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Possible Wake Forest Coaching Candidates Analysis

Breaking it down:

Young coaches:

Grant
Kelsey
Oats

Over 50:

Matta
Musselman
 
Wes Miller isn't as good any of those. Each has accomplished far more.
 
daaberry said:
If

Why? Can you even say definitively that he is a good coach? Hell of a leap from many years at Winthrop to the ACC.
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Because he has proven that he is a qualified head coach building a sustainable winnable program, and he has proven himself a top tier recruiter in P6 college basketball. What’s not to like?
 
Why isn't Brad Stevens and Steve Kerr on this list?

BTW, it's early, but Winthrop is currently 4-4 with two wins over non-D1 programs (Warren Wilson and Pfeiffer) and their best D-1 win is # 329 SIU-Edwarsville. I know Kelsey has had success at Winthrop, but they play in the Big South -- an exceptionally low level of basketball, materially below the SoCon, where UNC-G plays. Winthrop's only competition in the Big South is Radford and maybe Garner-Webb, the rest of the conference is total trash (e.g, Longwood and USC-Upstate) just the lowest of the low in college basketball in budgets, recruiting, facilities. People criticized the Manning hire coming after he coached Tulsa to an AAC Championship -- the conference with UCONN, Cincy, Houston, Temple; a conference light years ahead of the Big South.

CORRECTION: TULSA was in the Conference USA when Manning won the title; they joined the AAC the year after Manning left. The point remains: CUSA is/was a far higher level of hoop than the Big South.
 
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Pilchard said:
Why isn't Brad Stevens and Steve Kerr on this list?

BTW, it's early, but Winthrop is currently 4-4 with two wins over non-D1 programs (Warren Wilson and Pfeiffer) and their best D-1 win is # 329 SIU-Edwarsville. I know Kelsey has had success at Winthrop, but they play in the Big South -- an exceptionally low level of basketball, materially below the SoCon, where UNC-G plays. Winthrop's only competition in the Big South is Radford and maybe Garner-Webb, the rest of the conference is total trash (e.g, Longwood and USC-Upstate) just the lowest of the low in college basketball in budgets, recruiting, facilities. People criticized the Manning hire coming after he coached Tulsa to an AAC Championship -- the conference with UCONN, Cincy, Houston, Temple; a conference light years ahead of the Big South.

CORRECTION: TULSA was in the Conference USA when Manning won the title; they joined the AAC the year after Manning left. The point remains: CUSA is/was a far higher level of hoop than the Big South.
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Kelsey also has coaching experience at two P6 schools and he was smart enough not to take the UMass job.
 
If I am the one making the decision on the WF hire, would rather have Kelsey show that he can win at a level above the Big South, staying at Withrop does not engender confidence for me. Coaches after Calapari have won at UMASS. Travis Ford won big enough at UMASS to get the Oklahoma State job, and Derek Kellogg won 20 games three times at UMASS, including a 24-9 team in 2014 that was #6 seed in the NCAA tournament. We can argue whether or not UMASS is a good job, but you can win at UMASS.
 
WFcatamount22 said:
Because he has proven that he is a qualified head coach building a sustainable winnable program, and he has proven himself a top tier recruiter in P6 college basketball. What’s not to like?
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He has had 7 seasons in the Big South & made one ncaa Tournament. He has shown no signs of being able to coach defense. He may have recruited to Wake & Xavier as an assistant, but those programs were at a different level compared to current Wake.
I can’t say for certain he is better than Manning & right now that isn’t going to solve any issues. With the current ACC composition, WF is going to have to play good defense to compete. There are too many solid programs in the league for Wake to have better talent than more than a few teams in the league. Next season there are 20 ACC games making the quest to a winning season only harder.
 
In the past twenty seasons, UMASS made The Dance once.

It would also not look too good for a coach to move in consecutive seasons.
 
I think I would rather have Miller than Kelsey. Miller has really elevated that program. Probably higher risk but higher upside too. Would be critical to pair him with seasoned acc grade recruiters.
 
What seasoned ACC recruiters will want to work with someone they may feel is less qualified to be HC?
 
RJKarl said:
What seasoned ACC recruiters will want to work with someone they may feel is less qualified to be HC?
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First, money. Hire a guy like Miller, and you should have budget leftover to really invest in the rest of the staff.

Second, what Miller has done at UNCG over the last 3 years is actually pretty impressive. He isn't my favorite candidate (I would take Oats, Musselman, and Matta first for sure), but having the 121st, 82nd, and 83rd best team in the country when you're at a program like that is, well, Gregg Marshall-esque. Kelsey's best team was 113th. I think number one criteria for us has to be a guy who has elevated a program. Out of the three fallback options of Kelsey, Miller, and Odom, Miller is the only one that has done that. I think I'm even talking myself into liking Miller over Grant.
 
BTW - Oats also has no P5 experience. Although ofc his record is better (but also inherited a good program).
 
WFU Lurker said:
First, money. Hire a guy like Miller, and you should have budget leftover to really invest in the rest of the staff.

Second, what Miller has done at UNCG over the last 3 years is actually pretty impressive. He isn't my favorite candidate (I would take Oats, Musselman, and Matta first for sure), but having the 121st, 82nd, and 83rd best team in the country when you're at a program like that is, well, Gregg Marshall-esque. Kelsey's best team was 113th. I think number one criteria for us has to be a guy who has elevated a program. Out of the three fallback options of Kelsey, Miller, and Odom, Miller is the only one that has done that. I think I'm even talking myself into liking Miller over Grant.
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How much of that success can be attributed to landing a stud in Alonso? You are referencing his soph, jr, & now senior years. Before Alonso, Miller had teams ranked 280, 286, 315, 285, & 220 (freshman season).

Wake fans can’t give Collins all the credit for Manning’s one good season & not consider how much Alonso has helped Wes.

Oats has won the same amount of tournament games in the past 8 months that Wake has in 10 years.
 
Miller has never beaten a ranked team. It's one thing to not do it in a year or two or three, but he's had eight.
 
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