There is no Safe Hire

[Monroevillefan]

There is no safe hire for Pitt. There is no coach out there that has1. Recruited at the ACC level, 2.
Has coached at the ACC level. Of all the candidates discussed Sean Miller was the only candidate that would have met this criteria.

So what are our options.

1. Hire a mid major coach or lower level Division 1 coach or
2. Hire an assistant coach at a major program.

Neither one is anywhere near a safe choice.

Let's look at both ends of the job.

Recruiting

Recruiting at a mid major does not translate when you are going against the Hall of Fame Coaches they will have to face. I assume that a coach at Butler doesn't even to try to get the kids Duke wants. Also saying
you hire an assistant at a top program I doubt that his ability to recruit at let's say Duke translates to Pitt.
Hell I could recruit at Duke and I am old.

Coaching. Coaching records at a mid major or equivalent is not the same as going through the grind of coaching every night in the ACC. Pitt will probably have to go against better talent in about 50% of their games for the most part.

Therefore Pitt is going to have to go with the guy that they think can take the big step up,whether as a head coach or assistant. If I were Barnes I would interview my top candidates and look for a Mike Tomlin moment, where somebody sells you on their vision, passion or direction.

This board talks about the GLF, whomever we hire will have to do it as a coach. I have no preference as to who it should be but if I interviewed them I would expect someone would stand out. That is who Pitt should hire. And then hope for the best. But there are no guarantees.

 

[MajorMajors]

No guarantees for sure. Times have changed, but one only has to look all the BB coaches who Duquesne has gone through since their glory days to see how difficult it is to make the right hire...

Duquesne Coaches--- Winning %......Years

Chick Davies-------------74.8.............1924-1948 (1 NCAA tourney)
Dudley Moore------------73.2.............1948-1958 (1 NCAA tourney)
Red Manning-------------64.2............1958-1974 (2 NCAA tourneys)
John Cinicola------------48.1.............1974-1978 (1 NCAA tourney)
Mike Rice-----------------55.9.............1978-1982
Jim Satalin---------------41.5.............1982-1989
John Carroll-------------42.7.............1989-1995
Scott Edgar-------------34.5..............1995-1998
Darelle Porter----------26.4..............1998-2001
Danny Nee--------------29.2.............2001-2006
Ron Everhart-----------52.7.............2006-2012
Jim Ferry----------------39.8.............2012-Present

Go Pitt.

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

Wow. Who knew Dudley Moore coached hoops before his successful run in acting.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

Not safe, but a few who are regarded as the top available and will start ahead of the game at least perception wise. (not here for the usual suspects of course).

 

[Monroevillefan]

Not safe, but a few who are regarded as the top available and will start ahead of the game at least perception wise. (not here for the usual suspects of course).

I can only think f about three coaches that are not coaching the blue bloods that have won consistently in
The tournament more than 1 or two years. Brad Stevens at Butler, Shaka Smart and the coach at Witchita State.
Getting in the tournament one year or with one good group will not get it done.

I really can't even think of a coach out there that is a lock to be successful at Pitt. There will be no splash candidates. Miller was probably the only possibility. Pitt just has to,roll the dice.

 

[Pittbaseball11]

I can only think f about three coaches that are not coaching the blue bloods that have won consistently in
The tournament more than 1 or two years. Brad Stevens at Butler, Shaka Smart and the coach at Witchita State.
Getting in the tournament one year or with one good group will not get it done.

I really can't even think of a coach out there that is a lock to be successful at Pitt. There will be no splash candidates. Miller was probably the only possibility. Pitt just has to,roll the dice.

Even Shaka never made it past the round of 32 after a Final Four run. He went 2-4 in his 4 Tournament appearances after that.

Not really an indictment on him, he's a hell of a coach, more saying that any sort of March-based evaluations are tough to make and past results don't guarantee future success.

 

[Panthervision]

There is no safe hire for Pitt. There is no coach out there that has1. Recruited at the ACC level, 2.
Has coached at the ACC level. Of all the candidates discussed Sean Miller was the only candidate that would have met this criteria.

So what are our options.

1. Hire a mid major coach or lower level Division 1 coach or
2. Hire an assistant coach at a major program.

Neither one is anywhere near a safe choice.
Therefore Pitt is going to have to go with the guy that they think can take the big step up,whether as a head coach or assistant. If I were Barnes I would interview my top candidates and look for a Mike Tomlin moment, where somebody sells you on their vision, passion or direction.

This board talks about the GLF, whomever we hire will have to do it as a coach. I have no preference as to who it should be but if I interviewed them I would expect someone would stand out. That is who Pitt should hire. And then hope for the best. But there are no guarantees.

Miller would only have been a splash in public perception. Not sure if he is better than Jamie, overall.

I bet we hire an energetic recruiter with enthusiasm. Do not think that he will be a "name" coach

 

[Pittbaseball11]

Miller would only have been a splash in public perception. Not sure if he is better than Jamie, overall.

I bet we hire an energetic recruiter with enthusiasm. Do not think that he will be a "name" coach

It'll be like Ed Cooley or something. A "name" coach who goes 22-12 (10-8) in a watered down Big East every year, then gets Ben Bentil and Kris Dunn on his roster and turns it into....24-11 (10-8).

 

[Panthervision]

It'll be like Ed Cooley or something. A "name" coach who goes 22-12 (10-8) in a watered down Big East every year, then gets Ben Bentil and Kris Dunn on his roster and turns it into....24-11 (10-8).

That's fine if he comes here and grabs players like Dunn and Bentil on a routine basis. Which should be possible in the ACC.

The new coach must have ACC recruiting ties or lock up assistants that do.

I'm interested to see how this plays out.

 

[cruzer]

There is no safe hire for Pitt. There is no coach out there that has1. Recruited at the ACC level, 2.
Has coached at the ACC level. Of all the candidates discussed Sean Miller was the only candidate that would have met this criteria.

So what are our options.

1. Hire a mid major coach or lower level Division 1 coach or
2. Hire an assistant coach at a major program.

Neither one is anywhere near a safe choice.

Let's look at both ends of the job.

Recruiting

Recruiting at a mid major does not translate when you are going against the Hall of Fame Coaches they will have to face. I assume that a coach at Butler doesn't even to try to get the kids Duke wants. Also saying
you hire an assistant at a top program I doubt that his ability to recruit at let's say Duke translates to Pitt.
Hell I could recruit at Duke and I am old.

Coaching. Coaching records at a mid major or equivalent is not the same as going through the grind of coaching every night in the ACC. Pitt will probably have to go against better talent in about 50% of their games for the most part.

Therefore Pitt is going to have to go with the guy that they think can take the big step up,whether as a head coach or assistant. If I were Barnes I would interview my top candidates and look for a Mike Tomlin moment, where somebody sells you on their vision, passion or direction.

This board talks about the GLF, whomever we hire will have to do it as a coach. I have no preference as to who it should be but if I interviewed them I would expect someone would stand out. That is who Pitt should hire. And then hope for the best. But there are no guarantees.

The way I look at it is that we need to hire a coach who can "punch above his weight". Obviously, we're not going to get a coach who has recruited at the ACC level. We need the kind of guy who is able to recruit better then what their situation should dictate. We need a guy who can coach his team up to a level that they are winning at a level that would not be expected.

Of course, this is easier said then done.

Cruzer

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Thad Matta for the same reason as Gary Parrish talked about in his article. Matta is a victim of his own success. OSU wants more and they can pay for it. Time for him to move on.

 

[Piranha]

Even Shaka never made it past the round of 32 after a Final Four run. He went 2-4 in his 4 Tournament appearances after that.

Not really an indictment on him, he's a hell of a coach, more saying that any sort of March-based evaluations are tough to make and past results don't guarantee future success.

Some of his success at VCU is credited to Will Wade. Will Wade helped recruit and develop a lot of those players.

 

[ameoba defense]

No guarantees for sure. Times have changed, but one only has to look all the BB coaches who Duquesne has gone through since their glory days to see how difficult it is to make the right hire...

Duquesne Coaches--- Winning %......Years

Chick Davies-------------74.8.............1924-1948 (1 NCAA tourney)
Dudley Moore------------73.2.............1948-1958 (1 NCAA tourney)
Red Manning-------------64.2............1958-1974 (2 NCAA tourneys)
John Cinicola------------48.1.............1974-1978 (1 NCAA tourney)
Mike Rice-----------------55.9.............1978-1982
Jim Satalin---------------41.5.............1982-1989
John Carroll-------------42.7.............1989-1995
Scott Edgar-------------34.5..............1995-1998
Darelle Porter----------26.4..............1998-2001
Danny Nee--------------29.2.............2001-2006
Ron Everhart-----------52.7.............2006-2012
Jim Ferry----------------39.8.............2012-Present

Go Pitt.

That's an ugly list. The NCAA list is misleading though. Schools like Duquesne routinely turned down NCAA bids in favor of the NIT back in Davies, and Moore's days. This was especially true if you had black players, as schools didn't want them to have to deal with any nonsense playing in the podunk towns that hosted the NCAA's back then.
Looking at that list from a Pitt perspective, how many of those guys seemed like good hires for the Dukes?

Jim Satalin for sure. I think most of the Pitt fanbase would have taken him over Roy Chipman in a heartbeat. I remember how tough some of the games with the Bonnies were, and he won an NIT back when you still needed to be a borderline Top 20 team to do so.