Lamont Paris just lost to North Florida last night so yeah.
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Do we have any sense about whether our admin would be interested in Luke Murray/him interested in us? Heās my non-Shaka/Otz top choice, but he seems to get less chatter than the existing HCs.
I guess, to put a finer point in it, what Iām wondering is whether your criteria winds you up with a null set. (Or maybe you donāt think we should go after someone below the high major level).
(And also, tbh, Iād kinda quibble with you about why Hurleyās two victories over 7 seeds hit your criteria but Odomās victory over a 1 seed, plus multiple road victories just this past season in the NIT donāt. Because the victory over a 1-seed was 6 years ago? Thatās beyond the statute of limitations?)
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Hereās the list of guys outside the P5 firmament whoāve won a tourney game in the last 2 years:
- Keith Dambrot, duquesne
- Dutcher, SDSU
- James Jones, Yale
- Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon
- Anthony Grant, Dayton
- Byington, JMU (kinda disqualified now)
- Greg Kampe, Oakland
- Danny Sprinke, utah st (see Byington)
- Bob Richey, Furman
- Tobin Anderson, FDU (now Iona)
- Dusty May, FAU (see Byington)
- Randy Bennett, St Maryās
Dambrot, Dutcher, and Kampe are aged out IMO (65+). 3 others are already at P5. Two others had their shot at P5 already (grant, Drew).
So that leaves Jones, Bennett, Richey, and maybe Tobin Anderson. Of those, I suspect Jones probably does wind up on a larger list of consideration.
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A couple of thoughts there:
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I donāt know if itās a null set but I doubt it. You think at the end of this season there wonāt be a coach at lower levels who has over achieved and won their conference tournament or an NCAA game this season? Maybe. I bet thereās somebody who has a last two or three years of work that look impressive. Maybe itāll be Odom if he does something impressive enough, ha.
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Yeah, I feel pretty comfortable saying that Hurleyās two NCAA wins in back to back seasons against solid seeds was more impressive when he was hired at UConn than a win in a flukey game against a one seed six years ago is now. Odomās only been to the tournament one other time since and hasnāt won an NCAA game since. The next three seasons at UMBC he didnāt make the post season and never won the conference tournament. He got one tied for first place finish and a third and fourth place finish in the regular season in one of the weakest conferences in America. He mostly continued to get dominated by Vermont (Side note: can you imagine how hard it is to recruit to Vermont?).
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Since then he led Utah St to a second place finish in their conference and got them to the tournament that same season. That was pretty solid, although their best win that whole year was just two wins against a decent Boise St team. Neither that or a NIT quarter final at VCU really blow me away.
Anyway, I donāt think heās bad. Maybe heās great - others more in the know likely have better informed opinions than I. I just donāt look at this regular season and post season performance and see some clear signs of genius. When we hired Tony for example heād already made a sweet 16 at one of the hardest p5 places to coach in the country and won another NCAA game the year before.
Also, Iām not saying an NCAA win is a must. But if no NCAA win, would like to see conference title or titles - conference tourney and/or regular season. Something to show youāre capable of dominating at a lower level before we move you up to the big leagues.
Okay, I should run. My point isnāt that folks need to think Odom is the answer. Youāre allowed to think other reasonable options would do better! Maybe they would!
But if you look at Odomās resume to this point in his career, itās pretty good! It stacks up well against the folks in his lane, or however @AdventiveQuasar put it. Iād argue it stacks up equally well or better.
And heās better placed IMO than your Langels or Freshās quarter zip guy from Princeton or James Jones to step into the recruiting heād need to do here.
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Sorry, no. Odom beat our ass! That was no fluke.
If folks donāt want to hire Odom because he punked Tony, then just say so!
Youāre allowed to feel that way. But then I wonāt bother with all the researchā¦
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Edited: you do you.
And yeah he beat us. That was good. It was six years ago and weād just lost our best player. Iād give it a lot more weight if what heād done since popped off the page a little more.
Also, Iām not the only one who can do research! So do some. And Iāll tell you why that guy stinks.
Because most likely the next guy will be pretty good but not great. Thatās life!
To say it another way, doing the exercise of coming up with names is illustrative, as Iāve found that identifying a semi-realistic guy that doesnāt have a big wart in his resume is hard.
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Totally fair. I just also think people should be able to voice opinions on some of the leading candidates proposed even if they donāt have time at this exact moment to sift through the resumes of all D1 coaches.
Hopefully will have time sometime soon though cause it is kind of fun.
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Whatās Wes Millerās wart? That he went to Carolina?
Wheres my guy Mitch at? (Research)
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Fuck. Firing the research assistant right now
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Iām curious why thereās no talk whatsoever here of Ritchie McKay. Is it just an assumption that they wonāt consider TB guys if Sanchez doesnāt get it? Or you just donāt want Ritchie?
Not saying itās right or wrong, just surprised he hasnāt come up.
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Heās in the internal lane, behind Ron and J-Willy. In other words, he doesnāt have a lane, really
To be clear - this is my opinion. My opinions are usually wrong (I often get accused of the opposite for reasons that escape me! I know my opinions are bad! I just think the rest of you usually have bad opinions too! Thatās what make this place fun)
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I lump him into the TB group. And think itās best for the program to move forward and even though McKay has been gone for a while he still feels like an internal hire.
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Age is probably a big factor. Sure weāve mentioned guys of similar age (Anthony Grant for instance) but age plus the dynamic of hiring a non-Sanchez/Willy former assistant feels a bit odd. Thereās also plenty who have an aversion to hiring someone who has spent much time at Liberty.
Ritchie is a good coach though.
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Heās already almost 60. Probably has a chunk to do with it. If he was 45 or 50 years old he might get brought up more.
Plus the Liberty connection will always be not ideal for a chunk of folks.
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Will say that Ritchie runs an offense that I wish Tony adopted during the last couple years of his time here. Doesnāt go at a fast pace but itās very space oriented (Ron Sanchez just heard a disturbance in the force) and the 3 point volume is at a very modern percentage, think they took close to 30 per game last season. Ritchie + Chance Mallory would be a fun thought if he recommitted, just based off how McKay used Darius McGhee in his system.
But I agree with others that it feels like weāre either going with Sanchez and continuing the TB culture that way, or deciding to go in a different direction entirely.
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