Head Coaching Candidates For Tu Basketball
- Thread starter TulsaFanFromStigler
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I knew this thread would arise. ctt usually has his ears to the ground with sound advice. But it would need to be a higher profile assistant or a current head coach in a smaller conference (have to get those quick as everyone wants them as a proven entity) or a proven championship level JUCO or D2 coach. Recruiting ability first , then a personality compatible to players and fans, then X and O proficiency. I don't care if they want to leave after 3 years and 2 NCAA appearances like Bill Self did. Good for them.
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I would love to have the problem of having to replace good coaches again. Seems like we have the problem that they just do well enough to never leave these days.
Seems strange to say we need to fire our head coach the year after a trichampionship season just last year and success this season with a sweep over Memphis a split with Houston and a very good chance to sweep Cincinnati at home. But looking at the future it might be time to look at an mvc Drake coach who is 15 and one. Haith has left Miami and Mizzou right before he was fired maybe Houdini will escape to a new job again,
The point is, he hasn’t sniffed the NCAA tournament since Shaq Harrison carried his butt there and that’s where programs need to be to really succeed. No one really cares who the regular season champs were. I would take two NCAA round wins over a conference title everyday and twice on Sunday.
Wojcik and Haith each made it seven years basically mired in mediocrity. Not horrendous and just happened to win at the right times to get contract extensions. Wojcik fooled the AD's by winning a CBI and scheduling enough soft games to get to 20 wins. Haith had the biggest miracle of all time according to pundits when TU was picked as the unexpected last team for the first four in 2016. Other than that TU has never even been close to a selection, even last year was never close to an at-large berth. This year was supposed to be Haith's best team ever at TU...............
Go for a proven super successful P5 Coach.....Dawn Staley.
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Good grief! I just looked up her salary. She makes over $2 million. Didn't realize coaches of womens' teams made that much money.
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Good grief! I just looked up her salary. She makes over $2 million. Didn't realize coaches of womens' teams made that much money.
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Besides Geno Auriemma, Staley is pretty much unmatched in terms of being a high-dollar value in women's college basketball. She brings a TON of $$$ in terms of donations to South Carolina. I think next on the list are likely Tara Vandaveer at Stanford and Muffet McGraw at Notre Dame (Muffet just retired though). There are a lot of quality coaches in women's college basketball.
The other option would to look at Becky Hammon from the Spurs. But she probably makes more as the Spurs lead assistant than what TU could pay a basketball coach. But I am glad that we are also thinking outside the box here. And I think it would take a high profile women's coach to be able to have credibility in the recruiting world of men's basketball.
I still stand that our first look should be Kim English. Next would take a look at Brett Ballard (former Manning assistant here, current HC of Washburn, D2. Currently ranked #16 in D2. They've made the NCAA tournament the 1st 2 years and were on track to do so last year until COVID.
And an off the wall one: Kellen Sampson.
Early best thoughts:
Kim English- Tennessee (He would love a D-1 job but have to be quick to get him I expect)
David Patrick- Arkansas (Taking most of the summer off to Coach the Australian Olympic Team) Has head coaching experience.
My Off the Wall Picks: These are all wild and treacherous picks. Home Runs or Strike outs. But on a serious note one of these might be just the cure for a long basketball slump.
Billy Gillispie- Best college recruiter for 5 straight years. Lots of baggage (but so did Kelvin)
Sean Sutton- worked with the two of the smartest coaches ever. Eddie and Beard- baggage here too.
Doug Gottlieb - would get tremendous media publicity win or lose. Has coached US National team.
More to come if the need arises. Missed out a few years ago on Buzz Williams who begged for an interview here when he was a Gillispie assistant. Josh Pastner begged for an interview here as well and not sure how that would have turned out.
Kim English- Tennessee (He would love a D-1 job but have to be quick to get him I expect)
David Patrick- Arkansas (Taking most of the summer off to Coach the Australian Olympic Team) Has head coaching experience.
My Off the Wall Picks: These are all wild and treacherous picks. Home Runs or Strike outs. But on a serious note one of these might be just the cure for a long basketball slump.
Billy Gillispie- Best college recruiter for 5 straight years. Lots of baggage (but so did Kelvin)
Sean Sutton- worked with the two of the smartest coaches ever. Eddie and Beard- baggage here too.
Doug Gottlieb - would get tremendous media publicity win or lose. Has coached US National team.
More to come if the need arises. Missed out a few years ago on Buzz Williams who begged for an interview here when he was a Gillispie assistant. Josh Pastner begged for an interview here as well and not sure how that would have turned out.
While this is intriguing, and he has one of the best analytical minds in the game IMO, there are big question marks as to whether or not what he would be selling to recruits would be bought. Would recruits consider him seriously or think of him as the guy that likes to hear himself talk on the radio. I love his in game analysis, I hate his radio show. This would be like Tony Romo doing his color analyst gig for CBS and then hosting a national radio show on top of it.
On the others...no on Sean Sutton or Scott Sutton (who would undoubtedly chase another HC job AND is probably a consideration for TU).
Let's throw one more out: Paul Mills. The rob from ORU strategy worked well for us before (and also worked in other sports....men's golf, women's soccer). Mills is seriously handcuffed at ORU and yet he's still putting together quality teams. They've go 8 losses, 4 are to power programs and they were extremely competitive (and should have won a couple of them) in those games. The losses in conference have also been close and with the way the Summit is scheduling, they're playing back to backs against the same team. They've beaten the traditional Summit powers and haven't lost both of any of their back to backs this season. If they lost the 1st they come back and win the 2nd...shows me he can adjust gameplans quickly. I don't think he'd be the leading candidate for us but certainly a consideration.
Wes Miller - UNC-Greensboro - Took over as interim in 2012 when they fired Mike Dement in the middle of the season. He was just 28 years old at the time. Ended up winning the North Division of the SoCon and winning Conference Coach of the Year. Has produced 3 top 100 KenPom teams in each of the last 3 years at a school that only had 1 in the 15 years before he took over and consistently ranks 250-300th in MBB expenses from the publicly available MBB expenses data on the DOE website. Base Salary at UNC-G is $300k, but he is currently under contract through 2029. No idea on the buyout.
Also, for anyone concerned about a lower-level coach being able to recruit at this level, he got a Rivals150 recruit directly out of high school in last year’s class.
Also, for anyone concerned about a lower-level coach being able to recruit at this level, he got a Rivals150 recruit directly out of high school in last year’s class.
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Since we are throwing out long shots:
Dick Vitale (media attention baby....)
Larry Brown (talk about baggage)
Digger Phelps (since we always hate our coach anyway)
Bill Self (may soon have baggage and KU in trouble)
usual suspects - Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith, Mike Anderson, Flip Saunders
Ray Reins (only a few of you will get this)
Real longshot Mark Tucker (checkout the connection to Rick Dickson)
😉
Dick Vitale (media attention baby....)
Larry Brown (talk about baggage)
Digger Phelps (since we always hate our coach anyway)
Bill Self (may soon have baggage and KU in trouble)
usual suspects - Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith, Mike Anderson, Flip Saunders
Ray Reins (only a few of you will get this)
Real longshot Mark Tucker (checkout the connection to Rick Dickson)
😉
How many of those guys are knocking on deaths door at the moment? Lol
in all honesty, I’d love to see us go after someone relatively young with some hunger to them.
Good call. They've built a pretty good program and culture there. I know Tim Peete was there for a couple of years as a GA.
If Haith makes $1.3 million (the figure I have seen most quoted), maybe do a buyout for $1 million and then backload a contract for a young upcoming coach with a low starting salary the first year.
There’s a gimmick that will bring fans. Come see America’s first zombie basketball coach...then again most TU fans might think that was Phillips in hindsight
Another big win for Pooh and his 12th ranked ou Sooners over 14th ranked West Virginia he will be a hot commodity coach if ou makes the elite 8 with his coaching and recruiting don’t sell him short at Tulsa
If we get Reins, surely he will bring Sapulpa's Fresh Prince of Mid-Air with him. From a recruiting aspect, it makes a lot of sense!
Yessir. Cody Hopson was a skywalker. IIRC, he went to NEO or Coffeyville, then signed with Memphis State. Never cracked the starting line-up and then kinda washed out.
that team with Hopson and Poindexter was Ray Reins’ best chance to win a gold ball.
He had two good chances in 73 and 74 lost to BTW in finals or semis and Yukon the next year.
Yes he was. Also on the team that first season was TU tennis player Pat Ritchie. Pat was the point guard. Pat is Rick DIckson’s cousin. The three of them were at TU at the same time for awhile. It was a real shame when Mark transferred from TU to OSU.
Some names to start with (current head coaches)
Ryan Odom - UMBC
Pat Kelsey - Winthrop
Grant McCasland - North Texas
Eric Konkol - LA Tech
Scott Nagy - Wright State
John Groce - Akron
Darian DeVries - Drake
Craig Smith - Utah State
Casey Alexander - Belmont
Wes Miller - UNC Greensboro
That's without looking at salaries.
Assistants
Ulric Maligi - Texas Tech
Kyle Neptune - Villanova
Joe Krabbenhoft - Wisconsin
Ali Farokhmanesh - Colorado State (kidding, mostly because he's a memorable CBB name)
Jason Hart - USC
Darris Nichols - Florida
Alvin Brooks III - Baylor
Ryan Odom - UMBC
Pat Kelsey - Winthrop
Grant McCasland - North Texas
Eric Konkol - LA Tech
Scott Nagy - Wright State
John Groce - Akron
Darian DeVries - Drake
Craig Smith - Utah State
Casey Alexander - Belmont
Wes Miller - UNC Greensboro
That's without looking at salaries.
Assistants
Ulric Maligi - Texas Tech
Kyle Neptune - Villanova
Joe Krabbenhoft - Wisconsin
Ali Farokhmanesh - Colorado State (kidding, mostly because he's a memorable CBB name)
Jason Hart - USC
Darris Nichols - Florida
Alvin Brooks III - Baylor
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