The Illinois Coaching Search

[FatGreg]

Yes but he's got to be able to coach. Any evidence of that?

Quick version:

-Solid playing career. All-American at Notre Dame, first round draft pick, 9-year NBA career

-Assistant for three years under Nate McMillan

-Youngest head coach in the NBA at 38 years old in 2010 (New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans)

-Made the playoffs in his first year with the Hornets. Was in the running for NBA coach of the year. After his first year, the organization went into rebuild mode, trading their two best players in Chris Paul and David West.

-Kept the team competitive during the tanking period - team was known for good defense and hustle despite their talent deficit.

-Drafted Anthony Davis in 2012. Worked with him for the first three years of his NBA career and Davis has referred to him as a great teacher, mentor, and friend. Davis has credited Monty with guiding his development.

-Made the playoffs in his fifth year, but was fired. Lots of people around the NBA made comments about it being unfair and/or a bad decision by the franchise.

-Hired by USA Basketball in 2013 and has worked closely with the organization ever since. Was on the bench for the 2016 Olympics as an assistant coach.

-Currently VP of Basketball Operations for the San Antonio Spurs. Gregg Popovich has made several positive remarks about Monty over the last couple of years.

-In terms of reputation, people in the basketball world from Popovich to Nate McMillan, to Coach K, to Anthony Davis have talked about Monty's basketball knowledge and teaching ability in glowing terms. He is regarded as a student of the game, very bright, a gifted teacher and motivator, and a likable person. Seriously, 20 minutes of googling will pull up a bunch of comments. He's very well liked and highly regarded by people at the top of the profession.

-In terms of actual coaching, his offense can be stagnant and slow by NBA standards. His teams strive to get high quality looks around the basket, but they don't shoot many threes. Obviously, this is out of step with current trends and somewhat of a concern for me. On the other hand, Monty's defensive ideas are a big part of why he's so well-regarded. Not only do his teams play hard with sound fundamentals; Monty has also developed some legitimately novel principles and tactics. He runs man to man with zone principles and the way his teams switch, help, and double is unique: super aggressive but super disciplined wrt court spacing. I read an article where his defense was described as an amorphous, shape shifting blob that suffocates ball handlers (paraphrasing).

My only big concern is that Monty's teams may settle for 2pt jump shots. He also isn't known for making in-game adjustments. I think he'd be dynamite as a defensive coach, teacher, motivator, and recruiter. Any of Monty, Bennett, Archie, Marshall, Keatts, or either Drew would be absolutely awesome.

All that said, I don't think Monty is coming. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

Coaches we can't get? I'll add that to the bucket list:

Bears will never win the Super Bowl. (Done, 1985).
Bulls win never be good. (6 titles. Old Schoolers will remember that people used to say Chicago will never be a good basketball town. Bulls sell out string goes on forever).
Blackhawks will never win as long as Wirtz owns the team. (Several recent Cups, and team is still in the Wirtz family).
White Sox will never win the World Series again (Done, 2005).
Cubs will never win the World series again (Done, 2016).
Illini will never get an elite coach...
Illini will never be a true Blue Blood...
Still waiting for good reasons why the last two things won't happen like the rest of the list already has.

Those other examples were the result of WORK, and painstaking, intelligent building. They didn't just drop from the heavens in animated gif form on Twitter.

Just because we're not going to hire a PREEXISTING "elite" coach doesn't mean that that person won't be considered elite once they are in this job.

Also, American pro sports leagues enforce parity on their teams. They reward bad teams and punish good ones. College sports isn't like that, which is why college sports is awesome. To beat your rivals is truly to out-duel and vanquish them. You didn't get any draft picks they didn't, you didn't have any cap space they didn't.

 

[sacraig]

Also, American pro sports leagues enforce parity on their teams. They reward bad teams and punish good ones. College sports isn't like that, which is why college sports is awesome. To beat your rivals is truly to out-duel and vanquish them. You didn't get any draft picks they didn't, you didn't have any cap space they didn't.

Tell that to the Cleveland Browns.

 

[The Worm]

Serious question here...

What makes Monty Williams all that different from a Danny Manning in terms of prospective program impact at the college level? Without having watched those youtube clips, just wondering what differentiates them that has us so excited?

 

[Second and Chalmers]

and the plane going to ATL last week where the Spurs were playing

That game was in San Antonio.

 

[DoctorofJazz]

Tell that to the Cleveland Browns.

The Cleveland management and owner are only slightly worse than Dan Snyder and company.

 

[Obelix]

His first game ... I remember being incredibly enthusiastic. Then the game started. Dribbling without purpose, poor passing, no movement, bad shots. Defense didn't help correctly and couldn't recover. The proverbial "huh?" went up in a balloon above my head. I commented on it on this site actually. I thought OK it's early but it never got better ... for five years.

Yeah, and then we started 12-0, and we won Maui, and we beat Gonzaga at Spokane (one of the toughest places to play), and then we got a #7 seed, and then we came a bad call away from the opportunity to reach S16, and then we realized that this team had failed miserably the previous year and had lost Leonard to the NBA, and then we realized that we were not projected to even make the tournament and Groce had overachieved.

There are many things to be critical of Groce over his entire career at UI, but claiming that people knew he was a bad coach after his first year is revisionist theory at best.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

What makes Monty Williams all that different from a Danny Manning in terms of prospective program impact at the college level?

You've got 5 years of college head coach track record with Danny Manning. It's a different sort of analysis.

In terms of how you weigh one against the other, honestly I have no idea.

Lovie was so good and Illinois Football was so bad that the juxtaposition just totally overwhelmed the calculation in that instance. For something like this it's trickier.

 

[sacraig]

The Cleveland management and owner are only slightly worse than Dan Snyder and company.

Sure, I was just pointing out that even with draft picks and salary caps designed to level the playing field, an organization still has to outcompete its opponents.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

Sure, I was just pointing out that even with draft picks and salary caps designed to level the playing field, an organization still has to outcompete its opponents.

On a level playing field. In college, the playing field constantly shifts.

 

[Peoria Pipeline]

I am aware of this. And while he had Anthony Davis and other big talents, his later Pellies teams were a weird amalgamation that didn't make a ton of sense. The roster construction wasn't his fault.

But those teams played bad basketball. They played hard, they played together, they competed on both ends of the floor, but they were tactically overmatched. Which is why Monty, beloved by the whole organization, got let go.

I agree that what has happened since offers a bit of pause, but I saw what I saw.

I'd be excited to have Monty as Illinois' coach, but there would be some concerns there for sure.

(I don't think there's anything at all to this flight tracking business, FWIW)

How many Pelicans game did you watch??

 

[Ulysses Everett McGill]

Yeah, and then we started 12-0, and we won Maui, and we beat Gonzaga at Spokane (one of the toughest places to play), and then we got a #7 seed, and then we came a bad call away from the opportunity to reach S16, and then we realized that this team had failed miserably the previous year and had lost Leonard to the NBA, and then we realized that we were not projected to even make the tournament and Groce had overachieved.

There are many things to be critical of Groce over his entire career at UI, but claiming that people knew he was a bad coach after his first year is revisionist theory at best.

+1

 

[Second and Chalmers]

How many Pelicans game did you watch??

....I watch a lot of sports

Admittedly some of this is secondhand. Zach Lowe was not a fan.

 

[illinistar]

Possible Scenario with Monty

There might be a reason why Monty Williams might still be in 'play'. As you may know, NCAA Div. I football teams are currently allowed to have expanded support staff with defensive and offensive analysts and a recruiting department (i.e., Alabama). I've been asking around with buddies if this could apply to basketball. With Lovie using the NFL model, then why not to some allowable extent, for Monty (or a selected NBA experienced coach) to have the NBA model - by having extended staff to allow flexibility in Monty's (hypothetical) schedule to have some time with his kids and only go on the road in an efficient way of recruiting (much like Lovie stepping into living rooms with his NFL pedigree). This may be something that Josh Whitman checked into with the legal/compliance department at UI. I am not counting on this as I totally understand that one big plus of being an NBA HC is not have to deal with recruiting 24/7, etc. But, thinking outside the box, this model could work and entice Monty/NBA alternative.

I think at this point Archie Miller is the 'best fit' of all the candidates mentioned so far (outside of Monty as preferred choice) but he may wait out for tOSU (TBD). I see Gregg Marshall as the 'next Bobby Knight' if selected at IU, given that their similar temperament and social quirks. I am also on assumption that Keatts probably end up at NC St.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

There might be a reason why Monty Williams might still be in 'play'. As you may know, NCAA Div. I football teams are currently allowed to have expanded support staff with defensive and offensive analysts and a recruiting department (i.e., Alabama). I've been asking around with buddies if this could apply to basketball. With Lovie using the NFL model, then why not to some allowable extent, for Monty (or a selected NBA experienced coach) to have the NBA model - by having extended staff to allow flexibility in Monty's (hypothetical) schedule to have some time with his kids and only go on the road in an efficient way of recruiting (much like Lovie stepping into living rooms with his NFL pedigree). This may be something that Josh Whitman checked into with the legal/compliance department at UI. I am not counting on this as I totally understand that one big plus of being an NBA HC is not have to deal with recruiting 24/7, etc. But, thinking outside the box, this model could work and entice Monty/NBA alternative.

The support staff supplements the head coach, it does not replace any aspect of what they do.

Lovie is in this thing 100%. If for whatever reason a basketball candidate were not in it with both feet, we should and would have zero interest.

 

[FatGreg]

Serious question here...

What makes Monty Williams all that different from a Danny Manning in terms of prospective program impact at the college level? Without having watched those youtube clips, just wondering what differentiates them that has us so excited?

Hard to say.

Monty as a player was good - replacement level at the NBA level. Manning was great - number one draft pick, legendary college player, NBA all star before his knees gave out. Even after multiple surgeries on both knees he won 6th man of the year.

In terms of coaching: Manning was a highly regarded assistant at Kansas, then showed a lot of potential at Tulsa. So far hasn't done much at Wake Forest, but they were alright this year. All his experience is in college. Monty was a highly regarded NBA assistant with the Trailblazers, showed early potential as a head coach in New Orleans, and ultimately flamed out. Great experience/connections/credibility due to involvement with USABB. Also, front office experience for the Spurs speaks to his organizational skills. All his experience is in the NBA.

No way to compare them, really, except they're both thought of in the basketball world as bright, likable people. Both will walk into living rooms and recruits dads will remember watching them play. Both have had modest success as head coaches but nothing that screams strategic genius. That's about it.

 

[PostersLastStand]

He hasn't wrecked a basketball team in a while....

He wrecked a whole league !

 

[OrangeNTude]

Keatts meeting with NCst.

Waiting for UVa's while options dwindle?

What do people think? Will Whitman be the one left holding the bag? Or end up being the "smartest guy in the room"?

 

[DoctorofJazz]

He wrecked a whole league !

Yeah I try not to think of that. I used to like going to CBL games before he goat farged it.

 

[PostersLastStand]

No, but I saw the blurry, indecipherable photo on Twitter!

Bigfoot? Oh Who is Bigfoot Alex.

 

[FatGreg]

Keatts meeting with NCst.

Waiting for UVa's while options dwindle?

What do people think? Will Whitman be the one left holding the bag? Or end up being the "smartest guy in the room"?

We'll see. I have confidence in JW, but this is his first time on the P5 carousel. Who knows how it will turn out. If we end up with someone like a Dan Muller, Tim Jankovic, or Steve Forbes, I'll obviously be disappointed, but I'll give whoever it is a fair shot. Hopefully Whitman turns out to be as smart and creative as we all think he is.

 

[Deleted member 228346]

Keatts meeting with NCst.

Waiting for UVa's while options dwindle?

What do people think? Will Whitman be the one left holding the bag? Or end up being the "smartest guy in the room"?

Dude, it's been like 5 days.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

If you look around the table and don't know who the sucker is then it is probably you

Always wise words

 

[The Worm]

Dude, it's been like 5 days.

...and all of the best candidates at the college level are playing in the tournament.

I guess some people here expect a coach to walk away from their team before they've been eliminated or something.

 

[coryfor3]

Coaches we can't get? I'll add that to the bucket list:

Bears will never win the Super Bowl. (Done, 1985).
Bulls win never be good. (6 titles. Old Schoolers will remember that people used to say Chicago will never be a good basketball town. Bulls sell out string goes on forever).
Blackhawks will never win as long as Wirtz owns the team. (Several recent Cups, and team is still in the Wirtz family).
White Sox will never win the World Series again (Done, 2005).
Cubs will never win the World series again (Done, 2016).
Illini will never get an elite coach...
Illini will never be a true Blue Blood...
Still waiting for good reasons why the last two things won't happen like the rest of the list already has.

Yep
I would never ever have guessed that Lovie to Illinois would have actually been possible. It happened.