Wojo out at Marquette
- Thread starter CappyNU
- Start date
Good example of how we place too much emphasis on coaching trees. Coach K is only second to Wooden (if that), but like Bill Belichick his tree has been okay at best.
Mike Brey has had a great career. Quinn Snyder is doing fine now that he doesn’t have to worry about the politics of college basketball. After that it’s been very uneven at the major conference level, with guys flashing and then fizzling. Capel rode Blake Griffin for a couple good seasons but has struggled since. Dawkins had a nice start at Stanford and is now mired in mediocrity at UCF. Amaker reached his comfort level in the ivy. Bender, Collins, Wojo, Hurley (some good seasons at ASU but has he won an NCAA tourny game yet? I don’t count first four)... meh.
Funny enough the biggest name from Duke is Juwan Howard and he made his bones as an assistant with the Miami Heat under Spo and Riley, not in Durham. [EDIT:
Wow. Yes. I’m an idiot. Michigan. Not Duke. I’m getting old.]
Mike Brey has had a great career. Quinn Snyder is doing fine now that he doesn’t have to worry about the politics of college basketball. After that it’s been very uneven at the major conference level, with guys flashing and then fizzling. Capel rode Blake Griffin for a couple good seasons but has struggled since. Dawkins had a nice start at Stanford and is now mired in mediocrity at UCF. Amaker reached his comfort level in the ivy. Bender, Collins, Wojo, Hurley (some good seasons at ASU but has he won an NCAA tourny game yet? I don’t count first four)... meh.
Funny enough the biggest name from Duke is Juwan Howard and he made his bones as an assistant with the Miami Heat under Spo and Riley, not in Durham. [EDIT:
Wow. Yes. I’m an idiot. Michigan. Not Duke. I’m getting old.]
Last edited:
Are there ‘trees’ that *have* been good?Good example of how we place too much emphasis on coaching trees. Coach K is only second to Wooden (if that), but like Bill Belichick his tree has been okay at best.
Mike Brey has had a great career. Quinn Snyder is doing fine now that he doesn’t have to worry about the politics of college basketball. After that it’s been very uneven at the major conference level, with guys flashing and then fizzling. Capel rode Blake Griffin for a couple good seasons but has struggled since. Dawkins had a nice start at Stanford and is now mired in mediocrity at UCF. Amaker reached his comfort level in the ivy. Bender, Collins, Wojo, Hurley (some good seasons at ASU but has he won an NCAA tourny game yet? I don’t count first four)... meh.
Funny enough the biggest name from Duke is Juwan Howard and he made his bones as an assistant with the Miami Heat under Spo and Riley, not in Durham. [EDIT:
Duke’s might be the best...
I tend to think head coaching at a lower level is the best preparation for head coaching at a higher level. (I’ve also advocated for hiring a UVA assistant here, so I’m clearly inconsistent...)
So few of the hot ‘top assistants’ have panned out. Brian Gregory is maybe the best/worst example. Matt Doherty was going to be the next big thing (yes, 15 years ago) and failed.
Meanwhile, Bill Self or Shaka Smart or any number just kept winning and moving up and continued winning.
Didn't they all start as an assistant somewhere at some point? Maybe the point is how big is the jump to their first head coaching gig?
Just say you're a fan of The West Wing. Howard has a first-season cameo as a ringer on President Bartlet's pickup team who went to Duke.
Back in the day the Larry Brown coaching tree was considered good. probably Dean Smith too. Recently, can’t think of any.
Rick Pitino, depending on what you consider "recent."
Thad Matta got a lot of love for his coaching tree a few years ago, but the bloom came off the roses of Archie Miller and John Groce. Still, Sean Miller and Brad Stevens aren't bad ones to have.
That’s exactly the sort of deep cut I wish I could take credit for. Sadly, I just mixed him up with Grant Hill. Sigh.
Scott Drew seems to be growing a solid tree. The Head coaches for The Oral Roberts University, and North Texas both were assistant coaches under him at Baylor. Also, what he has done since taking over the Baylor job, under the circumstances that he got that job is amazing! Unbelievable what can happen with all of the administration and booster support behind you, because it wasn’t like that program was any kind of a powerhouse.
Bob Knight had a good coaching tree...starting with that Coach K guy. And Rick Pitino's tree is really just a branch of Jim Boeheim's coaching tree. He got his start under Coach Boeheim. Still Thad Matta seems like the best new example that comes to mind...which is maybe why he seems like the top option for Indiana if his health has improved.
True about Pitino/Boeheim, but by that same logic you can call Boeheim's coaching tree a branch of Roy Danforth's. Pitino has mentored enough guys at enough places that I think you can separate him from Boeheim. Either way, though, Pitino goes back 40 years and that's not really recent.
Boeheim definitely is part of Danforth's tree. My larger point was that Boeheim gets overlooked.
I believe he’s from WI and from time to time has been associated to the job. You think Moser rejected a sit down? Or Marquette did not want to wait for LUC to be done in the tourney?
Moser is not leaving Loyola and Chicago for Marquette. If he leaves, i think it will be for a Big Ten opportunity and preferably in Chicagoland.
Does Chicagoland stretch to Bloomington? Madison? West Lafayette? Ann Arbor? East Lansing?
Confused
As someone who, regardless of how funny anything I might say is (or not), is accused of having said a dad joke I can appreciate the joke.
I’d tell you a joke about pizza. But it’s too cheesy
Last edited:
If his angle is to be closer to home, I'm surprised he didn't take the Illinois job when it was offered. Makes me wonder if the rumbles were starting to get louder at Texas after their quick exit from the tourney.
I believe he was a target after Weber, but the AD was the guy who hired Beckman and Groce. He probably said thank you, but no thank you as he knew the guy was a fool. That is why I am OK with NU taking their time hiring the new AD.
That's the angle today. Back then, Bardo insisted it was the Illinois AD who put him off. Idk. I always assumed if he left VCU, it would be for somewhere that would throw resources at the program, but didn't have "basketball school" expectations -- like Dana Altman leaving Creighton for Oregon. Which is sorta what happened. But his teams were profoundly mediocre by real program standards. Not sure what this move is about, but perhaps you're right and he's staying one step ahead of the pitchforks.
Is that considered to be a step up??
It doesn’t seem to me like it would be.
They may be paying him more, but the position seems at best like a neutral move.
Seems to me he jumped rather than being pushed out. A good job, was likely to be sacked at UT sooner than later.......
Exactly. And by all accounts he’s a good guy. They may have even had a conversation about his future and allowed him to safe face by “leaving on his own terms”
Story on the ESPN site suggests as much. Even speculated that he might have been saved last year by the Covid crisis. He's gotten them to three NCAAs, but had yet to win a game with Texas at the tournament and this year's loss to Abilene Christian as a real stinger, especially when Abilene Christian was handled easily in the next round.
Yup, sometimes it doesn’t work out even tough both parties really want it to. If Chris Collins went the Amaker route and got a job offer at Dartmouth, or wanted to go the Caple path and go home to Duke, I bet Morty would thank him for his service and getting us to the Tourney and wish him well, but he’s not going to beg him to stay
Well, at least NU won one game when we got there and might have won another if not for the infamous non-goaltending call and Collins's resulting technical.
Yup, CC won more tournament games than Shaka at Texas and more than any other coach in Northwestern history. His agent will be able to sell that the to the Loyola AD when they have a vacancy....