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College basketball coaching carousel: 2024 edition


Machinator

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8 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

The charter flight thing is changing with this hire.  and the "nobody seems to care about sports in LA" narrative is just stupid.  The Dodgers have led MLB in attendance for I don't know how many years, the Lakers are one of the most high demand tix in sports in spite of sucking, and at UCLA, when we're winning, Pauley is packed and rocking.  People just don't live and die by sports, and that's fine.  Too many people from too many places.  UCLA is an elite job.  And people in the know would agree.

Reread what I said.  "Nobody in L.A. seems to care about College sports"

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5 hours ago, PittsburghTiger said:

His final game at Pitt was very similar. Maybe the kids sensed something. If he does get hired in a day, or two, that’s pretty crappy that his agent is negotiating another job while he is coaching another team.

 

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18 minutes ago, Machinator said:

I won't speak for Marquette, but Virginia Tech had minimal history and expectations for their basketball program to begin with. Taking them to three straight NCAA tournaments is an accomplishment in itself, never mind the Sweet 16.

The hard ceiling in the ACC is much lower than in the SEC. He can easily crack and maintain a spot in the Top 4 of SEC, ride the conference being overrated to protected seeds in the tourney and see what Madness happens. It's a much easier gig than the Texas job and we probably wouldn't have outbid aggy.

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20 hours ago, ButtFumble said:

they might have talked to him, but the temperature cooled to 273.15 K once Kelvin said his son was coach in waiting....Arkansas is not going to put up with that shit, but UH will

Did this really happen?  Wouldn't surprised me if true.  Sampson has always had his entire family grifting off the athletic department.  

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3 hours ago, Brian Fantana said:

TCU is a hopeless pit of despair for any basketball coach. The environment is terrible as is the fan support. Good for him for getting out of that mess.

And also lol @ UCLA fans that thought they were going to get any better than this wet fart hire.

Yeah, but it seemed like TCU under Dixon was turning this around.  I wonder if CDC would've gotten him to stay...?  Because this is a huge loss for TCU.

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55 minutes ago, PittsburghTiger said:

He did not want to move to the ACC, but there was no other choice. His recruiting, and thus results, were all trending down. Like I have said before here, I think our last 25 or 30 games against ranked opponents Jamie's teams were either 5-20, or 5-25, against those ranked teams. Boeheim didn't want to make the move either.

I've said it before, and I will say it again. I liked Jamie, personally as well as a coach, but things were not going in the right direction. He was given raises, it seemed every time a job out west opened up. Our last year with Jamie he was the seventh highest-paid coach in the tourney, and the results did not warrant that $$.

In Jamie's last five seasons at Pitt his teams were 112-63, pretty good, but only 45-45 in conference. The final three seasons were in the ACC, he went 11-7, 8-10 & 9-9 in the ACC. The highest the team was ranked in those 5 seasons was #16 in 2012-13, #18 in 2013-14 and #12 in 2015-16.

I don't think that will be acceptable at UCLA.

If you're a CBB coach and you don't want your program to move to the ACC, you're a wimp.

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1 hour ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Did this really happen?  Wouldn't surprised me if true.  Sampson has always had his entire family grifting off the athletic department.  

that is what he is angling for at UH and he has a daughter that does "social media marketing" for UH too

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2 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Dixon has proven to be a quality coach.  He took over for Howland and kept that going at Pitt for a number of years.  And to turn TCU into any semblance of a competitive team is a feat in my mind.  Is he the splash hire I hoped for?  No.  Is he lightyears better than Alford.  Unquestionably.  He just needs to recruit coachable players.  Not the prima donnas we have had for the last few years.

I hope you're right. The PAC 12 needs to get better. But Alford was good to very good at new Mexico in a tougher conference top to bottom at the time that the big 12 is now. Was he seen as a shit hire by alums at the time?  I honestly can't remember the narrative.  

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3 hours ago, Bitterwhiteguy said:

Do you quit your current job before you start interviewing for new jobs?

Not necessarily, but if the candidate is still coaching, it seems contact is through an agent. Then after the season ends, a face to face interview, then the announcement. Even if it is obvious, the announcement is usually at least a few days after the final loss (see Buzz and aggy). At least enough fucking time to get back with your team and get a night's rest before going on the interview trail. Underwood was announced literally 9am the following morning. He had met face-to-face with Illinois' AD several times while he was supposed to be preparing his team for the NCAA tournament, and was apparently trying to negotiate more than $3 million/year from OSU's AD.  The OSU AD wasn't going to pay that anyway, but was rightfully pissed that he was bringing it up while his team was preparing for the tourney game. Fuck Brad Underwood, nothing compares to this asshole shit he pulled. Good riddance.

Edited by 'stache
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48 minutes ago, Underdog said:

UCLA gonna keep fucking around with these hires and next thing you know, Coach K is going to pass them in Titles. 

I didn’t realize it until this weekend but Duke has only been to two Final Fours in the last 15 years. He’s not passing them in titles. 

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3 hours ago, SnowAggy said:

Yeah, but it seemed like TCU under Dixon was turning this around.  I wonder if CDC would've gotten him to stay...?  Because this is a huge loss for TCU.

I don't think people have been paying attention to TCU's roster. They've had a lot of attrition this year and lose Robinson/Miller to graduation. That's a rebuild next year even with Bane and Noi. 

I think that's a big reason Dixon is bouncing and why I was  never in the "let's think about hiring Dixon" group. He's actually had a lot of issues with attrition at TCU. That roster is kind of a mess but you can fix things with grad transfers. 

Edited by texasstrong12
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51 minutes ago, Underdog said:

T'was a joke, he has 5 and UCLA has 11.  Of course he isn't going to catch them.  It was also a snide remark on UK/Cal not surpassing UCLA either. 

At the rate Kentucky's going-- slow but steady, almost always in contention-- they'll catch UCLA in our lifetimes. UCLA hasn't even been close that often since Wooden retired, which is a long fuckin' time ago-- "close" meaning either winning it or making the Final Four. 

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11 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

I don't think people have been paying attention to TCU's roster. They've had a lot of attrition this year and lose Robinson/Miller to graduation. That's a rebuild next year even with Bane and Noi. 

I think that's a big reason Dixon is bouncing and why I was  never in the "let's think about hiring Dixon" group. He's actually had a lot of issues with attrition at TCU. That roster is kind of a mess but you can fix things with grad transfers. 

That is on Dixon. Just a terrible hire by ucla.

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4 hours ago, rickyspub said:

The hard ceiling in the ACC is much lower than in the SEC. He can easily crack and maintain a spot in the Top 4 of SEC, ride the conference being overrated to protected seeds in the tourney and see what Madness happens. It's a much easier gig than the Texas job and we probably wouldn't have outbid aggy.

The top of the ACC is definitely better than the SEC but the SEC is a much improved basketball conference. The middle/bottom tier of the SEC is trending to be better than the ACC. 

I think Buzz will struggle to finish consistently in the top 4 of the SEC. A&M isn't an easy basketball school to win at either. People can talk about V-Tech being a tough school to win at but I don't think there's much difference at A&M. I definitely think Marquette is an easier place to win at than A&M. 

Buzz has finished 4th (Sun Belt), 5th (Big East), 5th (Big East), T-9th (Big East), 1st (Big East), T-1st (Big East), 6th (Big East), 15th (ACC), T-7th (ACC), T-7th (ACC), 7th (ACC), 5th (ACC). I need to go back and look at where the conferences finished in RPI but I don't remember the Big East being dominant during the stretch while Buzz was there.

Buzz has only finished above 3rd in his conference two times in 12 years as a head coach. 

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1 hour ago, SwanderedTalent said:

At the rate Kentucky's going-- slow but steady, almost always in contention-- they'll catch UCLA in our lifetimes. UCLA hasn't even been close that often since Wooden retired, which is a long fuckin' time ago-- "close" meaning either winning it or making the Final Four. 

Three straight FF's with a finals appearance from '06-'08 is not ancient history.  And we did win in '95, which yes, was a long time ago but 20 years after Wooden.

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33 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

The top of the ACC is definitely better than the SEC but the SEC is a much improved basketball conference. The middle/bottom tier of the SEC is trending to be better than the ACC. 

I think Buzz will struggle to finish consistently in the top 4 of the SEC. A&M isn't an easy basketball school to win at either. People can talk about V-Tech being a tough school to win at but I don't think there's much difference at A&M. I definitely think Marquette is an easier place to win at than A&M. 

Buzz has finished 4th (Sun Belt), 5th (Big East), 5th (Big East), T-9th (Big East), 1st (Big East), T-1st (Big East), 6th (Big East), 15th (ACC), T-7th (ACC), T-7th (ACC), 7th (ACC), 5th (ACC). I need to go back and look at where the conferences finished in RPI but I don't remember the Big East being dominant during the stretch while Buzz was there.

Buzz has only finished above 3rd in his conference two times in 12 years as a head coach. 

I guess we'll see. By the time Buzz gets settled the script may have flipped, but I am not sure the middle of the SEC is trending that much better than the ACC and it is way behind the three-headed monsters at the top of the ACC. LSU has already spit the bit and Bruce Pearl is probably the most likely guy in all of college basketball to follow that script. We all know what Barnes brings to the table and I am not sure what his upside is in the long run. Howland is interesting, but if there is a place harder to win at than aggyland, it might be Starkville. 

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Dixon’s a good coach. I think he’ll do fine at UCLA. Of course he’ll need to win conference titles and contend for a national title within 2-3 years. No telling if he can pull that off. It’s not like Nebraska football where their fall off has a lot of explanations. UCLA is still a blue blood surrounded by talent in a conference that is down overall. He should be able to recruit and win quickly.

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20 hours ago, Machinator said:

I won't speak for Marquette, but Virginia Tech had minimal history and expectations for their basketball program to begin with. Taking them to three straight NCAA tournaments is an accomplishment in itself, never mind the Sweet 16.

That’s exactly my point.  He has consistently overachieved relative to historical expectations.  But eventually that will result in raising those expectations.  Then there will be dissatisfaction with that level of success if the program never goes any higher, and outright anger if they regress, even temporarily.  He will go from “the guy who made us a tournament fixture” to “the guy who can’t get past the first round.”

He tends to leave before that new floor gets established in the fans’ minds. 

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12 hours ago, 'stache said:

Dixon’s a good coach. I think he’ll do fine at UCLA. Of course he’ll need to win conference titles and contend for a national title within 2-3 years. No telling if he can pull that off. It’s not like Nebraska football where their fall off has a lot of explanations. UCLA is still a blue blood surrounded by talent in a conference that is down overall. He should be able to recruit and win quickly.

It’s definitely a departure from the “big name/big splash” UCLA hires of the last 20 years or so.  I remember Walt Hazzard, Steve Lavin, Ben Howland, and Alford all being “event” hires.  

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15 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Three straight FF's with a finals appearance from '06-'08 is not ancient history.  And we did win in '95, which yes, was a long time ago but 20 years after Wooden.

Yeah, but to say it a different way, UCLA had a blip under Harrick that resulted in a title, and then made three Final Fours in one tight cluster under Ben Howland. Other than the immediate afterglow of Wooden's tenure, when you made a few Final Fours in the 5 years afterwards, UCLA simply hasn't contended as regularly as Kentucky has over the past 25 years. 

To say it another way, based on what I've personally witnessed as a basketball fan since the mid-80s, I think it's very reasonable to believe Kentucky will win more national titles in the 30-40 years I expect to live than UCLA. It's possible although not necessarily likely that Kentucky will win enough "more" titles than UCLA to surpass UCLA in total national championships. The latter, I say because in the time I've been watching the sport, Kentucky has won more titles, fielded more national title-caliber teams, and gotten those teams closer to winning it all more frequently than UCLA has.

What would it take for that to happen? Kentucky has to hire a coach to keep doing what Calipari, Smith, and Pitino have done. 

What would it take for UCLA to prevent it? I don't really know. UCLA has a lot more tradition than it does resources, if the $8m/yr offer to Calipari is to be believed.That is a recipe for unmet expectations, not national championships.

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56 minutes ago, VirginiaLonghorn said:

that would be a huge laugh at aggy....their hire helps Texas get off the hook for free on a bad hire

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24 minutes ago, SwanderedTalent said:

Arkansas is a modestly better job than Texas Tech at best. I don't think that's enough of a move up for Beard. 

I'm surprised Beard isn't UCLA's top candidate. Jamie Dixon is a fine coach but a little underwhelming at that level.

I think they're pretty even these days, but on paper Arkansas is probably marginally better having won a national title a long time ago, but not so long that people don't remember (I'm in my 30s and remember it well). I don't see him taking the job since he seemingly has things rolling in Lubbock. 

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51 minutes ago, PittsburghTiger said:

 

I don't get why anyone would remotely think the buyout should be reduced

the whole purpose is to keep you from taking another job and if your agent is worth a shit you get more money guaranteed for longer for a larger buyout

what is the threat to not reducing it that you will be paying pretty big money to a coach that is pissed off that he has to stick to the contract he agreed to so he will not coach or recruit as hard....I guess there is also the perception to recruits that he wants out and will not sign a contract extension when the time comes even if he has to stay now

either way with the way a lot of these hires go these days a lot of coaches are learning that even a decent amount of money to leave to a "better job" does not always pay off and pretty soon I think some universities might learn that (aggy leading that charge for OTHERS to learn from because we know they never will)

or I suppose if the buyout is something like $8 million over 4 years then the offer might be $4 million all right now.....but if you are TCU do you really need that $4 million now Vs $8 million over 4 years.....I could see a place like north Texas state or ULM deciding that the $4 million up front could help them get a better coach now and keep the momentum going, but TCU is not desperate for money and they are paying Dixon well as it is

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2 hours ago, SwanderedTalent said:

Yeah, but to say it a different way, UCLA had a blip under Harrick that resulted in a title, and then made three Final Fours in one tight cluster under Ben Howland. Other than the immediate afterglow of Wooden's tenure, when you made a few Final Fours in the 5 years afterwards, UCLA simply hasn't contended as regularly as Kentucky has over the past 25 years. 

To say it another way, based on what I've personally witnessed as a basketball fan since the mid-80s, I think it's very reasonable to believe Kentucky will win more national titles in the 30-40 years I expect to live than UCLA. It's possible although not necessarily likely that Kentucky will win enough "more" titles than UCLA to surpass UCLA in total national championships. The latter, I say because in the time I've been watching the sport, Kentucky has won more titles, fielded more national title-caliber teams, and gotten those teams closer to winning it all more frequently than UCLA has.

What would it take for that to happen? Kentucky has to hire a coach to keep doing what Calipari, Smith, and Pitino have done. 

What would it take for UCLA to prevent it? I don't really know. UCLA has a lot more tradition than it does resources, if the $8m/yr offer to Calipari is to be believed.That is a recipe for unmet expectations, not national championships.

Yes, UCLA has certainly fallen behind Kentucky (although we've beaten them a few times in the last few years), Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, and a couple of others when it comes to consistent success.  I put a lot of that on Guerrero.  He has made numerous bad hires, and fired the one coach who had success (I was soundly against Howland's firing).  Expectations may be unreasonable, but if they don't exist, then the pressure to succeed at the highest level isn't there.  Texas isn't going to be satisfied with a New Year's 6 bowl appearance.  UCLA is not going to be satisfied with a S16 or E8 appearance.  

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1 hour ago, PittsburghTiger said:

 

I really don't think the buyout is going to kill this.  Everyone is just trying to negotiate the best deal they can.  I agree I have no idea why TCU would move off the number, but at the same time, when your coach has one foot out the door and the other one crossing the threshold, kinda awkward to come back like "nevermind."  And I am more on board with Dixon than most.  Pitt before Howland/Dixon and TCU before Dixon were college basketball wastelands and he had pretty good success.  No one short of Wooden, Cal, or K are turning those programs into elite FF teams.  

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10 minutes ago, Uncle Nate said:

Oklahoma State and Texas Tech would say that is a fine idea. Just a really fine idea.  No, really.  It works out great.

the stupid UH fans will spin this, but they will be the same ones that were extremely pissed off when Levin and Applewhite were moved up to head coach for football

they will also toss in some stupid shit about tilman fertata being able to break the contract somehow when the time comes because that is how he operates

in reality Sampson is probably going to cash in for a season or two until things fall off from the peak and then step down and his kid will take over a program that is already heading off the cliff and shit will get ugly

they should have learned their lesson with Applewhite and trying to trick up contracts and do shit to retain coaches that might want to move up, but it seems they have not

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the quotes by Kelvin and Kellen are the lulz.

Kellen "I so happy they thought enough of me to ask me to lead the program when the time comes."

Kelvin "It wasn't like make Kellen HCIW or I'm not signing. It wasn't anything like that at all."

uh yeah, OK, had daddy bolted, son would have been on the really really short list given his coaching history, right?

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