FrenchConnection

The more I think about it, I think that your probably right. My initial thought was that Stevens got cold feet because Ainge told him that if he does that, no NBA team will hire him and if he fails he’ll have to go back to mid-major coaching. And given our recent past, the chance of failure is pretty high.

Not surprising. Thibs mentioned that Woody had to be released from his Knicks contract. He commended Dolan for doing so. Apparently, NBA coaching contracts are binding on the part of the coach. He probably has a lot of stuff in there about leaving for a college job, as BOS had to fear that upon signing him.

He also needs to win over any and all boosters willing to pay his buyout.

I always thought those Larry Brown stories came from Larry Brown. He was part of Woody’s pitch last time and he’s trying to force his way in now.

Yeah, but Norte Dame has 12,000 students and a wealthy booster base. But I guess the comparison works because football is so much more expensive than basketball. Gonzaga, like Xavier, doesn’t even play football.

I know. Gonzaga, a Catholic school in eastern WA with 7,400 students, is the premiere program in CBB. The very concept of “blue blood” is dead.

The zags. I could only take the Hoosiers if we upgrade their athletic ability, nutrition and athletic training. Or maybe if we used refs from ‘76. Or maybe if we removed the 3 point line.

It’s crazy that Few has been able to build that at a tiny Catholic school in Spokane. Gonzaga has less than 7,500 students. I really commend Few for staying the course. BS could have done something similar at Butler if he had stayed, but his ambition got in the way of that. And he’s just getting started. When Suggs becomes an NBA star, his recruiting will be off the charts. Few has the best job in CBB; winning with no boosters breathing down his neck.

I would have been arguing that myself, if the team had just lost games. COVID made me think that this was a weird year and the team seemed to be moving in the right direction last year. But that team quit on Archie down the stretch this year. That’s all on a coach and it’s something from which you can’t recover. He had to go.

If you were a player planning on playing next year, you’d be stupid not to put your name in the portal just to see what’s out there.

I don't see how this is surprising. It was just a B1G job to Archie. He would have been just as happy to take the Illinois or Maryland job. I was simply a step up in status and pay. The same was probably true for Crean, Sampson and Davis. That being said, most guys coaching are just doing a job and have no particular love for the institution. That works most places but it doesn't work here because of the massive shadow that RMK casts over this program. It also won't work at Duke once Coach K retires or at Carolina after Roy Williams. That's why, if I were a college coach with no ties to IU, I would want no part of this job.

If they let Miller go due to the FBI investigation, then I would think that Pasternack has no shot at that job. https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/basketball/pascoe/calls-between-ex-wildcats-assistant-joe-pasternacks-cell-phone-and-agent-cited-in-fbi-probe/article_8cc25a98-a47b-11e7-9f56-a7f5565d084d.html

He's the Tom Emanski of basketball.

I would have to think so. Cutting a kid loose when he can just go to another school is a lot less traumatic than cutting a second-round pick, thereby crushing someone's NBA dreams.

That plaid chair behind them looks like one of Bob Knight's jackets from the 70's.

I always thought that was a bull.

And there is no way that Woodson is going to give a rah rah pregame speech with horse racing gates. At least we hired a grown @$$ man.

Winning is the most important factor for us. Getting guys drafted and paid is what matters to top recruits. Every year Duke and UK posts a list of current NBA players who passed through the program. That is their most important recruiting tool.

Sorry, didn’t know that. i just remember him coaching the Warriors and the Kings. He failed at both, but he had no chance in either case. Just like Woodson had no chance in those first few years in Atlanta.

Penny is crushing it in recruiting, but simply can’t get his guys to play disciplined ball because his entire coaching resume before getting the head job at Memphis was one year as a HS coach. FWIW, Ewing was never a head coach on any level prior to GT so that’s a bad comparison. The better comparison would be Muss, but he did have to take the pitstop at Nevada before getting a big job.

This is all according to the hot take rules where you can never admit that you were wrong. Because he made such a strong statement back then, in order for his reputation to remain intact he has to conclude that Archie didn’t fail IU, IU failed Archie.

Ewing had never been a head coach at any level. Not even in high school.

I think it means that he sees what they’re doing and he intrigued.

I may be wrong, but it’s my understanding that assistant coaches do most of the legwork recruiting and head coaches come in to close the deal.

Gonzaga is the hottest program in the country right now. You can win anywhere if you can convince kids to play for you.