Gophers have new hoops coach

[Vern Gagne 0]

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[CanadianChris 0]

Good for Tubby. He was going to be forced out in Kentucky within a year anyway, barring a Final Four appearance next year.

[Vern Gagne 0]

So who does Kentucky go after?

 

My guess is Billy Gillespie.

 

longshot-Thad Matta. Seems like the kind of coach that would bail on a school.

[Hawk 34 0]

So who does Kentucky go after?

 

My guess is Billy Gillespie.

 

longshot-Thad Matta. Seems like the kind of coach that would bail on a school.

 

Well, yeah Matta already does the whole bailing out thing quite well.

 

Might consider Matta's protege, Sean Miller although that's a reach since he appears dead-set on sticking with X but money talks, blah blah.

[Slayer 0]

Quite frankly I can't think of a more overrated coach in college basketball than Tubby

 

He won a national title in his first year with Pitino's players and has coasted on that ever since while at the same time avoiding any return to the Final Four

[2GOLD 0]

Tubby did a really piss poor job of recruiting but truthfully, Kentucky does have some unrealistic expectations if they think they should capture the NCAA title and make the Final Four every season. There are times I think that school would have fired Coach K for not performing up to their wacky expectations.

 

I hope they get a NC STATE of no one wanting to take the job. No school could be more deserving.

[therealworldschampion 0]

There's rumors that apparently Gillespie is going to be the next coach at Arkansas, and that Stan Heath is being fired.

 

Basically from what I've heard, the candidates for the Kentucky job are Billy Donovan, John Calipari, Tom Crean, Mark Few, Tom Izzo and Jay Wright.

 

Donovan is probably the top choice, though Florida can easily pay him whatever Kentucky will offer.

 

Izzo and Wright are likely not going due to being happy in their current situations (Izzo is a Michigan native, Wright a longtime Nova fan from the Delaware Valley area, though if Kentucky offers Wright $2 to $3 million a year there's no way Nova can match that).

 

I could very much see Calipari or Few taking the job, unless Few really wants the Arizona job when Lute Olson retires.

 

I also wonder who will end up taking the Michigan job. I've heard UM's first choice is Crean, but apparently the only job Crean would leave Marquette for would be Michigan State once Izzo retires.

[cabbageboy 0]

If he's waiting for Izzo to retire that might be a long time. And by the way, I can name a more overrated coach than Tubby....Tom Crean. I can't believe UK is even considering that dipshit. Bear in mind I am a U of L fan and detest Marquette, so I am biased already, but just consider his actual record. Aside from having the extreme good fortune of stumbling onto Dwayne Wade, Tom Crean has done nothing. UK is likely marking out for him due to Marquette steamrolling them in 2003, but Crean has nothing on his resume besides that run. I can't recall him ever winning a tourney game besides 2003.

 

Hell, I wanted Tubby gone as bad as anyone but I will give him some kind of due. Yeah, he won a title with Pitino's players, but I have to wonder if Pitino himself would have won with those guys (who were essentially the scraps of the amazing 1996 and 97 teams). It's sort of a "I came to bury Tubby but I'll praise him too" type deal.

 

It's easy to get in on the "UK isn't elite anymore" hype, but let's be real here. UK is nowhere near as bad off as UNC before Roy Williams got them back to title contention. UK is nowhere near as bad off as UCLA at the end of the Lavin regime. This isn't a case like NC St. where Herb Sendek was trashed by a fanbase that can't accept what NC St. really is as a program (namely a distant 3rd at best historically in the ACC). It's also not like IU where they had the whole Knight fiasco that tainted the program and years of Mike Davis embarrassing the school with his tirades.

 

As far as the guy for the job, it's obviously Donovan. Florida might match the money, but can they match the hoops fanbase of UK? Hardly. Florida brought about 1000 fans to STL for the regionals. And here is one thing Donovan has going for him: People in the state desperately want him at UK. Nobody really wanted Tubby at UK, he was sorta grudgingly accepted at best. There really isn't anyone out there that is a better fit than Donovan.

[Guest]

UCLA wasn't in terrible shape either, what with their multiple Sweet 16 runs under Lavin. It all comes down to recruiting at the big programs, and if you don't have a coach that can do it (but can still get in the tourney) it's going to take a while to get him out.

 

UCLA just had major injury problems. I don't think Lavin's a great coach or even a good coach, but provided that his players wouldn't have been hurt all the time, he's still coaching there.