Up and comer vs Veteran vs Mid major HC

[slu72]

Which way does SLU go? All have their plusses and minuses, but in the end I'm hoping we opt for a big name vet: Gillen, Majerus, or Brich's favorite, O'Neill. With one caveat, he be given a budget to hire damn good AC's so he can pass the baton when he retires in five years. I don't know enough about O'Neil, but would wager Gillen and Majerus won't stay much longer than that. As for hot shot Mid Major Coaches, I don't know if we're attractive enough to lure away any of the sexy ones out there, eg Grant of VCU. They probably see their next move being to a BCS'er. Again, if we did go this route, and the guy was successful he'll most likely be moving up the food chain after making a name for himself, and that could happen in two years. See Air Force. But these guys have experience, and they've still got the fire in the belly to hit the recruiting trail, so landing one of them wouldn't be a bad thing. Also, they probably know the value of having good AC's as well. The up and comer AC is the least desireable to my way of thinking. No doubting the fact every top coach in the country was an AC somewhere before making his mark, but a lot more have fallen by the wayside than have found success. It's a whole different world being the top man. This would be rolling the dice at this juncture. The guy may be a cracker jack recruiter, but does he know how to run a practice, break down film, establish his system, and how to juggle the many other balls thrown at a HC? The question with an up and comer is how long's it going to take him to recover from the mistakes he's bound to make during his OJT? There are some very enticing AC's out there, Groce of OSU, Martin of Purdue, but would we be getting the next Billy Donovan or the next Quinn Snyder? Can we afford to take that risk at this juncture?