If Pitt and JC can agree on a reasonable buyout, would Sean Miller at least restore some level of P4 competitiveness to Pitt MBB? If not Sean, then who would be the person to accomplish that short term goal? To me, that is THE question. Becoming P4 competitive and relevant in a fairly short period of time. A 10 year window is not a viable option this time around. We are at a crossroads like we were in the 90’s when they shipped FB totally off campus, focused on BB, and hit the jackpot in hiring Howland. If FB is to remain in exile, is it too much to ask that at least MBB be reasonably competitive in a P4 setting? If not, then a move back to the Big East or start playing with Dayton, etc., which IS a good program that is on a par with Pitt. Pedersen tied Pitt’s hands by moving FB off campus completely and going all in with MBB. But, when Jamie’s program started to slip, nothing serious was done to assure that at least MBB would be competitive. No top level football coach would consider coming to a school with a totally off campus program, but Pitt MBB should be attractive. Sean could perhaps get things back on track and hire some talented young assistants that could take over some day. And, don’t get on a moral high horse about Sean paying players at Arizona.
Sean Miller?
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He's at Xavier and struggling. Xavier is a considerably better hoops school than Pitt.
Haha. You mentioned Pitt football being moved off campus 4 times in a post to address the basketball program. I take it you weren't a big fan of that move?
This acquisition should be enough to remove him from consideration.
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John Hugley IV - Men's Basketball - Xavier University Athletics
John Hugley IV (4) Forward - 2023-24 (REDSHIRT JUNIOR AT OKLAHOMA): Appeared in 24 games at Oklahoma this past season with one start ... Scored in double fig...
Very few coaches automatically upgrade you substantially. Pitino does but he's in NY and winning. We'll need a coach we can afford on top of NIL payments instead. Like Howland, it may be someone that makes the fans say "who?"
No, not a fan of the move. It was a mistake that has affected MBB in the sense that since Pedersen put all of our revenue sports eggs in one basket (pun intended), it is reasonable to expect that MBB is, at the absolute least, a competitive P4 program. It is a basketball coach’s advantage to be at a school that has an off campus adjunct football program. Cut Nardo some slack in that he coaches a remote major college sports team. But, expect better from the MBB coach.
Teams going to the NCAAT or on the bubble with Year 1 coaches while returning 0 players
WVU
Lou
SMU
Ark
Ky
BYU
USC
Drake
This isn't 2018. The expectation is that in Year 1, you sign 12 new players and make the NCAAT. There's no rebuilding
I never said there would be long rebuilding. Are you replying to me instead of someone else by accident? I said there are very few coaches who instantly upgrade you (like based on exceptional coaching skills. I named Pitino, Larry Brown was another guy like that, the rare teachers of the game who can develop players even in a year or two.) Those teams are going to the tournament because they bought players, which means Pitt hoops needs more NIL money. If hiring a new coach helps spur more people to donate, great, but that's unknown as of now
WVU paid close to $0 on players. SMU bought Boopie and that was basically it. The other guys didn't cost much and Boopie wasn't overly expensive. Louisville is paying a little more than we are. Drake brought the NW Missouri St D2 team. BYU and USC didn't go crazy.
You don't need some HOF Coach or exorbitant NIL money to make the NCAAT in Year 1. Plenty of teams are doing it. Every team is a new team every year anyway. You get 12 new players and coach them up a little bit. You better get there in Year 1.
The assistants are the key. If we had a really good coaching staff of assistants, well-paid and knowledgeable, like we had under Howland, Capel could just do his schmoozing and back slapping and let his assistants run the show. But we have neither at Pitt right now, neither a good head coach nor great assistants. We're stuck with Capel for a while. Revamp the entire staff, top to bottom, and get some competent assistants in here. Maybe they'd actually coach and prepare the team to play competitively.
You know what my OOC schedule would be?
All P5 games. No cupcakes. OK, maybe 1 to open the season. Also, I may opt out of those banquet hall Thanksgiving tournaments unless it's a big one like Maui. I would have the #1 SOS in the country every year and see if we can get in the tournament with a 17-15 record.
HC SMF Example schedule:
- Season opening game vs RMU (3 for 1. 3 games at The Pete, 1 game in Moon)
- Duquesne (2 for 1)
- WVU
- ACC/SEC
- Big East team
- Big Ten team
- Big 12 team
- upper A10 program (home and home)
- Pac 12 team (2 for 1)
- another SEC team
- another B10 team
This would also greatly help attendance
Winning is what helps attendance. Haven't we seen that proven during the last 10 years?
Cut Nardo some slack because on the best day of his life he wasn't anything more than a mediocre college football coach and on the regular days he's well worse than that, so there really is no reason to think he should actually do any better than what he's done.
