Mid-major to Big East = JUCO to I-A [hit or miss]

[Guest BasketBull.]

Many of us are banking a lot of what we saw at this year's NCAA's Tourney (I'm guilty, too) as signs of success in the Big East.

It's one tournament and crazy things happen.

Look, Seth and RMC were very good mid-major coaches... They couldn't handle C-USA when it was C-USA, and the Big East overwhelmed the latter.

It's so much more than winning a few games. Heck, RMC and the boys beat ranked Notre Dame and then went on to lose the rest...

And coaching pedigree means very little --RMC was at uf and was Kruger's right-hand man...

The point is this: I'm afraid we are going to try for another experiment and bank on another mid-major to come in and play against the BEST bball conference in America...

The more I think about it, the more I think it needs to be a 2-step rebuilding process. This next coach should have plenty of experience to get the program in the right direction, to get the attendance back up to respectability and profitability -and take us to the NCAA's.

After that, maybe in 3 years, we then move to the next stage.

It looks like right now we are trying to find another home-run hitter...

Go with Gillen or Lutz and remove the gambling factor.

[JoeB]

Whoever we hire, it will be for longer than three years.  Four will be the minimum, but more likely five will be what the candidate will get.  Our program can not be turned around in a couple of years.  We can make strides in those years, but it can't simply be fixed by bringing in another coach.  In other words, don't be expecting 11-5 in the Big East Conference in the next two or three years.

The first goal will be to improve and somehow get into the Conference Tourney.

The second goal should be making the NITs in the next few years.

Third goal is to make the NCAAs, with maybe a first round win within the next five years.

It can be done, but it will take some time.  If this happens then the fan base will slowly start getting better every year.

[BULLfreak]

[smiley=roflmao.gif]

RMC were very good mid-major coaches...

you are joking right RMC was bairly 500 when he was at a mid major

[Joe]

Sure basketbull, while we're at it we'll ignore Jay Wright, Jim Beilein, Mike Brey, John Thompson III; or past coaches like Mike Jarvis, Ben Howland, etc.

The reason it hasn't worked at USF: The FUNDING and SUPPORT isn't there.

[AndytheBull]

[smiley=roflmao.gif]

RMC were very good mid-major coaches...

you are joking right RMC was bairly 500 when he was at a mid major

He went from 7-21 to 21-7 in 3 years at Western Michigan.

[HarveyGlass]

You're never going to be rid of the gambling factor.

It doesn't matter if you hire Wooden or Woody from the rec league, what happens in every situation is a mystery.  Especially when your guys are Gillen and Lutz, who have never shown any consistency.

[bulls96go]

: :

[Guest BasketBull.]

FoxSports

Some coaches may be moving up ladder

**** "Hoops" Weiss / Special to FOXSports.com

Posted: 4 hours ago

Every year, it seems, new coaching stars are born in the NCAA Tournament and the lucky ones have used their success to get higher-profile jobs.

Two coaches at the NCAA South Region here fit the profile. Thad Matta coached Xavier to an Elite Eight in 2004 and moved up to Ohio State, arguably the best program in the Big Ten. Bruce Pearl coached Milwaukee-Wisconsin to a Sweet 16 the next season and resurfaced with a plum job at Tennessee in the SEC.

They were no-brainers.

But not every school hits the lottery. This year, 29 Division I coaches have lost their jobs, among them Tommy Amaker of Michigan, Dan Monson of Minnesota, Ricardo Patton of Colorado, Rich McKay of New Mexico, Ray Giacoletti of Utah, Steve McClain of Wyoming, **** Davey of Santa Clara and Riley Wallace of Hawaii. Last year, there were 59 coaching vacancies in Division I and an average of 48 over the last five seasons. According to Jim Haney of the NABC, the average is normally 40.

But the tournament has created a pass-fail quality for schools that are on the outside looking in for too long. ADs who are looking for that next Thad Matta have hired executive search companies like Eastman and Baudine of Plano, Tex., Parker Executive Search in Atlanta, the Pump Brothers in Los Angeles and DHR International in Chicago to do background checks and come up with a list of candidates they feel will pass the litmus test, win and fill up the seats in the arenas.

Make that win big.

All four coaches let go by the Mountain West  McClain, McKay, Giacolettti and Dale Layer of Colorado State  had taken teams to the NCAA Tournament.

Here at FOXSports.com, we've come up with eight candidates whom ADs would be smart to talk to because we feel they can sustain lightning in a bottle.

Billy Gillispie, Texas A&M.

Nobody must have told Gillispie this was a football school. Gillispie helped Bill Self recruit Texas (getting players like Deron Williams) when he was an assistant at Illinois, and he helped the Illini get to an Elite Eight in 2004. He rebuilt UTEP from the ashes and has done something no one has been able to do at A&M since Shelby Metcalf, transforming the Aggies, who were 0-16 in the Big 12 four years ago, into a Sweet 16 team and national championship contender in just three years. It will take a monster job to lure him away from College Station.

Anthony Grant, VCU.

He made a huge splash when he coached the Rams to a CAA regular-season and tournament championship and a first-round victory over Duke in his first year as a head coach, showing he is more than ready to be a star in this profession. Grant played for the legendary Don Donoher at Dayton and was part of a Flyers team as a freshman that advanced to an Elite Eight in 1984. He made his reputation as a top assistant on Billy Donovan's staff at Marshall and then Florida for the last 12 years. Grant played a major role in recruiting, aiding the growth of the SEC's dominant program, which reached a Final Four in 2000 and won the national championship last year. He has paid his dues, coaching Miami Senior High to three state titles and a 172-11 record in seven years. His teams were nationally ranked five times before he made a flawless transition to the college game.

Lon Kruger, UNLV.

He claims he wants to stay in warm weather, but top-tier schools should be salavating over Kruger, a Jack Hartman disciple from small Midwest roots who has coached the Rebels into a Sweet 16 appearance, making the most of his son Kevin's decision to transfer in for his senior year. The 6-1 guard has been the catalyst for this team's run to a Mountain West title. Kruger has won everywhere he's been in college  coaching Kansas State to an Elite Eight in 1988, taking Florida to a Final Four in 1994 and winning at Illinois before making that ill-fated move to the NBA Atlanta Hawks. But he has returned to his roots.

Chris Lowery, Southern Illinois.

We're not sure what ADs at higher-profile programs, who fall in love with 80-point, transition basketball, will make of Lowrey's 60-point, grind-them-out games and his nasty, junkyard dog defensive philosophy. But it's hard to argue his teams' ultra-competitive nature in the underrated Valley and the fact no one wants to play them in post season. The baby-faced Lowrey, a star guard at Southern from 1990-94, learned the game from Bruce Weber and was an assistant under Weber at SIU and Illinois before becoming a head coach at age 31. He's just 34 now and the Salukis are in the Sweet 16.

Tony Bennett, Washington State.

He played for and had been an assistant to his father **** at this isolated outpost in Pullman, then became head coach when dad retired. WSU is paying him just $350,000 plus incentives over five years, but that figure may have to double after Bennett coached a team that hadn't had a winning season since 1996 and was picked to finish eighth in the Pac-10 to a second-place finish in the conference, a No. 9 ranking in the AP poll and the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where the Cougars lost to Vanderbilt, 78-74, in double overtime. He also doubled home attendance. AD Jim Sterk and new president Elson Floyd are making it a priority to keep Bennett.

Brad Brownell, Wright State.

His teams play like the well-coached Bob Knight teams at Indiana. Brownell, who graduated from DePauw in Greencastle, is a Hoosier who should be on the fast track after coaching Wright State out of the abyss and to a 23-11 record, two wins over Sweet 16 Butler, the Horizon Conference championship and a first-ever NCAA appearance in 14 years in his first year on the job. Frankly, we still can't understand why UNC-Wilmington officials didn't give him an extension. All Jerry Wainwright's assistant did at that CAA school was go 84-40 in four years and advance to two NCAA Tournaments. Wilmington, by the way, went into the tank this year without him.

Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt.

The SEC Coach of the Year has been at Vandy for eight years and gone to the postseason in seven of them at a school with the highest academic standards in the SEC. The Commodores, who have a win over Florida and have beaten Kentucky twice, are making their second trip to a Sweet 16. Stallings learned under Gene Keady of Purdue, first as a player, then as an assistant; and served on Roy Williams' staff at Kansas. His first head coaching job was at Illinois State, where he led to the Redbirds to two NCAAs and two NITs in six years before moving to Nashville.

Sean Miller, Xavier.

When he was nine years old, he was a ball-handling wizard who appeared on Johnny Carson. Miller popped back into the public eye last Saturday when Musketeers pushed top-seeded Ohio State to the brink before falling, 78-71, in overtime during a second-round game in Lexington. Miller, who has been to two NCAA Tournaments in three years, schooled his old boss Matta, a good friend, by running a spread offense and moving his face-the-basket bigs  who combined to make seven threes  to the perimeter and forcing the Buckeyes' 7-0 freshman Greg Oden away from the basket. He got his start working for Herb Sendek at Miami of Ohio and NC State and is now the latest Xavier coach to attract attention from BCS conference schools.

**** "Hoops" Weiss of the New York Daily News is one of the nation's most respected basketball writers. Check out his "Hoops on Hoops" blog.

[smazza]

usf is not up the ladder from unlv

[smazza]

neither is wazzu,vandy,texas a & m