MBB: Coaching Carousel 2013

[Olympic Fan]

I am a current student at ODU and have been here since '09. The first two years I was here the team went to the NCAA tourney and in '10 lost to Baylor in the second round and then in '11 lost to Butler in the first round (on the most heartbreaking buzzer beater in the history of mankind, I was at the game it was unbelievable , watch it if you don't remember
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9xi0u8ZqmY) anyways, the hire of Jeff Jones has me baffled, with the way the program was trending upward this doesn't seem to make sense. Now I was in no way a fan of Blaine Taylor, he had a system and played the system, it was a very rough and tumble, defensive, low-scoring, rebounding style. He had no offensive coaching abilities (drove me nuts)With the success of the football team, which can be used as a recruiting tool, the constant expansion of the campus, the new basketball practice facility to be built in the near future, this hire doesn't make much sense. I was expecting Wood Selig (the AD) to bring in a name and leave his mark on the program, cause he seems to like that kind of thing. But we shall see and only time will tell, maybe we will be pleasantly surprised.

Excuse me ... I don't mean to critical, but do you really mean that the program was trending upward?

ODU won 27 games in 2010 and ranked No. 34 in Pomeroy
ODU won 27 games in 2011 and ranked No. 48 in Pomeroy
ODU won 22 games in 2012 and ranked No. 99 in Pomeroy
ODU won 5 games in 2013 and ranked No. 263 in Pomeroy

Now, that doesn't look like the program was trending upward to me. I don't know about the Jeff Jones hire, but the Blaine Taylor firing looks perfectly understandable to me as an outsider.

I can't speak to Jones' performance at American -- I don't know the circumstances there -- but he did an outstanding job at Virginia from 1991-98. He's clearly the second best coach in Virginia history (behind Terry Holland). In his eight seasons, he played in the NCAA five times. He won an NIT title in 1991 and twice reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA -- once the Elite Eight.

He was fired at UVa not for performance, but because of off the court issues (he was reportedly having a relative indiscrete affair with a young grad student).

Not saying he's a Hall of Fame coach, but he was 6-5 in NCAA play in Eight years -- the three guys who have replaced him are a combined 1-3 in NCAA play in the 15 seasons since he left.

[sbroc012]

Excuse me ... I don't mean to critical, but do you really mean that the program was trending upward?
.

From what the program was when Blaine started, yes its upward. As a mid major those Pomeroy numbers the last three years (not this past year) are very closely related and are good compared to most mid-majors. And if you did a little research on your own you would find that Blaine Taylor was not fired because of his team's performance on the court this year, there were some big personal issues that caused that. So yes, the program as a whole has gone up, most programs in mid majors just flounder around and have up and down years. ODU has been consistently good. Sometimes you get so stuck on the current numbers, look at the big picture! The arena was being sold out and students were talking about basketball, the program as a whole was trending upwards, sometimes numbers don't do things justice

[Merlindevildog91]

Blaine Taylor's bad 2013 was due to off the court issues. ODU had been playing a progressively tougher schedule, IMHO, which is why they looked so abysmal, record-wise, this year. Well, that and (Google his performance on a local radio show) Coach Taylor's problems.

I was hoping for someone young and hungry. The ODU grads in my neck of the woods (central Virginia) are none too happy.

[sbroc012]

I was hoping for someone young and hungry. The ODU grads in my neck of the woods (central Virginia) are none too happy.

I am a current student and am not too happy. I feel like this is going to be a step backwards. At this point we just have to wait and see!

[Acymetric]

ACC - Big 10 challenge probably won't still be happening by the time Louisville joins...A lot of people in the ACC don't want to renew it (including Coach K).

I'll be curious to see if the Big 10 challenge actually gets canceled, but if it does I would be perfectly happy to replace it with the new Big East as a replacement.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I'll be curious to see if the Big 10 challenge actually gets canceled, but if it does I would be perfectly happy to replace it with the new Big East as a replacement.

If we cancel it, then the new Big East would also be the primary targeted partner for the Big 10; both of us will want to continue the challenge in some form with another conference. I don't mind continuing the challenge, it's good competition. Just as long as we don't play Maryland.

[sporthenry]

If we cancel it, then the new Big East would also be the primary targeted partner for the Big 10; both of us will want to continue the challenge in some form with another conference. I don't mind continuing the challenge, it's good competition. Just as long as we don't play Maryland.

And to look at it from the Big East perspective, they might want to freeze us out just like we would to the Big 10 for poaching teams. Granted the new Big East will look quite a bit different so they might not care as much but who knows. At that point, we'd have the other Big East or the SEC.

[Mal]

And to look at it from the Big East perspective, they might want to freeze us out just like we would to the Big 10 for poaching teams. Granted the new Big East will look quite a bit different so they might not care as much but who knows. At that point, we'd have the other Big East or the SEC.

And not just for spite. From a pure competition perspective, while the Big East will be a fine basketball conference, do we think they'd have a chance at the revamped ACC lineup in a matchup? I think if I'm them I don't schedule the ACC because of specifically which teams we poached. The best 3 of the Catholic 7 schools at the heart of the new Big East (Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova) are basically balanced out by our additions from the old Big East (Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt). Plus we add Notre Dame to offset their new midmajor additions. Those new teams will add some depth, but there's no one in their lineup to account for Duke and Carolina. Although of course we'll have 5 more teams than the Big East, there's no getting around the fact that we'll have 4 of the 10 or so most blueblooded programs in the country, year in and year out.

I thought I'd look at recent strength rankings to see what a possible ACC/Big East challenge could look like in 2014:

ACC (approximations without much thought):

Duke, Louisville, Carolina, Syracuse, Pitt, Miami, NC State, Notre Dame, FSU, Virginia, Clemson, Tech, BC, VT, Wake

Big East:

Georgetown, Marquette, Butler, Villanova, Xavier, Creighton, St. John's, Seton Hall, Providence, Depaul

Toss out 5 of the ACC sprinkled fairly evenly and you have Duke, Carolina, Syracuse, Miami, NCSt., FSU, UVa, Tech, BC, Wake. The bottom of our conference looks weak on its own, but then the Big East's last 4 is unquestionably worse. If you were looking at this year alone, the ACC would be favored in probably 8 of those matchups. The middle of the order, with the new teams, will be pretty strong for the Big East. But they can't match up at the top, and they can't match up at the bottom.

[Reilly]

Here's a good recap of all the moves:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...ege-basketball

In addition, I believe the JMU job could be technically considered open ... Matt Brady was in the last year of an expiring contract, and was expected to be fired coming into the season, but made the NCAAs ... no announcement made on a new contract yet that I know of.

[Reilly]

... In addition, I believe the JMU job could be technically considered open ... Matt Brady was in the last year of an expiring contract, and was expected to be fired coming into the season, but made the NCAAs ... no announcement made on a new contract yet that I know of.

JMU's coach's contract expires 4/24 ... negotiating ... per:

http://www.breezejmu.org/sports/arti...tml?TNNoMobile

[Reilly]

Loyola (MD) hiring GG Smith ...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/c...,7967083.story

[KenTankerous]

distracting. impertinent. but entertaining, y'all know, my usual contribution:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2xQC...&feature=share

[Here is a Turtle]

If we cancel it, then the new Big East would also be the primary targeted partner for the Big 10; both of us will want to continue the challenge in some form with another conference. I don't mind continuing the challenge, it's good competition. Just as long as we don't play Maryland.

I doubt the Big East (or AAC) would go for it for the same reasons the ACC would cancel the B1G. The ACC poached what, 5 or 6 teams. I can't see Georgetown being happy they lost their biggest rival to this mess. Seriously, can the ACC really be that mad when the proactive poaching of teams was a large reason the Big East fell apart?

As for playing Maryland, I could see ESPN putting the teams together just because they know it would get good ratings or in the very least push hard for it to happen.

[brevity]

Lakers assistant Eddie Jordan agrees to coach Rutgers.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mens-col...sketball-coach

If Rutgers wasn't going to get clean-by-association by getting the vaunted Hurley name, then this was the way to go. This hire does two good things: getting a former NBA head coach (even with a losing record) makes Rutgers look like a major program (even though it isn't). Also, and perhaps more important, he is untainted by college-level scandal. The Rutgers situation was an impossible exercise in risk management, where minimizing legal liabilities came at the expense of one's own job. They needed to get as far away from that experience as possible.

[Billy Dat]

How about Quin Snyder getting looks from NBA teams for HC vacancies?

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
Charlotte isn't rushing to make a decision on coach Mike Dunlap's future. Letting exit interviews and coaching market unfold for now.

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
Among GM's, here are strongest names in assistant pool: Kelvin Sampson (Hou), Mike Malone (GS), Steve Clifford (LAL), Quin Snyder (Russia).

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
For those recalling Snyder simply at Mizzou, his time w/ Spurs D-League, Lakers and w/ Ettore Messina in Moscow have re-shaped him as coach.