Leitao gone with Capel as target?

[diablesseblu]

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/college_basketball/story/4749251/

Golly, those Hoos must have deep pockets.

[camion]

Don't they have a new arena to fill?

[BlueintheFace]

I hope it isn't Capel. I like rooting for him from afar. Plus, he is a good recruiter from what I can tell and might steal some kids from one of our major bases... the DC/Baltimore/ Northern VA area.

I think Anthony Grant might be an interesting choice. If Brad Stevens is ready to leave Butler than he might be another good choice. Lots of options...

[brianl]

Anthony Grant would be an interesting choice. I also wonder if UVA would be willing to take a second look at Jeff Jones, he's done some pretty good things at American. I think his maturity was a big issue for him back in his head coaching days at UVA.

Maybe he's grown up some?

[Indoor66]

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/college_basketball/story/4749251/

Golly, those Hoos must have deep pockets.

One falls from the Calhoun tree.

[roywhite]

I knew everything was not sweetness and light in Charlottesville, but those stories that Leitao virtually stopped talking to Mamadou Diane, a senior on the team, were surprising and disturbing.

No reason why UVa can not have a successful program. They've got facilities, tradition, recruiting area, money, etc.

[gumbomoop]

I'm for Okla [and then Clemson, then Butler, then Az St, then Gonzaga, then...] going to Final 4 from South. So are all of you, unless you got rocks for brains.

I trust Capel will say, soon enough - for this story won't go away - "I don't give a s*** about Virginia." Then more t-shirts.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Anthony Grant would be an interesting choice.
That's the first one that came to my mind. I think they should look hard at him.

[4decadedukie]

It is not a great surprise that Dave Leitao, Virginia's head Basketball Coach, resigned today. In my opinion, he is a fine man and a good coach, who simply could not recruit a sufficient number of ACC-quality players at UVa. I hope he does well in his next coaching position.

[Rogue]

If this needs to be on Off Topic, would someone please move it.

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=177&sid=1625718

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Dave Leitao has resigned as Virginia's men's basketball coach after the team's worst season in decades, according to an athletic department official familiar with the decision.

The person requested anonymity because the official announcement was to be made later Monday.

Virginia finished 10-18 this season, 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It was the Cavaliers' worst record since they went 9-17 in 1967-68.

Leitao won the ACC coach of the year award in 2007, when Virginia shared first place in the conference with North Carolina, but compiled a 63-60 record in his four years.

[bird]

I tended to discount some the anti-Leitao stuff; for every negative rumor I heard a specific good report about Leitao. In the end, I think he was an Ed Davis away from saving his job. Unless Grant has an "out" clause in his contract (I would guess there is one for Florida), recruiting him will have some legal problems, especially given it would be from one state school to another. If Jeff Capel took UVA, it seems to me he would be ruling himself out of the Duke sweepstakes.

[weezie]

The AZ alumni were agitating for Grant but that was a low rumble.
Capel @ UVA? Would he want to go head-to-head with K 2-3 times/year just yet?
Is the thought of Jay Wright stepping up to the ACC plate too preposterous?

[Rudy]

Anthony Grant would be an interesting choice. I also wonder if UVA would be willing to take a second look at Jeff Jones, he's done some pretty good things at American. I think his maturity was a big issue for him back in his head coaching days at UVA.

Maybe he's grown up some?

Maybe, but old memories die hard among boosters. Jones had a divorce when he was a coach there, as reported by John Feinstein in March, 2008 in an article about AU's regaining the tournament last year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/14/AR2008031404207_pf.html

On the surface, Jones was the consistent guard who made big shots and good decisions and helped make U-Va. a perennial top 10 team. Jones wasn't quite the rock Holland thought, however. His parents were going through a divorce that deeply affected him. He would go through the same feelings again during his own divorce while coaching at U-Va. But he rebuilt his life in Northwest Washington, only two hours from his three children still living in Charlottesville, and happily remarried.

And this from Feinstein's book A March to Madness excerpted here:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/f/feinstein-madness.html

But things were hardly sanguine in Jones's life. He spent the first half of the championship game on the phone to a recruit, in part because that's what coaches do but also because he knew his team needed reinforcements. The Cavaliers had pieced together a difficult, though solid, season, winning eighteen games and making it into the NCAA tournament. That was a far cry from the 12-15 of the previous year. What's more, there hadn't been any arrests--as opposed to four in 1996, including one for aggravated assault in which a UVA recruit had slashed someone with a knife after an argument during a pickup basketball game. The other good news was that Jones's personal life, which had been the subject of constant gossip in Charlottesville after he had split from his wife, Lisa, had also become little more than a back-burner item.

Still, Jones couldn't get the memory of the season finale, an embarrassing one-sided loss to Iowa in the first round of the NCAAs, out of his mind. He had yet to figure out why his team had failed to show up for that game after working so hard to get there. Five days earlier, he had made the most difficult decision of his coaching career, firing his top assistant, Tom Perrin.

The coaching change was symbolic of the uncertain waters Virginia basketball was in. Jones had only one year left on his contract, and UVA's athletic director, Terry Holland, who had coached him at UVA and then hired him as an assistant coach, had been hemming and hawing about an extension. Jones knew that going into the final year of a contract without an extension was a recruiting nightmare. Holland knew that too. And yet, Jones was still waiting for a definitive talk about his future.

His divorce would be final in a matter of weeks. He still saw his three children often because he had moved into a townhouse that was only ten minutes from where they lived. As long as he coached at Virginia, it was likely he would get to see his children frequently. He and Lisa were having an amicable divorce. But he didn't know if he would be the coach at Virginia for one more year or thirty more years.


There may be some lingering bad feelings among enough people in Charlottesville that the university would not likely drink from that well again, however nicely everyone healed from the old wounds.

[CBDUKE]

I have also heard Tubby Smith's name mentioned. He is from Virginia (I think), but he was an asistant coach at VCU.

[Mal]

That one doesn't make sense to me, and I'm not just speaking defensively as someone who's enjoying watching Tubby turn around my secondary team and wants to see him stay. He's two years into a rebuilding process, in a conference in which it's a whole lot easier to make strides, he's shored up a decent recruiting base that has really only one major competitor in Wisconsin (not counting occasional poaching from top 10 type programs). He could have Minnesota as a consistent NCAA entrant in the second tier of the Big Ten in a few years given the current trend, and finish out his career (he's no spring chicken anymore) on a pretty high note. Compared to the prospect of taking a bottom feeder in the ACC, where the highest you can dream of rising is No. 3 but to get there you've got to somehow claw past Purnell and Wake and FSU and BC. It's a lot harder to get up off the floor in the ACC than the Big 10, and UVa's got barbarians at the border on all sides when it comes to its natural recruiting base. I don't know why Tubby would be interested in that at this stage in his career. He'd probably be able to get Ralph Sampson III to go with him, though. :)

[geraldsneighbor]

The AZ alumni were agitating for Grant but that was a low rumble.
Capel @ UVA? Would he want to go head-to-head with K 2-3 times/year just yet?
Is the thought of Jay Wright stepping up to the ACC plate too preposterous?

Jay has a great recruiting class coming in and I can't see him walking away from what is a program that is on the rise.

[FireOgilvie]

UVA should try to get Capel in there Sooner than Leitao.

[feldspar]

UVA should try to get Capel in there Sooner than Leitao.

Oh man, that's painful. :D

Well done!

[tendev]

If Capel went to UVa, I suspect that he could not come to Duke after that.

[CameronBornAndBred]

If Capel went to UVa, I suspect that he could not come to Duke after that.
I think it will be telling of Capel's thought on his own future options at Duke depending on what he does with UVA. If he turns them down, he of course won't say it's because he has sights on Duke one day, but it would be hard to dismiss that as a weighing factor from an outsider's standpoint.

[Exiled_Devil]

I can't see why Jeff would want to go to UVA right now, unless they throw him buckets of money. And even then, I think his situation at OK is too good to head over the UVA.

I think UVA may have the same issue that NCState had - not as desirable as they think they are, aiming too high, and then getting a coach that is way down their list. NOt sure about this, but the rumbles I have heard on the radio and intertubes suggest it may be true.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I can't see why Jeff would want to go to UVA right now, unless they throw him buckets of money. And even then, I think his situation at OK is too good to head over the UVA.

I think UVA may have the same issue that NCState had - not as desirable as they think they are, aiming too high, and then getting a coach that is way down their list. NOt sure about this, but the rumbles I have heard on the radio and intertubes suggest it may be true.

I completely agree with you. Capel is in a great spot. I feel that he is on the way up and hasn't quite established himself as a great coach. He needs a few more years at OU (minimum). Also, I feel that Virginia isn't even that great of a program. Yes yes - Ralph Sampson - ladida .... but it's not a top 5 program in the ACC in the last 20 years.

We should, I and feel he will, stay in OU this year. He is a good coach, and hopefully becomes a great coach.

Also, if he wants the Duke program one day, playing in the ACC against Coach K isn't the way to do it. Stay in the Big 12, dominate, and take the ranks in 10 years.

P.S. The Duke program is obviously not Capel's. I want a Brey vs Capel vs Dawkins fight.

[moonpie23]

when you think about someone coming into the ACC as a head coach, you have to consider who would be eager to step on that stage, knowing full well they might be just sweeping that stage up for a couple of years.

who would really salivate at the opportunity to take on K and Roy and Dino, and olvier, and COY and be ready to embrace being in the bright light?

i mentioned this back when state was looking before sidney accepted the job, but i really think Mark Few would be a guy that would seek that level of competition...



jmho

[brevity]

I completely agree with you. Capel is in a great spot. I feel that he is on the way up and hasn't quite established himself as a great coach. He needs a few more years at OU (minimum).

I agree that Capel is in a great spot... now. But what about after the season, when Blake Griffin presumably declares for the draft, and Taylor Griffin and Austin Johnson graduate? It's not quite the same situation as it was with Trent Johnson at Stanford last year, but it's close. One could argue that it's a good time to leave.

Personally, I think he should stay, but I'm biased against coaches who view their current jobs as stepping stones to so-called better jobs. He doesn't have to spend the rest of his career at Oklahoma, but I'd like to think that he wouldn't jump at the first good opportunity.

Also, I'm not sure, at least from a recruiting standpoint, that UVA is the better job.

[FireOgilvie]

Amazingly, Capel is actually recruiting the state of Virginia better than UVA right now. He has 2 players signed from VA in his 2009 class: a 4 star and a 3 star. He also has a 5 star player from Texas, a 4 star from NH, and another 4 star from Oklahoma (all according to Scout).

[-bdbd]

Any indications that either Wojo or Collins plan to move on to head coaching gigs anytime soon? Like Johnny, it seems like they've been there a long time now -- long enough to earn their stripes and a HC opportunity...
Also, anybody think Amaker would like to come back to his roots in northern VA?

I'm not sure why coaching at Wahoo-U would disqualify Capel from Duke job though. But I doubt that he'd be interested. He's got a good thing at OK -- good money, long-term contract, strong fanbase, a good rep, etc. Yeah, 09-10 would be a rebuilding year of sorts, but he's earned some space at this point, especially if the 2-seeded Sooners make the Sweet-16 or better.

UVA is the most prestigious school in the state, or at least is popularly perceived so, and has a decent BB tradition. Great facillities, new stadium (JPJ). The state of Virginia is certainly a recruiting hotbed of sorts, what with northern-VA and DC (many names, but us Dukies can think of Dawkins, Amaker, Beard, Nate James, I think, and 2 stud commits from our 2010 class) (and with sweaty Gary likely to leave MD in the next few years), as well as the talent-rich Norfolk/Tidewater area (think Allen Iverson and our own recruit Dawkins), and the occasional stud out of Richmond (think of a certain high-rated Tarheel Big recruit coming on). It'll be an attractive post for someone established as HC already at a decent school. Keep an eye on Mid-Majors that do well in the tournament this year with solid Head Coaches...

-BD "Saw this coming miles away" BD :rolleyes:

[Cormac]

Dear UVa,

Please stay away from Sean Miller and Capel.


Thanks,
- Cormac


Also, I've heard rumors of Jamie Dixon POSSIBLY looking at the Arizona job (I think he's a West Coast guy from his days as Howland's assistant) and then Sean Miller returning to his alma mater. Doh! My X-Men can't keep losing coaches! I keep hoping one day, someone like Miller will pull a Few and see Xavier as a staying power a la the Zags and not a stepping stone. A boy can dream......

[RelativeWays]

Personally I miss the days when UVA was a solid team and usually a top 25 team, not just the Ralph Sampson days but Bryant Stith and John Crotty as well. I seem to remember Jeff Jones having some good teams and I know one of Pete Gillan's last teams was ranked in the top 10 because they had those two guards. UVA also had a nice rivalry with UNC during those times that is similar to what we have with UMD now (they're not our main rival, but they are a rival nonetheless) though the UNC/UVA rivalry has a bit longer tradition. Tubby could succeed at UVA if thats what he wants, his ceiling at UVA would be much higher than at Minnesota. I'd kind of like to have another big time coach here I think it would help the ACC.

[Lennies]

Jay has a great recruiting class coming in and I can't see him walking away from what is a program that is on the rise.

I seriously doubt that Jay Wright will move. He's repeatedly referred to Villanova as his dream job. There were rumors that he turned down Kentucky and Indiana, so Virginia probably doesn't tempt him.

[bjornolf]

This morning on the radio, they were mentioning Mike Brey's name. Any chance that he'd be interested?

Any chance they go after Bobby Knight?

[RepoMan]

Any chance they go after Bobby Knight?

I'd say the odds of Coach Knight landing in C'Ville are nil. UVA does not invite controversy.

Likewise, no chance of Jeff Jones returning. At the time he left, the gossip surrounding his personal life was intense--and very un-UVA

[OldPhiKap]

when you think about someone coming into the ACC as a head coach, you have to consider who would be eager to step on that stage, knowing full well they might be just sweeping that stage up for a couple of years.

who would really salivate at the opportunity to take on K and Roy and Dino, and olvier, and COY and be ready to embrace being in the bright light?


When K came into the league, he had to go up against well-established coaches (Dean, Lefty, Holland), young phenoms (Valvano), recruiting wizards (Cremins), etc. I don't think there's a coach worth his salt who doesn't think he can compete with the big guys.

I have trouble seeing Capel leaving the great situation he has right now, but if he took the job I do not think that it eliminates the possibility of a Duke job down the road. We will want the best coach available, and if it is someone from in conference so be it. While that is unusual in college basketball and football, it is not without precedent.

[NYC Duke Fan]

I saw his name crop up in one of the reports even though I can't understand why he would ever consider leaving Michigan.

Out of all the ones mentioned, I think that he would be the one that most of the ACC head coaches would least likely to see as the new UVA Coach.

He is a terrific coach and with the right players very difficult to coach against, and added to that an excellent recruiter. I think that he is a better coach than Capel, Grant, Jones, Brey and Miller.

That said, I repeat that I do not seeing him leaving Ann Arbor.

[Reddevil]

Hire Radford's Brad Greenberg!

[rsvman]

UVa had a chance to get Capel and didn't want him. They probably made a pretty big mistake.

I don't think that mistake is easily reversible. Capel has a lucrative contract at OK through 2013. I think changing jobs at this point would be ill advised, at best. Plus, the Hoos would have to give up a LOT of coin to get him.

[dukeman28428]

Capel needs to stay put for a few years and his stock will only get higher. It is too early for him to consider Virginia although it would be nice to have him in the ACC.

Wait Jeff and your time will come. :cool:

[bird]

Tubby seems to be the recurring name among the tangentially informed set.

[JBDuke]

Tubby seems to be the recurring name among the tangentially informed set.

That's what I'm hearing, too. Furthermore, I'm hearing that he'll gladly come if the money is right.

Tubby Smith at UVA would be very, very interesting...

[Mal]

I've certainly seen his name show up a number of times today. Anything can and often does happen in the coaching carousel, I guess, but as I alluded to upthread, it just doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense to me. There's hardly any discussion of it whatsoever out of the Twin Cities so far, other than the Tribune reporting someone close to Smith has said it's extremely unlikely. Perhaps my desire that he stay in Minneapolis is coloring my impressions? JB, where did you get the info. that he'd gladly take it if the $$ is right?

Obviously, you can never know what someone's inner thoughts tell them to do. There are a number of factors that would seem to make Tubby not terribly likely to leave right now, though. For one, he's 58 and two years into what appears to be a pretty successful rebuild, with more improvement anticipated. In a conference in which upward mobility is a lot easier to find than in the ACC. He's got a top 15 incoming class, so there's no reason to think that Minnesota can't move into and hang around the top third/half of the Big Ten for the forseeable future. Wisconsin's on the decline, Indiana's got years to go, Purdue seems to have a ceiling, Iowa, Penn State and NW are all behind MN already. The only other up-and-comer in the conference is probably Michigan. Plus, Michigan State and Ohio state, the likely top of the conference for the forseeable future, isn't nearly as unassailable and Duke/UNC. There's no entry to the top third of the ACC right now, on the other hand. Granted, it's more prestigious to be in the upper tiers of the latter conference than the former, but not that much more.

In addition, if ego plays any part, Tubby's been treated as a deity at Minnesota. Part of this is lack of historical success to rival UVa's, but part of it was also that the program had reached rock bottom. Expectations for turnaround were very low. People were flattered that Tubby would choose to come there, and consequently his public approval ratings, if you will, are sky high. Any rational review of the UVa job would have to tell him that would not be the case there. The fan base regards the program probably higher than is justified, and they're not that far removed from some decent teams and tournament appearances. The new coach there walks into a situation where patience to burn the thing down to the ground and then start over won't be that high.

Minnesota's surprisingly a fairly fertile ground for decent hoops talent, and now that Tubby's stopped the express route to Madison, he's sitting in a pretty good recruiting position. If he can consistently keep the 3 star in-state guys from going to Wisconsin and Iowa, and occasionally either keep the top guys (Aldrich, for instance) from going to the marquee programs, or snare one from out east now and then based on his name, he'll have plenty of talent without having to work that hard. Conversely, it would be a dogfight moving to Virginia, where Duke, UNC and Wake are always snatching the top talent, and Georgetown's been on the rise. Even VCU would fight for players these days.

UVa will have to throw a good amount of cash at Smith, I would think, and hope that his goal for the Minnesota job was simply to reburnish his reputation to jump back into a somewhat more prestigious job. A part of me thinks that's what's driving speculation here, too. Simple media narrative: Minnesota job = banished to Siberia as punishment for crimes at Kentucky, and chance to redeem self. Two years in, coaching credentials reestablished, ergo he must be on the list for every job at a program at any appropriately higher place on the ladder. Enter Charlottesville, where personal geography connection comes into play, too.

[mgtr]

Oklahoma is not exactly Crummy State Technical College. They are in a decent conference, and have had some success. I guess it would take bags of gold to get Capel to move to Virginia, which has not exactly writ its history large. Unless they triple his salary (which they could probably do), I don't see this move happening. If he moves, I could see it being further west, maybe the Pac-10.

[VAGentleman05]

I think the smart money says that Littlepage makes another strong run at Tubby, with Grant perhaps being a more likely proposition. FWIW, though, on Mark Packer's show today, Jason Capel said that he thought his brother would at least listen to the folks from UVA because of his connections to the state and the opportunity to come home to the ACC. In the past, he's indicated that Jeff simply would not listen to a lot of other schools who were interested. At this point, you'd have to label it a pretty big long shot, but the fanbase would be VERY pleased if it came to pass.

[cspan37421]

Climbing the coaching ladder to better positions is to be expected, but a) jumping too fast gives a bad impression, and b) going from OK to UVA is a lateral move at best. All IMHO.

Jeff could have left VCU sooner than he did, and I think he was wise to be patient. If he left OU now, what confidence should UVA have that he would stay to build something special? Might he not just jump at the next opening at UCLA, IU, or KY?

Man, I'm glad Coach K didn't jump ship after the great 1985-86 season - or any of those times the pros came calling.