calltheobvious
03-28-2011, 04:09 PM
With Shaka Smart obviously being the new coaching darling, I put my AD hat on and am now trying to get a handle on how much Smart is driving the Rams' success, and how much randomness factors in. Obviously there are only better versus worse guesses there, but an objective question did occur to me, which was to try to think of coaches who, in the last twenty years, left a low- or mid-major program the year after a great, if not highly surprising tournament run. I'll post what I came up with off the top, which I know will be far from complete.
1999--Dan Monson from Gonzaga to Minnesota
2000--Bill Self from Tulsa to Illinois
2001--Buzz Peterson from Tulsa to Tennessee (won NIT)
2002--Stan Heath from Kent State to Arkansas
2004--Thad Matta from Xavier to Ohio State
2005--Bruce Pearl from UW-Milwaukee to Tennessee
2007--Todd Lickliter from Butler to Iowa
2008--Darrin Horn from W. Kentucky to South Carolina
2010--Mike Rice from Robert Morris to Rutgers (would have beaten 'Nova in the first round
if there were any justice in the world, and who knows, maybe St. Mary's in the second)
1999--Dan Monson from Gonzaga to Minnesota
2000--Bill Self from Tulsa to Illinois
2001--Buzz Peterson from Tulsa to Tennessee (won NIT)
2002--Stan Heath from Kent State to Arkansas
2004--Thad Matta from Xavier to Ohio State
2005--Bruce Pearl from UW-Milwaukee to Tennessee
2007--Todd Lickliter from Butler to Iowa
2008--Darrin Horn from W. Kentucky to South Carolina
2010--Mike Rice from Robert Morris to Rutgers (would have beaten 'Nova in the first round
if there were any justice in the world, and who knows, maybe St. Mary's in the second)