Rick Pitton is still in a law suite with UOf L.
Coaching Carousel (Basketball)
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Not with the Louisville still job open. There was a 0% chance they were going to let them happen. Especially after Pitino already indirectly did that to them before.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
This sure sounds like an Alford-style “Jump before you’re pushed” move.
Pat Kelsey to Louisville?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Really good under-the-radar coach, but his close connections to Chris Mack and especially Dino Gaudio who is basically responsible for torpedoing that program would be interesting.
But then again we're talking about the school that re-hired Bobby Petrino, so all things are possible.
That's a trillion times better hire than Richard Pitino, that's for sure.
Probably hit the transfer portal hard to get an ‘older’ team. Not sure if that requires coaching changes. Maybe necessary for optics.
Seems like he’s come to terms with the 1 and done era being over. Experience, maturity, and physical development of a team has tangible benefits, in Kentucky’s most recent case more benefits than simply having tons of potential.
Pat Kelsey is a good coach. However he does not have the flash of Dustin May last year final four appearance and story of being a manager under Bobby Knight
Excluding that 5 game run by FAU one could argue that Kelsey has a stronger resume.
Kelsey HC 12 years with 4 (5 if you include Covid year) NCAA apearances. Turned 2 programs around
May HC 6 years with 2 NCAA appearances. One program
Kelsey
Dustin May
Excluding that 5 game run by FAU one could argue that Kelsey has a stronger resume.
Kelsey HC 12 years with 4 (5 if you include Covid year) NCAA apearances. Turned 2 programs around
May HC 6 years with 2 NCAA appearances. One program
Kelsey
Dustin May
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I would use stronger language than that.
Kelsey has a DRAMATICALLY stronger resume than May.
May's is a classic stay-away resume.
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
From what I have seen, a lot of UL fans will not be able to see past their bruised egos that they didn't hire a "big name," regardless of how good of a coach Kelsey is.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
I agree. When hiring a mid major coach I put way more emphasis on how they do in conference than the tournament. The tournament is a crapshoot, anything can happen.
If continue finishing at the top of your league in high major play, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to make a run.
Advantage Louisville.
Another way to look at this even when comparing high major coaches.
Juwan Howard had more tournament success than Brad so far. Anyone want to trade Brad for Juwan?
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Patrick McCaffery entered the transfer portal today...Is Fran being fired, or is he walking away?
Tony Perkins - Entered the portal yesterday
Owen Freeman - Rumored to be entering the portal.
Seems like they know something, or they all hate Iowa City (Fran)!
Tony Perkins - Entered the portal yesterday
Owen Freeman - Rumored to be entering the portal.
Seems like they know something, or they all hate Iowa City (Fran)!
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Both those guys were expected to leave. Some rumors on Dix as well (not sure if he actually leaves) which would be a huge loss. That being said, Fran is expected to stay next year but likely be done after that
What makes you say that? May inherited a dumpster fire and immediately made them respectable. Then a top half team in their conference. Then a damn good team the past 2 seasons. In a much tougher conference btw. He seems like a heck of a hire for UM.
Keep in mind that Kelsey was successful at a much lower level. Living in Charleston I've seen his teams play a lot, and I'm not sure how well his style of play translates to the big leagues. We'll soon see I guess. He is a high energy guy, much liked in the community, so wish him success at the Ville
Holtzman OSU and Miller IU had much stronger mid major resumes than Brad yet both were fired.
I suspected we approached both and were turned down.
Brad did have 1 year at Ok State. It was surprising they did not give him major raise to keep him.
People learn. Dana Altman failed at his first P5 job, went back to mid major and is much more sucessful his 2nd time around at Oregon. He also accepted then reneged on Arkansas job in 2007
I suspected we approached both and were turned down.
Brad did have 1 year at Ok State. It was surprising they did not give him major raise to keep him.
People learn. Dana Altman failed at his first P5 job, went back to mid major and is much more sucessful his 2nd time around at Oregon. He also accepted then reneged on Arkansas job in 2007
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Short version: May and Kelsey inherited programs in similar situations of being below average conference teams. The difference is that (a) Kelsey has now done it at two stops instead of one, (b) May is known for an incredible run in the tournament but somewhat disappointed this year, and (c) Kelsey has .700+ winning percentages in 6 of the 12 seasons he's been at a head coach. I am not predicting anywhere near the same level of success but this isn't that far off from Bill Self's resume when Illinois hired him (Kelsey's resume is even better).
The dude can flat out coach. If you feel comfortable that he can adapt to the NIL demands of premier college basketball, he's going to be an awesome hire.
Don’t know and Kelsey but May did build his team from scratch, which is good merit. I wouldn’t write him off so quickly but I was really disappointed at his in-game coaching in the NU game. Maybe his mind was elsewhere.
Kelsey may very well turn out to be a great hire. Like I say he's high energy and I think he can recruit. Winthrop and CofC have both historically been top dogs or close thereto in their conferences, so it's not like he had a major rebuild on his hands.
FAU otoh was AWFUL since.....forever. Dusty May could have retired 3 years ago and been by far the most successful coach in the school's history. They did very well in a much tougher conference, and he is the sole architect of that.
Like I say, PK could very well be highly successful at Louisville, but I don't understand why people are so negative on Dusty given what he accomplished at FAU.
It looks like Wright State coach Scott Nagy, son of former Illini assistant Dick Nagy (under Lou Henson), is going to be named the new SIU coach unless things fall through. Has had a pretty good run at Wright State.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
You're absolutely right, who knows how this will pan out. Both guys could be awesome or busts. I'm just putting this in my perspective of an Illinois fan - which of these resumes would give me greater confidence in their success.
Your comment about FAU and Winthrop made me want to go down the wormhole for each program and assess the environment.
FAU has been on an incremental upward trajectory for the last 20 years. They've changed conferences four(!) times in that timespan and were one game away from having a conference championship in each conference. They join the A-Sun for five years and fall one game short twice to win the regular season championship. They join the Sun Belt and win the conference in year 3. They win CUSA under May. This took longer but it's a big jump from Sun Belt to CUSA. This isn't to say you're wrong - FAU hadn't been to the tournament in 20 years, but I can see how the program was improving.
Winthrop is simpler for me. They've been awesome when their head coach was Gregg Marshall and Pat Kelsey. They been pretty bad when it's been anyone else.
My concerns for May is he took five years to turn FAU from middling CUSA team to making the tournament. He isn't going to be starting in an excellent spot with Michigan next year, even though NIL will give him roster power in a way he's never had before.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Solid hire - the guy took South Dakota State from DII powerhouse to best Summit League team in 7-8 years, he's been awesome since.
Is Harding expected to stay?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
May built one great team which atrophied a bit the second year. Kelsey has had sustained success at Winthrop, rolling through multiple roster constructions dominating the conference, then succeeded again at Charleston.
Memphis doesn't sloppily turn the ball over at the end of their first round game last year and Dusty May is a name for Saint Louis and DePaul, not Louisville and Michigan. Kelsey's resume is not vulnerable to a single random event changing it that way.
Self kinda had the merits of both May and Kelsey at that stage, plus he was a decade younger than those guys.
I mean they'd been at a higher level than BU, sure, but BU went 53-1 in conference at SFA and scored two NCAA upsets. He had everybody's attention, including this board when many were advocating for Groce's sacking a year earlier.
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Illinifan533
- Normal, Illinois
Saw this post on FB about Indiana State coach Josh Schwartz, some of it seems wishy-washy but if true wonder what why he’s going to SLU over two bigger schools including his Alma mater.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
I could see him passing on Louisville. The expectations and pressure would be pretty wild there. It would be a big culture change from Indiana State. Not so sure about FAU unless he just wants to stay in the Midwest.
Plus, Louisville is really kind of a mess right now. He might have thought his skill set wouldn't be a good fit in an extreme turnaround situation. A reasonable comparison in the business world right now would be Boeing - Big company, big brand, but a steaming hot mess because of the safety issues. I still think someone like Billy Donovan should be the focus for Louisville. A guy like him has that turnaround type of experience. Not sure if Donovan would even have been interested unless he was in a "jump or be pushed" situation with the Bulls, but that's going to be the kind of guy that Louisville probably needs to get the ship pointed in the right direction. Kelsey has a good track record, but Louisville is a totally different level.
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