Picking coaches is a world class crapshoot.
John Wooden went to UCLA and in his first 14 years averaged over 9 losses per year. He went to a much smaller "dance" 4 times and never got out of the regional. Solid but its not getting you into the hall of fame.
His last 12 years, he lost a total of 23 games, 9 of which were in his last 2 years. What happened?
Some of it was cultural, some of it was the tremendous population explosion of California, some of it was recruiting nationally, some of it was shady alums, but some of it had to be growing as a coach. He figured it out. He was 37 when he got the UCLA job but didn't enjoy national success until he was 51.
We are looking at a number of coaches that are in their 4-5-6th year of being a head coach. Some of them are just getting to the "start" of their most productive years and some of them are looking at their best years in the rear view mirror.
JW talks about the right fit. CMartin perplexes me. I wished he had had a better record this year at Cal. but nobody in the eastern half of the US really knows what Pac 12 basketball is like this year or any other year, we never see it.
CM will keep our recruits intact, as a black head coach every public league school in Chicago will happily welcome him, he will recruit, we will have talent. You know Tracy Webster will come back with him. Is he reaching his most productive years or has he leveled off.
I trust but don't envy JW but with what he has said he is willing to spend, we are going to get an upgrade.
I do know I am going to be very carefully watching how far the Pac 12 teams advance