It's that time of year: College coach carousel!

I think Stevens will be the next Mark Few and just stay put. He has a great job. Unless he starts going 2-14 in conference, he's pretty much unfireable. He and his family are from Indianapolis.

And

Of the previous three Butler coaches to leave for supposedly greener pastures, only one has had any success:

Barry Collier -- Left for Nebraska, failed, has returned to Butler as AD
Thad Motta -- Left for Xavier and then Ohio State.
Todd Lickliter -- Left for Iowa, failed

 

At this point, Stevens can wait until a truly plum job opens up. Despite Gonzaga falling back a tad, Mark Few is still mentioned in every coaching search. It will be the same way for Stevens. As long as he keeps making the NCAA Tournament with a deep run every few years, his name will get mentioned and ADs will covet him because if you hire him, fans will love you. So why not wait until an amazing job opens up?

 

I think Butler could pony up enough to keep Stevens happy. He'll never make $2 mil a year, but he might get in the $1.2 to $1.5 mil range.

I'm going to be curious who takes the Oklahoma job, because while at first glance, that would seem the be the best of the open jobs, that program is a mess and should be 2-3 years before they're back in the tournament again.

 

Can soneone with knowledge of the ACC explain why it failed with Hewitt and Ga Tech?

He seemed very bright, articulate, smart basketball guy, good recruiter, had success at Siena - what was the main issue why his teams always seemed to underachieve

 

Painter would be a home run. But Alden can be manipulated as easily as a 16-year-old girl.

Two things seem certain: 1. Painter will have more jingle in his pocket; and 2. he'll still be wearing black and gold. As for where, I'm conditioned to believe the worst.

 

That is a valid word of warning. Collier and Lickliter also looked brilliant at Butler, but inept when they moved on. Every coach seems to look good at Butler, but Matta's the the only one who's been able to continue the success elsewhere.

And, of course, the difference between Matta and the others is recruiting. At Butler it's fairly easy to find the players needed to win just by picking off the leftover Indiana prospects that Purdue, IU and Notre Dame overlook, that's the advantage of sitting in the middle of one of deepest talent hotbeds anywhere. But at the next level recruiting becomes an entirely different game, Matta knew how to play the game, the others did not.

That said, I'm confident Stevens would be closer to Matta than Collier/Lickliter as a recruiter. His players absolutely love playing for him, he's got so much name recognition after these final four runs, I doubt he'd have trouble attracting top tier talent anywhere.

 

Matta was also smart enough to only leave for really good jobs. Nebraska basketball is a perpetual rebuilding job (tho Doc Sadler seems to be doing OK) and post-Alford Iowa was only slightly better than post-Sampson Indiana. I think Lickliter is a good coach who will succeed at another mid-major. Iowa needed someone who could sell the program -- to recruits, to alumni, to the community. Lickliter has the personality of a dour CPA, so that was never going to work.

At this point, Stevens can afford to wait for the top of the line openings -- until Izzo or Self or some other hotshot coach decides to flame out in the NBA.

 

Stevens can wait. Two Final Fours will grant him that.

Shaka Smart is in Stan Heath territory. He will never duplicate what he's done at VCU this season and his stock (if he stays there) will only drop. That's not his fault and that's not implying that the guy isn't a great coach, but he just pulled off what I think is the most amazing feat in tournament history and he will have to take the best job offered and bolt. What job that is, I would have no idea.

 

Hey Mizzou, just to clarify, how is what VCU did more amazing than what George Mason did or what Butler has achieved going back-to-back after losing Hayward (and five Mid-Con games)?

 

I'm not saying that what George Mason did wasn't amazing, but they were a popular upset pick that year, obviously not going as far as they did, but I think a lot of people had them going to the Sweet 16. I think Doyel had them going to the Elite Eight.

Butler is the best mid-major out there these days. What it's done the last two seasons has been incredible.

When the brackets were announced, VCU was the school that the most people complained about even making the tournament. I'm sure it's subject for debate, but I think VCU beating KU yesterday was the biggest upset in the history of the tournament. That's my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

 

Stevens has been great at recruiting because he always finds a guy and gets him to commit six months before everyone else realizes just how good he is. Did it with Gordon Hayward and that crew, and doing it again with the current freshmen and the future classes.

 

I'll disagree with the KU thing. Top-level teams aren't as good as they used to be because of early draft entries. KU's 2011 team is not comparable to any of the great teams from the 80s.