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Fire Shaka Smart


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4 hours ago, TexArcher said:

They'd lost 6 of 10 coming into the tournament.

The Bruins are not a very good team.

Apparently they're about 21 points better than we are, though.

And yeah, I know the transitive property doesn't work that exactly in sports.  And I don't care.  The Bruins are a completely mediocre team and they just embarrassed the team that embarrassed us.

 

Every team UCLA lost to during that stretch -- save Washington State -- is still alive in the tourney. Guess the Pac-12 was pretty salty this year.

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Re: Jimmy Sexton and Shaka betting on himself.....whoa, JS is the agent? Adds another layer to this. CDC has his hands full.  JS is gonna call the shots, and imo he will not let Shaka bet on himself.  Too much ego, reputation, whatever u want to call it.

 

so this is now very simple...CDC says no extension, JS says walk, so Shaka walks.  

How quickly can this get done?  I guess we have to wait until the carousel opens a job JS can negotiate.  A five year deal is out there for the “great dude” who can’t coach.  I don’t think Cdc has to do anything other than say the magic words, “no extension under any circumstances at this time.”   JS will take it from there.  

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14 hours ago, perfectchaos007 said:

ACU getting blown out by an 11 seed makes it really tough for Shaka to argue he lost to a great team

not disagreeing here but UCLA was the #24 KenPom team in the country (#12 offense) - ranked ahead of Texas, WVU, Purdue, Kansas, Ok St, Tenn (all of those schools were top 5 seeds in their region) - one of the worse underseeded teams in the Tourney behind Loyola (seeded 8th, ranked 9th overall in KenPom) or Wisc (seeded 9, ranked 14)

Texas was #28

ACU was #85 with the #25 defense

ACU was a nightmare matchup, but that doesn't make it any better of a loss. Just a horribly coached game by any measure.

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3 minutes ago, CurlyDumps said:

Paywalled. You or anyone else got this?

A coaching carousel that started earlier than usual with preseason openings at Wichita State and Penn State and midseason firings at Boston College and Fordham hasn't slowed down since the season ended. In fact, the notion that a pandemic-impacted season would provide a lifeline to coaches on the hot seat has been thoroughly debunked.

Seven notable jobs have already been filled: Wichita State promoted interim head coach Isaac Brown; Penn State hired Purdue assistant Micah Shrewsberry; Boston College landed Charleston's Earl Grant; New Mexico picked up recently fired Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino; Iowa State snagged UNLV's T.J. Otzelberger; the Runnin' Rebels quickly promoted assistant coach Kevin Kruger to take Otzelberger's spot.

The latest job to fill was Minnesota hiring Xavier assistant coach Ben Johnson. There were a number of head coaches linked to the job, but the Golden Gophers wanted someone well-connected in the state. What it means, though, is the likes of Dennis Gates, Craig Smith and other top mid-major candidates are still available.

But there are still four power-conference jobs open ... and perhaps more to come. Here are the biggest questions right now on the coaching carousel:

 

1. What is Indiana going to do?

After days of speculation, Brad Stevens on Friday finally put an end to the rumors he was considering leaving the Boston Celtics to take over at Indiana. Regardless of whether he ever entertained the idea, that ship has sailed, so where does Indiana turn next?

The Hoosiers had been linked with former Michigan coach John Beilein, Texas Tech's Chris Beard, Baylor's Scott Drew and Arkansas' Eric Musselman in the early days of the search. But the strongest buzz coming out of the weekend centered around New York Knicks assistant coach and Indiana alum Mike Woodson and former Ohio State coach Thad Matta. Some are skeptical Matta would take the job, but it could also be the opportunity that lures him back into coaching. Woodson interviewed over the weekend, sources told ESPN. What about Porter Moser? The Loyola Chicago head coach just battered a Big Ten rival in Indiana's backyard and has a Final Four on his résumé. Beilein also remains involved, but there's a line of thinking that it would be done by now if he was the pick.

There's some chatter that Indiana has seen what Juwan Howard has done at Michigan and been impressed, which could increase the chances for Woodson or fellow Hoosier alums Keith Smart and Calbert Cheaney.

2. Where's Porter Moser coaching next season?

As we mentioned above, Moser beating Illinois in the second round on Sunday has increased his stock even more. He entered the postseason as arguably the hottest name on the coaching carousel, given his Final Four run in 2018 and Missouri Valley titles in three of the past four seasons. I think he holds the key to the carousel moving forward. If Indiana shows interest, Moser could theoretically take any job he wants. He's among the early favorites at Marquette -- it's likely there's mutual interest -- and he has also been connected to the DePaul job for a year. Moser could also wait and see if any other jobs open.

Moser is a bit of a different candidate. He already makes more than $1 million per year at Loyola Chicago, he grew up just outside Chicago and he already turned down a hefty pay bump when St. John's was interested a couple years ago. Preferences that might be obvious for other candidates don't necessarily apply to him.

I don't know if the carousel is going to stop spinning and wait for Moser to be finished with the NCAA tournament and then make a decision, but I'm not sure any of the big jobs move on until they know for sure Moser isn't interested. Indiana turning to Moser would be awfully interesting.

3. Is Shaka Smart staying at Texas?

This question might have seemed absurd a week ago, after Texas beat Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament championship game. But the Longhorns then lost to 14-seed Abilene Christian in the first round of the NCAA tournament and suddenly Smart is once again feeling the heat. Smart just finished up his sixth season in Austin, where he has gone to three NCAA tournaments but has yet to win a tournament game since taking over the Longhorns.

The pandemic -- and a strong finish to the season -- likely saved Smart's job last spring, but he now has only two years left on his contract and his $7 million buyout is a little more palatable than the eight figures it was a year ago. That said, he just won the Big 12 tournament and earned a 3-seed on Selection Sunday; it seems reactionary to fire him.

Could Smart look to leave on his own before things get too hot? Marquette would make plenty of sense for the Wisconsin native -- he turned down the job back in 2014 when the Golden Eagles were looking to replace Buzz Williams. The school would have to reconcile his lack of an NCAA tournament win at Texas, given that the same failing was cited by an extremely vocal fan base as a primary frustration with ousted Steve Wojciechowski. DePaul could perhaps be an option for Smart if he decided to make a move, too.

4. What's the deal at Arizona?

The situation in Tucson remains in something of a holding pattern. Sean Miller still has only one year left on his contract, and there has been no movement on a contract extension, sources told ESPN. In fact, there has seemingly been no change since the season ended. But neither side really wants to enter next season with a lame-duck coach. On Arizona's side, it would seriously hinder recruiting and make it far less attractive for any potential replacement. And from Miller's perspective, a year of constant questions and drama with no reward at the end of the season is probably not worth it. But the money left on his contract lends itself to something of a standoff.

Arizona has stood by Miller throughout the FBI and NCAA investigations, and the school publicly releasing its Notice of Allegations from the NCAA didn't offer many new revelations. So if the boosters want Miller to stay and the Board of Regents is unlikely to approve an extension, where does that leave the situation? For everyone's sake, I hope we have answers soon.

5. What's the latest on the other big vacancies?

We addressed Indiana above, so we'll start with Marquette. The two names linked right away to the vacancy were Moser and Beilein, and I'd imagine those two will be heavily involved. Former Marquette coach and current Georgia boss Tom Crean is interested but unlikely to have a real shot at the job. As mentioned, Smart could have some interest if he's looking to leave Texas. Other names linked in the past have included Bradley's Brian Wardle, while Cleveland State's Gates could be involved.

DePaul's job has been open for a couple weeks, and it could have a decision soon. Sources told ESPN the university had more than 10 names on its interview list, including Detroit's Mike Davis, New York Knicks assistant Kenny Payne and Pacific's Damon Stoudamire. Payne and Moser have been the two names linked to this job for almost a year. Gates, given his Chicago ties, is involved and is perceived by some industry sources to be the favorite. This could also be a job for Power 5 coaches looking to entertain other opportunities, including Arizona State's Bobby Hurley or South Carolina's Frank Martin.

Of the open Power 5 jobs, I think Utah could be the next to close. Utah Jazz assistant and Utah alum Alex Jensen has been considered the favorite since the job opened, and it could be his job to lose. If it's not Jensen, two other names connected to the job have been Utah State's Smith and New York Knicks assistant Johnnie Bryant, another Utah alum.

Three other intriguing jobs to watch include Fordham, George Mason and Charleston. Fordham has sifted through more than a dozen names, but the Rams might be nearing a conclusion. The hot names right now include Villanova assistant Kyle Neptune, Siena's Carmen Maciariello, Bryant's Jared Grasso and Yale's James Jones. George Mason has a number of candidates on its list, including Tennessee assistant Kim English, Virginia assistant Jason Williford, Miami assistant Chris Caputo and Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey, while Charleston is focusing on sitting head coaches for now. Interviews are expected to start this week for the Cougars.

6. Will anything else open?

There's still some noise around a trio of notable jobs aside from Texas and Arizona. Frank Martin took South Carolina to the Final Four just five seasons ago, but he has been linked to a few vacancies and it wouldn't be shocking to see the two sides agree to part ways. Martin is owed around $6 million if the Gamecocks decide to make a change.

Cincinnati has seen six players hit the transfer portal in recent days, leaving the Bearcats with just four scholarship players remaining for next season -- assuming seniors Keith Williams and Chris Vogt don't return. They also have zero players signed in the 2021 class, although forward Bryson Spell recently committed to the Bearcats, stemming the tide. But it's only Year 2 for John Brannen, and the school would reportedly owe him more than $5 million to fire him.

South Florida has also seen itself in the news for negative reasons. The Bulls saw a number of players enter the transfer portal, and the school also announced it had placed an assistant coach on administrative leave pending a review -- though it has not confirmed what it is reviewing. Head coach Brian Gregory has struggled mightily the past two seasons and has only two years left on his deal.

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Shaka could get Marquette into the tournament regularly.  They have been a 5, 3, 7, 8, 6, 6, 6, 11, 3, 3, 10, 5 since 2002.  Woj only made it 2 out of 7 years - Shaka is 3/6 with an NIT championship (And likely 4/6 if 2020 wasn't cancelled)  

The Big East is a multi-bid conference and he'd be competitive, especially if he can get some of the Detroit/Chicago talent after the Blue Bloods have their pick of the litter.  

He doesn't have off the court scandals, he's a fine human representative for your school and he grew up in Madison.

Come on Marquette - YOU WANT HIM!  

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There's absolutely no way he can come back. The program is literally teetering on the brink of even being relevant to died in the wool Longhorn basketball fans. Bringing him back for yet another campaign could lose the program forever. 

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Just now, Valmy77 said:

Shaka has two years left on his contract?

Ok then. Please just don't extend him.

If you keep him (for whatever reason - he can't find a new job or CDC can't find the $7m to make him go away) and you don't even give him a bullshit "extension" with non-guaranteed years and a reduced buyout, you're fucking yourself long-term because recruiting will absolutely stall.  No one is going to commit to a lame duck coach or even give us a look.  

Gah, the 2022 class would be ASS, my dude, and no transfers would give Texas a serious look for 2021-22.  It's going to be Shaka taking 4 year players who are G5-level talent and saddling the new coach with garbage after he's gone either in 2022 or 2023. 

Different sports (because of one and done), but that Texas let Karen Aston go into her final 2 years of her contract with no agreement in place killed recruiting.  Her final 2 classes in a pretty obvious lame duck coaching situation - 1 top 40 player in 2019 and 2 players ranked 86 and 97 for 2020.   

We need to cut the cord NOW, while a new coach can still salvage relationships with the 2021 guys we signed AND hit the portal hard. 

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1 minute ago, Valmy77 said:

Shaka has two years left on his contract?

Ok then. Please just don't extend him.

How many years did Tom have? Was it two or three?

If so, this shouldn't be an issue.  

Some day one of these AD's is going to figure out  longer term positive results should be the standard before a contract extension.  Not just a Sugar Bowl win in football or some signature wins in basketball.  Neither Tom nor Shaka deserved theirs when they got them.

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25 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Shaka has two years left on his contract?

Ok then. Please just don't extend him.

Have you seen the roster coming back for next season?

It's not good at all, and I've yet to see Shaka dip into the transfer portal to fill holes.

He needs at a minimum a PG, a wing, and a center from the portal.

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13 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Listening to the Dan Patrick show this morning.  He had Dan Dokic on.  Dokic asked him if he'd ever seen a bigger physical mismatch than Texas vs ACU.  Patrick said "maybe, but I can't remember that far back."

Princeton vs. Georgetown 1989. That team had 5 NBA players including Mourning and Motumbo.

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7 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Have you seen the roster coming back for next season?

It's not good at all, and I've yet to see Shaka dip into the transfer portal to fill holes.

He needs at a minimum a PG, a wing, and a center from the portal.

Seriously, how were we not going hard for Caleb Mills?  Did Shaka not realize he needs a PG and Ramey. Ain't. it. 

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On 3/22/2021 at 10:37 AM, Machinator said:

I'm not defending Shaka, or doubting his ability to lose to anyone, but we were a 3 seed for a reason. Anything can happen in the tournament.

It can and does, but that was a beyond abysmal loss to a clown program.

But Smart is getting canned because he hasn't won a single Tournament game in 6 years.  And in a sport where your success is measured from mid March on you can't put a complete o-pher out there and expect to be retained.  The ACU loss was just the nail in the coffin.  

Texas deserves better.  It's barely getting mediocrity with Smart. 

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13 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

It can and does, but that was a beyond abysmal loss to a clown program.

But Smart is getting canned because he hasn't won a single Tournament game in 6 years.  And in a sport where your success is measured from mid March on you can't put a complete o-pher out there and expect to be retained.  The ACU loss was just the nail in the coffin.  

Texas deserves better.  It's barely getting mediocrity with Smart. 

exactly. Smart is the definition that March is what matters.  he got the job(and millions of dollars) because of one magical run and he should lose it(he won't this year) because he has since been a complete failure.

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53 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Have you seen the roster coming back for next season?

It's not good at all, and I've yet to see Shaka dip into the transfer portal to fill holes.

He needs at a minimum a PG, a wing, and a center from the portal.

Well then we should be in good position to fire him after next season. Just don't extend him.

Or just fire him now but that is probably not happening.

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26 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

exactly. Smart is the definition that March is what matters.  he got the job(and millions of dollars) because of one magical run and he should lose it(he won't this year) because he has since been a complete failure.

But he sucks in March and in the regular season?

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9 hours ago, orangecat92 said:

Re: Jimmy Sexton and Shaka betting on himself.....whoa, JS is the agent? Adds another layer to this. CDC has his hands full.  JS is gonna call the shots, and imo he will not let Shaka bet on himself.  Too much ego, reputation, whatever u want to call it.

 

so this is now very simple...CDC says no extension, JS says walk, so Shaka walks.  

How quickly can this get done?  I guess we have to wait until the carousel opens a job JS can negotiate.  A five year deal is out there for the “great dude” who can’t coach.  I don’t think Cdc has to do anything other than say the magic words, “no extension under any circumstances at this time.”   JS will take it from there.  

No, it's a lot simpler than that. CDC calls Sexton and tells him Shaka is fired.

We don't care if he gets another job or not. We are paying him $7M to GTFO.

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Just now, BornOrange said:

No, it's a lot simpler than that. CDC calls Sexton and tells him Shaka is fired.

We don't care if he gets another job or not. We are paying him $7M to GTFO.

We care if we can save a lot of money if Shaka finds a landing spot without us having to fire him without cause.

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2 minutes ago, Machinator said:

We care if we can save a lot of money if Shaka finds a landing spot without us having to fire him without cause.

Losing to Abilene Christian is cause enough to fire him.

I don't want to be the last one standing in a coaching musical chairs game because we were trying to be cute in saving some money.

Any school dumb enough to hire Shaka is going to hire him cheap because they know we are stuck with those two years at $7M. See Charlie Strong at USF.

 

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1 minute ago, BornOrange said:

Losing to Abilene Christian is cause enough to fire him.

I don't want to be the last one standing in a coaching musical chairs game because we were trying to be cute in saving some money.

Any school dumb enough to hire Shaka is going to hire him cheap because they know we are stuck with those two years at $7M. See Charlie Strong at USF.

 

Obviously you want to get your guy but there's nothing stopping us from contacting coaches right now (besides the whole tourney going on) even with Shaka in place. You don't have to pull an Indiana where they just fire Archie Miller, publicly humiliate themselves striking out on their 1st option, and are left with seemingly bad options. This requires discretion though, which Texas has never been the best at.

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4 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

does it really need to be rehashed?

I guess - since I'm not sure what you're talking about. I thought Nash was terrible to begin the season but he's demonstrated that he's a quick learner and has Brooklyn playing better than anyone in the NBA right now. Without KD. 

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20 minutes ago, Teryor said:

Obviously you want to get your guy but there's nothing stopping us from contacting coaches right now (besides the whole tourney going on) even with Shaka in place. You don't have to pull an Indiana where they just fire Archie Miller, publicly humiliate themselves striking out on their 1st option, and are left with seemingly bad options. This requires discretion though, which Texas has never been the best at.

Oh CDC is likely doing back channels. His MO outside of football so far (bc Urban) is to line his ducks up and the execute. 

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18 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Oh CDC is likely doing back channels. His MO outside of football so far (bc Urban) is to line his ducks up and the execute. 

In the Pod I talk about how that is not appropriate for this particular case. 

This is a firing for cause, but not in the legal contractual sense. It should be visible as disciplinary action to fans and spectators. This isn't a change in direction this is a way to set expectations for anyone who wants to coach here. 

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Got it.  So you, a guy who makes a message board, thinks CDC should fire Shaka and then do a very public, likely extremely embarrassing search where we get turned down by many coaches and then we have to settle on what appears to be a 5th choice?  Can we not repeat our last abortion of a coaching search for baseball? 

Line up your ducks, fire Shaka, announce your new coach a couple days later.

This is exactly what CDC did with Aston - she was dismissed and Vic was announced like 2 days later.  No embarrassment, no one publicly turning us down or using us for raises.  No one has any idea who we even interviewed. 

If CDC wants to go your route so we get dunked on, by all means.  I prefer a smooth process where Tech fans don't dunk on us for getting turned down by Beard. 

Edited by Js1
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When should I start getting worried that we haven’t heard a peep that Shaka is getting fired? Like are we waiting till after the NCAA title game? I would have fired him at the arena but what’s the realistic Texas political correctness bullshit timeline we will get IF we even do it. 

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5 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

When should I start getting worried that we haven’t heard a peep that Shaka is getting fired? Like are we waiting till after the NCAA title game? I would have fired him at the arena but what’s the realistic Texas political correctness bullshit timeline we will get IF we even do it. 

The key is will Shaka put himself out there for another job.  And yes, this is him and his agent finding him another place of employment, not surly fan fiction that UT is trying to find him a place to go. As some of those jobs people think Shaka would be a prime candidate for (Marquette, DePaul) start to fill, then you know we will see him roaming the sidelines in 21-22. 

I honestly don’t know that he would move back to a smaller school like GMU, but I’m reading right now on ESPN they just hired someone. When I look at what jobs are left, I don’t see much that screams Shaka would be a great fit there.  

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17 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Got it.  So you, a guy who makes a message board, thinks CDC should fire Shaka and then do a very public, likely extremely embarrassing search where we get turned down by many coaches and then we have to settle on what appears to be a 5th choice?  Can we not repeat our last abortion of a coaching search for baseball? 

Line up your ducks, fire Shaka, announce your new coach a couple days later.

This is exactly what CDC did with Aston - she was dismissed and Vic was announced like 2 days later.  No embarrassment, no one publicly turning us down or using us for raises.  No one has any idea who we even interviewed. 

If CDC wants to go your route so we get dunked on, by all means.  I prefer a smooth process where Tech fans don't dunk on us for getting turned down by Beard. 

What? This isn't football dude. There is no "embarrassing search" this isn't fire shaka because he didn't win championships. This is Fire some fucking fraud who makes players worse, makes terrible decisions, lives in an alternate reality and loses to an ACU team that shoots less than 30% from the field on 68 shots for a grand total of 53 points.

This is not acceptable for any coach that plays in a major conference.

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24 minutes ago, immamac said:

What? This isn't football dude. There is no "embarrassing search" this isn't fire shaka because he didn't win championships. This is Fire some fucking fraud who makes players worse, makes terrible decisions, lives in an alternate reality and loses to an ACU team that shoots less than 30% from the field on 68 shots for a grand total of 53 points.

This is not acceptable for any coach that plays in a major conference.

And firing him is the acceptable answer.  I haven't said otherwise.

The type of public search is the problem - we have multiple examples at Texas (baseball and football) of firing an underperformer and then getting embarrassed in the search when we get publicly turned down and dunked on.

Just let CDC do his fucking job his way. 

Do you remember the shit show of Mack's "resignation?"  We got turned down by a lot of people.  Publicly.  It was actually quite embarrassing and we had to settle on Strong and pretend he was our first choice. 

Briles.  Fisher. Franklin. Mora. 

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