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Our Next BB Coach or #MannUp + other coach talk

Dave7464 said:
Sorry if I'm slow on the uptake, but fill me in on a coach that isn't a donk? Is an example of a non-donk coach someone who fits the mold of being young/flashy? Shaka/Pitino/Pastner?
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Donks:
mike-lonergan.jpg
Lembo.jpg
51579872_Baylor_v_Colorado.jpg
 
FckVwls said:
And Illinois the year before which is probably a better job than WF at this point. Shaka is basically the #1 option for every college job that opens up. I doubt he would select Wake as his jump.
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And I think we're pretty sure NC State and VT at least made calls.
 
As I posted when it happened, I never thought Shaka would take the Illinois or the MN job. Not taking UCLA was much more surprising. It could have been about how cheap they in things like flying Southwest and not really spending like they should.

We should definitely offer his wife a tenured position as a part of his package. That and an armored car full of money could tilt him our way.
 
KidA23 said:
And I think we're pretty sure NC State and VT at least made calls.
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Fair enough. VT would have been a crappy move. NC State could have an okay move. Still doesn't stop Wellman from asking. But no reason not to ask. Then, it's White, Lonergan, Howland.

Archie Miller, frankly has not done enough to merit being the Wake coach yet. He went 20-13 (9-7) his first year - NIT 1st round, taking over for Brian Gregory. Gregory's last year at Dayton? 22-14 (7-9) - NIT 1st round. Most fans in the area were not fans of Gregory. Miller's 2nd year: 17-13 (7-9); third year, currently sitting at 16-8 (4-5). That just isn't the sustained success that we have the luxury of taking a flyer (pun intended) on at this point. Miller could be good - we just don't know yet.
 
Shaka turned down Illinois in 2012 following the Final Four in 2011 and a 29-7 season in 2012 where they lost to Indiana by 2 in the tournament (after beating, of course, Wichita State, in the first round).

He turned down UCLA in 2013 following a 25-point tournament loss to Michigan (beat Akron in the first round). I think people forget, though, that there was never much Shaka-to-UCLA movement.

Nicole Auerbach
Shaka Smart didn't interview with UCLA. Deal was if he got extension from VCU, he wouldn't.

Smart has won two NCAA tournament games in the last two years. If he loses some games down the stretch and misses the NCAAs entirely this year, he might be more likely to move. The biggest hurdle, obviously, is the money. Illinois apparently offered $2.5M. But he's still only making $1.5M at VCU. I assume we can top that, but I may be in denial about how bad our finances really are after this whole Bz debacle.
 
RJKarl said:
As I posted when it happened, I never thought Shaka would take the Illinois or the MN job. Not taking UCLA was much more surprising. It could have been about how cheap they in things like flying Southwest and not really spending like they should.

We should definitely offer his wife a tenured position as a part of his package. That and an armored car full of money could tilt him our way.
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I'm firmly Team RJ on this one; I'd love to see Shaka at Wake.
 
Gregory had Dayton at Avg KP of 86 during his 8 years. Archie has gone 71, 63, 55 in his 3 seasons with top 30 offenses all 3 years. Gregory never had a top 50 offense in his tenure. I think there are some signs that Archie is a very good coach.

Dayton lost tons of close games last season (their record didn't reflect team strength). Seems solid.
 
I don't think anyone is saying we shouldn't call Smart. It's just not realistic.

POWER RANKINGS:
1. my BOI Mike White
2. Mr. and Mrs. Enfield v.2014 (someone we havent' considered strongly yet who's awesome)
3. Archie Miller (moves up on account of hot wife)
4. Tommy Amaker
5. Steve Masiello
6. Anthony Grant
7. Pat Skerry
8. Someone else
9. Mike Longerdonk
10. Orlando Antigua
 
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Archie is on the same path as his brother (Archie is 10 years younger). Xavier is, historically, a much better job than Dayton, so it's hard to compare Sean's Elite 8 and Sweet 16 at X to Archie's progress at Dayton. Sean is a top 5 recruiter in college basketball. Archie has the same never-sleep mentality.

Don't forget Archie has been an assistant under Herb at NC State and Arizona State, under Thad Matta at Ohio State, and under Sean Miller at Arizona. He's helped recruit some of the top classes in the country.

He and Michael White are my floor. They would come to Wake easily.
 
WF should call Brad Stevens too, just in case he has decided that the NBA is not his bag. Once we confirm that Stevens, Smart and all other coaching superstars are not coming to Winston-Salem, I hope WF picks the best available coach.

All of this has been beaten to death here, but looking back on it, it seems increasingly obvious that Wellman hired Bz because: a) WF was not going to pay more than $1 million per year given that Dino would need to be bought out; b) he wanted to retain Battle and Rusty as assistants (with the thought of Rusty becoming the WF head coach); c) he put way too much stock into AF's blowout win over a disinterested WF team when Bz coached AF; d) he underestimated how far WF would fall with a weak head coach.

The limitations (particularly not allowing the new hire free reign to pick his staff) restricted options, but as PhDeac posted last week, I really think Wellman expected Bz to steer WF into a few NCAA tournament seasons, and with Bz heading into his 60s, Rusty LaRue would be WF's coach in 2015 or so. Wellman massively miscalculated: a) the reaction to the hire; b) Bz ability to keep the program near the level of Skip; c) how far the program could fall.

The lasting damage (other than the 4 wasted basketball season) is that WF is not nearly as attractive of a job in 2014 as it was in 2010, when WF was a top 25 program over the previous 15+ years. So, the possibility of hiring a Smart or a Marshall is much smaller now than it was then. Rather the hiring a coach that already has established that he can win on the highest levels of college basketball, WF will most likely have to find a coach that it believes can win on the highest level of college basketball (but has yet to prove that he can do so). As a result, the chances of failure (hiring a coach that is unable take WF above mediocrity) are a lot greater now (this also shows how awful a hire Bz was in 2010 as WF was a prominent program at that time and was far more attractive to elite basketball coaches).

Despite these negatives, it's almost impossible for WF to not find a better coach than Bz. GDO and Skip proved that you can recruit elite talent and take the program to a top 25 level. So, yeah, lets try for Shaka, Marshall, Stevens, but if those options are denied, hope WF is ready to commit the resources and the freedom to find the best available coach.
 
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I guess John Pelphrey is not available? Regardless, I say let Dave Clawson go talk to Shaka and see if he can reel him in. That and a truckload of cash are our only hope there.
 
I agree with everyone that Shaka definitely needs to be Wake's first call. He is the ideal candidate for our job. But it is also good that the board is being realistic about whether we actually can get him.

We should be able to offer Shaka a significant amount of money. That's why hanging on to Bz as long as we have could actually pay off for us now. We have paid off Dino's buy out. Bz only has a year on his contract to buy out which should cost us a few hundred thousand dollars at most. We no longer have to pay Grobe's 3.5 million + salary, granted we do have to pay for his golden parachute but that's still a plus. Clawson's salary probably saved us at least 1.5 to 2.0 million dollars per year on the football side.

I figure that with the new tv deal, college football play off and bowl money plus the savings mentioned above that Wellman can offer Shaka a 3.5 million dollar base with performance incentives that could total up to another 1.5 million.
 
gregg marshall on pti when asked if he thought he rubs people the wrong way:

this is not a popularity contest, we are here to wins game.

just sign this guy up already and lets win some games
 
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too late for gregg. should have hired him the last time.
 
Good thing we have such great guards like Rondale, Ovaltine, and Cornelius Hudson to play Shaka's Havoc Defense.
 
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