pumpfake

While we continue in this holding pattern / limbo / purgatory, after catching up on the 12 or so pages I missed, I suspect "the Janitor" might have flown too close to the sun and has been informed to cool his jets. If this theory is correct, it may be a good thing.. [how's that for a cliche packed, run on sentence?]

If there isn't a team interested in him that should tell Glass something. I've been trying to assemble the logic of it all and it comes down to this: unless almost all of the information & speculation we've been reading/hearing over the last week is false, Glass intends to make a change. If there was meetings with the reps of any other coach, it would mean a change is coming. If Crean was in talks with MO, then he either knows he's out or should be fired to shopping himself around while under contract. Combine those points with the lack of any show of support from our AD, and I think the case is pretty strong. Who and when are the big questions. With upcoming game(s) in the NIT and possibly pursuing coaches in the NBA or with teams that may be playing for a few more weeks, the timing of events is likely complicated and fluid.

Here's my totally pie-in-the-sky, orgasmic dream scenario: Crean goes to Illinois and Donovan to IU. The Ill fans would be suicidal and we'd be delirious!

Interesting. It's funny how we were getting info about Donovan's interest and there being a meeting, but suddenly it was "a no-go" - then a day or two later word was leaking that talks weren't completely broken off. That was followed by others (including Hutch) saying we were looking at BD. It crossed my mind that things might actually be more positive than the insiders were reporting and that they were basically relaying "smokescreen" info. I also wondered about the timing. Donovan might not be able to take the reins until April or later, but he'd probably be able to convince current players to stay rather than transfer. Also, since we don't have a lot of openings, delaying recruiting may not be a large impact.

OT, but maybe the best line I read yesterday was on a PU board, where a poster said "Matt Painter is the Gene Keady of Purdue basketball". LOL. And Geno is their patron saint.

No sir, you are not. When he decided to do events in Indiana for Purdue alumni and attend an honorary service at OSU, and then refused to show up for his '76 team, I figured if he doesn't give a tinker's damn about IU players (and fans) why should I have any interest in what he does?

I don't think there should be any doubt that winning a NCAA title would (and should) guarantee him at least 2 or 3 more seasons. Thankfully, it's quite unlikely and would be the greatest "fluke" champion in quite a long time (if not ever).

No doubt we're in a period of drought as far as national prominence goes. But you only have to look at Kansas to see that it's not unprecedented. None of their NCAA titles were closer together than 20 years (20 and 36 years). They also had a similar period of spotty appearances in the NCAA tournament through the 60's and 70's and weren't by any means perennial threats during that time. Larry Brown brought them back and they've followed with Roy and Self since then and have stayed toward the top ever since (although Williams and Self have only combined for a single national title and it could be argued 1988 was aided by cheating). Of course, there's also UCLA that has never managed to regain sustained prominence after the glory years of John Wooden. My point is that even historically "blue blood" programs have had periods of mediocrity or moderate success (which is where we've been for a while), but with the right coach they were resurrected to their former status. Obviously, most here recognize that something has to change to be the catalyst for our resurgence.

SI should stick to titillation and pulchritude (i.e. swimsuit hotties).

I'm curious about GM's "temperament". I'm aware of his meltdown in Canda, but that's the only issue I'm aware of. Are there other instances or a reputation for such? (I have no idea one way or the other). Also, I thought I read that part of the CKW dismissal involved a problem with the hooch and forcing players to play when they weren't healthy.

After the "dream tier" of Steven & Donovan, I'd put Marshall in with S. Miller & T. Bennett as safest hires. Some of the younger guy may very well end up being superior coaches, but they also have a higher chance to be flops (in a relative sense). As someone else mentioned, I don't know what Marshall's reputation is as far as his personality and that is important, IMO, for recruiting, assembling a staff, and interacting with the PTB. That said, I think CTC has a fairly low reputation among fellow coaches and (apparently) H.S. and AAU coaches, so that wouldn't be a step down.

Good info. It's like the old saying goes: Timing is everything.

Thanks. So it would be rare or even unprecedented to hire a coach away from an NBA team in a normal (March/April) time frame I'd guess.

And therein lies the rub. Potentially two months (or more) from the end of your NCAA season until an NBA playoff bound coach's season is over. Do you wait on a guy for that long without a signed contract or not? That would be a huge gamble, IMHO. What if said coach ends up advancing to the finals - he may then no longer be interested and you're left with your schmeckle in your hand. I don't know that you could expect that coach to sign a binding agreement prior to the end of his season, either. Add the fact that BD did reneg on the Orlando team and you really have a dilemma. I don't remember with Pitino or Cal, but what was the timing when they jumped from the NBA to UK/UL?

Why in the world would we want a coach who was no longer wanted by Iowa? Heck, maybe we should be targeting Bruce Weber for cryin' out loud!

Well, that situation is why I remain resistant to any thought of Dan Fife.

Donovan and Stevens are as close to a "sure thing" for success as possible. Being NBA coaches, with playoff teams, probably makes them harder "gets" as well. The one thing about those two is that they would get near unanimous acceptance and enthusiasm. The next handful have varying degrees of fan preference. Those coaches also come with less of a guarantee of success (but still very likely to be major improvements, IMO). The problem with this period of speculation and rumor is that fans begin to form stronger opinions for and against those candidates. IMO, those names like Miller(s), Bennett, etc. all would give reason for optimism. I believe and hope most will be supportive of the selection. Now if there is no new coach, or one of the lower tier guys is picked all bets are off.

If we are indeed focusing our attention on Sean Miller now, I wonder what impact that would have on Archie if/when Sean turns us down? You'd certainly expect Archie to find out about it. Would he be resentful about being 2nd or 3rd choice? Or, could we be going through Sean to guage his interest or his brother's interest? LOL. It's something to ponder while we wait for something concrete.

We're mostly dealing with speculation, rumors, and opinions - and I think most of us realize that. We'll likely get little to no advance info when a new coach is named. That said, even if there was a meeting between IU and BD's representatives, I really really doubt that it would leak out or details of such a meeting would get past the meeting room door. For word to somehow get out that a currently employed coach was negotiating for another job, it could do irreparable damage to both sides. That's just my take on it. Also, negotiations with a NBA coach of a playoff team are fraught with extreme issues as far as timing goes. Ultimately we'll know when we know. It'll be one of the 4 or 5 names we've all speculated on - or it won't. It's just theater for us at this juncture.

Damnit. Oh well, what could have been. Good news is that if we believe this (no BD) - we WILL be getting a new coach.

If someone knows a source for this rumor other than the one post by IUWINS0708 last night, please share. 0708's post was " Meeting with Billy's agent today I was told late last night after I fell asleep " and no one seems to be questioning if it was a joke or not. God, I do hope it's true, and if so goes well for us, but that post seems more like he was just having a little fun.

That flight took well over 2 hours, I (want to) believe any high-level travel would involve small jets rather than single prop jobs. I just looked and that plane is scheduled to depart Bloomington for DC/Baltimore shortly, so it would seem very unlikely GM was on board.

Probably that there's a lot more traffic in and out of KBMG than many of us ever imagined. LOL.

True. While there could be numerous reasons for it, I may get a little queasy if I see one to/from East Lansing....

Chaos and speculation is probably just what Glass hopes for. Media personalities probably don't know much more than we do - it's 99% speculation at this point. Whatever the case, it is kind of fun to watch things transpire.