This did lead me to clicking on Mike Lonerganās T-Rank page, where I briefly had the reaction āwow, he was pretty good at GW, especially that last year, what happened?ā
Bad things! Bad things happened.
For me itās only a 2 person wish list. So far, could change upon further inspection. Matt Langel or Mark Byington. Now obviously if you can get the Iowa State coach whose name Iāll only learn to spell if he comes UVA, you do that. And a few other guys that have been tossed around that are no brainer early calls. Iām cool with Kim English too, but suspect heās not ready to jump again yet.
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Just hire Bobby Hurley. The Duke hatred would intensify 10X and I guarantee he wants to fight The Muppet (Jon Scheyer) in an airport terminal. Iām all in for escalating this rivalry.
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You make a good point
I like him too but Iām curious about your reasons. Guessing itās because heās shown loyalty to his current place, clearly the best coach in school history (maybe by a whole lot), and relatively young compared to his experience as a HC?
yeah thatās pretty much it. Built it up at a program with little history of success then went on to dominate the league for the last 6 or 7 years I think. Still young, just hitting his stride. East coast guy, Ivy Leaguer whoād probably be comfortable with UVA.
My only concern with him is coming from the Patriot League. I donāt care about hiring a mid or even low major coach, basketball is basketball. But the Patriot and Ivy are different animals. Least athletic conferences in the country, so the game is a bit different.
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Byington wouldāve been great. Wish timing worked better. Vandy seems to be throwing around cash and SEC has been a better hoops conference than ACC for a few years, so not sure heād jump this soon. Never say never ā¦
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His offensive approach gets a thumbs up from me:
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My dark horse personal favorite is Drew Valentine (and was also Amir Abdur-Rahim RIP).
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Pretty good look ahead to what the coaching carousel could look like next spring ā guys who could be gone and guys who should be in line for jobs. Some specific UVa talk in there. Borzello and Goodman both think Sanchez is unlikely to stick.
Borzello floated Mitch Henderson, Ryan Odom, and Takayo Siddle and said he expects UVa to go the regional mid-major route and not be a ādominoā job that has much effect on P5 (I agree).
Goodman did mention Dawn Staley and said he thought she could possibly make the transition successfully but didnāt think ultimately sheād want it.
And plenty of talk about just how important NIL is.
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I could get on board with Odom if VCU meets expectations this year.
The other twoā¦have to think an ACC program, 5 years from a championship could do a little better.
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Yeah would be skeptical about Siddle. Good success at UNCW but runs a similar offense to Keatts, which Iām not a huge fan of. Lots of ISO ball and contested 3ās/mid range jumpers. I know it got Keatts to a F4 last year but it also got him one iMac missed FT away from being fired.
Langel is interesting, his teams are almost always near the top of the country in terms of 3 point percentage and they regularly give Syracuse hell in their games against them. I just wonder how heād be as a recruiter, and also why he hasnāt made the jump already. Heās only 46 but 13 seasons at Colgate is quite a while to be staying at a mid major school especially with the success heās had.
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Same concern for Henderson, can he recruit at the level weād need.
I know this has been mentioned but I wonder if we could find a Shaka at Texas situation. A major coach thatās on the hot seat needing a fresh start.
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I think youāll see more successful mid major guys in this new era of college basketball who are content to stay put in situations theyāre happy with where they donāt have to deal with some of the headaches that drove Tony out of coaching.
Yeah I guess my irrational fear with this would be hiring a Mike Young type here. Nothing wrong with Young Xās and Oās wise, in fact Iād say he runs a pretty damn good offense and did some great things at Wofford especially in his last year there. He just canāt seem to really grasp building a roster at a high major level that gets him anything more than average/above average success.
Obviously a guy like Young is also hamstrung by VTās unwillingness to commit funds to basketball, which wouldnāt happen here. But ideally Iād like someone who has at least shown some ability to utilize the resources given to them and build a talented roster that fits the schemes they run.
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Oh, poor Carter Lang in the case of Byington.
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Iām looking at a list of high major schools and just drawing blanks on this kind of candidate. Chris Holtmann, even though he already was fired? Porter Moser?
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There is no shot in hell Kim English would turn down the UVA job lol. Idk if heāll get the offer but he would 100% take it. I think Byington is far less likely to jump (purely because of timing), though I still think heād say yes too.
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Heās one stop removed from that scenario but Anthony Grant was previously in that situation and kind of fits the bill. Grantās only making $1.6 million at Dayton. I could get on board with him as a candidate. But heās also a Miami native and I would guess might get a long look from the Hurricanes if this is it for Larranaga.
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Canāt remember where but there was a rumor that Grant is pretty close to retirement, someone saying they think Dayton is his last job. Mightāve been Trillyās discord.
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