they knew what they were signing up for.
