Yes it is.
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I just read a Borzello article from 2 weeks ago about the Indiana coaching search.
“And hey, Dolson found magic on the football sideline at James Madison when he hired Curt Cignetti from the Dukes – what if he tries for the guy who was the basketball coach at JMU while Cignetti was there? Mark Byington has done a fantastic job in Year 1 at Vanderbilt after leading James Madison to an NCAA tournament win, but his buyout is likely prohibitive.”
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Buy-in-ington or Buy-out-ington. That’s the question.
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I was absolutely wrong and you were quite right. From an ESPN article discussing the coaching carousel and Indiana.
“One potentially intriguing option is Iowa State’s T.J. Otzelberger, who recently signed a contract extension that lowered his buyout from north of $15 million to around $4 million. Whether he is interested in leaving Ames for Bloomington is a different question, but he’s arguably the best viable candidate who doesn’t have a steep buyout. Should Otzelberger decline and Indiana opt not to spend $10 million to $15 million to buy out a coach’s contract, this search could move on to a tier that includes the likes of Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams and Creighton’s Greg McDermott.”
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I doubt it’s that prohibitive, else he wouldn’t be on any shortlist.
Uhhh…is Otz on gear?
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That’s certainly debatable but I understand the sentiment
For my money, Kentucky. They’ve had 5 different coaches win national titles and I think still have the most weeks ranked in the AP poll but having trouble verifying that. Pope had the resources and brand to turn that place around pretty impressively within a year starting with 1 player on the roster.
And in modern times, I think UNC’s NIL operation is the worst of the 4 agreed upon blue bloods.
@ell yeah I don’t think there is a clear cut 1, but I do not think it is UNC, certainly not anymore. I think Duke might be a better job in 2025 tbh.
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Ima go there. IDC about a program that relies on accomplishments before integration.
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It’s all subjective to specific coach at the end of the day, but with UNC and the Jordan brand behind it I’d lean UNC
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Take out Rupp and they still have the most coaches to win a national title, and then you have to take out McGuire’s one at UNC by those rules too.
Kentucky may be a bigger brand to college basketball fans but UNC is absolutely a bigger brand when it comes to prospective college basketball players. The Jordan Brand influence (including literally Michael Jordan himself) is massive.
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Jordan Brand
Hoop State (North Carolina)
Recruiting (they get *****)
Pro roster history (google it)
Exposure (twice yearly best rivalry in sports hype)
It goes on…
No one respects Hubie’s X and Os and he rolls out FF appearance.
But the biggest thing that puts UNC ahead as it relates to this conversation is type of candidate they’d attract would certainly fit the profile of a type of guy we’d go after. Like for example, if UNC fired Hubert this year and for whatever reason decided to go after Byington or Shaka, I’d be way more worried about Shaka or Byington choosing UNC over us than Kentucky over us cause the cultures are similar
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Hoops state that they have to split 10 different ways
Recruiting? Gonna argue that against Kentucky?
Pro roster history? Kentucky has by far the most pro players of all time
Cal’s X’s and O’s were a joke and he won a natty… (and made 4 final fours there)
I’m not sure there’s many arguments other than Jordan brand you can use to put UNC over Kentucky
@ell they definitely have way more overlap with us in the coaching pool and would scare me more in that department, I agree.
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That statement is a joke… That dude can flat out coach… Just hard to win It all when 60% of your most productive players are freshman.
Can you even name three of Calipari‘s players before he got to Kentucky that aren’t Marcus Camby or Derrick Rose?
Let’s just all take a breath and relax and give kudos to another Virginia team that has reached number one for the first time in program history!!!
Go Hoos!!!
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John Robic can flat out coach. Cal can sell. Notice what’s happened since Robic left.
That Memphis team had other NBA guys on it, Chris Douglas-Roberts had a respectable NBA career.
I don’t actually care very much about this argument, I just thought it was ridiculous to throw out UNC as a clear cut #1. I will stop now.
I mean, that’s pretty damned subjective. They were No. 12 in the country when they lost to Oakland in the NCAAT. They’re No. 17 right now.
Kentucky will always have a good team, no matter the coach. But it ain’t Carolina.
Carolina snagged a hall-of-famer from Kansas. Kentucky stole their last three coaches from Texas A&M, Memphis, and BYU — after getting turned down by champion coaches at Baylor, UConn, and more.
And Carolina ain’t Duke when it comes to programs and jobs any more either.
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