Amaker Update
Here's an update on one of the coaches in our rearview mirror. Tommy just became the winningest coach in Harvard basketball history, prompting this feature on CBS's "Men of March". Interesting cameos here by a few recruits who chose Amaker over Belein:
February 8th, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^
Meh. No offense to Tommy, but...meh...
February 8th, 2017 at 2:17 PM ^
Michigan of the East
February 8th, 2017 at 6:34 PM ^
A lot of non-alums in your upvoting brigade on that one, which is funny.
February 8th, 2017 at 2:27 PM ^
He can recruit superior talents and dominate the Ivy.
but he still has not proved to the world that he can develop talents.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:39 PM ^
February 8th, 2017 at 6:35 PM ^
This is a thread about basketball.
February 8th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^
Sorry - he was given enough of a chance in AA and never delivered
February 8th, 2017 at 2:38 PM ^
I had never heard Amaker's voice until now.
February 8th, 2017 at 2:41 PM ^
Good for Tommy. He seemed like a good guy, but his Michigan teams were not good.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:39 PM ^
You act like he ain't ever win the NIT!
February 8th, 2017 at 2:57 PM ^
i always liked the guy personally, and he was pretty much what we needed (i.e. someone who could recruit a bit but stay squeaky clean) at that point in time...but man, those teams were maddening. we never seemed to do anything really well, and my god, the turnovers. he's never solved that problem, either. harvard is 335th in turnover rate this year, and he's never been above 124th.
February 8th, 2017 at 7:57 PM ^
We need to combine Amaker (recruiting) with Beilein (Development) and get a complete coach.
February 8th, 2017 at 2:59 PM ^
Is whether the Harvard experience has rehabilitated him enough to succeed K at Duke. K doesn't have a ton of successful assistants, the best is Mike Brey, but i doubt he'd be in the mix. It'll probably be Caple anyway, despite the struggles this year.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:04 PM ^
I don't envy him, whoever it is...
February 9th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^
you want to be the guy AFTER the guy after The Guy.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:23 PM ^
I'm friends with Dukies and none of them, fwiw, ever mention Amaker as The Successor. If I were to guess, Jeff Capel or Wojo woud be leading candidates partly because they exude an edge (think: K's intense rat-stare) that Amaker doesn't.
I've heard Brad Stevens mentioned, but a relatively successful pro coach would never go back to college.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:35 PM ^
yeah, no succesful pro coach would ever go back to college. Never happened in any sport. nope.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:49 PM ^
I know. Would never happen.
February 8th, 2017 at 4:22 PM ^
I know what you're getting at, but Harbaugh returning to Michigan is an exception that would never have occurred but for a perfect storm of circumstances that made it possible.
February 8th, 2017 at 4:54 PM ^
I'll smile the next time I write something in jest. That way everyone will know I'm just funnin' around.
February 8th, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^
Didn't Capel fail at Oklahoma? It's hard to imagine Duke fans being okay with a dude who was fired from his last head coaching job...
February 8th, 2017 at 6:37 PM ^
February 8th, 2017 at 7:48 PM ^
Capel was the hand-picked interim during K's latest sabbatical. You'll have to take it up with them.
February 8th, 2017 at 8:01 PM ^
You can play for Coach K. You can coach for Coach K.
But none of that makes you Coach K.
Finding his successor will not be as easy as just grabbing somebody who used to play/coach at Duke.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:12 PM ^
Chris Collins is putting himself in the mix with the year NU is having.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:50 PM ^
of the folks currently outside the program, I'd imagine, minus Brey.
I mean we haven't seen this kind of transition since Dean Smith retired (in terms of the legendary coach/program patriarch leaving of their own accord) which went OK under Guthridge (the 98 Carolina team was great) until it didn't under Matt Doherty.
February 8th, 2017 at 4:51 PM ^
is 57. If Coach K is around another 3-5 years, not sure how Brey's age would play into his interest in Duke as well as Duke's interest in him. At this point, Brey is far and away the most successful assistant under Coach K. Collins looks like he might have a good thing going at NU (it's early though) and possibly Wojo at Marquette, but for the most part Coach K's assistants haven't fared to well when they've become head coaches.
February 8th, 2017 at 4:57 PM ^
That puts him ~ 10 years older than all of Chris Collins, Jeff Capel and Wojo (I'm not going to even attempt to spell his last name).
Not that 51 is completely over the hill. But that's probably working against him at this point.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:05 PM ^
I only comment on coaches who coach for Michigan.
...
wait #@%
February 8th, 2017 at 3:11 PM ^
Go.
I got Jerret Smith and Gavin Groninger
February 8th, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
Brent Petway?
IIRC, he was the only guy I remember enjoy watching during that era.
February 8th, 2017 at 6:20 PM ^
I would think he has to be since Amaker was in Ann Arbor from 2001 to 2007 and Petway was a freshman in 2003, as I recall. You're right though, he was one of the bright spots of that particular era of Michigan basketball, not that it had all that many bright spots.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:26 PM ^
Air Georgia!
February 8th, 2017 at 3:29 PM ^
Easily Air Georgia. Then maybe Manny Fresh Harris.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:35 PM ^
Harris played for Amaker.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:33 PM ^
Also, I loved how they always wore black shoes and black socks #IIRC
February 8th, 2017 at 3:39 PM ^
Loved what Horton and BRob did on the court. Did not care for what they (alledgedly) did off the court.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:46 PM ^
What did Robinson (allegedly) do?
February 8th, 2017 at 6:53 PM ^
a female student in a stairwell. He pled guilty to two charges of assault and battery. I don't believe Amaker ever suspended him, even for a game
February 8th, 2017 at 4:02 PM ^
I have a hunch Groninger would have thrived in Beilein's offense. Where's that DeLorean?
February 8th, 2017 at 4:06 PM ^
February 8th, 2017 at 6:00 PM ^
Wasn't Jerret Smith the only PG on the roster for two seasons? More than developing players, I thought Amaker was terrible at constructing a team.
February 9th, 2017 at 12:24 AM ^
When he was healthy, Lester Abram was fun. Groninger, too. Petway was cool in pregame warmups, but then the whistle blew and he had to play defense.
Gotta give Amadou Ba a mention, too, for obvious reasons.
Least favorite, bar none, was Courtney Sims.
February 9th, 2017 at 6:44 AM ^
Because he had the talent. You saw flashes of it. He could have been one of the best centers in the Big Ten, if not the country, but he was lazy and Amaker never kicked his ass.
Abram was frustrating too, for oher reasons. He was a THJ-type talent, but just couldn't stay healthy.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:29 PM ^
high-rent district, as they say.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:31 PM ^
I've got to say, I'm shocked how well he's done there. I didn't think he was that good of an X and O coach when he was here, so when he went to Harvard I figured he probably wouldn't win that much.
Kudos to him. I had the chance to meet him twice when he was here - very nice guy.
February 8th, 2017 at 3:35 PM ^
if you look at the recruiting classes Amaker has brought in at Harvard, he's winning because he usually has a lot more talent than the other teams in the Ivy.
February 9th, 2017 at 12:03 AM ^