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Here's my cheap 2018-19 Pitt staff

levance2

levance2

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Aug 17, 2010
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Pittsburgh
If you want to generate interest at an absolute minimum cost

Head Coach: Andy Toole - familiar to Pitt fans, knows area; not sure about his high level recruiting capability, but he's had good talent at a low-major
Associate: Brandin Knight - this would be an instant indication that Lyke wants to restore the golden era; certainly debatable how good he was here before, but nobody cares more about making Pitt a winner
Assistant: Mike Rice - since he was fired from Rutgers, he's been involved in youth basketball and has tons of east coast connections now, was Toole's former mentor
DBO: Tray Woodall - already in this position at RMU

Try to add an experience ACC recruiter to the mix
 
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levance2 said:
If you want to generate interest at an absolute minimum cost

Head Coach: Andy Toole - familiar to Pitt fans, knows area; not sure about his high level recruiting capability, but he's had good talent at a low-major
Associate: Brandin Knight - this would be an instant indication that Lyke wants to restore the golden era; certainly debatable how good he was here before, but nobody cares more about making Pitt a winner
Assistant: Mike Rice - since he was fired from Rutgers, he's been involved in youth basketball and has tons of east coast connections now, was Toole's former mentor
DBO: Tray Woodall - already in this position at RMU

Try to add an experience ACC recruiter to the mix
Click to expand...
I would substitute Ashton for Tray - Other than that, looks good to me - I think Toole is a really good coach.

Do you think Brandin would be willing to be an assistant under Toole?
 
levance2 said:
If you want to generate interest at an absolute minimum cost

Head Coach: Andy Toole - familiar to Pitt fans, knows area; not sure about his high level recruiting capability, but he's had good talent at a low-major
Associate: Brandin Knight - this would be an instant indication that Lyke wants to restore the golden era; certainly debatable how good he was here before, but nobody cares more about making Pitt a winner
Assistant: Mike Rice - since he was fired from Rutgers, he's been involved in youth basketball and has tons of east coast connections now, was Toole's former mentor
DBO: Tray Woodall - already in this position at RMU

Try to add an experience ACC recruiter to the mix
Click to expand...
This is a good example. Stallings shouldn’t be the HC next year. This would absolutely fit within the budget.
 
levance2 said:
If you want to generate interest at an absolute minimum cost

Head Coach: Andy Toole - familiar to Pitt fans, knows area; not sure about his high level recruiting capability, but he's had good talent at a low-major
Associate: Brandin Knight - this would be an instant indication that Lyke wants to restore the golden era; certainly debatable how good he was here before, but nobody cares more about making Pitt a winner
Assistant: Mike Rice - since he was fired from Rutgers, he's been involved in youth basketball and has tons of east coast connections now, was Toole's former mentor
DBO: Tray Woodall - already in this position at RMU

Try to add an experience ACC recruiter to the mix
Click to expand...

I have to admit, this very staff construction was bouncing around my head today.
 
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gary2 said:
I would substitute Ashton for Tray - Other than that, looks good to me - I think Toole is a really good coach.

Do you think Brandin would be willing to be an assistant under Toole?
Click to expand...

Tray already has a D1 job and AFAIK Ashton does not. I think just about anyone can be a video coordinator.

I don’t know if Brandin would want to come back here as an assistant, but I don’t believe he’s an associate now (could be wrong) and he’s certainly not any closer to getting any HC jobs. At least if Toole turned Pitt around Brandin would have a better resume.
 
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levance2 said:
If you want to generate interest at an absolute minimum cost

Head Coach: Andy Toole - familiar to Pitt fans, knows area; not sure about his high level recruiting capability, but he's had good talent at a low-major
Associate: Brandin Knight - this would be an instant indication that Lyke wants to restore the golden era; certainly debatable how good he was here before, but nobody cares more about making Pitt a winner
Assistant: Mike Rice - since he was fired from Rutgers, he's been involved in youth basketball and has tons of east coast connections now, was Toole's former mentor
DBO: Tray Woodall - already in this position at RMU

Try to add an experience ACC recruiter to the mix
Click to expand...
Not sure Knight would want to be an associate HC here when he thought he should get the HC job previously.

To be honest I'd take a flyer on Knight, aim for two coaches with previous HC experience and try and 2 guys with strong AAU connections.

It is hard to know how good a coach an assistant will be, but I do know that Pitt could market around Knight when they can't market around their players. That may give a little publicity boost next year, but that may not be enough.
 
mbrannagan said:
Not sure Knight would want to be an associate HC here when he thought he should get the HC job previously.

To be honest I'd take a flyer on Knight, aim for two coaches with previous HC experience and try and 2 guys with strong AAU connections.

It is hard to know how good a coach an assistant will be, but I do know that Pitt could market around Knight when they can't market around their players. That may give a little publicity boost next year, but that may not be enough.
Click to expand...

I would love Knight to be our HC eventually, but I think this is too big a hole for him to fix in that capacity. It would be really unfair for him to get fired in 4 years and have his reputation tarnished.

I’m also not confident in what kind of staff he could assemble.
 
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levance2 said:
I would love Knight to be our HC eventually, but I think this is too big a hole for him to fix in that capacity. It would be really unfair for him to get fired in 4 years and have his reputation tarnished.

I’m also not confident in what kind of staff he could assemble.
Click to expand...

I agree... Toole from RMU would be a much better hire than Knight rn.
 
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Pitt3Putt said:
If Andy Toole coached in the Big Sky he would be regarded as a travesty of a hire.

If you’re going to bring Mike Rice back, you might as well make him HC. He was better at RMU than Toole.
Click to expand...

And the Big Sky is a pretty big step up from the Northeast Conference as well.
 
BFo8 said:
Pitt3Putt said:
If Andy Toole coached in the Big Sky he would be regarded as a travesty of a hire.

If you’re going to bring Mike Rice back, you might as well make him HC. He was better at RMU than Toole.
Click to expand...

And the Big Sky is a pretty big step up from the Northeast Conference as well.
Click to expand...

Mediocrity is such a moving target with this fanbase.

First it was Dixon. Then Stallings. Now it’s somehow not Andy Toole.
 
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Toole is a good recruiter. He has brought in a lot of good players, but unfortunately for him they transferred to bigger and better programs. He is only 37 years old and still has a high upside. I like Rice, but it makes more sense to hire him as an assistant. A little too much baggage from what happened at RU to hire him as the HC.
 
DiehardPanther said:
Toole is a good recruiter. He has brought in a lot of good players, but unfortunately for him they transferred to bigger and better programs. He is only 37 years old and still has a high upside. I like Rice, but it makes more sense to hire him as an assistant. A little too much baggage from what happened at RU to hire him as the HC.
Click to expand...

Right Toole could do really good at a bigger school where it's a lot easier to keep people.
 
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levance2 said:
I would love Knight to be our HC eventually, but I think this is too big a hole for him to fix in that capacity. It would be really unfair for him to get fired in 4 years and have his reputation tarnished.

I’m also not confident in what kind of staff he could assemble.
Click to expand...
I think it only works for a guy like him if he builds a good staff. I don't know what he could assemble, and don't have enough to speculate, but I think he'd certainly need a former HC on his staff.

He has made an interesting career choice, I would suspect he could have gotten some HC experience at a lower level, but he has chose to continue to be a top assistant. I also don't know that the leap from a top assistant to HC is as big as some think.
 
levance2 said:
If you want to generate interest at an absolute minimum cost

Head Coach: Andy Toole - familiar to Pitt fans, knows area; not sure about his high level recruiting capability, but he's had good talent at a low-major
Associate: Brandin Knight - this would be an instant indication that Lyke wants to restore the golden era; certainly debatable how good he was here before, but nobody cares more about making Pitt a winner
Assistant: Mike Rice - since he was fired from Rutgers, he's been involved in youth basketball and has tons of east coast connections now, was Toole's former mentor
DBO: Tray Woodall - already in this position at RMU

Try to add an experience ACC recruiter to the mix
Click to expand...

Dang, levance. I love that. Andy Toole is really the closest you get to Dixon from a philosophical standpoint. I was at their game last night and somehow he has more P5 talent after losing so many "transfer-ups." The Leondre Washington kid would start at PG for us, moving Carr to the 2.

I love the Mike Rice idea. This basically combines the best of the Pitt/RMU glory days (without Dixon).

Toole is an excellent coach, I am sure of that. I just dont know how he can recruit at the ACC level. He was able to get under-recruited P5 talent at RMU but you cant rely on guys like that. Can he beat WVU, UVa, and NC State for a recruit?
 
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levance2 said:
If you want to generate interest at an absolute minimum cost

Head Coach: Andy Toole - familiar to Pitt fans, knows area; not sure about his high level recruiting capability, but he's had good talent at a low-major
Associate: Brandin Knight - this would be an instant indication that Lyke wants to restore the golden era; certainly debatable how good he was here before, but nobody cares more about making Pitt a winner
Assistant: Mike Rice - since he was fired from Rutgers, he's been involved in youth basketball and has tons of east coast connections now, was Toole's former mentor
DBO: Tray Woodall - already in this position at RMU

Try to add an experience ACC recruiter to the mix
Click to expand...


The more I see this the more I like it.
 
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I seem to be pretty much alone on this, but want no part of Toole at all.

If you’re an ACC school and hiring a NEC coach shouldn’t it at least be one that dominated the conference?

If Robert Morris wasn’t a Pittsburgh school no one on here would want Andy Toole as coach, nobody.

Dambrot on the other hand is a different story. How in the hell Duquesne got him to go there is amazing to me, lateral move at the best and that’s even a stretch. Just an incredible hire by them.
 
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BFo8 said:
I seem to be pretty much alone on this, but want no part of Toole at all.

If you’re an ACC school and hiring a NEC coach shouldn’t it at least be one that dominated the conference?

If Robert Morris wasn’t a Pittsburgh school no one on here would want Andy Toole as coach, nobody.

Dambrot on the other hand is a different story. How in the hell Duquesne got him to go there is amazing to me, lateral move at the best and that’s even a stretch. Just an incredible hire by them.
Click to expand...

Neither is a P5 level HC.

Jamie Dixon literally laughed at one of Toole’s scouting reports that they found in the locker room after a game.
 
Here is my short list of cheap young head coaches who we could afford.

Nate Oats, 42- Head coach at Buffalo, third year their, coached under Hurley. Has them 8-0 in conference this season. Has a career record of 53-35 overall and 29-15 in the MAC

Nick McDevitt, 40- Head coach at UNC Asheville for five years has two NCAA a tournament appearances.

Earl Grant, 40- Head coach at College of Charleston spent six years under Greg Marshall. Took CofC from nine wins to 25
 
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PA_Panther said:
Here is my short list of cheap young head coaches who we could afford.

Nate Oats, 42- Head coach at Buffalo, third year their, coached under Hurley. Has them 8-0 in conference this season. Has a career record of 53-35 overall and 29-15 in the MAC

Nick McDevitt, 40- Head coach at UNC Asheville for five years has two NCAA a tournament appearances.

Earl Grant, 40- Head coach at College of Charleston spent six years under Greg Marshall. Took CofC from nine wins to 25
Click to expand...
For the money we are probably going to have available these are the kind of coaches to look at.

Take these 3, add 3 more, conduct serious interviews, bring 3 back for 2nd interviews, cross you fingers and make a choice.
 
PA_Panther said:
Here is my short list of cheap young head coaches who we could afford.

Nate Oats, 42- Head coach at Buffalo, third year their, coached under Hurley. Has them 8-0 in conference this season. Has a career record of 53-35 overall and 29-15 in the MAC

Nick McDevitt, 40- Head coach at UNC Asheville for five years has two NCAA a tournament appearances.

Earl Grant, 40- Head coach at College of Charleston spent six years under Greg Marshall. Took CofC from nine wins to 25
Click to expand...

Oats is probably their best realistic candidate if they want to take a flyer on a young guy.

Don’t think any of those guys would do much for attendance but Pitt really can’t worry about that.

They need to get the best guy possible to get them winning again, not go get a name so that they can get an attendance boost for 1 year.
 
BFo8 said:
I seem to be pretty much alone on this, but want no part of Toole at all.

If you’re an ACC school and hiring a NEC coach shouldn’t it at least be one that dominated the conference?

If Robert Morris wasn’t a Pittsburgh school no one on here would want Andy Toole as coach, nobody.

Dambrot on the other hand is a different story. How in the hell Duquesne got him to go there is amazing to me, lateral move at the best and that’s even a stretch. Just an incredible hire by them.
Click to expand...
As much as I like toole, I couldn't agree more with everything you said. I'm with you on dambrot too, I actually busted out laughing when I heard they wanted him, I just saw no way somebody like him would consider one of the worst mid major programs of the past 35 years. He's probably a better coach than toole, but if people hate stallings personality dambrot should be immediately disqualified for contention.
 
BFo8 said:
I seem to be pretty much alone on this, but want no part of Toole at all.

If you’re an ACC school and hiring a NEC coach shouldn’t it at least be one that dominated the conference?

If Robert Morris wasn’t a Pittsburgh school no one on here would want Andy Toole as coach, nobody.

Dambrot on the other hand is a different story. How in the hell Duquesne got him to go there is amazing to me, lateral move at the best and that’s even a stretch. Just an incredible hire by them.
Click to expand...

They paid him significantly more money. He was only making around $400K at Akron and was happy and content. He could have stayed there forever. Duquesne made him an offer that Akron just couldn't get close to. Dambrot said this. He said something like Akron could only offer so much and he understood that. If it was close, he probably would have stayed at Akron, but my guess is he's making close to $1 million at Duquesne and maybe Akron would go to $600K or so. Plus, throw in his dad played at Duquesne and he mentioned getting sick of having to win the conference tournament to get in and wanted to be in multibid league (which ironically the A10 isnt anymore)
 
No thanks on Toole. He will bring zero recruiting momentum here. Obviously, he doesn’t have the AAU ties since he isn’t a part of bigtime basketball.
 
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BFo8 said:
I seem to be pretty much alone on this, but want no part of Toole at all.

If you’re an ACC school and hiring a NEC coach shouldn’t it at least be one that dominated the conference?

If Robert Morris wasn’t a Pittsburgh school no one on here would want Andy Toole as coach, nobody.

Dambrot on the other hand is a different story. How in the hell Duquesne got him to go there is amazing to me, lateral move at the best and that’s even a stretch. Just an incredible hire by them.
Click to expand...

Salary upgrade had to play a big part...
 
sherepower said:
No thanks on Toole. He will bring zero recruiting momentum here. Obviously, he doesn’t have the AAU ties since he isn’t a part of bigtime basketball.
Click to expand...

But if he can get 3-4 ACC level starters every like 2 recruiting classses, couldn't he continue that & only add more star players (like 3 & 4 star recruits). If you would hire Toole & Mike Rice as a combo, it honestly could work out.
 
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R-M-U-h-o-o-p-s-f-a-n said:
Right Toole could do really good at a bigger school where it's a lot easier to keep people.
Click to expand...

You could make the argument that he has recruited too well at RMU which has led to some lean years due to defections. Same thing could happen here though, especially while we occupy the bottom of the ACC. I like the idea though.

What worries me in this scenario is we lose another recruiting class plus some of our current young guys.

Is Toole considered a player's coach or more of a disciplinarian?
 
sherepower said:
No thanks on Toole. He will bring zero recruiting momentum here. Obviously, he doesn’t have the AAU ties since he isn’t a part of bigtime basketball.
Click to expand...

But who else can we realistically land at this point? Its going to either be a risk based on upside or an established hire who is either stalled out or on the way down (or trying to work their way back up). I don't think we can land one of the top hot names based on where we are at today.
 
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CaptainMurphy said:
You could make the argument that he has recruited too well at RMU which has led to some lean years due to defections. Same thing could happen here though, especially while we occupy the bottom of the ACC. I like the idea though.

What worries me in this scenario is we lose another recruiting class plus some of our current young guys.

Is Toole considered a player's coach or more of a disciplinarian?
Click to expand...

He's more of a disciplinary type but he's trying to become more favored by his players to try to keep more.
 
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