Best & worst coaching hires

[jimbofive]

Livestock? You take pictures of cows? Cool.

Somewhere, Danny Tanner is shaking his head at this joke. And coke and stripperglitter is flying off of his head with each shake of it.

Actually, the more coked out stripperglitter Danny Tanner thinks about it... the more he HATES your joke.

[RUBillsFan]

This Sporting News list is a Travis-ty...sorry , I couldn't resist. But puns aside I think it is poorly done.

So I came up with my own list....

Ah, but don't take my word for it....Let's go to the experts...after all who am I to question the experts. In the link below you will see the best and worst hires of 2013 complete with grades. Yes, you guessed it ...our beloved Coach Crews comes in tied for First place with an A-. Ya gotta love it.

These lists are a Travis-ty

http://www.google.com/url?url=http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--grading-2013-college-basketball-coach-hirings-and-taking-a-look-at-who-s-on-hot-seat-194152276.html&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwi44MDDi-LMAhUCyj4KHST-BAcQFggoMAM&usg=AFQjCNEYk5W58UlaEFcqe1FfSB2cfDyCRA

Great stuff Wiz. I had considered comparing the records for coaches in the article (like I did for A10 coaches in the 1st point in my earlier post), but you beat me to it and did a much better job than I could have.

I also had remembered some media types lauding the Crews hire, but I couldn't remember exactly who/where. Bravo for finding the article and pointing out the awfulness of these lists.

[TheA_Bomb]

I'm pretty sure the hire is ranked in the top 144

[TheChosenOne]

Is anyone who watches a lot of college basketball surprised that the Ford hiring would not be well received nationally? The guy certainly does not have a great reputation as a coach. The question for me is whether his limitations were amplified coaching in one of the top basketball conferences in the country and whether those same limitations won't be as great in the A-10 and also whether given the state of our program whether those limitations are truly a concern here.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Livestock? You take pictures of cows? Cool.

Are you a live jive hoosier? No, there's not one single photo of steer -- or even a steering wheel -- in my collection of stock photos. I actually have taken a photo that includes a cow, but it was before my technique developed enough for me to "turn pro." Also, no photos of soup, either, if that's your next question. But those subjects might be added at a later date.

[hsmith19]

Are you a live jive hoosier?

Haha. Jive Hoosiers used to be one of the go-to names for my drunken trivia night team.

[The Wiz]

Is anyone who watches a lot of college basketball surprised that the Ford hiring would not be well received nationally? The guy certainly does not have a great reputation as a coach. The question for me is whether his limitations were amplified coaching in one of the top basketball conferences in the country and whether those same limitations won't be as great in the A-10 and also whether given the state of our program whether those limitations are truly a concern here.

To answer your questions....Yes it is more difficult to perform in an A+ conference (B 12 )....And yes it will be easier to do well in a B+ conference ( A10 ) and no the state of our program is not a concern because he has brought every program up to speed quickly. Think we were bad the last 2 years ...try an F rated program for many years like E Ky ...and yet he had them dancing in a few years.

I would like to expand on my post above ( #23 ). In the chart below I will show not only that Ford was a pretty good coach at OkStU the last 6 years but also why he was let go and why he should do well in the A-10.

Chart key.....Way over matched means you are struggling....Over matched means you need to step things up a bit....Even means you are doing well in conf....Under matched means you are a top performer in conf.

So what is happening here is .....The OkStU grade over the last 6 yrs...B12 grade over the same time period....And how Ford' teams are doing relative to the conf. Then we take that OkStU team and put it in the A-10 the last 6 yrs and see how it does relative to the A-10. For those that argue that he would never have had an OSU type team here that is not correct. His long pattern of recruiting shows his teams to be somewhat similar both in types of players and quality. The major difference has been the competition that these teams have played against. The Ford team playing in the OVC has an easier time than a reasonably similar team playing in the B12

Year......OkStU....B12....Match up...........................A-10....Match up

2016.........B..........A+.......Way over matched...........B+........Even

2015........A-..........A+.......Over matched..................B+.........Even

2014........A+.........A+........Even................................A-.........under matched (top performer)

2013.......A............A..........Even...............................B+..........under matched...."........."

2012........B...........A+.........Way over matched.........A-...........over matched

2011........B+.........A...........over matched.................B............even

Looking over the last 6 years , OSU was a pretty good team...yet they were only Even twice . 33% The final year was a way over match....and thus he was released for under performing in that situation....But things are relative...in the A-10 during that time frame he would have been even or under matched 5 of 6 times ..83%...Ford and his teams would have been a star here.

Since Ford has a long history of producing teams at a B+ level or higher where ever he has been all signs point to a successful run here

[DeSmetBilliken]

I went back and looked at the "article." I understand why Ford was chosen last. This was written by Mike Decourcey, who is NOT a fan of Travis Ford. When Cusumano interviewed Decourcey during the search, Decourcey in no uncertain terms showed that he was not impressed with Ford.

[johnbj14]

News out of Pitt today as Kevin Stallings has been bought out. While at the time many weren't high on Travis being brought in here, SLU looks pretty good. Also, there is some smoke swirling at Memphis around Tubby Smith, with some rumors that they are going to be bringing in Penny Hardaway. His connections as current coach of Memphis East, the team that stomped WG earlier in the year, would certainly be interesting recruiting wise. 

[BLIKNS]

Any chance Romar gets a job? Pepperdine and San Diego could /do have openings...Guess Lamont Smith got in trouble at San Diego.      Seen Lorenzo name mentioned as a possibility with the Mo State job

[majerus mojo]

11 minutes ago, johnbj14 said:

News out of Pitt today as Kevin Stallings has been bought out. While at the time many weren't high on Travis being brought in here, SLU looks pretty good. Also, there is some smoke swirling at Memphis around Tubby Smith, with some rumors that they are going to be bringing in Penny Hardaway. His connections as current coach of Memphis East, the team that stomped WG earlier in the year, would certainly be interesting recruiting wise. 

Love the quick hook. No idea what Penny’s rep is as a coach, but as a fan growing up that would be fun to see 

[Cowboy]

15 minutes ago, majerus mojo said:

Love the quick hook. No idea what Penny’s rep is as a coach, but as a fan growing up that would be fun to see 

-he got paid $120mil by the NBA, what did he get from Nike for those great commercials? why would he want to coach in college with all that brings? but I think he would circle the wagons in Memphis 

[billiken_roy]

hard to believe penny who is a millionaire would put up with and put out the time and demands needed to be a college recruiter.   

[Spoon-Balls]

Also, Vanderbilt ended a pretty lackluster season last night, though Bryce Drew has a monster recruiting class coming in next year... I feel that Drew would have used SLU more as a temporary stepping stone than anything. 

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/video-sec-tournament-action---georgia-defeats-vanderbilt/html_904c0405-26cf-5ea9-8b19-9e6717550338.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest

[hoppybeer]

I just want to see lil penny as an assistant.

[johnbj14]

4 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

-he got paid $120mil by the NBA, what did he get from Nike for those great commercials? why would he want to coach in college with all that brings? but I think he would circle the wagons in Memphis 

Looks like he has started looking at putting a staff together. My guess is that he feels he is connected enough through Memphis East, his AAU program, and connections elsewhere to build a winner at Memphis. An interesting note, he wants Larry Brown as his lead assistant. 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/memphis-officials-seriously-considering-penny-hardaway-to-replace-tubby-smith/ 

[RiseAndGrind]

The city of Memphis loves penny and hates outsiders. Give him the job. He will lock down the city recruiting wise. And if you lock down Memphis, your team will be really good. 

[Pistol]

26 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

hard to believe penny who is a millionaire would put up with and put out the time and demands needed to be a college recruiter.   

Patrick Ewing, Dan Majerle, Chris Mullins...

[Pistol]

25 minutes ago, johnbj14 said:

Looks like he has started looking at putting a staff together. My guess is that he feels he is connected enough through Memphis East, his AAU program, and connections elsewhere to build a winner at Memphis. An interesting note, he wants Larry Brown as his lead assistant. 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/memphis-officials-seriously-considering-penny-hardaway-to-replace-tubby-smith/ 

He doesn't seem to care about the perception of having a "clean" program but I think the NCAA's case for true amateurism is getting weaker by the day.

[Pistol]

1 hour ago, johnbj14 said:

News out of Pitt today as Kevin Stallings has been bought out. While at the time many weren't high on Travis being brought in here, SLU looks pretty good. Also, there is some smoke swirling at Memphis around Tubby Smith, with some rumors that they are going to be bringing in Penny Hardaway. His connections as current coach of Memphis East, the team that stomped WG earlier in the year, would certainly be interesting recruiting wise. 

The Pitt situation has been really interesting to me. It's rare that you see a guy only get two seasons - Gillispie at UK is the other I can think of in recent history. But Pitt fell so fast and so dramatically that the fan base was absolutely demoralized. The arena has been basically empty. Plus, it's hard to see them being competitive in the near future. They have a 7-man freshman class with some good players but no real stars. They have one 3-star kid committed for next season. I think the difference for Stallings here was that if they had some true studs in the freshman class and coming in the next couple seasons, then maybe you give him a chance to show progress. But things look bleak for a while.

The move to the ACC, which was all about football, has not been a good one for their basketball program.

[billiken_roy]

15 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Patrick Ewing, Dan Majerle, Chris Mullins...

none of the three are exactly proven successfuls at the college level.   clyde the glide drexler is the more likely outcome

[Pistol]

3 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

none of the three are exactly proven successfuls at the college level.   clyde the glide drexler is the more likely outcome

I'm not commenting on their performances as coaches, just pointing out that some long-time NBA stars who made a lot of money are coaching in the college ranks. Some guys are content to play golf and make charity appearances, other guys just can't quit the game.

[CBFan]

1 hour ago, johnbj14 said:

News out of Pitt today as Kevin Stallings has been bought out. While at the time many weren't high on Travis being brought in here, SLU looks pretty good. Also, there is some smoke swirling at Memphis around Tubby Smith, with some rumors that they are going to be bringing in Penny Hardaway. His connections as current coach of Memphis East, the team that stomped WG earlier in the year, would certainly be interesting recruiting wise. 

To prove to everyone I know nothing my picks for coaches to replace Crews was 1 Kevin Stallings, 2 Bryce Drew, 3 Underwood and farther down if nobody else would come Travis Ford.

I could not have been more wrong, Stallings was a complete failure, Drew's teams have not done a lot and Underwood has not done anything while coach Ford's teams have over achieved and coach Ford has recruited well in spite of the non-sense Fred and company has created.

It is a good thing I am not the athletic director.

[RiseAndGrind]

1 minute ago, CBFan said:

To prove to everyone I know nothing my picks for coaches to replace Crews was 1 Kevin Stallings, 2 Bryce Drew, 3 Underwood and farther down if nobody else would come Travis Ford.

I could not have been more wrong, Stallings was a complete failure, Drew's teams have not done a lot and Underwood has not done anything while coach Ford's teams have over achieved and coach Ford has recruited well in spite of the non-sense Fred and company has created.

It is a good thing I am not the athletic director.

I was pretty adamant Ford would be a bad coach. 

I’ll stick to the message boards I guess 

[RUBillsFan]

6 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

none of the three are exactly proven successfuls at the college level.   clyde the glide drexler is the more likely outcome

 

1 minute ago, Pistol said:

I'm not commenting on their performances as coaches, just pointing out that some long-time NBA stars who made a lot of money are coaching in the college ranks. Some guys are content to play golf and make charity appearances, other guys just can't quit the game.

Roy's point was that a guy who is already a millionaire / star from his playing days might not have the commitment level in terms of time needed etc. to be a good college recruiter / coach.  You would need to point out successful coaches who were star players & made a ton of money in order to disprove his point.  Pointing out guys who haven't been successful just means that maybe they didn't / haven't committed themselves enough to be successful (or maybe they weren't successful for other reasons - who knows).

That being said - the jury is still out on Ewing because he deserved more than 1 year to evaluate, Majerle has actually done a pretty good job at Grand Canyon considering they just jumped to D-I when he was hired, and Mullin has been mediocre.

It is tough to draw any real evidence/conclusions from such a limited set of data.  I wouldn't necessarily shy away from hiring a former NBA star if they had the coaching background necessary and seemed like a good fit.