College hoops coaching firing/hiring thread

And no one gives a shit how many championships you won years and years ago. I'm not saying Florida is a better program than Kentucky, but the average high school senior not from the state of Kentucky would rather go to Florida right now, for SEVERAL reasons.

And if the size of your fucking arena was the biggest factor, then Michigan, Penn State and Tennessee would win every football championship, and Duke would be in a mid-major basketball league. South Carolina has some outstanding football fans, and a big stadium, but does that make it a top program? No.

Only delusional UK fans think that is every bit the job it was years ago. It's still one of the best, but it's not the best. And it might not be in the top five.

 

Not to parrot an argument Doyel raised in a CBS Sportsline column, but is the Florida job better now because of the program itself, or because of Donovan? Do you think that program could sustain itself if Donovan left?

 

Lon Kruger took the Gators to the Final Four in 1994, so it's not like Donovan's the first person to ever have success there.

 

No, he's not. But Donovan's the only one to have sustained success there. Kruger's teams after 1994 weren't Final Four-caliber, and I wouldn't have considered Florida at that time – Final Four aside - to be one of the top jobs in the country.

 

But that's as fine a sign as any that the program was being built, with or without Donovan. If you are willing to pay top dollar in facilties and salaries, you will have a program that coaches will come to. Now, how those coaches do with their resources is the difference between good and great. Almost any program able and willing to spend will make the tournament. Alabama is a mismanaged mess, yet there they are every year, at least on the bubble. Coaches seperate themselves with the ability to win in the tourney's second week.

 

Billy D. is a good coach, but a lot of other good coaches could win there. Solid foundation all the way around. Florida, like the other dozen-or-so, way-too-wealthy athletic departments at the BCS level, should be a top 20 program in most sports.

Doyel's column was good ... I just don't agree with it. I don't think the Kentucky job is that much better than other great jobs for all the shit you have to deal with. And yes, they have money, but they don't have more than other top athletic programs, and they should have to pay way more for what you have to put up with.

In the parity-filled modern college athletics world, it is no longer someone's God-given right to be consistently dominant. Dynasties lasting longer than a few years just don't happen any more in the money sports. Tubby could have done more, and it might very well have been best for all parties for him to bolt, but the expectations placed on him were ridiculous.

Kentucky basketball and Alabama football are eerily similar. Both have fans — and even worse, big-money boosters — who are totally delusional.

 

But so often, they don't. That's the point I got from Doyel's column. It seems like this is a case of a "perfect storm" of sorts - very good coach at a big-money program - which has led to the recent results Florida is having. I don't think necessarily Donovan should go to Kentucky - I'm not one of the UK fanboy losers who feels like Kentucky is entitled to whoever it wants - but I'm just amazed, I guess, by the level of righteous indignation from some that UK would make a run at him or that he might actually be considering it. I could be way off on this.

 

If Kentucky calls, and you're coaching just about anywhere else in the college game — including Florida — you listen. I just don't know why you would take it unless you got offered a lot of guaranteed money.

 

Anyone heard about Mark Fox?

 

I would agree with that in Donovan's case.

 

This isn't in blue, so I don't know if sarcasm font applies or not. If it doesn't, then you really need to stop believing every rumor on UK fan boards. Donovan doesn't own a horse farm near Lexington. His wife wasn't there looking for houses last weekend, isn't from there, and hasn't put their house for Gainesville for sale yet, either. Just in case you thought those were true too.

 

Indiana State has apparently offered its job to Creighton assistant Kevin McKenna.