Dear Scott, what was it about Ray's resume that said he's our guy?

[IMissJack]

Was it the way he held down the bench at Clemson, a second tier ACC team?

[CadaverDawg]

Had to be his suits or the way he said "like" in every sentence like a high school girl.*

[preachermatt83]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to IMissJack again.

[ShotgunDawg]

Was it the way he held down the bench at Clemson, a second tier ACC team?

Maybe he just knocked the interview out of the park.

This is Scott's mistake though. Scott was trying to be "Super AD" and wanted to show everyone how smart he was. So he hired the guy that had the best interview instead of the guy that had the best interview + the best resume.

The combination of the two yields the best results, rather than relying on one exclusively

[Raytoraid83]

Offered Scott Drew multiple times. Each time answer was no. He was asked what's taking so long and to make a hire. Panicked, met Rick Ray at final 4, interviewed him there, rest is history.

[TheRef]

Well not all of Scott's hirings have been bad. He did hire Vic Schaefer.

[Raytoraid83]

Well not all of Scott's hirings have been bad. He did hire Vic Schaefer.

Byrne reference hooked him up with that.

[Skydawg1]

Maybe he just knocked the interview out of the park.

This is Scott's mistake though. Scott was trying to be "Super AD" and wanted to show everyone how smart he was. So he hired the guy that had the best interview instead of the guy that had the best interview + the best resume.

The combination of the two yields the best results, rather than relying on one exclusivelyI can't wrap my brain around how the son-in-law of our legendary Bailey Howell made this hire. Must make for some interesting Thanksgivings and Christmases.

[Liverpooldawg]

Was it the way he held down the bench at Clemson, a second tier ACC team?

My view is is he would at least take the job. I doubt anyone else would have at the time. This one is OUR fault, not Scott's.

[Coackjek]

My view is is he would at least take the job.

At least this is what I hope happened.

[IMissJack]

My view is is he would at least take the job. I doubt anyone else would have at the time. This one is OUR fault, not Scott's.

I can't believe that no one would take it. For much of the 90's and 00's the argument could be made that we were the 3rd or 4th best team in the SEC for that period behind UK and FL . That being said, we have never been so good that we could live on our reputation, and we have now done so much damage to the little reputation we had, I doubt anyone would take it now (unless we throw a boatload of money at them). Hell, Auburn just hired Bruce Pearl, and they haven't done anything since Barkley was playing.

Edited to add...There are plenty of basketball coaches with head coaching experiences in small conferences or lower divisions that could win. Basketball is not like football where you have to get a whole staff before you can win. Richard Williams certainly was an example.

[quickstrike2]

One of the first things Ray said at the introduction press conference was, he had never lost, and he didn't know how to lose. That we were gonna win here. He has found all kind of ways to lose to never have done it before.

[maroonmania]

Van Steudeman was a nice hire as well in Softball. Seems he's done much better on the women's side than the one big hire he's made on the men's side.

[CadaverDawg]

My view is is he would at least take the job. I doubt anyone else would have at the time. This one is OUR fault, not Scott's.

You keep saying this, and you couldn't be more wrong.

Were we going to get a Greg Marshall or Shaka Smart? Hell no. But could we have gotten our choice of 1,000 assistants with better resumes, or better programs worked for, than Ray? Absolutely. Not only was the hire a total cluster **** by Scott....he could have gotten Ray to be our head coach for about 400k probably. He basically went to the store to buy eggs, and when he got home realized the eggs were all rotten and he had paid $500,000 more for the eggs than he had to in the first place. He must have been on a month long bender when he did the bball search.

Seriously though, Liverpool...think about what you're saying when you say "he was the best we could get at the time". He was an assistant at a school that didn't even make the tournament. So I can think of at least 64 assistants that had him beat that year. Then you think about the fact that we could have likely hired a very good Division II coach, and their were some solid head coaches that would have taken our job if we upped the payout. And then throw on top of that, that we could have had Kenny Payne (like him or not, he couldn't be worse than Ray and was much more qualified). So basically what I'm saying is, you're wrong if you think he was "the only guy we could get". Hell, hire anybody in a winning program that has learned under a good coach. Hire the 4th assistant to Coach K, the 3rd assistant to Izzo, One of Mark Few's under studies, One of Bill Self's assistants.....I could go on and on and on, with guys that I don't even know their names and they would be better gets than Rick Ray. Ray was an assistant at a losing program under a coach that wasn't a winner. WTF?
(By the way, I know you can't just blindly pick guys like I did in my examples above, but I'm saying we could have easily found an assistant coach that was from a winning program AT LEAST)

Then think about the fact that we paid his ass 1 million per year and it makes my head explode. Want me to make it worse? Have you ever seen him in a press conference? Did you watch his first ever press conference? Do you honestly think that he was some completely different person in his interview with Scott? Come on, mane. Scott could not have done a worse job in that search and hire. I honestly would have rather had one of Coach K's Grad Assistants I think.

ETA: And I don't blame Ray one bit. Not his fault at all that he was hired. I don't blame him one bit. It was Scott's fault.

[Dawg61]

You keep saying this, and you couldn't be more wrong.

Were we going to get a Greg Marshall or Shaka Smart? Hell no. But could we have gotten our choice of 1,000 assistants with better resumes, or better programs worked for, than Ray? Absolutely. Not only was the hire a total cluster **** by Scott....he could have gotten Ray to be our head coach for about 400k probably. He basically went to the store to buy eggs, and when he got home realized the eggs were all rotten and he had paid $500,000 more for the eggs than he had to in the first place. He must have been on a month long bender when he did the bball search.

Seriously though, Liverpool...think about what you're saying when you say "he was the best we could get at the time". He was an assistant at a school that didn't even make the tournament. So I can think of at least 64 assistants that had him beat that year. Then you think about the fact that we could have likely hired a very good Division II coach, and their were some solid head coaches that would have taken our job if we upped the payout. And then throw on top of that, that we could have had Kenny Payne (like him or not, he couldn't be worse than Ray and was much more qualified). So basically what I'm saying is, you're wrong if you think he was "the only guy we could get". Hell, hire anybody in a winning program that has learned under a good coach. Hire the 4th assistant to Coach K, the 3rd assistant to Izzo, One of Mark Few's under studies, One of Bill Self's assistants.....I could go on and on and on, with guys that I don't even know their names and they would be better gets than Rick Ray. Ray was an assistant at a losing program under a coach that wasn't a winner. WTF?
(By the way, I know you can't just blindly pick guys like I did in my examples above, but I'm saying we could have easily found an assistant coach that was from a winning program AT LEAST)

Then think about the fact that we paid his ass 1 million per year and it makes my head explode. Want me to make it worse? Have you ever seen him in a press conference? Did you watch his first ever press conference? Do you honestly think that he was some completely different person in his interview with Scott? Come on, mane. Scott could not have done a worse job in that search and hire. I honestly would have rather had one of Coach K's Grad Assistants I think.

ETA: And I don't blame Ray one bit. Not his fault at all that he was hired. I don't blame him one bit. It was Scott's fault.

When you start to realize what Scott wanted wasn't about winning games you see what is so attractive about Ray. He's perfect actually. He has already accomplished what we needed done. We needed our program to be totally cleaned up. We were not going to win during the cleaning process regardless so save some money and once it's been cleaned is when we pay top dollar. We saved $3 mill this way.

[CadaverDawg]

When you start to realize what Scott wanted wasn't about winning games you see what is so attractive about Ray. He's perfect actually. He has already accomplished what we needed done. We needed our program to be totally cleaned up. We were not going to win during the cleaning process regardless so save some money and once it's been cleaned is when we pay top dollar. We saved $3 mill this way.

True. Probably could have gotten Ray for half of what we're paying him.

[BrunswickDawg]

True. Probably could have gotten Ray for half of what we're paying him.
But then you get to add "cheap" to the reputation along with "bad program". In that context paying Ray is something I am ok with.

[Political Hack]

Byrne reference hooked him up with that.

I didn't know that, but I've often wondered how we hit gold there. I knew it wasn't because Strick actually managed a quality search.

[msudawg1200]

I can't believe that no one would take it. For much of the 90's and 00's the argument could be made that we were the 3rd or 4th best team in the SEC for that period behind UK and FL . That being said, we have never been so good that we could live on our reputation, and we have now done so much damage to the little reputation we had, I doubt anyone would take it now (unless we throw a boatload of money at them). Hell, Auburn just hired Bruce Pearl, and they haven't done anything since Barkley was playing.

Edited to add...There are plenty of basketball coaches with head coaching experiences in small conferences or lower divisions that could win. Basketball is not like football where you have to get a whole staff before you can win. Richard Williams certainly was an example.

USM made the better hire with Tyndall from Morehead St. I thought we could have gotten a good mid-major head coach. The Rick Ray hire made zero sense. I am hoping this ends up similar to our football situation. Got rid of long time coach, Sherill and Stansbury, that won as never before but let things get out of control, hired in a guy to clean up the program but not a good field coach, Croom and Ray, and then hired up and coming assistant from big time program(National Champions), Mullen and ?. Maybe, it will work like this.

[Political Hack]

USM made the better hire with Tyndall from Morehead St. I thought we could have gotten a good mid-major head coach. The Rick Ray hire made zero sense. I am hoping this ends up similar to our football situation. Got rid of long time coach, Sherill and Stansbury, that won as never before but let things get out of control, hired in a guy to clean up the program but not a good field coach, Croom and Ray, and then hired up and coming assistant from big time program(National Champions), Mullen and ?. Maybe, it will work like this.

that is, and has been, the best case scenario for a while now. it's just that other people are beginning to realize it.

[RougeDawg]

Must have been the bullet point "Never had a players fight in stands on national television on my watch" that sealed the deal. I don't see any other possible gleaming accomplishments or attributes from ray.

And Cadaver, his speaking absolutely drives me insane. When I pointed out last year, how his speaking (tone, tense, and use of like, like every other word**) I was bashed on here, even to the extent a couple called me racist. I pointed out that his speaking ability did not make him come across as competent, and this probably had a negative impact on his recruiting. If he had come into my house recruiting me or my kid talking like that, I couldn't have taken him seriously. Same way in the real world. People who communicate well with proper use of the English language, are generally more respected and taken more seriously. Thus more successful because others rally around them. For someone to make it to the level of HC in a major conference, one would think speaking to Fans and media, along with communicating with players And recruits, would be a top priority In a search.