Hindsight is always 20/20 but I really wished NU would've thrown some money his way back when they fired Doc
Dana Altman
- Thread starter mt_slothmore
- Start date
Would he come to Nebraska though? I guess it will end your career anyways so you might as well make it your last stop.
Why in God's name would he take the NU job?!! That would be like Popovich going to Wichita State.
Maybe he'll come back and coach Doane - then he could commute from Wilber.
The only way Dana Altman goes to the Nebraska campus is for a basketball coaching clinic...similar to what football does.
It is kind of funny that a former Husker player (Lue) coached the NBA champs, and now a guy from Wilber NE has coached a team to the Final Four. Yet we we can't even win one NCAA tourney game
There is no reason a hoops coach should not be able to win at Nebraska. Great facilities, rabid fan base, great university, great college town. Have you ever been to WSU? How does Greg Marshall recruit top talent to that campus year after year??
I was told in the mid-90's (by someone in the Creighton Athletic Department) there was a "Gentlemen's agreement" NU wouldn't poach Creighton coaches," and that was why NU didn't pursue Altman when Nee got the axe. Now, where Connie Yori fits in to that - if it was ever true at all - I don't know (?).
I think Dana would indeed have gone to NU 15 years ago, but I doubt he'd ever leave Oregon now. He just built an incredible new home in Eugene .. and while not politically a comfortable place for him, I think he's got everything he's ever wanted and needed as a coach there.
What I COULD see happening, however, is NU going after his #1 assistant, Kevin McKenna. I think he could be wooed. In the short time he left Dana and was HC at Indiana State, he became MVC COY and quickly turned around a complete turd fire there. HE can coach. He was/is Miles' Craig Smith ... quickly figured it out and threw enough Phil Knight cash at him to quit his HC gig and move to tree hugger country. I could see him longing to be a HC again - especially if they win a Natty.
I remember McKenna well, as he was the very first basketball player of any sort I tried to emulate in my driveway. I still remember practicing baseline jumpers pretending to be him and watching him play at the Civic with my dad. I had no idea he was at Oregon now. Go freaking get him.
McKenna also had a pretty good run at Nebraska-Omaha back in the mid-2000s, before he went to work for Altman the first time - at Creighton.
Yep. Check out the Oregon bench. When Dana's sitting (rare), he's right beside him. His loyalty and friendship w/Dana is such that when he called (and Knight's money was dangled), coaching at the highest level in the PAC 10 was too much for him to say no to. But he's already proven he's a quality HC, and is one of the few college coaches of any kind who can sport an NBA Championship ring (was the 11th or 12th man on what I think was Kareem & Magic's 1st title team).
Do you know something about Altman's political point of view or whether he is even political at all?
"Tree hugger country" kinda blew all credibility in this post.
Kevin McKenna would be a great hire for NU. Not a wow hire, but the guy has won everywhere he went including in the CBA. Kevin played ball with Magic and Kareem. Just ask Kyle Korver how important Kevin McKenna was for Kyle's development as a player. Kevin would bring in shooters and highly skilled players and pair them with athletes. Kevin would be different than hiring other top assistants because he has extensive HC experience and lived in Nebraska for many years.
Too bad someone will get McKenna before SE has the sack to get rid of Miles.
Dana is not leaving Oregon for a long time. He is turning them into a Blue Blood. What a hell of a job he has done building the program the past 5 years. Imagine the recruiting boost for getting to his first final four. His offensive system is extremely fun to play for.
Surprised McKenna hasn't been hired away from Altman,maybe it's just matter of time.
Defiantly would be a Coach to consider when Eichorts decides to pull the plug.
I think I made it pretty clear ... and yes, I know him.
A
anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi
Guest
Except Indiana State?
Not saying he isn't a good D-II and assistant coach, but it would be tough to justify hiring a guy who went 43-52 as a D-I head coach and had zero NCAA tournament appearances.
I do not believe that many at Creighton were all that sorry to see Connie leave. She won enough that they would have had problems firing her. We took a problem off their hands and they have a better coach now than when she was there.
Alas, the University, and as we've seen on RSS, many of it's fans, look down their noses at Creighton. This stupid stance most certainly cost the Huskers a golden opportunity to finally turn the basketball program around.
How many liberals do you know from small towns in Nebraska? I sure as hell dont know any.
i'd rather go find a stepping stone coach. we need to get on the map. and since it's a total reach for altman now, hiring one of his assistants looks worse.
I had hoped that after the "Sooo Piggg" incident that basketball fans in Nebraska would quit wanting to bear children for "the great Dana." Alas, it has only intensified.
I know of several but they most go to college here (so it isn't their fault, yet). Only others I know have a mouth on a tit and a pump in both hands on two more tits sucking the life out of middle class achievers and America as a whole.
As a guy who once backed out of an engagement when I finally realized I was doing it for the wrong reasons, I can respect anyone not following through on what everyone else thinks you should do, while knowing it wasn't right. His heart wasn't in that gig and it took getting there to really know it. Embarrassing? Absolutely. But was it the right thing to do for him and his family at the time?? It was (and that was more about his family than him). And in my mind, that's no reason to bury a guy.
There's something about 597 career wins ... four straight Sweet 16's, an Elite Eight and now a Final Four ... I'm thinking we all ought to be proud of him, whether he's coaching here (WISH!) or not. I say quit being a dick and be happy for the guy.