2017 Coaching Carousel
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Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
To counter that, again using Ryan as an example, he was only at UWM for 2 seasons before being picked to be the Wiscy head coach. Before that he was at D3 Wisconsin-Platteville for a long time. He literally only had 2 seasons of D1 coaching experience before moving on to the P5 level. Keatts has 3 years now, plus was an assistant at D1 schools Marshall and Louisville (almost as bigtime as it gets). I'd wager he's at least as ready if not more than Bo was at the time he was hired by Pat Richter, UW's AD at the time.
Oh, another guy who had only a few years of D1 coaching experience before moving on to P5, after having a lot of lower level (HS, D3, and D2) coaching experience? John Beilein.
Keatts. Train.
Bo did have several (4?) D3 titles, not sure how that compares to Keatts HS titles.
The advantage of a more extended track record is that it demonstrates an ability to win with multiple sets of players. Sure you are losing seniors every year, but 5 years of success necessitates "building a culture" that more short term success does not.
I support Keatts, and will be happy if he's hired, but let's not pretend he checks every box.
Right. If you tacked on a 12-19 then a 17-14 season to the front end of his UNCW tenure (which would be totally understandable given what he inherited), it seems like some people would be saying that would make him a stronger candidate. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
To counter that, again using Ryan as an example, he was only at UWM for 2 seasons before being picked to be the Wiscy head coach. Before that he was at D3 Wisconsin-Platteville for a long time. He literally only had 2 seasons of D1 coaching experience before moving on to the P5 level. Keatts has 3 years now, plus was an assistant at D1 schools Marshall and Louisville (almost as bigtime as it gets). I'd wager he's at least as ready if not more than Bo was at the time he was hired by Pat Richter, UW's AD at the time.
Oh, another guy who had only a few years of D1 coaching experience before moving on to P5, after having a lot of lower level (HS, D3, and D2) coaching experience? John Beilein.
Ryan @ Wisconsin and Keatts @ Illinois have about zero similarity.
Ryan's resume for Wisconsin was a unicorn. He won 4 DIII Championships at Platteville, knew every HS coach in the state, and had promoted / trained HS coaches throughout the state with his coaching methods. There was no way to predict his success, but it was a very unique situation.
It is completely idiotic to predict some guy's success based on "well [insert coaching unicorn name] did it, so [insert coaching candidate name] can do it."
My favorite idiotic comparison is "Groce will be fine, Duke was patient with Coach K." Look up Coach K's recruiting in his first five years and tell me there are any similarities there. The class that made him took him to a Final Four and included Johnny Dawkins, Tommy Amaker, Jay Bilas, and Mark Alarie. Has Groce even been in this same universe? NO.
For you folks that still cling to the notion that Groce's tenure is somehow similar to Henson's please look up Henson's year 6 roster and look at the details of his year 5. There is no comparison. NO COMPARISON. I'd keep Groce if he had Eddie Johnson and Derek Harper next year, but he doesn't.
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Not sure. I would think Ford or Walker.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Ok. That's fair. I'm not even saying he's the absolute best option for Illinois as a first, "safe" choice (that would be a Marshall, Bennett, or Miller - but I just think the odds of getting any one of them is very very small). I'm just pretty darn certain that that guy is going to get picked up by a team willing to take a small flyer on him sooner rather than later and everyone will be wondering why a team like Illinois didn't snap him up when they had the chance. He's somewhat of a hidden gem who is becoming less hidden by the day.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
I don't know the make up of his roster, but 5 years would show that he was winning with his recruits.
Nah. It would have actually been the worst timing to do so if he was leaning towards keeping Groce.
First, Whitman would not have done it before the end of regular season, it would have shown bias of making his own personal evaluation before having complete information from he entire season. Especially when that decision would be controversial.
Second, he would not have done it yesterday after the Michigan loss. IF he was leaning towards keeping Groce, that would have been the absolute worst timing to make an announcement. C'mon... he'd have to be really dumb to have made that announcement yesterday. Even if he was leaning towards firing, he would not have done it yesterday, especially to someone who he respects, like Groce. He would not have disrespected Groce and the team, especially seniors.
Third, with the tournament announcement being on Sunday, when Illini likely find their next opponent in the NIT, making an announcement before Monday would divert all attention away from the team and seniors. It would be disrespectful.
Personally, I do not believe there will be an announcement before Monday, no matter the decision, and it is very likely that there is no announcement even on Monday (or before end of post-season, IF we make the NIT), with a probable interim statement from the AD that he will not make an announcement before end of post-season (e.g., let's support the team/seniors, etc., etc.).
The relative strength of the the CAA does fit though. Capel had VCU playing well, but his final season they finished 6th, behind UNCW, George Mason, Hofstra, ODU, and Northeastern.
Grant obviously didn't have to play VCU, but he had to play ODU and GMU every year. Keatts doesn't have to play any of those 3.
And to add to Grant's unicorn resume, he beat Duke and lost in OT to Pitt in the 07 tournament, beat Maryland in the 07-08 regular season, and lost by 1 to UCLA in the 09 tournament. Reading more into Grant's resume makes him look like about as surefire a mid major coach as you're ever gonna find.
There aren't any Buzz Peterson guys left on the roster.
The one guy who would have been was CJ Gettys, the chunky white kid from Rutgers, but he graduate transferred.
+1
And glad to be out of the straw man argument that if I point out Keatts' warts then I must only want a home run Lovie hire.
Yup. He was a big get for Bama. There were a lot of discipline problems there for him, he kicked a ton of talented guys off the team over his tenure.
He'll probably get another chance if he wants one. He's Donovan's assistant in OKC now though, maybe the NBA is where his sights are set.
There are no guarantees.
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I don't mean to make fun. If there's someone out there you like better, make the case!
Deleted member 526137
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Any word on Bollant?
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
The biggest difference is that Grant's winning percentage got worse each season at VCU, while Keatts has improved each season.
No, the biggest difference is that Keatts inherited a program that hadn't won more than 13 games since 2008.
RedRocksIllini
- Morrison, CO
I don't mean to make fun. If there's someone out there you like better, make the case!
Personally would rather have Jules Winnfield than Vincent Vega:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKOBqH8pQaQ
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
That's really nitpicking. In his last season there, they had 10 losses, 4 in conference. The non-conference losses were to Rhode Island, East Carolina, Vandy, OU, Nevada, and UCLA. All teams you would consider "higher-level" than VCU except for probably East Carolina.
Anyways, the point is moot. I doubt Grant is a candidate here after his run at Alabama.
And I would have no problem if Keatts were the choice, just pointing out a similar/better resume to his that failed.
TownieMatt
CU Expat
- Chicago
You speak great sense.
I worry about the possibility of delaying an announcement until the end of our postseason. But given that the first two round of the NIT take place next week, our season will likely be done by the first weekend of the NCAAs.
I don't want to wait that long, but I don't think it sinks us if we do.
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
Not nitpicking, simply an observation of fact.
anthony grant
Grant didn't do as bad as it's perceived at Alabama. He actually had three 20+ winning seasons, a conference division title, an NCAA tourney and made it to an NIT final.
Alabama is just a hard place to be a basketball coach despite being in a power 5 conference. The SEC has at least 7 other programs that are traditionally better at hoops than Alabama. The coach that replaced him who took a team to the NBA finals has yet to produce results similar to Grant.
I'm not saying he's my first choice but I don't think Keatts is a more proven option.
Grant didn't do as bad as it's perceived at Alabama. He actually had three 20+ winning seasons, a conference division title, an NCAA tourney and made it to an NIT final.
Alabama is just a hard place to be a basketball coach despite being in a power 5 conference. The SEC has at least 7 other programs that are traditionally better at hoops than Alabama. The coach that replaced him who took a team to the NBA finals has yet to produce results similar to Grant.
I'm not saying he's my first choice but I don't think Keatts is a more proven option.
And it's one, really. And that one is sui generis for a lot of reasons.
We don't know as much about Whitman as the narrative around him implies.
This is why I see things like "Illinois to play New Mexico State at the United Center" and a little chill goes up my spine. He's as smart as he sounds, right? He does actually get it, right?ray:
How much does the AD have to do with scheduling a game like this. I have to admit I was concerned once I saw this game. Even with the nostalgia I thought....um ok....
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