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Shaka turns down UCLA

Wakelaw2006 said:
While Gainesville is FAR from my ideal place to live, I think I would say UF. A lot of recent success, a $ athletic department, and the ability to win, but at the end of the day, all of the pressure is on the head football coach, not me. This is why I don't think Billy Donovan will leave.
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The beta dog is always the happiest one in the pack.
 
TBR said:
The Duke brand is the Coach K brand. Belongs right next to IU.

I don't buy that the UCLA brand is any weaker than Carolina or Kansas. East coast bias imo.
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L.A. is a Lakers town. Everybody else is just in a tickle fight for the scraps.
 
RJKarl said:
The entire season was in turmoil until the end. Even at the end there were two stories- Shabazz and will Howland get fired.

There has been a downtrend for several years.

A new coach will fill the joint.

You need to be less parochial.
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"But I can't figure out why people don't like me!"
 
bym051d said:
Woah, let's no go overboard. I'm sure we all own some sort of anlosers.
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I've got anlosers running all over my neighborhood. Can you treat them like zombies? Or will the authorities get pissed?
 
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if ucla was a still a top 5 job then shaka would be going there.
 
UCLA has quite a few reason why the hot names are going to turn them down.

1. As RJ mentioned, the team flies SWA to a lot of games.
2. No charter flights for anyone. This also means the coaches on recruiting trips.
3. No practice facility (this is a big deal)
4. Out of this word expectations.
5. Only the head coach can afford to live in Westwood. Its ridiculously expensive so the assistants end up living somewhere else which means they get to fight awesome LA traffic every day. I think I read in the LA Times some of the football assistants have an hour each way commute. Coaching is hard enough on families now take another couple hours out of the day for car time.

With all the talent in So. Cal one would think getting recruits would be pretty easy, but none of the recruits know John Wooden or the UCLA legacy. It has been almost 20 years since UCLA won a national title. So they don't remember that either.
 
But they were in three Final Fours in the 00s.

All the talent in SoCal is a myth for the past four years as I showed earlier. This likely plays into some of the problems.
 
nomadic said:
UCLA has quite a few reason why the hot names are going to turn them down.

1. As RJ mentioned, the team flies SWA to a lot of games.
2. No charter flights for anyone. This also means the coaches on recruiting trips.
3. No practice facility (this is a big deal)
4. Out of this word expectations.
5. Only the head coach can afford to live in Westwood. Its ridiculously expensive so the assistants end up living somewhere else which means they get to fight awesome LA traffic every day. I think I read in the LA Times some of the football assistants have an hour each way commute. Coaching is hard enough on families now take another couple hours out of the day for car time.

With all the talent in So. Cal one would think getting recruits would be pretty easy, but none of the recruits know John Wooden or the UCLA legacy. It has been almost 20 years since UCLA won a national title. So they don't remember that either.
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I think one could make an argument that Arizona is the better program right now.
 
RJKarl said:
They didn't offer him enough money. From what I've heard they barely offered him more than he was making at VCU and they even fly Southwest to and from most games.

I'm surprised he didn't try to negotiate more.

What's amazing to me is UCLA is so cheap and USC was chomping at the bit to grossly overpay Jamie Dixon.

If we are willing to pay enough, he'd at least look at it. This sort of reinforces the info I have shared that he's not that interested in big schools.
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RJ, as much as I'd like to hope Shaka would come, it just isn't going to happen. Been saying for 2 years I doubted he was going anywhere.
And actually, VCU is a pretty big school.....

I also seem to remember you chastising me that I didn't know what I was talking about, and some insider information on Shaka you had established I was dead wrong.

It is time to give it up. Your post here is just silly. Shaka is a different cat. And loves Richmond and what he is building at VCU. VCU is on everyone's radar, and will get better. He is following in Few's footsteps. He doesn't need a big name school.
 
A lot of Shaka's connection with VCU comes from his wife loving Richmond and being sick of moving. They've got a young kid, Shaka is being given everything he wants at VCU, and from a lifestyle standpoint he is pretty much a god around town. He gets paid a ton, the guy isn't being completely driven by money. They're building a new practice facility just for him, and we've seen blowout wins against garbage teams be completely sold out with people scrambling to get any extra tickets at the gate.

This assumption that "if we offer him enough money then he'll come" is total bullshit. It's a vague, limitless argument from rj that has a nice built in excuse of "well, (the school) didn't offer enough money" if Shaka turns anyone down, so rj then convinces himself that there's a slim possibility he isn't just making things up. And saying he isn't interested in a big school is nonsense. VCU is the biggest school in the state, and he seems to have found a great deal of success and happiness.

The only potential stumbling block I'd even imagine for him would be the A-10's inability to keep the conference together. But that's a long term issue, and keep in mind Shaka has essentially landed in pretty much the exact same situation he was in with the CAA the year before by being a big fish in a small pond.

I say this with insight from people who work for the VCU athletic department and the team. Not the janitor at Mater Dei, which is across the damn country. And even I'm not talking in absolutes, because the only person who can do that is Shaka Smart.
 
If he was waiting for a top 5 job, well this wasn't the one. That really only leaves, UK, UNC, Duke, Indiana. Even though he's from WI, I would kill myself before moving to Bloomington and don't think Crean is going anywhere for a long time. Cal will leave once sanctions show up (which they will eventually) and K and Roy have maybe 5 years left each. I still think he's waiting for one of those two jobs. Unless he wants to ultimately turn into John Cheney he needs to leave the A-10. I also think Stevens would take one of those two jobs if offered.

Has Few's name been tied to UCLA?
 
Hoping he takes Bo Ryan's place when Bo retires. No chance of that actually happening, just like Shaka to Wake, but one can hope.
 
tau06 said:
Not a chance on UCLA being a better job than Duke or UNC.
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I know you were arguing with RJ, but it seems as if you are making your argument simply on attendance and whether the city cares about the team. There are so many more factors than that.

I think UNC might be a better gig than UCLA but it is definitely debateable. Duke I dont think is.
 
I have never talked about absolutes with Shaka. To allege such a thing is intentionally BS.

Minnesota offers Shaka less chance at success than VCU. I'm not the only person here who has shown UCLA doing things in a second class fashion and offering him less than market value for his contract.

Keep deluding yourself that I "made" things up.
 
DeacdeTejas said:
I know you were arguing with RJ, but it seems as if you are making your argument simply on attendance and whether the city cares about the team. There are so many more factors than that.

I think UNC might be a better gig than UCLA but it is definitely debateable. Duke I dont think is.
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I din't say UCLA was a better job than Duke or Carowhina. It is a better job than State.
 
RJKarl said:
I din't say UCLA was a better job than Duke or Carowhina. It is a better job than State.
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I did, and I stand by that.

Howland has poisoned the program, and UCLA was not an elite team this year. The crowds will be back.

I wasn't aware of some of UCLA's financial limitations though...
 
Shooshmoo said:
Hoping he takes Bo Ryan's place when Bo retires. No chance of that actually happening, just like Shaka to Wake, but one can hope.
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That would be a hell of a switch in playing styles.
 
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