2015 College basketball coaching carousel thread

The problem with Texas, Bama, Tennessee and other schools is that have the money and expectations but not the pedigree of a the blue blood hoop programs, plus those schools tend to be all about basketball.

 

Barnes would be a good get for either Tennessee or Alabama.

If Texas isn't able to land Shaka Smart or Gregg Marshall, then pushing Barnes out is going to look foolish.

 

I think so, but it really isn't about making sense. It's about Auburn hiring Bruce Pearl and making a run to the SEC Finals while Alabama goes home early, Miss St. hiring Ben Howland, and Jerod Haase's UAB team making the dance and advancing, upsetting Iowa St. Bill Battle did seemed to be inclined to give Grant one more season, over the grumblings of the Tide fans, until all that happened. At that point the talk shifted to making a home run hire, with the focus on Marshall, with Smart the second choice if for some reason Marshall would not do the obvious thing and come to Tuscaloosa. You have to add in the delusional fan factor. A three to four million dollar salary number started to float around.

Hiring any up and coming young coach or seasoned assistant from a storied program was off the table following Grant. I think Mike White at La. Tech would be a great hire, and they could get him far cheaper, but that isn't going to fly. I guess that it is still possible that they get Marshall, but I just can't see him or Smart taking the job.

Barnes brings experience, a credible record, and is a big enough name to fend off the "I thought we were making a name hire?", which at this point is also important. Alabama going into free fall as they get turned down publicly several times is something they very much want to avoid.

 

DePaul agrees in principle to bring Dave Leitao back as head coach.

 

That's an...interesting move.

 

You might have heard of the guy St. John's is trying to hire:

St. John's offers Chris Mullin head coach job - College Basketball - SI.com

 

Hey, he had enough success there to land an ACC job. Purnell brought a better resume, but he wasn't as effective there. Why not?

 

DePaul Basketball: We give a fuck, but we really don't give a fuck.

 

How is bringing back the only coach to have a winning record at DePaul, who also had them in the NCAA tournament and the NIT in each of his three seasons there, not giving a fuck?

 

More often than not, bringing back a former coach ends in mediocrity or disaster. John Robinson wasn't nearly as good his second time around at USC. Johnny Majors was a shell of himself the second time around at Pitt. Petrino is working but he's more the exception than the rule. Not to mention simply re-hiring the old guy is lazy.

 

Those are all reasonable points, but I don't agree that it DePaul isn't trying here. Leitao seems like a decent enough hire to me. The other options were apparently Bobby Hurley and Bryce Drew, either of which would also have been decent. Leitao is the guy who had the most success at DePaul since Joey Meyer, and this time around he's recruiting into a better league with much better facilities coming online soon.

 

It's pretty damn hard to recruit to a place you once left voluntarily. Even Billy Donovan saw a big dip for a year or two when he left Florida for the Magic for about 5 minutes.