I'm pretty sure all WF basketball coaches hired in the modern era have a combined total of 1 NCAA tournament win (Skip's '96-'97 Xavier team made the round of 32) when Wake hired them. One.
Shaka has seven.
lol at anyone thinking this wouldn't be a grand slam hire.
He's not coming to Wake.
Too much early public discussion for that to happen.
Whoever we get will be kept quiet until it's announced.
I'm pretty sure all WF basketball coaches hired in the modern era have a combined total of 1 NCAA tournament win (Skip's '96-'97 Xavier team made the round of 32) when Wake hired them. One.
Shaka has seven.
lol at anyone thinking this wouldn't be a grand slam hire.
I was in the "meh" category just based on his tenure at Texas but I'm starting to come around as people are making good arguments for.
I'm intrigued with Oates and would prefer him over Matta I think. Think Oates has more upside that either Shaka or Matta.
But let's get real. I'm tempering all excitement because we know Wake can't have nice things and it's almost certain the hire will be underwhelming. I'll be excited if we get any one of Matta, Oats or Shaka, but we'll probably end up with a Miller, Odom or Kelsey type hire.
Tend to agree with this. I do, though, have a gut feeling that Currie has his man picked out--may not get him, but I bet he has his first choice selected.
Though skeptical of his success at Texas(whos only megstive seems to be being in the same conference as kansas)...but this guy will get a 2nd chance somewhere. and he is going to be working his ass off to regain his reputation. is it a good time for wake to take a risk like that? idk, but it could be pure gold if it worked out amd k/roy retire within the next 3 years.
Presuming UT is over Shaka and that Shaka likewise wouldn't mind sneaking back to the East coast, it really would make sense for everyone involved. Our interest in paying Shaka is what would give him and UT the opportunity to negotiate a reduced buy-out and get rid of each other (i.e., UT would agree to "fire" Shaka and accept some form of consideration in return for Shaka agreeing to waive some portion of his buy-out rights; it could even be something where Shaka agrees to take less in exchange for receiving the now-lesser amount on an accelerated schedule or in a lump sum, and/or waiving other termination or post-termination rights he currently has).
I get some of the meh feelings toward Shaka based on his W/L record at UT, but I still would characterize him as an absolute home run hire for us. Five years ago, before we eventually hired DM, we were all [redacted] ourselves over the prospect of snagging him from VCU. Since then he's made 3 tournaments in 5 years (assuming he doesn't this season) and generally had a shitload of bad luck, while we've sunk even further into absolute irrelevance. Now I get that there may not be a 1:1 relationship between the relative "status" of a program and of an individual coach, but even that said, I have a hard time believing we'd be anything but incredibly lucky to have a coach like Shaka at Wake.
In addition, as others have pointed out, second chances for those who've stumbled in recent big-conference gigs may be Currie's MO; he hired Bruce Weber following by far his worst season at Illinois, and Currie himself was dismissed by Tennessee. You'd think if anyone might be especially sympathetic to difficulties of translating one's success to big-time, state public school flagship behemoths with heavy donor / alumni pressure -- and the potential upside of "returning" to a smaller school -- it'd be Currie. Wouldn't be surprised if he thinks Shaka could be just as promising jumping from UT to Wake as Currie believes he himself will be doing roughly the same thing.
If rumors are true and part of the reason he didn't come to Wake is wife's job, I chalk that up as a tentative positive.
Shaka would be less of a risk than anyone else that we have been talking about. I think that Matta's health is more of any issue than people are hoping it would be. And Oats hasn't done at Buffalo what Shaka did at VCU. Oats has one NCAA Tourney win. Shaka has been to the Final Four and has 6 NCAA wins. Their overall winning percentage is comparable (Oats .687 and Shaka .661) and that's including his record at Texas. And Shaka's winning percentage at VCU is much higher (.744 vs. .687)
But those who have built Top 25 teams at low majors tend to fair well. I believe PH did some analysis comparing wins vs rankings and found good correlation between top 50ish ranked mid major teams and success at P6.I agree with this. Oats has far more risks than people seem to realize. Not every coach that has transitioned from a low/mid-major to a power conference has been a slam dunk. I'd be happy with Oats if that's who we get, but I think Shaka is a much safer choice if either of these coaches are realistic for Wake.
I agree with this. Oats has far more risks than people seem to realize. Not every coach that has transitioned from a low/mid-major to a power conference has been a slam dunk. I'd be happy with Oats if that's who we get, but I think Shaka is a much safer choice if either of these coaches are realistic for Wake.