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McKillop retiring


dlarry

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Matt McKillop has been coaching at Davidson for 14 years.  I hope all the players stay, but won't this allow for players to jump into the portal?  I assume the players were plugged into this a while back.  With the immediate naming of Matt as HC, this isn't breaking news at Davidson.

The timing, the day after one of his players wins the NBA crown and MVP, is interesting, or maybe not?

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1 minute ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Make no mistake, this is a huge blow to the conference.

Well, He is 71 and makes 400k a year. 

 

Indeed a blow to the conference, maybe.

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1 minute ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Do you disagree? The fact he only made $400k per year furthers my statement. Davidson is likely to become a play-in team fast.

Im just saying, a 71 year old making that much isn't too hard to see why he may retire.  Especially when it benefits his own son. 

What do you mean likely to become a play-in team fast?

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5 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Im just saying, a 71 year old making that much isn't too hard to see why he may retire.  Especially when it benefits his own son. 

What do you mean likely to become a play-in team fast?

Sure, but that's a different issue.

I mean all factors EXCEPT their (former) head coach point toward a school that will struggle to succeed in a conference like the A10.

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19 minutes ago, someoneelse said:

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any son coaches that did as well as their father, Pitino, Thompson, Knight, Iba. 

 

Maybe I'm missing some high achieving sons.

Add Sutton. This maybe different, those all jumped into major P5 schools that expect instant gratification. Also a lot of those coaches had personality traits the sons probably did not relish. Pitino & Sutton were cheats, Thompson and Knight were bullies that could get away with it. Iba, I don't know, he was before my time 😊Davidson maybe a little more less stressful at the beginning. Will see.

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20 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Scott Drew is one of the only examples I can think of. It isn't a good way to hire a coach.

There's not many.

Add in Bryce Drew, who does fine as long as he stays at the mid major level

Dick and Tony Bennett

Ralph and Kevin Willard

But there aren't many sons with 14 years of experience taking over right after their most celebrated player wins an NBA title either.  Matt McKillop is coming in with the wind at his back.

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34 minutes ago, someoneelse said:

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any son coaches that did as well as their father, Pitino, Thompson, Knight, Iba. 

 

Maybe I'm missing some high achieving sons.

bennett at virginia

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58 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

There's not many.

Add in Bryce Drew, who does fine as long as he stays at the mid major level

Dick and Tony Bennett

Ralph and Kevin Willard

But there aren't many sons with 14 years of experience taking over right after their most celebrated player wins an NBA title either.  Matt McKillop is coming in with the wind at his back.

There are also examples of dads who coached at the HS level who had son(s) who have been successful at the college level.  Our own Travis Ford (dad Eddie) is an example.  Danny Hurley is another example.

Ray Meyer / Joey Meyer at DePaul is maybe the closest example of what is happening at Davidson.  Ray coached 42 season (if I counted right) and then his son Joey took over after having been an AC under his dad for 11 seasons.  McKillop has coached Davidson for, I believe, 33 seasons & his son Matt is taking over after having been an AC for 14 seasons.  Joey Meyer was really successful during the first part of his career at DePaul: NCAAs in each of his 1st 5 seasons & 7 of his first 8 including 2 sweet 16s (NIT in the only non-NCAA season during that stretch).  The wheels fell off a bit when DePaul joined the Great Midwest & then C-USA.  He failed to make the NCAAs in each of his final 5 seasons & putting up an ugly 3-23 record in his final season.  With hindsight Joey Meyer's drop off seems more to do with DePaul not putting resources into the program than any shortcomings he had himself.

Bob McKillop really propped up the Davison program.  He was largely underpaid & helped them to have success on a modest budget.  Davidson will probably need to invest more into the program for his son to be successful even if his salary is still on the low side for A10 coaches.

 

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On 6/17/2022 at 3:50 PM, wgstl said:

Im just saying, a 71 year old making that much isn't too hard to see why he may retire.

Huh? Are you saying he's making enough to retire comfortably or not enough to incentivize him to keep working? Unlikely it's the latter given his general passion for the game.

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2 hours ago, Compton said:

Huh? Are you saying he's making enough to retire comfortably or not enough to incentivize him to keep working? Unlikely it's the latter given his general passion for the game.

I think changes in the game, like Old Guy said with NIL, make it more difficult for someone at that age with this much experience to adapt - especially with a Davidson athletics budget. 

Knowing that his retirement would hand the keys to his son had to be further motivation to step aside, and it'd be naive to think he won't still have a major role in the program. At games, in practices, probably more. 

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