2021 MBB coaching carousel thread

UMass basketball faces some almost unsolvable problems. 1. Located 100 miles from where 90 percent of state residents live. 2. The place where those people live has next to no interest in college sports. This is a paradox since Boston is also the world's biggest college town, and that's the source of the problem. Too many schools so no one school to unify a fan base. 3. Even within the college sports interest spectrum in Boston, UMass basketball is close to the bottom (BU basketball being said bottom). John Calipari was the only coach to surmount these difficulties and we all know how he did it. A coach would have to be either supremely confident or in desperate need of a gig to take the UMass job.

 

I’m not sure how true it is, but I’ve been told that there is a stigma against attending public universities in New England that is completely alien to the rest of the country. If true, I think that would carry over to building a casual fan base as well.

 

This isn't exactly so. UMass is a pretty good school and that's acknowledged. All the state universities in New England have decent reputations academically, but when you've got MIT, Harvard, Brown, Yale, Wellesley, Little Three, etc. as standards of competition, some will perceive you as inferior.

 

It's also a cost thing at this point. If you want to leave your state, even the public universities cost $30K+. If you're going to pay out the ass, you might as well go for the highest regarded school you can get into.

The UMass job shouldn't be an awful one, but I do wonder if like BC, the administration standards there are somewhat unrealistic. UMass' move to D-I football has resulted in them burning a shit ton of money with little to show for it. The high of the Camby and Calipari years at UMass were high, but since then, they've only had three NCAA appearances in 25 years - and two of those were Bruiser Flint years with Calipari's players. One appearance in the past 23 years. Their most recent coach, McCall, has hitched his wagon almost entirely to one of the AAU programs in the area, which produced Tre Mitchell and some other talented players, but not enough to compete in the A-10.

 

And now the UNLV job is open.

 

UNLV is another job that was good for a specific time with a specific set of circumstances but is destined to be middle of the pack in the MWC for the foreseeable future.

 

Surprised about the Utah opening - wonder if BYU having a good year helped seal it.

I can understand a coach taking a new gig this year - if anything it gives them a "fresh contract" and will likely keep them off a hot seat for three years or so - I imagine there are a few coaches suddenly looking for work that figured most programs would consider this a "free" year - with only those with expiring or one year left on a contract really needing to be concerned.

 

Rick Pitino has historically been the first choice of the fan base whenever thsi job opens up. Would UNLV dare hire him? Would Pitino take a job coaching in the same conference as his son?

 

They were the kings of the Strip during Tark's run, but are now behind VGK and the Raiders for the local sports buck.

 

How UNLV hasn't been involved in a points shaving or gambling scandal is beyond me.

 

Not much action on Mt. West basketball games. And aren't Nevada and UNLV off the board in Nevada?

 

Did away with that ban nearly 20 years ago.