College basketball coaching carousel

South Carolina got worse progressively every year under Horn, was 10-21 overall and 2-14 in the SEC this year, its leading scorer is graduating and its only recruit is a fringe SEC prospect, so the program really had no hope going forward under Horn.

 

State jobs must be posted for 10 days, which passed Friday, I believe. They might have to jump through a couple hoops to get Bobby hired, but I'm guessing that under the precedent set by Harrick, it won't be as difficult.

EDIT: You were correct that a hire couldn't be made ... Monday will be the 10-day mark, so an announcement could potentially come tomorrow.

 

Yup. You know how bad it had to be when the Chickens are willing to pay $2.4 million for Darrin Horn to go away. Furthermore, how bad did it have to be when the athletic director who hired him, Eric Hyman, was the one who did him in?

Horn was supposed to be the hire that announced that Hyman was the new sheriff in town, not Dawn Staley, though the women's basketball program desperately needed the breath of fresh air she has provided.

 

Job was officially posted on March 9. That means no announcement until this Friday/next Monday.

 

Jobs must be posted for 10 calendar days, not two weeks. It was officially posted March 9, making March 19 (Monday) the earliest a hire can be made.

 

Progressively worse, I understand. But it was 3 years. And it's not like South Carolina is or ever has been good. Anyone who takes that job either has a death wish or is desperate for a head spot. There's nowhere to go in that league, unless you're going to define success as "finishing ahead of Auburn."

I just don't get what the rush was.

 

I'm not sure the South Carolina job is as hopeless as some, though I'm more than a bit partial. Nice to very nice facilities and a power conference that, outside of Kentucky, isn't all that imposing.

 

You're more optimistic than me. Kentucky, Florida, and Vandy are the top, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee seem to be figuring it out, and State will be better in the long run by getting rid of Stansbury.

I'm not saying Horn was making them better -- and maybe with Tennessee and others improving, Hyman felt he had to move now or never. But if you're a program like South Carolina, with no actual history of winning, and you're going to pay a guy $2.4M to go away, you better be damn sure the next one is going to work out and work out well. And, like I said, who wants that job? Maybe the only thing going for it is that they no longer have to play UK, Vandy, and Florida twice every year.

 

Thing is, UK is the only consistent winner in the SEC. The others ebb and flow. Florida has been up for awhile but the Gators are one bad coaching hire away from being Georgia. Vandy comes and goes with regularity as well.

20 years ago it was UK, Arkansas, & LSU. 10 years ago it was UK, Tennessee & Florida. Now it's UK, UF & Vandy. About the only thing you can be certain about is that Auburn is always going to suck and Ole Miss is will be playing in a high school gym.

Other than that, any of the other programs can rise to the top with the right coach and a little bit of luck.

 

Can they get Eddie Fogler back?

 

Auburn's been to three Sweet 16s since the last time South Carolina won a tournament game.

 

They had to make a move with Horn, who had been there four years. Attendance was terrible, and with no hope of being much better next year, the turnout was only going to get worse, and in the long run they're going to make more money by getting a coach in there that at least allows for some hope.

Believe me, I agree that South Carolina isn't a great job. It swallowed up a couple good coaches (Fogler and Odom). But Horn proved he wasn't the answer.

Hyman loved Horn. It was his marquee hire, and while Horn rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, principally the local media, he knew how to play nice with his bosses. The fact that Hyman still fired him just shows how compellingly obvious it had become a change had to be made.