Thursday, March 12, 2009

Short List

Any ideas for coaches ND should take a look at?

Here are mine:

Fran McCaffery- Siena- Former ND assistant who would take the job in a hurry. Solid at Lehigh and UNC Greensboro. Two straight NCAA berths at Siena. Not the best you could get, but would be a good fit.

Brad Stevens- Butler- Two great years at Butler, but it's still early in his career. Not a great recruiter, just average for a mid-major school.

Scott Drew- Baylor- Has local connections. Resurrected the Baylor program, but seems to have hit the ceiling a bit. Has recruited one five-star and a pair of four-stars in the past three years. Beat out teams like Texas and Marquette in recruiting battles.

Darrin Horn- South Carolina- Pretty solid at Western Kentucky, made the Sweet 16 once. Tied for tops in the SEC East in his first season after the program finished fifth last year.

Mark Few- Gonzaga- Chances of him leaving Spokane are slim to none, but he may be starting to wear out his welcome. Has taken Dan Monson's squad to the next level, but has kind of leveled out into a NCAA first weekend team. The question is if he can give a high major program the same kind of success.

Billy Gillispie- Kentucky- A bit of a jerk, but he worked miracles at UTEP and A&M. Kentucky fans may run him out of town soon, but he's a very good coach and brings home top-notch recruits.

12 comments:

BlackandGreen said...

Few and Gillispie are probably pipe dreams, but the others would at least take a look.

I'd hate to just grab another mid-major phenom. If we could pick up a Sean Miller from Xavier or a Mike Anderson from Missouri, you might feel a little better about breaking up the status quo.

Anonymous said...

How about Craig Robinson? Talk about a recruiting edge! Should be tied into Chicago as well. We need to get a foothold in Chicago - I'm not talking about taking the scraps - I'm talking about getting elite Chicago high school players - Catholic or Public league - to South Bend. That is the mindset we need.

BlackandGreen said...

Not to mention the ties to the White House...

In all seriousness, Robinson has had mixed results in first year at Oregon State and didn't have the greatest track record before his move to Corvallis. Definitely need to wait and see on this one.

Anonymous said...

I diagree B&G on Robinson's track record. He is the only coach since I have been alive to have a modicum of success at Brown. Ivy League background at Princeton aligns nicely with ND academic expectations.

BlackandGreen said...

I definitely think Craig Robinson has the ability to be a good coach, but he doesn't quite have the resume yet. Our last two hires were assistants under Roy Williams and Coach K. Robinson saw only one winning season under Bill Carmody at Northwestern (admittedly a very difficult place to coach). He landed some decent recruits there, but was never involved in a recruiting war with other high-major programs.

He's in a recruiting war now. Landing a big center from Lake Forest, Ill. was a good sign, especially since Ducks coach Ernie Kent had recently made a name for himself scouting the Chicago area.

If Robinson can improve on this year (most Pac-10 wins for Oregon State since 2005) and start getting the Beavers into the postseason (a tall task going against the UCLAs and Nike Universities of the world), he's definitely worth a look. I just don't think he is quite there yet.

Anonymous said...

B&G - Bill Carmody does as good a job as anyone in the country year in and year out given the circumstances he faces. I would consider him to be an excellent mentor. He also understands the extended 1-3-1, an excellent defense that has been paassed down over the years. West Virginia is using it with some success in the BET. Let's face it - Craig Robinson will be a big-time coach - why not have him as our big-time coach?

BlackandGreen said...

Fair enough. And you're absolutely right about the intangibles that would make a great coach at ND: Chicago connections and an Ivy League background. Two things to keep in mind.

Anonymous said...

Isn't this a bit premature?

Pops said...

I'm with Jimmy - everyone should be disappointed with the team's record this year, but don't forget that Brey won back to back Big East Coach of the Year awards. One bad season removed from that success doesn't justify a firing in my mind.

BlackandGreen said...

Thus the post below this.

Anonymous said...

Premature???

I've been asking for three years for someone to explain to me what Mike Brey brings to the table. No takers so far. I can tell you what he doesn't bring ... a team and staff that is able to close out. His back to back CoY awards are (in my mind) dubious at best. Is he an above average recruiter? Umm, no. Is he an above average game prep coach? Not that I can see. Is he an above average game coach? Don't make me laugh.

If we're willing to accept mediocrity, Mike Brey is your guy.

Pops said...

My bad BlackandGreen - didn't read the first post...
I still disagree with the ultimatum approach though - I think Brey will be allowed to coach up to the end of his contract unless he seriously underperforms in the next two seasons.