College basketball coaching carousel thread

Any basketball coach with super ambition and also talent (rare combination, I admit) would be daft to go to any SEC school except Kentucky or Florida. Always second fiddle to the football coach and his program no matter how big a buffoon he might be and what a scandal ridden disaster it might be. Same deal with being the football coach at Indiana or Kentucky. You can't win, because your fan base is interested in another sport.

 

I'd rather be Vandy's basketball coach than football coach.

 

Yes, you're right. Should've included them, not that Vandy basketball is a bed of roses.

 

I always hate to see a rising young mid-major coach take a bottom-feeder P5 job just to cash in. I understand it, and I can't exactly blame them, but almost all of those bottom third of the conference jobs are going to be three years and out for him, just like the last three coaches before him.

 

But you HAVE to go to these jobs if you're a mid-major and, say, your dad wasn't a famous coach. If you're self-made, you have to cash in.

I know three guys from college who are now head coaches in two respected mid-major conferences. They all know how lucky they are to be here -- even amid the shell of machismo that all CBB coaches must put out as their face.

The odds for each of them to be here are staggering and they know it. One was on a FF staff and rode that out. One grinded from low mid-major to a good mid-major. One survived and was bumped up when the rest of the staff got fired. He's barely hanging onto his gig.

I think two of them will get Power 5 cracks. Even if, one day, it's Rutgers, Mizzou, Nebraska, Oregon State, Boston College, you have to take the money.

Even if it means you're back in the MAC in three years.

If you don't, you'll regret the missed opportunity and it will scour your remaining days.

 

I like to LOL at Mizzou because I think they have no business being in the league, but to act like it has incurable basketball leprosy is ludicrous. An above average, not necessarily great, coach can make it a top 25 contender.

 

Boston College has been a top 25 program before and could be again, but it'd take an exceptional coach at this point. Al Skinner had the unique talent of finding kids who were overlooked in their home regions like Troy Bell and Jared Dudley who he somehow foresaw would become top college players in time. That's a tough knack to duplicate. But it's a good school in a nice part of an excellent city, and what's more, it has an NBA franchise in town, meaning scouts, coaches, etc. of every other pro team drop in and if you're good they'll hear about it.

 

BC should drop sports.

 

Then all those old double and triple Eagles would have to drink at home. Unthinkable!

 

While BC is literally only good at a sport the ACC doesn't offer, as a fan of another academically-minded ACC school, I appreciate them being around. Those schools tend to operate under high ethical standards (UNC notwithstanding), and given that the last school the ACC admitted basically offers open enrollment, I'm glad the league is relatively short on low-ethics cheaters. Much better for my Wahoos' competitive prospects.

 

Henry Hill might differ on BC's high ethical standards. That's just a joke. Long time ago. True and horrible story from my career. While at the Phoenix Charles Pierce and I did a big takeout on BC sports. Went to final big interview with the AD Bill Flynn. He thought we knew about the point shaving and was ready to admit it if asked. We didn't know. Found this out some years later. Ugh.

 

Here's where BC currently stands in the ACC. It is an impressive record of futility, to be sure.

Baseball - Conference play hasn't started, but they have the second-worst record in the ACC
Men's hoops - last
Women's hoops - last
Men's soccer - 8th of 12
Women's soccer - 11th of 14
Softball - 11th of 14 (overall record, same caveat as baseball)
Men's swimming - Worst record
Women's swimming - worst record
Men's tennis - last
Women's tennis - 10th of 15
Volleyball - 14th of 15
Field hockey - Good at this! 3rd of 7 at .500 overall
Women's lax - Last, although my Wahoos have a worst overall record
Football - Tied for last in Atlantic, although they did go to a bowl