Coaching bits Day 4
"Some definite Ed Cooley buzz" per Brian Snow. Supposedly he and Warde are buddies so that makes him a candidate. His offenses are brutal and I mean BRUTAL. He's never had a top 25 kenpom offense and the last four years they have ranked 164, 100, 101, and 92 on O. He would also probably offer the least amount of continuity among the rumored candidates. HARD PASS.
Oh Howard:
Juwan Howard tells me #Michigan has retained Turnkey Sports for its coaching search. Howard has spoken with them and has been informed that Wolverines AD Warde Manuel is very interested in speaking with him.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) May 17, 2019
Maybe by this time next week Warde will get around to actually speaking with a candidate. Not like recruits aren't making decisions and assistants aren't getting interviewed or anything.
Also per Snow the guy at Turnkey running the search is close to Billy Donovan who highly recommended Shaka Smart. Would be a great recruiter but would need a strong support staff and assistants around him.
Tick tock.
Memphis has received a major assist from the bagmen.
Who the fuck cares. If our next coach isn’t doing it or turning a blind eye, just like the God Coach K, we will fall below back to the pack with the rest of the big ten. There is only one JB. Hire Juwan.
Im all for Howard but to play devils advocate Patrick Ewing has been pretty average at Georgetown and Chris Mullin has been bad at St Johns
I think Juwan Howard would have a little more recruiting energy than them. Also Howard wants to coach in the NBA so he will be hungry to prove himself
Someone will have to explain to me why any current college basketball coach would have to be "vetted" before an Athletic Director will speak to him / her.
If the reason is something other than "I want to give my buddies at the search firm some work and a lot of money from my athletics department," please let me know.
Because people do dumb things and don't always get caught right away.
Couldn't a person be interviewed and then vetted?
Not basketball but does George O'Leary ring a bell?
Remember last year when it came out that new Lions coach Matt Patricia may have a sexual assault in his past? And the Lions had to admit that they didn't really look into that and got roasted on social media?
That's one reason.
Remember when Notre Dame hired Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary for their vacant head football job, but then it turned out O'Leary lied on his resume and had to resign after a week?
That's another.
Those are off the top of my head. Might want to know a little bit (or a lot) about who you're going to pay $4 million/year.
I could give two shits about head coaches recommending their friends to get another winning lottery ticket. Just say no to us and move on. We didn’t hire someone to talk to you to get your recommendation.
I would have to agree that news of Warde making actual contact with any candidate seems alarmingly absent. Hopefully everyone is just being tight lipped.
I don't give a shit what Billy Donovan, or Brad Stevens or anyone else has to say about this.
I'm not up in arms on the timeline. By Beilein leaving so late in the spring there isn't as urgent of a due date and we need to get it right. Rushing to promote an assistant or hiring the first person they talk to isn't as urgent as when you fired the last guy. It has been a few days and I don't think we really know how far he's progressed.
I'm very conflicted on Juwan Howard. I loved the guy and I'm intrigued by his rising star and NBA history. But you're really putting a lot of hope into theoretically benefits with him:
- Has never been a head coach. (Something used against all of our assistants resumes)
- Has never done anything in college like recruiting, running a team, etc.
- Recent examples of star alums hasn't done much to build confidence (Hurley, Ewing, Mullin, etc.)
- Former players turned coaches are always iffy anyway
- General assumption that recruits would flock to him because he's former fab-fiver and NBA lifer Juwan Howard. (recruits are hard to figure out, it takes a ton of work, and too often external factors are at play)
I'd cross my fingers with Juwan, especially if he keeps some of the staff, but if you only looked at his resume and not the name on the top of it would we be at all interested?
No one can guarantee Juwan will succeed. But exactly which candidate is a really good bet? I will be okay with any of the names out there at the moment (Juwan, Shaka, LaVall, Yak, Cooley). Thrilled by none, appalled by none.
I think we all can agree that Howard or Smart are the two best options on the table. Cooley doesn’t seem ideal + Jordan at Butler hasn’t shown much. Hopefully we can lock down 1 of these 2. I think having Yak back, like others has have said, best option on 1 of these 2. Highly unlikely with any other candidate. (Howard due to all nba coaching and Smart for interviewing him at Texas, clearly interest in guy).
As a group, between these 3 names, I go Howard, Smart......long drop, Cooley. Both Smart & Howard have questions. Reality is anyone putting 1 ahead of other is gut feeling. Don’t know which one would do better.
The fact that shitty ass Shaka Smart is a top candidate for UM is insanity to me.
The guy couldn’t coach a high school girls team to a title - let alone take over a top 10 national program over the past decade.
Fuck this timeline so much.
Vinny you complain a lot on this topic, but never offer names. If no Smart, who do you want? I sort of looked over teams and coaches thinking we missed a guy, not much out there once we miss on homeruns. Not saying Smart great, but name someone better?
Well, first off, I'm not a professional driver, but I know a shitty one when I see it. It's WM's job to find a coach, not mine.
Second, I actually have offered a name. I said hire Juwan and put an end to this shit.
It's clear WM is one of the worst ADs in the B1G, if not country, and the "big names" don't want to come work for an incompetent buffoon for a boss.
So give the alum with all the hype a shot at this and let's see if he can pull some Penny Magic and get a Top 3 class next year to fix the crater left by JB and further deepened by WM.
Why is it clear that Warde is one fo the worst ADs in the Big Ten? I don't see any evidence of that.
Exhibit A
How badly he has bungled this situation.
He knew a year ago that JB was interviewing elsewhere.
When an employee is actively interviewing for a different job, it is a very clear indication he wants out.
Why did he not employ the search firm last year and have his list updated and ready to go on Monday morning when JB quit?
Or why did he not have the search firm hired and vetting coaches back on May 1st when JB told him he was interviewing with the Cavs? Why did his stupid ass go overseas for a vacation instead of staying in AA and getting to work?
He completely and fundamentally fucked this entire situation up.
Do we need any more evidence?
Lol what?
Smart is not nearly as bad as you’re making him out to be.
His VCU teams were legit. His Texas teams are plagued by injury woes and possible poor fit.
The dude is only 42 and is a great recruiter. He can do good things at Michigan if given full support.
Smart is hot trash. Let Texas continue to live with their stupid decision - let's not solve their own problem for them.
Smart had what, 1, maybe 2 good years, and got waxed by JB to end that little run.
He's only recruiting at any decent level due to bagmen. And even it's all clean and legit, the guy can't coach his way out of a paper bag in-game.
He has 0-3 yearly against Izzo written all over him.
But honestly, that sounds exactly like that kind of guy and the resume that WM would be salivating over.
For what it's worth...
I didn't see any of Texas' games this year, but I did notice that despite not making the tournament they were ranked fairly high in a lot of the efficiency metrics. They were ranked #25 in KenPom last season (#29 offense, #26 defense), but seemingly had some bad luck (KenPom has them as the #332 luckiest team out of #353). Their strength of schedule was #15 (based on opponent adjusted efficiency). Bart Torvik has them ranked pretty high too, their T-rank was #21 (#25 offense, #27 defense).
I wholly and completely get the argument. I understand that advanced metrics mean a heck of a lot and tell you a lot about a team.
But at the end of the day, for all those metrics, the guy doesn't win games and he doesn't win titles.
Izzo and Painter, Hoiberg and Turgeon, hell, even Macaffery and Underwood - all of them - would prison sex Shaka.
The guy is a bad coach.
He is riding off 1 Cinderella year - and it's almost a decade ago now. He has done exactly nothing since the FF run in 2011.
If a fan base is excited about losing their coach and being in the same position we are in right now, that should tell you something about that coach.
I'm not particularly excited about the prospect of Smart either, but I just wanted to throw those metrics out there anyhow.
If Howard is so highly regarded as up-and-comer in NBA circles, I'm really warming to the idea. He's young, he's got Michigan pedigree, and he'll be extremely hungry which if nothing else should help on the recruiting trail. Then make Yaklich one of the highest paid assistants in the country. The only unknown is if Howard can actually coach and develop.
He can develop. See whiteside and adebayo who play for the heat.
Clown. Show.
Warde is a fuck up, dating back to May 1st when JB told him about the Cavs and should be fired for this mess.
I cannot believe an institution like UM can have this much incompetence running rampant within it, and it’s not just Warde, it’s the continuous train wreck of ADs going back damn near 2 decades.
Fuck this bullshit so much.
Every single name that gets buzz is worst than the last and the fact WM is still in “interview search firms” phase is flat out ridiculous.
Yeah but he's a "Michigan Man."
Obviously the most important bullet point on his resume.
I agree. Yes I also agree. What he said. Here here. Well put. I agree with him. This fella makes sense to me.
I can't help but feel that the three of you are all the same person...
You understand nothing. I understand nothing either, we all understand nothing.
But you're one of the only ones who chooses to believe you know it all. Chill out. Not everything is easy as you make it to be.
I understand WM is a total and complete fuck up.
JB almost left last year. Even though he didn't get offered, he still interviewed. That should tell a boss something. A competent AD would have quietly gotten a search firm hired and started the vetting process on 100 coaches, so once JB did quit, all he had to do was start at the top of the list and offer them a raise to come coach here.
But then, on May 1st, JB told him he was again interviewing for an NBA job, and stupid fuck WM goes overseas with the football team and does nothing to prepare for the very real possibility of losing his head basketball coach. Why not keep your lazy ass in AA and start vetting search firms then?! Then once he quits Monday, you simply start at the top of your list and make offers until you get your guy.
As I type it all out, it occurs to me that JB most likely left because WM is a shitty AD and a shitty boss.
His previous behavior has given us no indication he is qualified for this role and has bungled this mess so badly, he should be fired.
But after he hires the god damn girls state championship coach, I guarantee he gets a raise from this dumb ass administration that hired him in the first place.
oh, fuck right off, turd.
again, just because he's not telling YOU what's happening doesn't mean nothing is happening.
THIS SO HARD. It's completely mind-boggling to me that a group of Michigan alumni can all have the notion of "I didn't read about it on social media therefore I'm confident it never happened and I will use it to judge the AD." What the actual hell guys. We are getting 10% of the info here and some of the info we're getting is incorrect anyway. Like we really know how many text messages Warde Manual sent from Africa. Come on.
Sign me up for Juwan!
People are being ridiculous with the speed of the search. Howard is currently interviewing for the Timberwolves job, the top option in Donovan had to be reached out to, etc. If you want to get a good candidate that is in a good spot its not going to take under 5 days.
This ^
In addition, what is the hurry? Most coaching searches occur under extreme time pressure, because there are multiple universities with similar profiles looking to hire from the exact same pool of candidates. There is not another major university looking to hire a men's basketball coach - so why does it matter if the search takes 5 days or 25 days?
Yes, there is a risk of losing assistant coaches and/or recruits.- BFD - we have 2 recruits (now down to 1) and the risk of losing assistants is inevitable. I would be fine losing all assistants and all recruits if it means that we had the time to properly vet candidates and hired the right candidate. Everybody needs to calm down.
Flashbacks to steamboat Willy and also the time he was too busy playing racquetball to answer his phone.
Yes, Warde's lack of urgency or attention to this matter is concerning, especially given the challenging nature of the current search with only a few good or reasonable candidates.
You have no idea how urgently this is being handled, how challenging this search is, nor how many candidates are on the table. Other than that, good point.
It boggles my mind how this board talked shit about how bad Thad Matta was at in game coaching, yet are perfectly fine in hiring that same type of coach in Smart. Who's been less than .500 at his first major job.
*edit: Wrong spot.
Hire Juwan Howard
Tell Yaklich that he is next in line for head coach once Juwan inevitably jumps to the NBA which I doubt will take longer than 3 years tops. Give him a pay raise if need be considering Juwan Howards contract shouldn't be too expensive due to no head coaching experience
If they hire one of these underperforming coaches like Shaka or Cooley Im going to be pissed. Jordan would possibly be the worst
Its shitty that 2/4 of the seemingly top candidates, Shaka and Jordan, are disliked by their fanbases due to lack of success. If these guys cant succeed at Texas and Butler then they have no fucking right to be in this discussion
Texas won 25 games and didn’t sniff a title with Kevin Durant. Not an easy place to win. Shaka can recruit.
Why is this fanbase so obsessed with recruiting? We just had a coach that was only an okay recruiter and won us a ton of games.
Because in order to win a title without recruiting you have to be a top 5 in game coach in college basketball and we aren't getting a top 5 coach.
"Not an easy place to win". Im not sure what that means. Shaka can only recruit when it involves throwing bags of cash at recruits which he wont be allowed to do at Michigan
2015-16: 20-13/ 0-1 in Big 12 tourney/ Lost to Northern Iowa in the 1st round.
2016-17: 11-22/ 1-1 in Big 12 tourney
2017-18: 19-15/ 1-1 in Big 12 tourney/ Lost to Nevada in the 1st round
2018-19: 21-16/ 0-1 in Big 12 tourney/ NIT
That Durant team had 9/12 underclassmen on its roster and the 3 upperclassmen COMBINED for 4ppg so it was basically just Freshman and Sophomores. 25-10 is still better than anything Shaka has done
What about 71-66, 2-4 in the Big 12 tourney, and 0-2 in the NCAA tourney is alluring to you?
Why can't he throw cash at players? They do it on the football side and nobody seems to care at the university.
Have we spent more time thinking about this search than Warde has?
If this was a football search, we'd visibly have a massive committee scouring the country like my dad looking for the remote in the living room.
But this is basketball, so, let's go sailing or go to Europe and think on it. Or something.
Is it common practice for a university to use an agency like "turnkey" to find a head coach?