• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Our Next BB Coach or #MannUp + other coach talk

Damn, made the leap and put his name in the subject field. Might have to go see this guy coach at Halton Arena next week. Need a reason to go see a college basketball game in person. Last one I saw was Wake vs. unc-ch at the Joel in February 2010 with HeavyPetter (RIP).
 
I'd be down with White. It'd be cool to get back to a dribble drive offense. Some other names I'd be interested in, setting aside the Shaka/Gregg/etc pipedreams:

-Steve Masiello: 37 years old. Currently in 3rd season with Manhattan, 47-33 record. Was top assistant/recruiter for Pitino at Louisville from '05-'11. I think he has the recruiting ability to bring in high major talent, and he has some private school experience now. Probably would be a stepping stone job for him. His ex is Wes Welker's wife, a Hooter's girl turned supermodel. He's maybe my favorite overall candidate.

-Derek Kellogg: 40 years old. Currently in 6th season with UMass, 99-78 record. Has never coached at a private school, was an assistant at George Mason and Youngstown St for a couple of years, and was a top Calipari assistant at Memphis from '00-'08. Wellman would probably pass him up for those reasons, but he's done extremely well with a long rebuild at UMass, and his teams have been great defensively. Plays pretty uptempo, too. I like that combination a lot.

-Brian Wardle: 34 years old. Currently in his 4th season with Green Bay, 60-51 record. Was an assistant to Tom Crean at the beginning of Crean's tenure with Marquette, so he has a little bit of private school experience. He was the youngest D1 HC when hired with GB. Biggest knock is his teams haven't gotten to the postseason yet, but he should make the NCAAT this year. Only lost by 3 to Wisconsin earlier this year, later beat Virginia. Probably needs more seasoning before a high major job, but I like him and this picture exists. He was investigated for mistreating players, but nothing came of it, and of it Wardle said "I'm a demanding coach, not a demeaning coach."

I also like Archie Miller a lot, but he's been talked about a bunch in this thread already. Mike Lonergan would be fine as a last resort option, but I don't love him. I'd be interested to see how John Thompson III (Georgetown) would respond to an offer, but he has ties to G'town, and he'd probably bring a Princeton offense, which would be sort of annoying. I'd make runs at Fred Hoiberg (Iowa St) and Travis Ford (Ok St), too, but they're probably pipedreams or non starters for Wellman.

tl;dr- fuck it let's just hire white
 
Last edited:
Like your list. Wonder if Tommy Amaker would be considered. While he did struggle at Michigan, his record at Havard has been outstanding. Before his arrival, Harvard had the worst Ivy League basketball program (with the possible exception of Dartmouth), as Harvard had never won the Ivy League. They are now the dominant program in the Ivys, and have beaten the following programs over the past few years: BC 3 times, New Mexico, Cal, Utah, Florida State, and Colorado (with many of those wins coming on the road) among others. Harvard also beat Green Bay this year (so, if Green Bay is getting an at large, Harvard would be in line to get one too) If he can recruit and win at Harvard, he can recruit and win at WF.
 
Digging a bit more into Masiello. I LOVE THIS GUY.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/story/_...llege-coach-steve-masiello-shaking-jaspers-up

"Ball!" "Help!" "Dead!" The communication among the five players on defense is constant -- or at least it's supposed to be. God help you if you fail in that regard.

"What is wrong with you! Did your girlfriend break up with you or something? Where is your brain right now!?!"

That is not the voice of a player, but rather of new head coach Steve Masiello. The 34-year-old still looks young enough to pass as a player, but there was no question who was in charge at practice on Thursday afternoon. Masiello had lots to say and clearly had the strongest vocal cords of the bunch -- vocal cords Manhattan hopes are strong enough to rejuvenate its struggling basketball program.
Click to expand...

"It's getting them to think like winners, is what I'm really trying to change. That's probably the hardest part. But once you get them to think that way, the rest falls into place."

...

Despite his youth and lack of head-coaching experience, Masiello made big promises at his introductory news conference in April. He said, "We're gonna win and win big." He said Manhattan would "take New York back over." He said the Jaspers would be "the hardest-working team in the country, bar none."
Click to expand...

"We put rules in that our guys have to get to class five minutes early," Masiello said. "They have to sit in the front two rows, and they can't bring any type of gadgets -- phones, iPads, anything -- to class. We want our kids to shake the teacher's hand after every class. When they're on campus they can't have headphones in because we want them to be approachable by the student body. When they come to practice they're always gonna be 15 minutes early.

"What we talk about is being professional -- from the way we talk, dress, act, everything. Are we being professional with it? And that's what I have our guys ask themselves all the time."
Click to expand...

So he's got the #culture thing down pat, and he talks a big enough talk that he's not going to roll over for the other big dogs in the ACC. But hey, that was from 2011. You might ask, "Hey RSF, got anything more current?" WELL YEAH HANG ON

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspo...d-timeout-five-questions-with-steve-masiello/

CBT: As of the interview today, your team has more road wins than anyone in the country. How have you been able to win these games, while still continuing to play nearly 10 guys every night?

Masiello: To be honest, it’s all about the kids buying in. Our roles are completely defined and the kids are on board with it. Our 8th, 9th and 10th guys don’t try to be our 2nd, 3rd and 4th guys – and we’re taking pride in that. Our 9th guy wants to be the best 9th guy in the country.
Click to expand...

CBT: Can you explain your ball club to the college hoops junkie who hasn’t seen Manhattan play yet this season?

Masiello: Obviously those that have seen us play know we like to attack both ends of the court and press; but we’ve really simplified our philosophy over the course of this winning streak. As a coaching staff we literally emphasize two things right now. Our goal is to play harder than the opponent – not just play hard, play harder. And the other emphasis to to talk more than the other team every possession. So many things have fallen into place from us concentrating on those two things.
Click to expand...

So an uptempo, press-happy coach that is demanding, has private school experience, has big recruiting experience, and is well versed in #culture. WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE.

Oh, and more about that road success, from a quote after his win at South Carolina last month:
"It's one of those things with this group of guys," Manhattan coach Steve Masiello said. "They're really good when you give them one thing to focus on. When we're on the road, it's just us playing basketball and hanging out. Sometimes at home you're getting pulled by family, friends, school, people wanting tickets, just a variety of things so sometimes home can be more distracting than the road. The road simplifies things for us."
Click to expand...

He also provided this quote after a win last week, which is just fantastic:
"Adversity reveals who you are at all times," Masiello said after the game. "This team showed what they're all about today. They kind of did it during the year at Columbia and at the Barclays Center, but we had [leading senior] George [Beamon]. Today, we did it without George. We basically did it with next year's team. The character of the team really impressed me. When you could survive when you're supposed to go down, you're going to live a long time."
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Wood for the Manhattan guy. Sounds like a great fit. Has some Clawson- like streaks, so Ron might actually like him too.

Are Kellogg's Calipari connections outweighed by the fact that he's coached in Ohio?
 
Tommy Amaker. He rehabilitated Michigan and kept them competitive in the aftermath of the NCAA's punishment meted out (5 years on probation + lost 5 scholarships) for the Fab Five Scandal under the previous coach. Michigan being on probation is somewhat comparable daunting challenge to our program being absolutely horrendous in every way. With way our disease of a coach poisoned our recruiting well, we might as well have been subject to NCAA punishment these past 3 years. That being said, under close NCAA scrutiny post-Fab Five scandal, Amaker had to rehab Michigan's program and restore it to competitiveness. Compare this to challenge of increased ACC pressure in a post-[Redacted] world, Amaker will have to similarly reanimate a program that Ron Wellman and Jeff [Redacted] have simply mutilated worse than the NCAA ever could have. And Amaker was only 36 years old when he gained that experience at Michigan - since then he's brought Harvard's program to life, and is still under 50 years old. Of course, I'll be ecstatic simply to see Ron Wellman and Jeff [Redacted] fired and forced to eke out a homeless professional/collegiate existence as reviled and humiliated basketball lepers, but I think when it comes to the question of who's guy best suited to take triage our broken basketball program, I think we really need an ACC guy who's had experience reanimating dead program's, and Amaker seems like that guy to me.
 
Toughest head coaches to recruit against: Top 20 mid-major head coaches (INSIDER FROM AUGUST 2013)

7. Steve Masiello, Manhattan Jaspers
He was always known as one of the top recruiters when he worked for Rick Pitino, and he still works like an assistant, despite his move up. He doesn’t settle, and tries to fight programs a notch higher for kids.

14. Archie Miller, Dayton Flyers
His older brother, Sean, is near the top of the high-major list -- at No. 3 with Arizona -- and Archie isn’t all that different. The younger Miller is a workhorse and knows what it takes to get quality recruits, including a pair of ESPN RecruitingNation three-star prospects in the 2013 class.

15. Mike White, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Those who go up against White say he’s extremely smart, knows how to evaluate and gets after it on the recruiting trail. He’s obviously had success in a short time with the Bulldogs.
 
This Masiello guy looks pretty bawse, too. Was a top recruiter for Pitino and has done a good job at Manhattan, although it looks like he inherited most of his top players from his predecessor.
 
Wfuguru said:
Well that's cause ohio doesn't have the letter Eskimo, and see that's what I agree with, the fact that you wish you knew makes me think about where I came from and from whom

Ps. Women have vaginas
Click to expand...

This.
 
WakeForestRanger said:
While we could definitely do worse, I would pass on Amaker.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I really don't get the Amaker sentiment. The guy was an utter failure at his last high major job. He's doing well at Harvard, but as we have seen over and over again, mid-major success (if Harvard even counts for that) does not equate to high major success.
 
Seton Hall and Michigan were awhile ago and his record there is better than I remembered.
 
PhDeac said:
Seton Hall and Michigan were awhile ago and his record there is better than I remembered.
Click to expand...
I may have posted this once before. But Steve Kerr was talking about coaches on the BS report a few months back. He mentioned how much Popovich has improved in the last 10+ years. Pop used to run the most vanilla offense in the league and now he runs one of the best offenses. It made me realize that some coaches make big improvements, and it's not always very relevant what they did 10 years ago. I'd be on board with Amaker.
 
faxmachineanthem said:
I may have posted this once before. But Steve Kerr was talking about coaches on the BS report a few months back. He mentioned how much Popovich has improved in the last 10+ years. Pop used to run the most vanilla offense in the league and now he runs one of the best offenses. It made me realize that some coaches make big improvements, and it's not always very relevant what they did 10 years ago. I'd be on board with Amaker.
Click to expand...
Great point. I listened to that same interview and came away pretty enlightened on that issue, which is one I hadn't really thought of. It's perfectly plausible that a coach like Amaker can improve over time such that his second high-major coaching tenure will be more successful than his first. It's been seven years since Amaker left Michigan, and since then his Ivy League conference record trajectory looks like this:
3-11
6-8
10-4
12-2
12-2
11-3

Of course, it's certainly possible that Amaker's M.O. is perfectly tailored for the Ivy League and that his coaching and recruiting style at Harvard simply wouldn't (or in the case of Michigan, didn't) work at a high-major position, but there is something to be said for coaches improving and learning just like players can.
 
BTW, Bill Belichick was a losing coach with the Cleveland Browns (36-44), and Coach K went 9-17 during his last year at Army. Some people develop professionally over time. Assuming a detailed vetting process (which may be assuming too much for a WF coaching search), Amaker's record at Michigan may be explainable by the sanctions that the NCAA imposed on Michigan when Amaker first took the job (Michigan faced a post-season ban over his first two years at Michigan due to transgressions that arose long before Michigan hired Amaker). BTW, I am not necessarily advocating for Tommy Amaker. Just identifying names that WF should consider. Stating the completely obvious, Amaker would be a massive upgrade over the current situation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top