I'm not arguing that he WILL come to Illinois, I was just saying if we make a big enough offer, we at least have a shot. NC State is in a worse situation than ours at the moment. I obviously feel that if all things are equal we do not have a shot. I'm sure you guys are right, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take and we would be downright stupid to not at least contact him to gauge interest.
2017 Coaching Carousel
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I'm not arguing that he WILL come to Illinois, I was just saying if we make a big enough offer, we at least have a shot. NC State is in a worse situation than ours at the moment. I obviously feel that if all things are equal we do not have a shot. I'm sure you guys are right, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take and we would be downright stupid to not at least contact him to gauge interest.
Has Mike White's name been mentioned here? He was born in Florida so maybe his roots are too deep, but he just trounced Kentucky last night, and is only the 9th highest paid coach in the SEC at $2 million.
He's a good coach. I wouldn't complain if we went after someone like White, but I think pulling someone away from a current top 25 school isn't super likely unless the paycheck is well worth it. I still think Whitman gets someone that we probably won't even discuss. I never thought Lovie was a real option for the football hire.
If we make a big offer, Archie is going to drag his feet and try to coax more money out of NC State.
Fans want to make big, splashy, aggressive offers to pie-in-the-sky candidates that aren't interested, and then get angry when we're publicly turned down. You can't have it both ways.
If we make some monster offer to Archie, there WILL be anonymously sourced tweets claiming he is interested and the deal is close to done. That's Archie's agent. He's playing Illinois fans for chumps for the benefit of his client, like a good agent should.
Well, honestly there is no down side to offering big and having him get a better deal out of NC State. I honestly could care less if we get turned down by a guy in Archie's position. People can understand being turned down by a guy going to his old school.
People shouldn't worry about looking bad, we already do that every time we step onto the basketball court. Anyone that thinks that we shouldn't offer someone because there is a chance we will be turned down, just doesn't get it (I'm not saying that is your view, just speaking generally).
You can't date the prom queen without asking her out first.
I agree with you in general, but I think that an expedient hire would help improve the perception of the program.
I think the program needs to communicate to the public that these last 5-10 years are an anomaly, and that we are on track to reasserting ourselves. I think hiring our first public option helps enforce that.
For sure. Wasn't insinuating that you thought anything otherwise. Just like I don't think anyone bringing up Brad Stevens or Billy Donovan actually thinks it's going to happen. Just saying it's probably the least likely "what if" scenario being bandied about. I think you and I and almost everyone else know which potential developments are most probable. Sorry if it read like an attack - wasn't my intention. I was laughing with you.
:thumb:
I don't know if I would go that far. There's a happy medium there.
The point is, the sucker with a fat stack of money to throw around can be meaninglessly flirting with coaches until May if they aren't willing to understand when they're barking up the wrong tree.
There's no shame in aiming high, but there's no valor in letting agents play you.
When the initial contact comes back "no thanks, Coach Miller is heading back to his alma mater", there's nothing to be gained by going "WHAT ABOUT $4 MILLION!?!?"
As Josh Whitman you know enough about the situation to know that's not a negotiating tactic that's worth precious, precious time in the process. And not just time, you don't want Cuonzo Martin to see "SOURCES: Illini, Miller close to deal" on the internet either.
I could get on board with Avery Johnson.
Archie Miller is not a 3 or 4 million dollar coach yet. He may turn out to be one, but there are other candidates out there with good Resumes who wouldn't cost that kind of money.
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I like Archie, a lot, but would he be worth should we offer and he accept and say NC State opens up in two years and he bolts? You couldn't blame him for that. You can never really know what a persons motives are, but I want as close to a sure thing as far as a quality coach establishing some roots here and should he bolt, he has someone on staff we promote. As much as I'd like a guy like Archie, I'd be more inclined to go hard after Keats, A. Johnson, or a Martin type.
NC State is going to be open this year. Gottfried is done.
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You are probably right, but definitely a scenario that needs to be thought of. I live in a dream world, but if we got a staff like Lovie's, where there are about 3 guys under him who could take over when he is done, I'd be happy. Granted football staffs are much larger, but we need a coach with a high level staff. Does the head coach make the staff and team or does the staff make head coach?
Avery was Larry Brown's PG for the Spurs in '91.
I feel like Larry Brown is like the Kevin Bacon of basketball. Everybody is connected to him in less than six degrees of separation.
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I follow Alabama basketball closely and can't imagine Avery Johnson has any interest in leaving. He has a good freshman class right now including McD AA Braxton Key. Has an even better class coming in for next season. He also has former Ohio St center Daniel Giddens sitting out this year due to transfer.
With Bill Battle's recent retirement announcement, Bama has named Greg Byrne as their new AD. Byrne, who is coming from Arizona is highly respected. Avery is pretty much a southern guy. Born in New Orleans, played collegiately in Baton Rouge at Southern Univ. spent a good bit of his NBA playing and coaching career in the state of Texas.
His son Avery Jr. has two more seasons of eligibility and has already burned his redshirt year when he transferred from A&M. And perhaps more of all, Bama has much deeper pockets than UI due to the profit the football team generates. We would lose a bidding war for his services.
I would love to see it happen, but think it's extremely unlikely.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing. If there is any truth to this I would assume that means the candidate is African American, since there are hoops to jump through in the hiring process if it wasn't (correct me if I'm wrong on that)?
Great observation. Many reasons to think it's doubtful, but this is a reason to cross him off the list.
Bama can match any offer, and he wouldn't just screw his kid over like that.
Sorry Rebounders Club guy!
The EEOC hoops don't disappear if you decide to hire a minority. They do disappear if there are "special circumstances".
Whitman made the Lovie thing happen in two days. That showed an institutional commitment to doing this the right way that hasn't been there in years past.
I was pretty interested when we hired Groce, but he'll be 61 before he ever coaches a game here now.
If that's truly the case, it's gotta be Cuonzo. That's the only name consistently mentioned nearly everywhere.
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