Official 2022-2023 College Basketball Thread

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Yeah it still sounds like Kennedy is still the likely guy but they're circling back and considering a 1 year interim and another search after the season. Wren supposedly has a lot of agents saying their guy is interested but can't leave their current job right now.

I think I would be okay with Kennedy, but certainly not my first choice. I have heard that Kennedy's team may be the ones touting him as the front runner and that they are still pretty early in the process. Also that they have deemed Ben McCollum as too inexperienced, despite the connection to the AD.

I am so grateful that Mick Cronin is at UCLA now and not Cincy. I don't think I could cheer for that guy and it seems like he would have been a candidate given the connections.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I think I would be okay with Kennedy, but certainly not my first choice. I have heard that Kennedy's team may be the ones touting him as the front runner and that they are still pretty early in the process. Also that they have deemed Ben McCollum as too inexperienced, despite the connection to the AD.

I am so grateful that Mick Cronin is at UCLA now and not Cincy. I don't think I could cheer for that guy and it seems like he would have been a candidate given the connections.

At the risk of sounding hypocritical given some of my Joe Mazzulla Celtics takes, isn't there a long time assistant that could take over for this year to give the administration time to bring in the right guy? I am not sure I would wanted an imitation Bob Huggins especially not one who as far as I can tell has no connection to the school.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

At the risk of sounding hypocritical given some of my Joe Mazzulla Celtics takes, isn't there a long time assistant that could take over for this year to give the administration time to bring in the right guy? I am not sure I would wanted an imitation Bob Huggins especially not one who as far as I can tell has no connection to the school.

Fair question.

It has definitely been floated. Ron Everhart is the only one on the staff who has been a head coach (has about 500 career games between McNeese St, Northeastern, and Duquesne). He grew up nearby, has been with Huggs for 10-12 years, and is old enough to where I think he would be agreeable to it without burning bridges when the season ends. The 24/7 operators said that WVU reached out to Roy Williams and Jay Wright to see if they would be willing to do a caretaker year and both, unsurprisingly, said no. John Beilein, who was WVU’s coach before Huggs, is available at age 70 and has apparently been consulted about the job, but unclear if they’ve discussed him filling it or if he’d be willing. He didn’t leave on the best terms (on either side) and, whether good or bad, the entire university and AD has turned over since he left in 2007.

It is a strange situation, as WVU has quietly only had three head coaches since 1978 and Huggins was the go to candidate the other two times there was an opening and two of the more experienced assistants left last year (one got a HC job and one was fired mid season), so the two other bench coaches, besides Everhart, have a combined 1.5 years of experience (both have a good amount of experience in basketball ops-type roles).

I haven’t read or heard this, but I would also think that if they go the caretaker route, a sizable chunk of fans and donors would want Huggins back next year and they would just be prolonging the division and embarrassment. As bad as he looks right now, it is hard for outside folks to understand how beloved he is in the state and among alumni and donors.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

At the risk of sounding hypocritical given some of my Joe Mazzulla Celtics takes, isn't there a long time assistant that could take over for this year to give the administration time to bring in the right guy? I am not sure I would wanted an imitation Bob Huggins especially not one who as far as I can tell has no connection to the school.

To add to what Swaggs said, Huggs really let some friends hang on too long as assistants and one of his knocks recently is allowing underperforming assistants to hang on and not refreshing his assistants to keep bringing in new ideas.

None of the current guys are really great head coach candidates. Everhart was supposedly being nudged toward retirement since the end of the season and the knock has that he's just been cashing paychecks for a couple seasons now. Eilert is the guy internally I've seen mentioned the most and I don't think anyone sees him as a realistic head coach option. Larry Harrison was another long tenured assistant that Huggs was more or less pressured into firing at the midway point of last year. DeMarr Johnson was brought in to replace Harrison but, at least at this stage, he's mostly a recruiter.

Basically, Huggs has done a poor job of developing young assistants or anyone that could realistically jump in to replace him from within. The new AD was putting pressure on Huggs to start developing more assistants and get younger there, but we only got a few months of that before everything went to shit.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I haven’t read or heard this, but I would also think that if they go the caretaker route, a sizable chunk of fans and donors would want Huggins back next year and they would just be prolonging the division and embarrassment. As bad as he looks right now, it is hard for outside folks to understand how beloved he is in the state and among alumni and donors.

Does he look bad right now or does he look sad?

I think most people myself included think he needs to take some time off and deal with his demons. That may mean he needs to retire to do so. However, if he could do so and be able to get back on the sidelines, I have not seen a lot to suggest WVU would get any significant backlash. If he does need to retire to control the demons, I would think any division in the fan base will be closed by the retirement/farewell ceremony where both the fan base and Huggs can say good bye to each other.

[rjolley]

McCollum would be a good option. He's won the national championship at NWMSU 4 of the last 7 years and 3 in a row (2019, 21, 22) and were the favorites to win in 2020 before the shutdown.

Can he recruit to a Div 1 school? Don't know. Can he coach and develop talent? Yes. I'd hate to see him leave NWMSU, but he deserves a shot if that's the route he wants to take.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by rjolley

McCollum would be a good option. He's won the national championship at NWMSU 4 of the last 7 years and 3 in a row (2019, 21, 22) and were the favorites to win in 2020 before the shutdown.

Can he recruit to a Div 1 school? Don't know. Can he coach and develop talent? Yes. I'd hate to see him leave NWMSU, but he deserves a shot if that's the route he wants to take.

How many of the highly regarded transfers remain to play for him is almost certainly the question about making such a hire now though.

Not playing for a HOF coach is one thing, playing for one that none of those players has ever heard of would be quite another.

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

How many of the highly regarded transfers remain to play for him is almost certainly the question about making such a hire now though.

Not playing for a HOF coach is one thing, playing for one that none of those players has ever heard of would be quite another.

Totally agree. From a name recognition point of view, I wouldn't know his name if he wasn't coaching my alma mater. I don't know if he can sell himself well enough to keep the roster together. Even if he had come in and been an assistant under Huggins for a few months, it would be an easier transition.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Does he look bad right now or does he look sad?

I think most people myself included think he needs to take some time off and deal with his demons. That may mean he needs to retire to do so. However, if he could do so and be able to get back on the sidelines, I have not seen a lot to suggest WVU would get any significant backlash. If he does need to retire to control the demons, I would think any division in the fan base will be closed by the retirement/farewell ceremony where both the fan base and Huggs can say good bye to each other.

I think it depends on who you ask. If he hadn't made the homophobic remarks last month, I think he keeps his job with this DUI, maybe with a short suspension and charitable donation. He barely, barely survived that last month - he had no rope left. I think everyone is sad and disappointed. Drinking and driving is really bad, of course, but I think there is more sympathy for him with addiction than with the homophobic stuff. So, I think he looks bad overall when you take that into consideration. He is still beloved and I would bet he would get a standing ovation if they brought him in to honor him this season (opening game, even) or retire his number or hang some sort of banner.

The other piece is that he is going to be 70 years old going into the season and the team has not been flying high (had a .500 or worse record in conference 4 out of the last 5 years, haven't won more than 1 game in the NCAAs since the 17/18 season, the aforementioned staleness with the staff), so people were starting to consider this transition already. Then we sort of overachieved last season by bringing in some upperclassmen and really utilizing the NIL and brought in probably our most talented team in years (got starters from Syracuse and Arizona and some other high end upper classmen), so there was a lot of cautious hope this season. But last season, when we stumbled out of the gates, they fired a long time assistant coach during the season and we got a new athletic director, people were starting to wonder about him before the team came together and made it to the NCAAs at the end of year.

[Swaggs]

I would not mind McCollum, at all. I think he is going to be successful whenever he makes the jump. I'd be fine getting him this year if he surrounds himself with a veteran staff. He can coach basketball and is young (and seemingly loyal, as he doesn't jump around much despite reportedly having opportunities).

I think he was removed early because the boosters have built a strong NIL network, after initially sleeping on it, and they reportedly felt like he would take the air out of the balloon since he isn't a big name.

I'm leaning into thinking that the best case now is that they get John Beilein for a year and then get someone like McCollum (maybe even as a coach in waiting?).

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I would not mind McCollum, at all. I think he is going to be successful whenever he makes the jump. I'd be fine getting him this year if he surrounds himself with a veteran staff. He can coach basketball and is young (and seemingly loyal, as he doesn't jump around much despite reportedly having opportunities).

I think he was removed early because the boosters have built a strong NIL network, after initially sleeping on it, and they reportedly felt like he would take the air out of the balloon since he isn't a big name.

I'm leaning into thinking that the best case now is that they get John Beilein for a year and then get someone like McCollum (maybe even as a coach in waiting?).

Eliert is getting an interview and seems to be the player's choice to keep things together for a year. Ruoff would get elevated and they'd bring in an experienced assistant to help.

I'm probably most comfortable with that route for this upcoming season, but the problem I have is the pressure to keep your 1 year interim if there's any success at all.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Eliert is getting an interview and seems to be the player's choice to keep things together for a year. Ruoff would get elevated and they'd bring in an experienced assistant to help.

I'm probably most comfortable with that route for this upcoming season, but the problem I have is the pressure to keep your 1 year interim if there's any success at all.

I would be happy with Eilert, but on paper it doesn't make much sense. He coached my son in baseball a few years ago and is a great guy, so I'd be on board to root for him.

I guess my list of preference at this point is:

-Beilein for one year, keeping everyone on staff except maybe bumping Everhart to an administrative position and letting him bring in someone he wants (possibly McCollum as a coach in waiting, if he is willing to be an assistant for a year). Then reassessing next March and conducting a legit search.
-Eilert as an interim with the intention of conducting a search next March. If he does well, we keep him cheaply and spend on top notch assistants.
-Everhart as interim and we find someone new next March, even if he has a tremendous season.
-Kennedy, with him keeping Eilert and Demarr Johnson (and Kuntz).


I honestly don't want it to be any outcome other than one of these because, realistically no one that is a program changer is going to be willing to leave their job at this point of the year, but they may be by next March/April. I'd rather get someone then. If Eilert wins 22-25+ games, maybe it is him. Or if Beilein wants to stick around for another few years, maybe it's him. Kennedy is barely acceptable, but I would take it.

[Ksyrup]

Huggins wants his job back, says he never resigned. Perhaps he was drunk and doesn't remember?

[Swaggs]

The Huggins stuff is going from bad to worse. Not sure what his game plan is, but he is going all in, with lawyers, on denying that he resigned, that he has been MIA because he has been in rehab, and that he wants reinstated. It has been sad seeing him go from tarnishing his legacy to setting it on fire with gasoline.

[GrantDawg]

Bony James had a cardiac arrest while practicing yesterday, and is in stable condition now.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[albionmoonlight]

Damn. Glad he's OK.

Must have some sort of preexisting condition. Glad it wasn't a Hank Gathers situation and they got it stabilized.

[albionmoonlight]

dola: As a parent, that fear of "Hey, it's not likely, but your kid might just die out of nowhere because sometimes that just happens" is always there just a little bit.

[Lathum]

Of course the right wing ghouls are gleefully pointing out he was vaxxed and boosted. they really are disgusting.

[albionmoonlight]

Oh goodness. I keep forgetting that's supposed to be a thing.

[stevew]

Talk of imposter Bronny soon I’m sure.