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Fire Shaka Smart


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11 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

Buzz's current resume >>>> Barnes' resume when we hired him. 

In truth when we hired Barnes we were only 2 years into the Big 12 and the AAU scene in Texas hadn't fully taken form. We're a much better attraction now than what we were then. Don't get me wrong Buzz is a quality hire, but I think this program can attract better. Right now we recruit elite guys without even tapping into the DFW area talent. Maybe Buzz' background within the state will finally help us get over the hurdle there, but I feel we can do better. 

Edited by Catdaddyhorn
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1 hour ago, CurlyDumps said:

If only I had stopped there...

I don't remember posting this at all, but I do specifically remember posting "Shaka will win a national championship at Texas" in the afterglow of a big win in year 1.  Looking over the schedule, it was probably the win over #3 UNC.

I bet that game thread has some fucking gold in it too.

 

I actually cycled through the entire thread looking for something dumb I may have posted.  I know, for a fact, there's pro Strong content somewhere in my past.

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7 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Jay Wright and Mark Few are the shoot for the stars, paradigm changing hires. But that's dreamland so if it came down to it I'd rather have Ben Howland over Buzz. I'm not anti-Buzz, but if we're going to go after someone in that blah, blah no frills coaching category I'd rather get someone who has proven accomplishments like Howland. Ben Howland would be a Lon Krueger type of high floor hire. 

Buzz's current resume >>>> Barnes' resume when we hired him. 

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1 hour ago, Disco Missile said:

Charlie Strong had a better resume than Herman and he was a 'splash hire', therefore Herman is a shitty coach too.

Not sure I agree with that.

Strongs first two seasons were 7-6, and then he had a couple of years where the record looked great, but they rarely played top teams. If Wiki is to be believed, they played one ranked team (#4 florida in a bowl game which was Charlie's biggest win). 

Herman had two seasons at UH with a solid record. In 2015, Tom went 4-0 over ranked teams, including a win over #9 Florida St. In 2016, Tom was 2-0 vs ranked teams, with both teams ranked at #3 when they played UH (OU & Louisville). Sure he also had some disappointing losses, but objectively he accomplished more than Strong.

Strong may have had more of a reputation as a coordinator, but as McCombs pointed out in his controversial (and eventually prescient) tweet, we were hiring a head coach. 

 

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1 hour ago, Blotto said:

Not sure I agree with that.

Strongs first two seasons were 7-6, and then he had a couple of years where the record looked great, but they rarely played top teams. If Wiki is to be believed, they played one ranked team (#4 florida in a bowl game which was Charlie's biggest win). 

Herman had two seasons at UH with a solid record. In 2015, Tom went 4-0 over ranked teams, including a win over #9 Florida St. In 2016, Tom was 2-0 vs ranked teams, with both teams ranked at #3 when they played UH (OU & Louisville). Sure he also had some disappointing losses, but objectively he accomplished more than Strong.

Strong may have had more of a reputation as a coordinator, but as McCombs pointed out in his controversial (and eventually prescient) tweet, we were hiring a head coach. 

 

I should've clarified, but that wasn't my opinion. If you go peruse the old coaching search thread on the football board you'll see a lot of people saying that. A fairly large number of fans didn't like the Herman hire. 

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Buzz seems like a good choice.  I think Randy Bennett should be on the list.  I realize he's not Few and he might just be a California lifer, but I think you talk to him.  He's got to be ready to get to conf where he can come in 2nd or 3rd and make the tourney

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I just wonder if Williams might want to take a larger step up than Texas A&M. His next job is likely to be the job that makes or breaks his career. You would think he'd be especially picky as he's not going to want to spend the next 5-8 years still climbing the ladder. 

Unless he thinks he can meet his career goals at A&M, I think he'll pass them over. I don't know him, I could be totally wrong. The fact he coached there as an assistant means almost nothing-- you are far pickier as a head coach at the apex of your career than you are as an assistant desperately trying to grow. It's really down to, what does Buzz Williams want to accomplish as a head basketball coach and is that compatible with coaching at Texas A&M? If he's serious about winning a national championship, it's not.

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13 hours ago, VolenteHawk said:

Shaka was right to change styles. He wasn’t going to get the talent he needed to compete with the big boys in the Big 12 playing havoc. He’d have been a poor man’s West Virginia. It didn’t work, but that doesn’t make the strategy wrong. But rest easy, because he gone.

Buzz Williams is the best reasonable option for the next guy for many reason. You can make some guys that will say no your first call to hear it (Few, Beard), but Buzz should be the focus.

Why would Beard say no?  

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11 minutes ago, Dirk X West said:

Because he's happy where he is, he's getting paid well, Tech is about to open a first rate practice facility designed to his specs, and now he's pulling blue chip recruits, maybe? 

Counterpoint

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7 minutes ago, Dirk X West said:

I don't think he's a lifer, but I don't think he's done at Tech yet either.

He's not going to be done for a while at least. If he wants to go to a blue blood after he builds a killer resume at Tech I could hardly blame him. But he damn sure isn't going anywhere in the next year or two.

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Just now, Red Five said:

How many of you would voluntarily remain in Lubbock if offered the Texas job?

If you're looking for a real answer then it would depend on a multitude of factors and the city it's located in is only part of that. That said, Chris Beard is in his 14th year being in Lubbock voluntarily so he probably doesn't hate it too much.

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On 3/11/2019 at 1:48 PM, Onboard 2.0 said:

Based on what I read here VT ain't nothing like Aggy. The VT corps itself is light years ahead of Aggis corps.

I lived in Blacksburg for a short while when my dad was a prof there.  VT is nothing like our friends to the east.

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18 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I lived in Blacksburg for a short while when my dad was a prof there.  VT is nothing like our friends to the east.

It's a pretty cool area, bleak in the Winter though.  Great fishing, and other outdoor stuff all around the region.

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It’s about timing. There’s no doubt in my mind Beard would take the Texas job but it doesn’t make a great deal of sense for either side right now. I don’t see Texas investing in basketball to that level.  But if they decide to, I don’t think there’s much Tech can do.

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11 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

It’s about timing. There’s no doubt in my mind Beard would take the Texas job but it doesn’t make a great deal of sense for either side right now. I don’t see Texas investing in basketball to that level.  But if they decide to, I don’t think there’s much Tech can do.

And I'm sure you believe that.

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7 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

It’s about timing. There’s no doubt in my mind Beard would take the Texas job but it doesn’t make a great deal of sense for either side right now. I don’t see Texas investing in basketball to that level.  But if they decide to, I don’t think there’s much Tech can do.

The fact that Beard is good friends with Barnes and has probably heard all the horror stories about having to bend the knee and kiss the ring at UT, nothing you do ever being good enough, etc. etc. makes me think he would not be nearly as enthused with the offer as you think.

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16 hours ago, VolenteHawk said:

Shaka was right to change styles. He wasn’t going to get the talent he needed to compete with the big boys in the Big 12 playing havoc. He’d have been a poor man’s West Virginia. It didn’t work, but that doesn’t make the strategy wrong. But rest easy, because he gone.

 

SInce he doesn't seem any good at other styles, maybe not so much.

We hired Havoc and got Tedium.

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Just now, Tired Horn said:

SInce he doesn't seem any good at other styles, maybe not so much.

We hired Havoc and got Tedium.

It was the right decision by him.

The problem is that the decision-makers at Texas weren't cognizant of this, and let things proceed anyway.

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54 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

The fact that Beard is good friends with Barnes and has probably heard all the horror stories about having to bend the knee and kiss the ring at UT, nothing you do ever being good enough, etc. etc. makes me think he would not be nearly as enthused with the offer as you think.

Is that why Barnes cried when he left? Because it’s so awful here? 

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37 minutes ago, Ghost of Shag said:

You seem naively confident, yourself.  

 

I'm not naive about anything.  I understand that UT is an insanely wealthy athletic dept. that has some individual programs that have been historically very successful, among the very best in college sports.  Men's basketball is not one of them.  I got two graduate degrees at UT-Austin, have lived here for 20+ years and have worked on campus now for 7 years.  I see it up close, and I have loads of friends here who are alums and are huge UT fans.  The reality of UT sports is not the same as the myth.  It's just not.  I know you all are fans and believe in your school, but you seem to think you can have any coach you want.  You can't.  The reality of who you've been hiring in football, just to name the biggest, wealthiest, most important individual program, bears that out.  

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33 minutes ago, MAUFRAIS said:

The double eagle guys got the tech young alumni landman base real puffed up lately.

Tech has more money than they used to to throw at facilities and coaches' salaries than we used to, but I think it's more that Beard - and Tadlock - are different cases.  They're guys that want to be at Tech.  I know most of you have such a hard time believing the truth of that you can't acknowledge it as a factor in their decision making, but it is.

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Just now, SwanderedTalent said:

Did we not get who we wanted in 2016...?

My impression is that he was the arguably the best guy available at the time, if that's how you're defining it, but it seems to me that there's a significant portion of the fanbase that wasn't that excited when he got hired and still aren't quite sold on him.

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Just now, Dirk X West said:

it seems to me that there's a significant portion of the fanbase that wasn't that excited when he got hired and still aren't quite sold on him.

we do have our share of fucking idiots, yes-- you may have seen the "HERE'S HOW WE GO GIT NECK SABAN" posts in 2013, that should have been your first tip-off

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11 minutes ago, Dirk X West said:

I'm not naive about anything.  I understand that UT is an insanely wealthy athletic dept. that has some individual programs that have been historically very successful, among the very best in college sports.  Men's basketball is not one of them.  I got two graduate degrees at UT-Austin, have lived here for 20+ years and have worked on campus now for 7 years.  I see it up close, and I have loads of friends here who are alums and are huge UT fans.  The reality of UT sports is not the same as the myth.  It's just not.  I know you all are fans and believe in your school, but you seem to think you can have any coach you want.  You can't.  The reality of who you've been hiring in football, just to name the biggest, wealthiest, most important individual program, bears that out.  

I find it telling that as a guy who has lived in Austin 20+ years, got two graduate degrees, and has worked on campus for seven years, not once did you ever refer to UT as "my" school or "our" school and seem largely ambivalent if not derisive about the University, in general.

When have we not gotten who we wanted?  Patterson wanted Charlie, as dumb as his ass was, and got him.  Same with Shaka.  We wanted Herman, and got him.

So unless you've got Saban in mind and bought into that entire line of drama, I'm unsure where you're coming from on this front, and you used a poor example to try and convey the idea that we can't get who we want.

Edited by Ghost of Shag
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12 minutes ago, Ghost of Shag said:

When have we not gotten who we wanted?

Wasn't Pierce our fourth choice or something like that? Obviously it's worked out swimmingly so far, but there's the obvious counterpoint.

I didn't follow the baseball coaching search closely, so I could be wrong.

Edited by Machinator
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