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Jamal Walker - Now or Later?


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Walker is a free agent. Do we want Ford to grab him now-letting a coach walk, and groom him to be our next HC when Ford eventually walks or would it be better for him to get a HC job somewhere now and we then pick him up 3 to 5 years down the road?  

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5 minutes ago, majerus mojo said:

I think all on this board would take Walker if possible. Per Illini board, he is the reason Tilmon committed to UI

Per Tilmon, he is the reason he committed to Illinois.   "If it wasn't for Coach Walker, this wouldn't be happening," Tilmon reaffirmed after saying it in July.

http://www.scout.com/college/illinois/story/1728769-tilmon-signs-letter-of-intent-with-illini

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44 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Walker is a free agent. Do we want Ford to grab him now-letting a coach walk, and groom him to be our next HC when Ford eventually walks or would it be better for him to get a HC job somewhere now and we then pick him up 3 to 5 years down the road?  

Why would anyone want to get rid of anyone on our staff right now?  They have been killing it on the recruiting trail.

I don't know what Walker has done to put himself in line as the next SLU coach or the next head coach at any program.

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24 minutes ago, brianstl said:

Why would anyone want to get rid of anyone on our staff right now?  They have been killing it on the recruiting trail.

I don't know what Walker has done to put himself in line as the next SLU coach or the next head coach at any program.

-I agree on not wanting a staff change at this point

-Illinois has had recruiting success, and at least Tilmon is tied to Walker, so he is doing something, enough to be a head coach? time will tell

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45 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

-I agree on not wanting a staff change at this point

-Illinois has had recruiting success, and at least Tilmon is tied to Walker, so he is doing something, enough to be a head coach? time will tell

I wasn't trying to say Walker will never be a head coach.  It is just that walker was part of the staff where the head coach just got fired.  Those aren't the guys that normally end up in the running for D1 head coaching jobs right away.

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For some reason some  on this board think that if you drove past SLU at anytime in your life and are an assistant BB coach we should be hiring you so we can groom you for our next HC.  Walker may be very good - who knows - is he HC material - who knows. I agree with Brian - slow down pilgrim as John Wayne would say.  

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3 hours ago, brianstl said:

Why would anyone want to get rid of anyone on our staff right now?  They have been killing it on the recruiting trail.

I don't know what Walker has done to put himself in line as the next SLU coach or the next head coach at any program.

Fine, instead of a fresh topic let's continue discussing Aaron Hines.

Coaches leave all the time.  

Walker hasn't done anything yet. That is the root of the topic. Get him experience on our staff or let him grow on his own. 

 

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2 hours ago, Box and Won said:

Majerus kept Thorpe around - I think because Thorpe was recruiting Eberhardt.

Thorpe was kept for one year as his agreement with Biondi if he stayed to run the program until they hired a new coach.  It took longer to sign RM to a contract then expected and Thorpe was keeping the boat afloat and then introduced RM around to the area coaches.  When the year was up RM did not keep Thorpe and he went I think to UW  Milwaukee.  

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16 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

Thorpe was kept for one year as his agreement with Biondi if he stayed to run the program until they hired a new coach.  It took longer to sign RM to a contract then expected and Thorpe was keeping the boat afloat and then introduced RM around to the area coaches.  When the year was up RM did not keep Thorpe and he went I think to UW  Milwaukee.  

They should have kept Beane for the sake of his kid, who would have been in early in his high school days at the time, but put together a yeoman's career in Carbondale.

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16 minutes ago, Bobby Metzinger said:

They should have kept Beane for the sake of his kid, who would have been in early in his high school days at the time, but put together a yeoman's career in Carbondale.

Maybe my memory is off, but hadn't Beane left SLU to coach an area high school the year before Soderberg got sacked?

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Who on Ford's current staff do you think would be a good choice to succeed him at SLU? Any of them? We know Tate can recruit St.Louis area but those comments about being somewhat lazy in Columbia is not a ringing endorsement. I ask this because while Ford may not go anywhere this year, the rumors will turn serious next year if he has the Billikens competing for a spot in the dance or gets us in the NIT. AD's looking for a turnaround specialist will think it's pretty impressive if he gets a beat to hell SLU program back on track in 2 years.

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45 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

Thorpe was kept for one year as his agreement with Biondi if he stayed to run the program until they hired a new coach.  It took longer to sign RM to a contract then expected and Thorpe was keeping the boat afloat and then introduced RM around to the area coaches.  When the year was up RM did not keep Thorpe and he went I think to UW  Milwaukee.  

This is correct, except that Thorpe went to UWGB, not UWM. He's at UMKC now.

When Soderberg started, he retained Jason Grunkemeyer from Romar's staff; Grunk is now at Ball State after a stint as an assistant at his alma mater, Miami-Ohio. Romar took Cameron Dollar and Lance Lavetter with him. Lavetter joined Dollar's staff after he got the Seattle job.

12 minutes ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

Maybe my memory is off, but hadn't Beane left SLU to coach an area high school the year before Soderberg got sacked?

Beane got out of coaching for one season after Soderberg was fired, and then went to Illinois State. From ISU, he went to SIUC. His older son is now playing in Bulgaria; the younger son is a 2018 recruit.

9 minutes ago, slu72 said:

Who on Ford's current staff do you think would be a good choice to succeed him at SLU? Any of them? We know Tate can recruit St.Louis area but those comments about being somewhat lazy in Columbia is not a ringing endorsement. I ask this because while Ford may not go anywhere this year, the rumors will turn serious next year if he has the Billikens competing for a spot in the dance or gets us in the NIT. AD's looking for a turnaround specialist will think it's pretty impressive if he gets a beat to hell SLU program back on track in 2 years.

I don't know enough about Macon to know if he's a head coach or not. I like him as a veteran assistant coach, though. Good recruiter for sure. Will Bailey is still too young. Tate isn't a head coach, from what I can tell. He's an excellent assistant at SLU, in that area recruits seem to really like him. He doesn't have the polish of a typical D-I head coach, though. My ideal situation for Tate is as a SLU assistant forever, regardless of who's in charge.

As for Walker, I think it would be in the best interest of the incoming coach to keep him around. I think that's why the U of I slapped the Interim HC label on him. They want to preserve this incoming class, and rightfully so. The question is whether an incoming HC is going to be able to set ego aside and retain Walker and be able to keep this whole class together. If Illinois is shooting for the stars and going after the biggest, best target they can land, some of these guys have pretty strong opinions about who they're bringing with them. But I can't imagine anyone throwing out this class.

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38 minutes ago, slu72 said:

Who on Ford's current staff do you think would be a good choice to succeed him at SLU? Any of them? We know Tate can recruit St.Louis area but those comments about being somewhat lazy in Columbia is not a ringing endorsement. I ask this because while Ford may not go anywhere this year, the rumors will turn serious next year if he has the Billikens competing for a spot in the dance or gets us in the NIT. AD's looking for a turnaround specialist will think it's pretty impressive if he gets a beat to hell SLU program back on track in 2 years.

At this point I wouldn't consider our assistants as head coaches in waiting.   They are all recruiters.  

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1 hour ago, Pistol said:

 

As for Walker, I think it would be in the best interest of the incoming coach to keep him around. I think that's why the U of I slapped the Interim HC label on him. They want to preserve this incoming class, and rightfully so. The question is whether an incoming HC is going to be able to set ego aside and retain Walker and be able to keep this whole class together. If Illinois is shooting for the stars and going after the biggest, best target they can land, some of these guys have pretty strong opinions about who they're bringing with them. But I can't imagine anyone throwing out this class.

-I agree, it would seem to me that Walker has a real nice card in his hand with his relationship(s) with their incoming class to get him at least one more season 

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Romar, Spoon, Majerus and Ford were all proven, prior and successful D1 head coaches -- and each did quite well here at SLU.  I am not interested in hiring the next up and coming no name assistant coach.   While this method certainly works -- and Archie Miller at UD is a great example -- at the same time, there are other examples which include Brian Gregory, Brad Soderberg, Jim Crews, Quin Snyder, etc  And again, I am not interested in Alex Jensen, Whitesell, Moser, Harriman, Beane, Thorpe, Cameron Dollar or any of the other former SLU assistant coaches and I am not interested in former Billiken players whether they be named Bonner, Diener or Walker.

No thank you to J. Walker.  Instead, go become a D1 head coach, win some games and make some NCAA Tourneys and then we can talk.  And even then, I am not sure I want the next up and coming low level D1 coach -- just look at Groce at Illinois. Instead, I would the next Travis Ford.

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Clock Tower, Jensen would be a great addition to SLU. He's recruited the area, been a head coach at the NBDL level, has had a great run developing players with the Utah Jazz under Quin Snyder and also internationally with the German national team. I could see him at SLU as a head coach down the road if he was interested.

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1 hour ago, Clock_Tower said:

Romar, Spoon, Majerus and Ford were all proven, prior and successful D1 head coaches -- and each did quite well here at SLU.  I am not interested in hiring the next up and coming no name assistant coach.   While this method certainly works -- and Archie Miller at UD is a great example -- at the same time, there are other examples which include Brian Gregory, Brad Soderberg, Jim Crews, Quin Snyder, etc  And again, I am not interested in Alex Jensen, Whitesell, Moser, Harriman, Beane, Thorpe, Cameron Dollar or any of the other former SLU assistant coaches and I am not interested in former Billiken players whether they be named Bonner, Diener or Walker.

No thank you to J. Walker.  Instead, go become a D1 head coach, win some games and make some NCAA Tourneys and then we can talk.  And even then, I am not sure I want the next up and coming low level D1 coach -- just look at Groce at Illinois. Instead, I would the next Travis Ford.

You lost me at using Jim Crews as an "up and comer" a proven coach would be nice but if our AD can find a coach that has a prior relationship with SLU just maybe that's the key to having a great long term coach instead of just renting coaches that get fired for not living up to astronomical big conference expectations. 

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1 hour ago, billikenfan05 said:

You lost me at using Jim Crews as an "up and comer" a proven coach would be nice but if our AD can find a coach that has a prior relationship with SLU just maybe that's the key to having a great long term coach instead of just renting coaches that get fired for not living up to astronomical big conference expectations. 

SLU will never hire the next up and coming assistant because we don't have an AD who eats and sleeps basketball and has connections to the next up and comers.  Jamal Walker is going to have to string together 20 win regular seasons as a head coach before he gets an interview here. 

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38 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

SLU will never hire the next up and coming assistant because we don't have an AD who eats and sleeps basketball and has connections to the next up and comers.  Jamal Walker is going to have to string together 20 win regular seasons as a head coach before he gets an interview here. 

That's fine with me but I would prefer 25 win seasons.

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