SJ 2009-09 Coaching Carousel thread

He's a good coach and can certainly mine the talent. He'll grab a high-profile guy here and there but has always survived with the second-tier guys the Pac-10 didn't go on either because of grades or some perceived issue in their game.

The big problem is I just don't see him as a fit in the south. He's got a temper and I can't see him doing the Rotary Club thing on the regular. This makes more sense than Jerry Green at Tennessee, but just barely.

 

Fox strikes me as the antithesis of Mark Richt.
Georgia boosters love Richt - wins games, very religious, personable guy who the media loves.

Given Fox's history with his temper (can someone post what he did at the WAC tournament a couple years ago?) and the fact that he has no ties to the south, I wouldn't be surprised if this hire backfiring quicker than Felton.

 

A couple guesses, given today's transgressions:

Memphis will go after Capel, giving him another reason to re-up with Okie because he's still waiting for Duke. If that doesn't happen, Memphis will go after Jamie Dixon.
Arizona will go after Izzo, who will quickly turn them down. Then, the brass will go after Mark Few, having to pay a few extra bucks than it would have had they gone after him first. If he's smart, he'll agree, because I'm pretty sure he's hit the ceiling at Gonzaga.
Nevada will go after Gillespie, who might want to lay low with his millions. (Barring the odd chance that Dixon heads to Memphis. In that case, Gillespie will be off to Pitt.)

 

I honestly believe Mark Few has reached his level of competence -- and I don't know that he'd work out well in Arizona. I think he is at the perfect spot - he's at a program that feels big time without some of the pressures of the actual big time.

 

The pressure at Arizona isn't really as thick as some people see it.

1. No one will expect the next coach to be Lute, and the people there will give him leniency for it for at least three years.
2. The facilities in Tucson aren't exactly great. And if recruiting drops, the coach will have that to blame when the brass comes around to tell him how bad of a job he's doing. With some of the boosters the school has, expect that to change in the next five years.
3. Gonzaga can act "big time" all it wants. It's in the same spot at Xavier. Going to win a lot of conference games, get a decent seed, lose to a battle-tested team a couple games into the tourney every year. That will get old. Remember, Few has basically had the same thing happen to him for the past several years. This is a guy who's made the tourney 10 straight years.

 

If you look at the respective tournament resumes of Pitt - a very good major conference program -- and Gonzaga and it is basically the same. Ditto Syracuse if you take away the Final Four run of Carmello Anthony.

And Xavier's is better than Pitt's.

It isn't easy to make it past the Sweet 16 on an annual basis -- and I think programs which get there every year at least have a chance to get through it.

Mark Few is much closer to the Final Four than I'd say at least 3/4's of the major conference programs right now.

 

On the off-chance that Dixon leaves, Pittsburgh's first call will be to Sean Miller. I think he'd take it, and it would be perfect for both sides. No way Billy Clyde ends up there.

 

Few could murder somebody at at halfcourt during a TV timeout and and never spend a day in jail. The guy is as bulletproof as any coach has ever been. Couple that with the fact that he's a personality donor and he seems to have figured out that Spokane is about as perfect a scenario as he could ever hope for.

 

Mark Fox.

 

I believe Arizona already went after Few, who said no. Same for Capel, and now Floyd. Though Floyd was the only "official offer".

Not that it will make a difference, but they need to throw $4-5 million a year at Izzo and cross their fingers. Sarver, Moreno, Arenas, Jefferson, etc., need to dig deep in those pockets.

 

Baylor can get ready to look for a new coach.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/apr/02/coach-search-bruce-pearl-remain-tennessee-tim-floy/

The search now could turn to the 38-year old Drew, whose prowess on the recruiting trail has been evident in his ability to turn around a Baylor program that had to start from scratch after the scandal-ridden Dave Bliss era. Drew took Baylor to the NCAA Tournament last season, but the Bears were somewhat of a disappointment this season, finishing ninth in the Big 12.

Though Drew was not free to talk to Memphis until Baylor finished its season Thursday night in the NIT final, a source close to Drew said he was very interested in the position. It is believed representatives of the Tigers search team had made phone calls Thursday to collect information on Drew.

How 'bout VCU's Grant on the Brazos? Pipe dream for the Bears?

 

You mean VCU's Grant who's now Bama's Grant? He got hired by the Tide last week.