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Fire Shaka Smart

smokebomb

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Red Five
Red Five

That is tough to accomplish in four years, but I wouldn't put it past Shaka.

immamac
immamac
Camelback80
Camelback80

Shaka should definitely get at least one more year. Many of his recruits will finally be upperclassmen by then, and he'll have his best shot of any year he's been here. Fans need to realize 2 maj

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MuellerHorn

MuellerHorn 4256

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Pancho Negro said:

First off, fuck CB

Second, anyone have a link to the article he just posted on Shaka?

 

Shaka Smart’s Texas journey so far...
 

When Shaka Smart arrived at Texas in April 2015, he talked a lot about his core values to players, even putting them on T-shirts: “Appreciation, Enthusiasm, Competitiveness, Teamship, Accountability”

Four years later, after missing the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, the search for the core values or culture of Smart’s program continues.

Ultimately, the decisions that have put Smart on the hot seat at Texas came down to who Smart surrounded himself with after being given a seven-year, guaranteed contract worth more than $24 million by then athletic director Steve Patterson. Patterson then extended that contract by one year after Smart’s initial 20-13 season at UT.

When Smart put together his staff at Texas of Darrin Horn, Mike Morrell and David Cason with Jai Lucas as director of operations and a chief of staff named Denny Kuiper, it turned out Smart had put together a volatile mix.

All of them had varying ideas about what it was going to take to be successful at Texas. And there were clashes internally over which players to recruit, and at one point, assistant coaches Horn and Morrell almost came to fists, according to sources.

But final decisions would come down to Smart, and, according to sources close to the situation, Smart didn’t take control.

An attempt to reach Smart for comment by Horns247 was unsuccessful.  Texas basketball spokesman Scott McConnell said Smart was busy preparing his team for a Sunday NIT matchup with Xavier and would prefer to address big-picture questions about the program after the season.

A couple of the first decisions Smart had to make were on the recruiting trail — in 2015, whether to recruit Jordan Murphy out of San Antonio Brennan or Tevin Mack out of Columbia, S.C., and in 2016, whether to recruit Carsen Edwards out of Atascocita or Jacob Young out of Houston. And Cason was recruiting Murphy and Edwards. Morrell, now the head coach at UNC-Asheville, was recruiting Mack and Young.

Shaka sided with Morrell, and Texas signed Mack and Young, while Purdue signed Edwards; and Minnesota signed Murphy — both All-Big Ten selections going into this season.

According to sources, Mack, who just finished his senior year at Alabama, was a toxic presence who was allowed to undermine the start of the Smart era at Texas.

Sources said Mack helped influence teammates, including Kerwin Roach, into poor decisions resulting in at least one suspension for both players (to start the 2016-17 season) for violating team rules.

Mack ended up being suspended indefinitely (and ultimately getting kicked off the team) by Smart after Mack talked back to Smart in front of the entire team during an 11-22 season in 2016-17.

Smart has seemingly had a different person in charge of his offense in each season. The first year, it was Darrin Horn. The second year — when Texas went 11-22 — it was Smart, according to sources.

The third year, it was Smart and director of operations Cody Hatt, sources said. This year, Smart said Jai Lucas was going to be in charge of the offense.

(Smart also apparently blamed Jai Lucas for not keeping a better handle on Kerwin Roach

But, ultimately, the culture of the program and whether Smart was going to run things or his players were going to run things had to come down to Smart.

Smart said he’s tried to involve his players in establishing a culture for the program. But sources said the culture of the program is still missing.

At VCU, Smart hired a guy named Denny Kuiper as a consultant. At Texas, Smart made Kuiper a full-time member of his program. And, according to sources, Smart would meet with Kuiper in the mornings and then have Kuiper tell the assistant coaches (Horn, Cason and Morrell) what the plan was for each day.

Kuiper retired after last season, but sources said the first couple years with Kuiper at Texas made communication within the program completely dysfunctional.

In the spring of 2016, Morrell nearly derailed UT’s recruitment of 5-star big man Jarrett Allen of Austin St. Stephen’s by talking down to a member of Allen’s inner circle connected to Allen’s AAU team out of Houston, sources said.

Smart ended up demoting Morrell and promoting Texas director of operations Jai Lucas to assistant coach after Lucas and his father John Lucas Sr. were able to save the recruitment of Allen, sources said.

Jai Lucas had also gotten some interest from TCU coach Jamie Dixon and OU coach Lon Kruger, prompting Smart’s decision to promote Lucas.

The following year, when Cason was recruiting Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith and Morrell was recruiting Jase Febres and Mo Bamba, Smart decided to fire Cason to make room for Morrell to rejoin the staff as a full-time assistant.

Smith, who was a one-and-done player for Tech on the Red Raiders’ Elite Eight team last season, was on his official visit to Texas in the spring of 2017 when Smith’s family started asking about the whereabouts of Cason?

When Smart told them he had fired Cason, Smith and his family terminated the visit and left Austin, sources said.

Culver is this year’s Big 12 player of the year at Texas Tech.

Cason is now an assistant coach at Florida International University.

There were questions about the recruitment of Bamba emanating from his own brother, Ibrahim Johnson, who accused Bamba of taking impermissible benefits from a man named Greer Love, whom the NCAA ultimately deemed a longtime mentor of Bamba.

There were questions about UT’s recruitment of Brian Bowen, who took two unofficial visits to Texas before signing with Louisville.

Louisville fired Rick Pitino over allegations Bowen’s father was paid $100,000 by Adidas at the urging of a Cardinals coach for Bowen to sign with Louisville.

But, so far, the FBI’s investigation into college basketball has stayed away from Texas’ connections to Bamba and Bowen.

The bottom line is Smart rapidly appears to be losing support.

Only 1,739 fans showed up for UT’s first-round NIT victory over South Dakota State on Tuesday.

Texas will play host to Xavier in a second-round NIT game on Sunday at 3:30 pm CT.

After four years, Smart is 67-66 at Texas, and the biggest reason he could be returning for a fifth season in Austin might be the $14 million buyout it would cost Texas to get out of the four years still remaining on Smart’s guaranteed contract after this season.

(Chip Brown)

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Burt Macklin

Burt Macklin 19038

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

 

Shaka Smart’s Texas journey so far...
 

When Shaka Smart arrived at Texas in April 2015, he talked a lot about his core values to players, even putting them on T-shirts: “Appreciation, Enthusiasm, Competitiveness, Teamship, Accountability”

Four years later, after missing the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, the search for the core values or culture of Smart’s program continues.

Ultimately, the decisions that have put Smart on the hot seat at Texas came down to who Smart surrounded himself with after being given a seven-year, guaranteed contract worth more than $24 million by then athletic director Steve Patterson. Patterson then extended that contract by one year after Smart’s initial 20-13 season at UT.

When Smart put together his staff at Texas of Darrin Horn, Mike Morrell and David Cason with Jai Lucas as director of operations and a chief of staff named Denny Kuiper, it turned out Smart had put together a volatile mix.

All of them had varying ideas about what it was going to take to be successful at Texas. And there were clashes internally over which players to recruit, and at one point, assistant coaches Horn and Morrell almost came to fists, according to sources.

But final decisions would come down to Smart, and, according to sources close to the situation, Smart didn’t take control.

An attempt to reach Smart for comment by Horns247 was unsuccessful.  Texas basketball spokesman Scott McConnell said Smart was busy preparing his team for a Sunday NIT matchup with Xavier and would prefer to address big-picture questions about the program after the season.

A couple of the first decisions Smart had to make were on the recruiting trail — in 2015, whether to recruit Jordan Murphy out of San Antonio Brennan or Tevin Mack out of Columbia, S.C., and in 2016, whether to recruit Carsen Edwards out of Atascocita or Jacob Young out of Houston. And Cason was recruiting Murphy and Edwards. Morrell, now the head coach at UNC-Asheville, was recruiting Mack and Young.

Shaka sided with Morrell, and Texas signed Mack and Young, while Purdue signed Edwards; and Minnesota signed Murphy — both All-Big Ten selections going into this season.

According to sources, Mack, who just finished his senior year at Alabama, was a toxic presence who was allowed to undermine the start of the Smart era at Texas.

Sources said Mack helped influence teammates, including Kerwin Roach, into poor decisions resulting in at least one suspension for both players (to start the 2016-17 season) for violating team rules.

Mack ended up being suspended indefinitely (and ultimately getting kicked off the team) by Smart after Mack talked back to Smart in front of the entire team during an 11-22 season in 2016-17.

Smart has seemingly had a different person in charge of his offense in each season. The first year, it was Darrin Horn. The second year — when Texas went 11-22 — it was Smart, according to sources.

The third year, it was Smart and director of operations Cody Hatt, sources said. This year, Smart said Jai Lucas was going to be in charge of the offense.

(Smart also apparently blamed Jai Lucas for not keeping a better handle on Kerwin Roach

But, ultimately, the culture of the program and whether Smart was going to run things or his players were going to run things had to come down to Smart.

Smart said he’s tried to involve his players in establishing a culture for the program. But sources said the culture of the program is still missing.

At VCU, Smart hired a guy named Denny Kuiper as a consultant. At Texas, Smart made Kuiper a full-time member of his program. And, according to sources, Smart would meet with Kuiper in the mornings and then have Kuiper tell the assistant coaches (Horn, Cason and Morrell) what the plan was for each day.

Kuiper retired after last season, but sources said the first couple years with Kuiper at Texas made communication within the program completely dysfunctional.

In the spring of 2016, Morrell nearly derailed UT’s recruitment of 5-star big man Jarrett Allen of Austin St. Stephen’s by talking down to a member of Allen’s inner circle connected to Allen’s AAU team out of Houston, sources said.

Smart ended up demoting Morrell and promoting Texas director of operations Jai Lucas to assistant coach after Lucas and his father John Lucas Sr. were able to save the recruitment of Allen, sources said.

Jai Lucas had also gotten some interest from TCU coach Jamie Dixon and OU coach Lon Kruger, prompting Smart’s decision to promote Lucas.

The following year, when Cason was recruiting Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith and Morrell was recruiting Jase Febres and Mo Bamba, Smart decided to fire Cason to make room for Morrell to rejoin the staff as a full-time assistant.

Smith, who was a one-and-done player for Tech on the Red Raiders’ Elite Eight team last season, was on his official visit to Texas in the spring of 2017 when Smith’s family started asking about the whereabouts of Cason?

When Smart told them he had fired Cason, Smith and his family terminated the visit and left Austin, sources said.

Culver is this year’s Big 12 player of the year at Texas Tech.

Cason is now an assistant coach at Florida International University.

There were questions about the recruitment of Bamba emanating from his own brother, Ibrahim Johnson, who accused Bamba of taking impermissible benefits from a man named Greer Love, whom the NCAA ultimately deemed a longtime mentor of Bamba.

There were questions about UT’s recruitment of Brian Bowen, who took two unofficial visits to Texas before signing with Louisville.

Louisville fired Rick Pitino over allegations Bowen’s father was paid $100,000 by Adidas at the urging of a Cardinals coach for Bowen to sign with Louisville.

But, so far, the FBI’s investigation into college basketball has stayed away from Texas’ connections to Bamba and Bowen.

The bottom line is Smart rapidly appears to be losing support.

Only 1,739 fans showed up for UT’s first-round NIT victory over South Dakota State on Tuesday.

Texas will play host to Xavier in a second-round NIT game on Sunday at 3:30 pm CT.

After four years, Smart is 67-66 at Texas, and the biggest reason he could be returning for a fifth season in Austin might be the $14 million buyout it would cost Texas to get out of the four years still remaining on Smart’s guaranteed contract after this season.

(Chip Brown)

Would be really nice if some of those FBI allegations could get sent our way. Not enough to seriously hurt the program, but just enough to give UT grounds to allege termination for cause and at least leverage Shaka into a settlement for a lower buyout.

Orrrrrrr we could pull a Kansas football by claiming Shaka committed recruiting violations and risk enforcement by the NCAA (lol, yeah right) for the ability to can Shaka now?  Would've been a bold move by CDC to decline the NIT and, after firing Smart, come out later and say it was a self-imposed postseason ban for Shaka's recruiting violations.

 

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Catdaddyhorn

Catdaddyhorn 3447

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

That's pretty bad...

Yeah it definitely sounds pretty bad but a lot of it seems to be throwing shit at the wall. The stuff about Mo Bamba's brother is pure shit.  All of us heard the story. Seems like the author did too, but he sure as hell didn't do any investigating.  The part about Greer "ultimately" being deemed a longtime mentor makes it seem like he got that designation after Bamba made it to campus when the reality is he got that designation in Bamba's sophomore or junior year of high school, well before the brother ever made his comments.  And Carsen Edwards committed to Purdue the August after Shaka was hired and signed with them that November in 2015. Shaka is a shit coach, but the idea that these $9.95 services suddenly have extensive insight into how this program is run when they spent the last 4 years giving us exactly 0 pieces of inside info is dubious as hell.  

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Machinator

Machinator 32099

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Posted
1 minute ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Yeah it definitely sounds pretty bad but a lot of it seems to be throwing shit at the wall. The stuff about Mo Bamba's brother is pure shit.  All of us heard the story. Seems like the author did too, but he sure as hell didn't do any investigating.  The part about Greer "ultimately" being deemed a longtime mentor makes it seem like he got that designation after Bamba made it to campus when the reality is he got that designation in Bamba's sophomore or junior year of high school, well before the brother ever made his comments.  And Carsen Edwards committed to Purdue the August after Shaka was hired and signed with them that November in 2015. Shaka is a shit coach, but the idea that these $9.95 services suddenly have extensive insight into how this program is run when they spent the last 4 years giving us exactly 0 pieces of inside info is dubious as hell.  

It's Chip Brown. Some of this is probably true, but he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from me anymore.

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Chuckie Finster

Chuckie Finster 22714

Posted
Posted
Quote

There were questions about the recruitment of Bamba emanating from his own brother, Ibrahim Johnson, who accused Bamba of taking impermissible benefits from a man named Greer Love, whom the NCAA ultimately deemed a longtime mentor of Bamba.

This sentence right here is enough to make me disregard every other word in that article.  FCB.

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Catdaddyhorn

Catdaddyhorn 3447

Posted
Posted (edited)
33 minutes ago, Machinator said:

It's Chip Brown. Some of this is probably true, but he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from me anymore.

Exactly,  Chip has,  or at least at one point had,  good sources within the athletic department,  but Im not sure how that gives him insight into the inner workings of Shaka's staff. It seems as though Chip's response to being (unfairly in my eyes.  His reporting was good,  ESPN just forced Deloss and company to change course with their unexpected and out of nowhere LHN offer. Had Chip waited until the ink was dry his reporting doesn't cause ESPN to make an 11th hour offer) maligned for the realignment stuff is to offer up questionably sourced stories anytime there appears to be trouble in any given UT program. Sometimes a guy just sucks. Shaka's sucking doesn't mean there has to be some sort of intriguing story behind it.  Tevin Mack and Jordan Murphy were both VCU commits.  Tevin Mack was much more highly ranked than Jordan Murphy and the coach who worked for Shaka the longest got the benefit of the doubt over the guy he didn't have as long a relationship with. You don't have to make up some story of coaches coming to blows to explain that.  

Edited by Catdaddyhorn
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Chuckie Finster

Chuckie Finster 22714

Posted
Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Exactly,  Chip has,  or at least at one point had,  good sources within the athletic department,  but Im not sure how that gives him insight into the inner workings of Shaka's staff. It seems as though Chip's response to being (unfairly in my eyes.  His reporting was good,  ESPN just forced Deloss and company to change course with their unexpected and out of nowhere LHN offer. Had Chip waited until the ink was dry his reporting doesn't cause ESPN to make an 11th hour offer) maligned for the realignment stuff is to offer up questionably sourced stories anytime there appears to be trouble in any given UT program. Sometimes a guy just sucks. Shaka's sucking doesn't mean there has to be some sort of intriguing story behind it.  Tevin Mack and Jordan Murphy were both VCU commits.  Tevin Mack was much more highly ranked than Jordan Murphy and the coach who worked for Shaka the longest got the benefit of the doubt over the guy he didn't have as long a relationship with. You don't have to make up some story of coaches coming to blows to explain that.  

Chip comes up with a salacious story idea that will generate clicks, and then he pokes around until he gets people to tell him enough info to write said clickbait, disregarding any other sides to the story .

Seriously, anyone citing those crazy videos put out by Mo Bamba's brother as evidence of ANYTHING should be considered a joke to the entire profession.

And I'm the damn conductor of the Fire Shaka train.

Edited by Chuckie Finster
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CurlyDumps

CurlyDumps 4477

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

 You don't have to make up some story of coaches coming to blows to explain that.  

So how you do explain a coach getting demoted for a year, and then re-promoted at the expense of firing someone else?  We know that happened. That’s not normal.  It’s evidence of dysfunction.

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Machinator

Machinator 32099

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Posted
3 minutes ago, CurlyDumps said:

So how you do explain a coach getting demoted for a year, and then re-promoted at the expense of firing someone else?  We know that happened. That’s not normal.  It’s evidence of dysfunction.

I don't think he's saying it's all bullshit. Clearly Shaka has mismanaged the program at every level. But the half-truths and hair-raising stories are classic Chip Brown reporting.

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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4275

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Exactly,  Chip has,  or at least at one point had,  good sources within the athletic department,  but Im not sure how that gives him insight into the inner workings of Shaka's staff. It seems as though Chip's response to being (unfairly in my eyes.  His reporting was good,  ESPN just forced Deloss and company to change course with their unexpected and out of nowhere LHN offer. Had Chip waited until the ink was dry his reporting doesn't cause ESPN to make an 11th hour offer) maligned for the realignment stuff is to offer up questionably sourced stories anytime there appears to be trouble in any given UT program. Sometimes a guy just sucks. Shaka's sucking doesn't mean there has to be some sort of intriguing story behind it.  Tevin Mack and Jordan Murphy were both VCU commits.  Tevin Mack was much more highly ranked than Jordan Murphy and the coach who worked for Shaka the longest got the benefit of the doubt over the guy he didn't have as long a relationship with. You don't have to make up some story of coaches coming to blows to explain that.  

Plus Shaka has always had his guard up, and puts walls around his team. i've made no secret about how much i hate that style as opposed to rick who basically will tell you word for word exactly what's going on with his team. Between CB's reputation and the fact that Shaka likes to keep a wall up, it's a safe bet that a whole lot of that is speculative at best.

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49327

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

Plus Shaka has always had his guard up, and puts walls around his team. i've made no secret about how much i hate that style as opposed to rick who basically will tell you word for word exactly what's going on with his team. Between CB's reputation and the fact that Shaka likes to keep a wall up, it's a safe bet that a whole lot of that is speculative at best.

 

GP likes how Rick did it??

giphy.gif

 

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MuellerHorn

MuellerHorn 4256

Posted
Posted
54 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Exactly,  Chip has,  or at least at one point had,  good sources within the athletic department,  but Im not sure how that gives him insight into the inner workings of Shaka's staff. It seems as though Chip's response to being (unfairly in my eyes.  His reporting was good,  ESPN just forced Deloss and company to change course with their unexpected and out of nowhere LHN offer. Had Chip waited until the ink was dry his reporting doesn't cause ESPN to make an 11th hour offer) maligned for the realignment stuff is to offer up questionably sourced stories anytime there appears to be trouble in any given UT program. Sometimes a guy just sucks. Shaka's sucking doesn't mean there has to be some sort of intriguing story behind it.  Tevin Mack and Jordan Murphy were both VCU commits.  Tevin Mack was much more highly ranked than Jordan Murphy and the coach who worked for Shaka the longest got the benefit of the doubt over the guy he didn't have as long a relationship with. You don't have to make up some story of coaches coming to blows to explain that.  

I'm not familiar with this part of the story; can you expand? I just don't know anything about it (or maybe I just don't remember). Not calling you out - I'm genuinely curious.

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Catdaddyhorn

Catdaddyhorn 3447

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, MuellerHorn said:

I'm not familiar with this part of the story; can you expand? I just don't know anything about it (or maybe I just don't remember). Not calling you out - I'm genuinely curious.

ESPN's 15 year $300 million offer (ie the terms of the LHN) is what put an immediate stop to our move to the Pac 16. We were in discussions to move to the Pac 10 with us, OU, Tech, Okla St, and the remaining schools were speculative at the time.  The Big 12 looked to be imploding in the very near future and our only reluctance towards moving was our desire to start our own network while the Pac 12 commish wanted a conference network.  Chip reported on this over a 3 or 4 day (or maybe even a week long) period, then out of nowhere, with our move to the PAC 12 seeming imminent, UT & ESPN announced the Longhorn Network deal of 15 years $300 million.  Now this could've been our Athetic department's plan from the get go and they fed Chip info on our impending realignment plans to force ESPN to shit or get off  the pot and make an offer,  but there weren't even rumored talks with ESPN until an announcement was made.  Typically ventures of that nature are rumored or have a buzz about them long before they're announced,  but the joint venture with ESPN for LHN literally came out of thin air. And it all culminated when news of our move to the Pac 12 was reportedly on the brink of being finalized.  

Edited by Catdaddyhorn
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Catdaddyhorn

Catdaddyhorn 3447

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Posted (edited)

Rumor has it that the Pac 12 commish (for life of me can't remember his name) had some sort of exclusive 1st tier rights negotiations going on with Fox (and the yet to be formed FS1) which would've taken first tier inventory such as UT, OU, USC,  and other Pac 12 schools completely from ESPN which was the impetus for their lightning quick counter proposal of LHN. Mind you, in 2010 nobody expected both USC and UT to go into a decade long malaise. That was hefty inventory for ESPN to lose and only see them on their airwaves for bowl games and/or nonconference games when these schools visited SEC, ACC, and Big 10 schools.  

Edited by Catdaddyhorn
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Mdhorn

Mdhorn 5978

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 hours ago, Machinator said:

So much for that.

 

Heard this morning from somebody connected pretty close to the President, a recent hire from the University of Miami, that Shaka Smart was tops on their list.  Your asking about money was the first question I asked and was told GWU was willing to open up their wallets because they wanted to up their image but was never told how much.  Didn't think they'd offer $ anywhere close to what Shaka is making now or even at VCU.  Then a few hours later, this!  Guess it's all rumors until somebody inks a contract.  Pretty anticlimactic.  Think Shaka is the perfect coach for the A10 conference.    

Edited by Mdhorn
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SwanderedTalent

SwanderedTalent 5761

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Mdhorn said:

Heard this morning from somebody connected pretty close to the President, a recent hire from the University of Miami, that Shaka Smart was tops on their list.  Your asking about money was the first question I asked and was told GWU was willing to open up their wallets because they wanted to up their image but was never told how much.  Didn't think they'd offer $ anywhere close to what Shaka is making now or even at VCU.  Then a few hours later, this!  Guess it's all rumors until somebody inks a contract.  Pretty anticlimactic.  Think Shaka is the perfect coach for the A10 conference.    

I just feel bad that you almost blew the guy for info that turned out to be bogus

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Barry_McCokiner

Barry_McCokiner 160

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Rumor has it that the Pac 12 commish (for life of me can't remember his name) had some sort of exclusive 1st tier rights negotiations going on with Fox (and the yet to be formed FS1) which would've taken first tier inventory such as UT, OU, USC,  and other Pac 12 schools completely from ESPN which was the impetus for their lightning quick counter proposal of LHN. Mind you, in 2010 nobody expected both USC and UT to go into a decade long malaise. That was hefty inventory for ESPN to lose and only see them on their airwaves for bowl games and/or nonconference games when these schools visited SEC, ACC, and Big 10 schools.  

Larry

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Catdaddyhorn

Catdaddyhorn 3447

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, SwanderedTalent said:

everything is lining up! Manning and Smart each have another pathetically underwhelming season and we repeat all this shit a year from now

Subject was broached last night to CDC. Buyout+buyout+new salary means no go on the firing Shaka front.  

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idigTexas

idigTexas 2289

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Posted
4 minutes ago, SA-KC_Horn said:

How in the fuck was Patterson allowed to offer that contract to Shaka in the first fucking place.

Don't get me wrong, Patterson deserves plenty of blame for many things, including hiring Shaka to begin with, but the real atrocity as far as the current contract goes was committed by Perrin. 

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Bitterwhiteguy

Bitterwhiteguy 153

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, MuellerHorn said:

 

Shaka Smart’s Texas journey so far...
 

When Shaka Smart arrived at Texas in April 2015, he talked a lot about his core values to players, even putting them on T-shirts: “Appreciation, Enthusiasm, Competitiveness, Teamship, Accountability”

Four years later, after missing the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, the search for the core values or culture of Smart’s program continues.

Ultimately, the decisions that have put Smart on the hot seat at Texas came down to who Smart surrounded himself with after being given a seven-year, guaranteed contract worth more than $24 million by then athletic director Steve Patterson. Patterson then extended that contract by one year after Smart’s initial 20-13 season at UT.

When Smart put together his staff at Texas of Darrin Horn, Mike Morrell and David Cason with Jai Lucas as director of operations and a chief of staff named Denny Kuiper, it turned out Smart had put together a volatile mix.

All of them had varying ideas about what it was going to take to be successful at Texas. And there were clashes internally over which players to recruit, and at one point, assistant coaches Horn and Morrell almost came to fists, according to sources.

But final decisions would come down to Smart, and, according to sources close to the situation, Smart didn’t take control.

An attempt to reach Smart for comment by Horns247 was unsuccessful.  Texas basketball spokesman Scott McConnell said Smart was busy preparing his team for a Sunday NIT matchup with Xavier and would prefer to address big-picture questions about the program after the season.

A couple of the first decisions Smart had to make were on the recruiting trail — in 2015, whether to recruit Jordan Murphy out of San Antonio Brennan or Tevin Mack out of Columbia, S.C., and in 2016, whether to recruit Carsen Edwards out of Atascocita or Jacob Young out of Houston. And Cason was recruiting Murphy and Edwards. Morrell, now the head coach at UNC-Asheville, was recruiting Mack and Young.

Shaka sided with Morrell, and Texas signed Mack and Young, while Purdue signed Edwards; and Minnesota signed Murphy — both All-Big Ten selections going into this season.

According to sources, Mack, who just finished his senior year at Alabama, was a toxic presence who was allowed to undermine the start of the Smart era at Texas.

Sources said Mack helped influence teammates, including Kerwin Roach, into poor decisions resulting in at least one suspension for both players (to start the 2016-17 season) for violating team rules.

Mack ended up being suspended indefinitely (and ultimately getting kicked off the team) by Smart after Mack talked back to Smart in front of the entire team during an 11-22 season in 2016-17.

Smart has seemingly had a different person in charge of his offense in each season. The first year, it was Darrin Horn. The second year — when Texas went 11-22 — it was Smart, according to sources.

The third year, it was Smart and director of operations Cody Hatt, sources said. This year, Smart said Jai Lucas was going to be in charge of the offense.

(Smart also apparently blamed Jai Lucas for not keeping a better handle on Kerwin Roach

But, ultimately, the culture of the program and whether Smart was going to run things or his players were going to run things had to come down to Smart.

Smart said he’s tried to involve his players in establishing a culture for the program. But sources said the culture of the program is still missing.

At VCU, Smart hired a guy named Denny Kuiper as a consultant. At Texas, Smart made Kuiper a full-time member of his program. And, according to sources, Smart would meet with Kuiper in the mornings and then have Kuiper tell the assistant coaches (Horn, Cason and Morrell) what the plan was for each day.

Kuiper retired after last season, but sources said the first couple years with Kuiper at Texas made communication within the program completely dysfunctional.

In the spring of 2016, Morrell nearly derailed UT’s recruitment of 5-star big man Jarrett Allen of Austin St. Stephen’s by talking down to a member of Allen’s inner circle connected to Allen’s AAU team out of Houston, sources said.

Smart ended up demoting Morrell and promoting Texas director of operations Jai Lucas to assistant coach after Lucas and his father John Lucas Sr. were able to save the recruitment of Allen, sources said.

Jai Lucas had also gotten some interest from TCU coach Jamie Dixon and OU coach Lon Kruger, prompting Smart’s decision to promote Lucas.

The following year, when Cason was recruiting Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith and Morrell was recruiting Jase Febres and Mo Bamba, Smart decided to fire Cason to make room for Morrell to rejoin the staff as a full-time assistant.

Smith, who was a one-and-done player for Tech on the Red Raiders’ Elite Eight team last season, was on his official visit to Texas in the spring of 2017 when Smith’s family started asking about the whereabouts of Cason?

When Smart told them he had fired Cason, Smith and his family terminated the visit and left Austin, sources said.

Culver is this year’s Big 12 player of the year at Texas Tech.

Cason is now an assistant coach at Florida International University.

There were questions about the recruitment of Bamba emanating from his own brother, Ibrahim Johnson, who accused Bamba of taking impermissible benefits from a man named Greer Love, whom the NCAA ultimately deemed a longtime mentor of Bamba.

There were questions about UT’s recruitment of Brian Bowen, who took two unofficial visits to Texas before signing with Louisville.

Louisville fired Rick Pitino over allegations Bowen’s father was paid $100,000 by Adidas at the urging of a Cardinals coach for Bowen to sign with Louisville.

But, so far, the FBI’s investigation into college basketball has stayed away from Texas’ connections to Bamba and Bowen.

The bottom line is Smart rapidly appears to be losing support.

Only 1,739 fans showed up for UT’s first-round NIT victory over South Dakota State on Tuesday.

Texas will play host to Xavier in a second-round NIT game on Sunday at 3:30 pm CT.

After four years, Smart is 67-66 at Texas, and the biggest reason he could be returning for a fifth season in Austin might be the $14 million buyout it would cost Texas to get out of the four years still remaining on Smart’s guaranteed contract after this season.

(Chip Brown)

Tevin Mack was a junior this year, but that's the sort of basic fact-checking Chip bypasses when he's got an axe to grind. Even money Cason is one of his sources based on the glowing aura Chip just put around a guy who got fired.

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Bitterwhiteguy

Bitterwhiteguy 153

Posted
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17 hours ago, BERT said:

Howland not on our radar? 

I don't believe so. He's mentioned in interviews he sees himself coaching another 5-7 years so he might be viewing Miss St at his final stop. I don't know if his contract was extended there, it was a 4-year deal so it would be near the end now if there was no extension.

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SwanderedTalent

SwanderedTalent 5761

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1 hour ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Subject was broached last night to CDC. Buyout+buyout+new salary means no go on the firing Shaka front.  

I believe that, right now. But in a year, when Texas and Wake Forest both realize they've foolishly held onto a coach for at least a year longer than it took to tell that guy was never going to win, we can load Smart into the catapult and send him to Winston-Salem

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RexWilson

RexWilson 1348

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Posted

Can we try the tactic is using to get rid of their coach? We have a tennis opening.

Drew on Friday had his first sit-down meeting with new athletic director Malcolm Turner, sources told ESPN. In what would be an unusual move, Turner is looking to reassign Drew to another position in the school to avoid paying his buyout, according to sources.

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Machinator

Machinator 32099

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18 minutes ago, RexWilson said:

Can we try the tactic is using to get rid of their coach? We have a tennis opening.

Drew on Friday had his first sit-down meeting with new athletic director Malcolm Turner, sources told ESPN. In what would be an unusual move, Turner is looking to reassign Drew to another position in the school to avoid paying his buyout, according to sources.

It's going to backfire on them.

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Bitterwhiteguy

Bitterwhiteguy 153

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3 hours ago, Bitterwhiteguy said:

Tevin Mack was a junior this year, but that's the sort of basic fact-checking Chip bypasses when he's got an axe to grind. Even money Cason is one of his sources based on the glowing aura Chip just put around a guy who got fired.

Oh and I glossed over some of the wildly inaccurate recruiting nuggets, like that Jase was actually recruited by Jai and Morrell didn't recruit Jacob Young. These aren't trade secrets or anything.

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