2024 SLU Men's Basketball Head Coaching Search

[DeSmetBilliken]

14 hours ago, thetorch said:

I've been calling for Ford's head for over a year.  Even the diehard Ford backers have jumped off the wagon as it falls 100 MPH off a cliff.  This season was over before it started.  It is obvious Ford won't be back next year, he can't be back.  Hopefully Chris May is gone as well and the AD's office entirely restructured.  Who do we want as our next Head Coach? An active D-1 coach, a retired legend, a high major Asst, a fired or scandal plagued former HC or a hot shot from the D-2 ranks?

My Wishlist

1. Chris Mack

2. Ben McCollum - https://theathletic.com/2798730/2021/09/01/meet-ben-mccollum-the-division-ii-coach-winning-titles-and-turning-heads-across-college-basketball/

3. Nevada Smith - https://painttouches.com/2024/01/04/the-architect-nevada-smith-and-a-journey-of-basketball-innovation-marquette/

4. Mitch Henderson

5. Josh Schertz

6. Darian Devries

7. Mark Byington

8. Mike Morell

9. Dustin Kerns

10. Will Wade

Honorable Mention - Bob Huggins

Overall I think this is a good list. Wouldn’t be a fan of Wade (show cause) and Huggins (old and other issues). Admittedly I don’t know much about 7-9. I don’t know how likely it would be that he’d be interested, but I’d feel out Pat Kelsey as an option.

The big question is how competitive is SLU going to be with NIL. At the moment, we look to be behind. If we’re not going to compete at a good level in NIL, we need a coach who can identify (likely under the radar) talent and build a successful system, even as you lose players to transfers. 

 I know we’ve brought up the Champions Center and how truly helpful it actually is for men’s basketball in the NIL era, but if we still end up being less competitive in NIL, the Champions Center still might be a plus for us in recruiting that under the radar kid who happens to fit into the right coach’s system. If most other schools zig, we may have to zag and put together the team that looks better in games than in the team picture.

 

[Dr Bird]

SLU's MBB preview for tomorrow's game says this in red below:

 

• This is SLU's 19th season as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Billikens have a 163-136 mark in A-10 regular-season games. SLU has won two A-10 regular-season crowns (2013 and 2014) and two A-10 tournament titles (2013 and 2019). SLU head coach Travis Ford is 98-69 in A-10 regular-season games – 31-17 in three years at UMass (2005-08) and 67-52 in eight years at SLU (2016-24).

 

Why would any Billiken fan care what his record was 15+ years ago in the A10 while coaching UMass?  That record is totally irrelevant to me.

[wgstl]

Justin Tatum is 5-2 in the NBL

[cheeseman]

2 hours ago, cgeldmacher said:

I've always been of the opinion that the best situation for SLU is a good coach who tried to climb to the top, but got blocked by bad circumstances at a big state school.  I say this, because a coach in this position will have the perspective to see SLU as a nice landing spot with great facilities that he can try to turn into the next Gonzaga.  Ford seemed to fit that bill, but we all know how that is currently going.  A young coach may still see SLU as a spring board to a power conference job.

In that regard, Chris Holtman at Ohio St. and Bobby Hurley at Arizona State are both on the hot seat this season.  The consensus on Hurley is that Arizona State is too far away from his recruiting zone and recruiting connections.  We may be closer.

There is also Mike Brey, although he is 64.

 

Ford was not blocked - he was fired from a big state school.

[cheeseman]

2 hours ago, cgeldmacher said:

Fine, but everyone keeps saying they want a coach with a proven record.  That doesn't come from an assistant.  Also, the best candidates who are assistants or who are currently head coaches go straight to the power conference schools.  So, do you want us to be choosing from the 2nd tier of assistants or lower conference coaches.  I would say that is weak.

I am not everyone and I agree that many of names that have been put forth are simply retreads

[TheA_Bomb]

12 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

I am not everyone and I agree that many of names that have been put forth are simply retreads

Not really there are a few but mostly what I'd call up and comers.  Devries, Smith, McCollum, Henderson, Lutz etc.

Brian listed one's he thought would be on the boosters' list. He thinks they would lean toward a more established name coach (a re-tread type). Based on our experience from 8 years ago as our only data point that's how it went before.

[TheA_Bomb]

44 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Justin Tatum is 5-2 in the NBL

Diener is sporting a sweet silver beard now.  Still pretty trim and can probably hit a 3 if he's wide open and has 1.5 minutes to shoot. 

[JohnnyJumpUp]

John Beilein or Bust!!!

[Soderball]

1 hour ago, Dr Bird said:

SLU's MBB preview for tomorrow's game says this in red below:

 

• This is SLU's 19th season as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Billikens have a 163-136 mark in A-10 regular-season games. SLU has won two A-10 regular-season crowns (2013 and 2014) and two A-10 tournament titles (2013 and 2019). SLU head coach Travis Ford is 98-69 in A-10 regular-season games – 31-17 in three years at UMass (2005-08) and 67-52 in eight years at SLU (2016-24).

 

Why would any Billiken fan care what his record was 15+ years ago in the A10 while coaching UMass?  That record is totally irrelevant to me.

We would care because he was 31-17(64.6%) at Umass and 67-52(56.3%) at SLU. He has shown measurable decline since he was coach at UMass. Fire Travis Ford.

[slu72]

2 hours ago, cheeseman said:

Yes and he had issues with May because of Biondi - May had not reason to fight for RM.  Happens everytime

May wasn’t AD when Rick got hired. Levick was and then she quit PO’d because we dumped Brad after a 20 w season. Am I wrong? If so, I will say Mea Culpa, but I’m pretty sure Cheryl was the AD when Rick was hired. 

[slu72]

Any coaching hire is a risk unless it’s a Pitino or a Sampson. Rick was a low risk hire because of his impressive resume. Spoon was the same,  proven winners. We’re gonna have to go big if Ford is canned. Now, does anyone see a Spoon or Rick type out there? I don’t save for Mack. And I don’t even rate him in their league. If Ford goes it’s either a Kelsey or the guy from Indiana St. Ideally, May from Fl Atlantic would be great, but he’s gonna get a P5 deal. Here’s a name no one’s mentioned Carawell from Duke. AC and St Louis native. Why would he be a bad move? 

[cheeseman]

45 minutes ago, slu72 said:

May wasn’t AD when Rick got hired. Levick was and then she quit PO’d because we dumped Brad after a 20 w season. Am I wrong? If so, I will say Mea Culpa, but I’m pretty sure Cheryl was the AD when Rick was hired. 

Yes technically she was but left soon after and May was the AD for most of the time he was coaching here.  I only said that May was not the AD that hired him which is consistent with my position.  By the way she was on her way out after the snit over Brad and Biondi over riding her.

[slu72]

12 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

Yes technically she was but left soon after and May was the AD for most of the time he was coaching here.  I only said that May was not the AD that hired him which is consistent with my position.  By the way she was on her way out after the snit over Brad and Biondi over riding her.

No problem, Cheese. 

[3star_recruit]

35 minutes ago, slu72 said:

Any coaching hire is a risk unless it’s a Pitino or a Sampson. Rick was a low risk hire because of his impressive resume. Spoon was the same,  proven winners. We’re gonna have to go big if Ford is canned. Now, does anyone see a Spoon or Rick type out there? I don’t save for Mack. And I don’t even rate him in their league. If Ford goes it’s either a Kelsey or the guy from Indiana St. Ideally, May from Fl Atlantic would be great, but he’s gonna get a P5 deal. Here’s a name no one’s mentioned Carawell from Duke. AC and St Louis native. Why would he be a bad move? 

I thought the consensus was that we need someone who is a top-notch teacher of the game.  Somebody who can "coach up" mid-major recruits.  What does a Duke assistant know about coaching up that caliber of player?  I think there's a reason that Coach's K tree has been underwhelming.

[Dr. Holly Hills]

I’m all in for Mack or Will “that’s a strong ass offer” wade.  

[VeniceMenace]

8 minutes ago, Dr. Holly Hills said:

I’m all in for Mack or Will “that’s a strong ass offer” wade.  

Good options. If SLU comes up empty on those 2, then it’s Floyd Irons—great recruiter.

[billiken_roy]

46 minutes ago, Dr. Holly Hills said:

I’m all in for Mack or Will “that’s a strong ass offer” wade.  

Both are experienced payers of players.

[Bizziken]

My fear is that we'd hire someone like Josh Pastner, Ford 2.0. 

Peeling somebody like Chet Frazier away from Illinois would be interesting.

I also think NBA guys should get a look...Dan Geriot (Cleveland), Ronald Nored (Atlanta), and Chris Quinn (Miami). 

I really like McCollum or Mack though. 

[Brighton]

10 hours ago, Box and Won said:

If Margot Robbie wants to date you, you say YES instead of worrying that she'll dump you in a few weeks.

Speak for yourself. I would rather remain silent and walk away knowing the latter would happen.

[MusicCityBilliken]

16 hours ago, cheeseman said:

I am not everyone and I agree that many of names that have been put forth are simply retreads

Would you have considered Shaka Smart a retread when Marquette picked him up?

Actually I thought UMASS getting Frank Martin was not bad. On the other hand Archie Miller does not seem to be working for URI. He may need another year. Will see.

Like anything its a crap-shoot. The key is not to give a practically no-fire contract like we seem to have now.  That you can control.

[cheeseman]

40 minutes ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

Would you have considered Shaka Smart a retread when Marquette picked him up?

Actually I thought UMASS getting Frank Martin was not bad. On the other hand Archie Miller does not seem to be working for URI. He may need another year. Will see.

Like anything its a crap-shoot. The key is not to give a practically no-fire contract like we seem to have now.  That you can control.

The problem with retreads is they usually failed because of their own limitations.  Smart had big time success at VCU so he had a real track record something retreads usually don't have.  Marquette may have just got lucky also.  Why we are paying Ford so much is the $64K question.

[TheChosenOne]

11 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

The problem with retreads is they usually failed because of their own limitations.  Smart had big time success at VCU so he had a real track record something retreads usually don't have.  Marquette may have just got lucky also.  Why we are paying Ford so much is the $64K question.

I think that is what this board has exposed with folks digging up Ford’s compensation that the University never divulges and comparing it to the rest of the league. With some on here catching wind of some contract terms that are rumored to make his buyout cost prohibitive, it makes the University look really inept. Not only that they were played by Ford’s representatives, but to get into a contract that could potentially impact your ability to move on from him is unacceptable. So as fans we see the spending of our program and compare it to the rest of the league and realize the program is not producing at that same level, we should be competing for the league championship most winters. It is obvious that buyouts and frequent extensions is how the game is played now, but you have to know you have the resources to eat it if the worst case happens and at this point it is hard to argue we are far from that (#236 in NET and #201 in Pomeroy). I still hold out hope that we get Parker back and somewhat salvage the season, but if this season doesn’t turn and we don’t have legitimate reason to expect next winter to be much different, Ford certainly needs to go. Hopefully the $ behind the program makes certain the buyout isn’t a consideration. Plus, one could easily do a financial analysis around the decreasing attendance compared to last season which was far from a high water mark and figure out rather quickly that there is lost revenue when the team doesn’t produce (plus we had an odd schedule with two fewer home games this winter, so those numbers can’t be pretty). The next few months will be real interesting.

[3star_recruit]

42 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

The problem with retreads is they usually failed because of their own limitations.  Smart had big time success at VCU so he had a real track record something retreads usually don't have.  Marquette may have just got lucky also.  Why we are paying Ford so much is the $64K question.

We'll never know.  We can only engage in MBM speculation.  I suspect it's because the clandestine old boy network known as the BOT signed off on it.

Talking about replacing a coach and an AD is therapeutic because one day that will happen.  But will the BOT ever be receptive to so-called "out of the box thinking" when large sums of money are involved?  I seriously doubt it.  

[johnbj14]

30 minutes ago, TheChosenOne said:

I think that is what this board has exposed with folks digging up Ford’s compensation that the University never divulges and comparing it to the rest of the league. With some on here catching wind of some contract terms that are rumored to make his buyout cost prohibitive, it makes the University look really inept. Not only that they were played by Ford’s representatives, but to get into a contract that could potentially impact your ability to move on from him is unacceptable. So as fans we see the spending of our program and compare it to the rest of the league and realize the program is not producing at that same level, we should be competing for the league championship most winters. It is obvious that buyouts and frequent extensions is how the game is played now, but you have to know you have the resources to eat it if the worst case happens and at this point it is hard to argue we are far from that (#236 in NET and #201 in Pomeroy). I still hold out hope that we get Parker back and somewhat salvage the season, but if this season doesn’t turn and we don’t have legitimate reason to expect next winter to be much different, Ford certainly needs to go. Hopefully the $ behind the program makes certain the buyout isn’t a consideration. Plus, one could easily do a financial analysis around the decreasing attendance compared to last season which was far from a high water mark and figure out rather quickly that there is lost revenue when the team doesn’t produce (plus we had an odd schedule with two fewer home games this winter, so those numbers can’t be pretty). The next few months will be real interesting.

I think there are a lot of good discussion points in here, but really curious what “salvage the season” would be defined as. If Sincere comes back and this team ends up as an 18 win team, that doesn’t really show anything. It’s just kind of an arbitrary goal post. The only question that needs to be answered is if Travis Ford is the best coach to get SLU into the tournament going forward. Sincere coming back and the team looking a bit better doesn’t answer that question, for me at least. 

[gobillsgo]

What does Wade’s show cause penalty, and does it include a postseason ban that could be transferred with him to SLU?

With the transfer portal making immediate turnarounds possible, and the overall state of the A10, it’s not unreasonable to believe a hire like Wade or Mack could have us dancing their first or second year.  Just need some financial backing in NIL.