I mean, sure, that'd be great. But there's no way we'd get him.
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I mean, sure, that'd be great. But there's no way we'd get him.
For some reason, our fans think we can pull these hot names. What up-and-comer or established guy wants to come to our empty stadium for bottom of the barrel sec money in aging facilities with no fertile recruiting grounds? This is not a very good job, and we have crazy expectations if howland has performed at a level that deserves firing.
Anyone that suggests we fire Howland has lost their mind- no one would touch this job with a 10 ft. pole if we fired a man with Howland's resume. He has gotten us back to Stansbury level. That's really all we can ask from him. Our job looks a whole lot better now than it did 6 years ago. He's done good here, but it is time for him to retire.
Howland will be our coach until he retires.
Craig Smith, Utah State
Richie Riley, South Alabama
Bob Richey, Furman
Wes Miller, UNCG
Mark Pope, BYU
This is the most realistic list that I've seen since all these threads have been started. I'd also probably add Kyle Keller at Stephen F Austin. He's really built upon what Underwood got going there and has had them rolling. They're 44-8 in the last two years.
The attitude that we can't do better because our program is a crappy job is exactly why we don't do better and it remains a crappy job. I don't know what else to say.
The best case scenario would be for Howland to keep this group together in the off season and take us to be about a 6 seed. Win a game or two in the tournment and retire. Then hire Kyle Keller, Wes Miller, Darian DeVries type. I think one of those three would be realistic and could build on what Howland has done
The big reason is MS just doesn't produce basketball talent consistently enough. If there was only 1 MS school, it might be easier, but with 3 there just isn't the talent to go around. And getting that talent to MS from out of state ain't easy. Why do you think Stans had such a dirty rep and everyone jokes about "juicy jumbos" Why did Donnie Tyndall have to cheat like he did at USM to win in CUSA? Because without going "all in" we ain't gonna get there. We aren't unique in this situation in the south - most of the SEC has reserved their "all-in" for football. They occasionally play at being "all in" in basketball, but ultimately a coach leaves and the program and network fall apart and they wander in the wilderness trying to be decent again. It's why no one other than Kentucky has been able to be consistently above average for more than a decade or so.
The best thing I?ve read in a while on hiring a new basketball HC is don?t hire a coach based off their NCAAT runs (probably what I woulda done prior to reading this). If you wouldn?t hire them March 1st, don?t hire them April 1st. Look at their full body of work in the regular season and conference tournaments. Don?t hire someone based off a run in the NCAAT one season.
All those guys I listed are guys who have taken their no-name small schools and built them into a year in-year out winner of their conference more times than not and they go on into the NCAAT and cause some problems for teams that severely outmatch them physically and skill wise. I love Craig Smith but idk about his offensive philosophy. Richie Riley has done really really well at USA and Wes Miller has done a heck of a job at UNCG and gave FSU a scare in the 1st round. Pope at BYU might be more than we could pull off. There?s some really good young, up and coming coaches at smaller schools that could be our Nate Oats or our Eric Musselman who play and fun, exciting style of basketball.