No football. I think a coach can go to those schools and know their schools value basketball first and foremost and that they wont be impacted by conference re-alignment etc. Plus the Big East lore from the 80s/90s still carries through now with most of the traditional schools there. I am sure most Pitt/Cuse/BC fans would love to find a way to return to the Big East. I hope one day, I may be too old to care anymore, we end up with 1 semi-pro football league and conferences go back to traditional/regional for all other sports. It makes too much sense to actually happen though.
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https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1637888785592492047
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Source: Rick Pitino has agreed in principle to be the next head coach of St. Johnās.
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āAgreed in principleā?
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Reported 6 year deal.
For a 70 year old man.
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Providence rumors (per Goodman) are Kim English and Micah Shrewsberry. I think English is really good at PR so get used to seeing his name a lot. I think Shrews would rather take the ND job, right? I just donāt think the Providence job is that attractive ā¦ Kinda stinks for them to lose Cooleyā¦
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As a Johnnies fan, this is really BFD. Yes, heās old. This isnāt a long term solution. But heāll get kids there, heāll coach them up, and theyāll get back to the tourney and people will care about Johnnies hoops again.
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Yes and maybe noā¦ Shaka went home, I have to think that as much as anything was a pull for him, same with Sean and even Pitino if you think about. Not sure how much that factors in but I think it does.
To @Raleigh_Hoo and your point I think we are at an inflection point with college basketball of money vs. brand for lack of a better term. The SEC is able to offer a ton of money and opportunity for coaches who want to get paid or may need a bit more looseness around their programs. While thatās appealing to a lot of people not every coach is wired that way and not everyone wants to live in the strange duel role of being irrelevant behind a football program and under a microscope for lack of production at the same time.
I think the ACC is in desperate need of a raising of the bar. Outside of the Hoos assentation, and Iāll toss in FSU for arguments sake, no one has emerged as a program in basically my lifetime. Itās the blue bloods mixed with a peppering of randos. Raising the floor of the conference with some solid hires who can turn things around in their respective programs will go a long way. Iām not saying they have to Final Four contenders but at least NCAAT contenders.
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Also wonder if ACC schools wonāt touch some of these guys. Pitino and Beard, for example, are great coaches but donāt see anyone in the ACC (other than Louisville under different circumstances) taking a chance on them
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Last thought on the Hoyas and Johnnies - get both of them back on the schedule, Tony!!
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Yeah. I thought JWilly turned down George Mason a few years ago so it looks like itād take more to get him to move. And unless its a P6 job, thereās no way heāll move any farther away from DC than he already is.
That and what to do with Austinās brother (whoās a good athlete and at hoops, but at least so far doesnāt seem to be on the same level) are confounding factors. Plus, they like C-ville.
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https://twitter.com/trillydonovan/status/1637896672700137472?s=46
Apparently Willy declined American.
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This is pretty telling me. American, Mason, GW, etc would all be right in the wheelhouse for his jump to being the head man and make sense for his wifeās career. Either theyāve made the call to at least stay in at UVA until the kids graduate or heās already in the bullpen to replace CTBā¦at some point.
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Starting to wonder if VCU is the only non-P6 job heād take
If Tonyās window is 5 years then he is better off just staying at uva as second in command rather than just try to do well enough as a low level job to make such a big jump to uva. A job like temple could give him enough of a jumping off point to make the transition to uva assuming success but American would be quite a leap.
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I lived in Cary NC and had several friends who were members of Carolina Country Club. It was obvious that āCoach Gutā was comfortable as No 2 to Dean. He could stay as long as Dean stayed, was living a good life. Saw him at lunch several times. He literally held court in the CCC dining room.
I expect that J Willy, like Coach Gut will need an ideal situation to step up to a new challenge.
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Contrast with FDU, which added sports to improve their financial situation, and it worked:
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I disagree that the level of program matters. But if he goes somewhere else, he has to win to come back. If he stays, he just gets handed the job. Without financial motivation (as is rumored to be the case), it makes perfect sense that he stays put.
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Thatās an excellent point about W/Ls. If he struggles for 3/4 years at an American or Temple it would make it almost impossible for UVA to hire as HC
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