MBB Assistant Saddi Washington turns down WMU again
This is the second time he's told his alma mater Western Michigan "thanks, but no thanks." He's also likely to sign an extension with Michigan as a result.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/2022/03/30/saddi-washington-staying-um-after-declining-wmu-job-second-time/7217429001/
March 30th, 2022 at 12:35 PM ^
Good good
Nice nice
Hell hell...yeah yeah.
Alright alright
Woot, woot!
March 30th, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
I'm pleasantly shocked! If he doesn't want to go to his alma mater for his first head coaching job, I wonder what he has in mind? It's great for the UM program though, and I hope his pay is bumped as well (possibly with an Assoc. HC title?)
Most likely he sees that it would be easier for him to jump to a bigger program from Michigan (hopefully with continued success) than to rebuild a strong program at WMU and then move up from there
It feels like Saadi would be a good candidate for lower tier major conference school already and he wouldn't be able to better that with a successful stint at WMU.
In 2020 when he turned down WMU, he made $330k, Western coach the time made $385k and the latest WMU coach only made $220k so the financial incentive just isn't there.
I'd guess he sees Western as a hard job and he thinks he can probably earn a job in a multi-bid league (maybe like an A10 school or Big East school)
Doesn't hurt that he gets to learn more under Coach Howard. First Coach Beilein, then Coach Howard; that's some good OJT
March 31st, 2022 at 10:59 PM ^
Pretty strong vote of confidence in Juwan's leadership, especially since Saadi is the lone Beilein holdover on the staff.
March 30th, 2022 at 12:37 PM ^
He must see good things happening for this program in the near future.
March 30th, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
Saddi makes like $330k/yr. I think the WMU coach was making less than $400k. Why would he leave Michigan for a job where he's likely to get fired in a few years? One bid leagues are a hard road.
While I understand that thinking, if I could get more money out of them (e.g., $500k+ -- they seem to really want him, so it's possible), I would go for it. It's your alma mater and I'd want to be the boss.
The MAC has no dominant program and hasn't since Nate Oats left. It is reasonable to bet on yourself that you can get a winner in place in 3-5 years and then either a) extend that or b) use that as a jumping off point for a big program.
Toledo's coach has been there for 12 years running (though he's above average for the league, but if I'm Saddi, I would think I was above average). Rob Murphy got 10 years at EMU and he was thoroughly mediocre until his last season. Then, after 'mutually parting ways' he fell up and is now the President and GM of the Motor City Cruise.
https://emueagles.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/rob-murphy/600
Good points about the MAC. It was way down this year, especially the Michigan schools.
But I wonder if that's because the portal makes it so hard to hold onto good mid-major players. I guess one could argue the NBA makes it hard to hold onto good high major players.
No question the MAC is ripe for a good coach to come in and own it. I wonder if they didn't come close to a 500k offer though.
But if he thinks he's right on the cusp of a low major job for like $2M, smart to wait.
March 30th, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
He seems like a pretty smart guy so I'm guessing he figures he can, and will, get offers at some point from a program with a better record than 34 - 82 over the past four years. Not to mention the home of Western Michigan basketball is Read Fieldhouse which was built in 1957, seats around 4,500 at capacity and Western draws about 2,000 or so per game to the place which aint exactly a draw on the recruiting trail.
Good coaches like Washington dont need to take HC jobs like Western's just to move up a chair. His time will come - and my guess is it will be at a program with facilities way better than Western's - even though he went to school there.
You make good points and a UM asst coach can certainly get a better-than-WMU job directly, but Western does have a brand new, young athletic director (the previous one was there 25 years) and recently got a $550 million anonymous gift, 10% of which is going to the athletic department.
My guess is they are going to be spending some of that money on the basketball arena/facilities, and even though it won't be Saddi, someone will benefit from it.
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2021/06/historic-550m-donation-will-revolutionize-wmu-for-years-to-come-university-president-says.html
I thought they just got done with a complete renovation. But that was almost 30 years ago now! Again, going to date myself here, but I still remember that we got to go there and compete in a city-wide physical education contest in elementary school. At that time, the arena had a capacity of over 10k compared to its current total of roughly 4500, as you said.
I still remember when that old 10k capacity barn used to fill up pretty good back in the mid-70s. Western briefly had a good program there under Coach Eldon Miller, but it fell quickly back to earth after Miller left for ohio st.
I've only been back to Read Fieldhouse twice in the last 20 years, I never cared for the revised seat configuration after the early-90s renovation. Time for a new arena if Western ever wants to compete on the court and in the stands.
The Old Read Fieldhouse was a classic and when WMU was good in the 1960s and 1970s (The 60's team were very entertaining with players like Manny Newsome, Ajac Triplett, Gene Ford etc) the place would rock, and as you say Miller had some excellent teams that could compete with anyone. They also hosted Multiple Boys State tournament Districts and Regionals there.
Think WMU has a lot of potential with the right coach which they just have not been able to land and if even Saddi won't take it on, I don't know what they're going to do.
Ask Eric Bienemy if his time is going come?
There are reasons not to take the job and my guess as an alum of the place he knows the skeletons better than anyone. If he thinks it's a career killer, he should absolutely pass.
That being said, you have so much more control over your career as a head coach than as an assistant. More jobs are naturally open to you, you control the direction of the program, who you hire, etc. Look at the FF coaches: Wright started at Hofstra, Self at Oral Roberts, K at Army. Only Davis got the UNC job from the get go and he's a celebrated alum who has been groomed as a replacement the last decade.
March 30th, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
Great for us - hopefully we can keep this staff together for a few more years.
Surprised he has turned it down now twice. Good for us.
I believe Saddi can get a bigger job than that. Terrific coach.
WMU, stop trying to make Saddi happen. It's not gonna happen...
Somewhere there is a little known corner of the internet where the WMU equivalent of MGoBlog, however small, is having a meltdown.
The WMU version of WD is just getting started with a twitter campaign to get their AD fired.
BroncoDevotee is also working at the WMUDen and scouting the WMU women's PokemonGo team.
was gonna say, don't tell hockey twitter.
He knows NIL is
keeping Hunter here …#5millionreasons
Obviously, WMU is not a stepping stone but a pool of quicksand for any HC.
If someone would have told me at 5 years old that over the next 40 years of my life, I wouldn't even be aware of anyone dying by falling in quick sand, I would not have believed you...back in the day, it was something I was really worried about.
Same here, when I was growing up in the 60's, I think just about every cowboy/western TV show ever made had an episode or two involving quicksand.
My worst-ever fear back then was being chased by Godzilla only to instead be swallowed up by a hidden quicksand trap.
while being offered free drugs by the kids at school.
Those DARE classes had me thinking free drugs were everywhere. Man was I disappointed
Talk about sticker shock the first time you realized you had to pay for them. Gas for my car, or drugs. It could only be one.
I think we are all still carrying the scars from “Pitfall”
quicksand was everywhere in that game
Does Saddi have a specialty? I know basketball is different from, say, football, where assistants are tied to specific positions, but I do remember past assistants having specialties, e.g. LaVall Jordan (guards), Bacari Alexander (bigs), Yaklich (defense), etc.
I could be wrong, but I think Saddi is kinda the DC and helps work with the big men, while Eisley is more the OC and works with the guards. Saddi worked with guards under Beilein though so I think he can do multiple things
That's correct. I think previous to Billy Donlon / Yaklich he focused primarily on big men (while Jordan focused on guards).
Then under Juwan he seems to have elevated to DC because Martelli said as much after one of the games he coached (I think Rutgers) when he was pumping those guys up to get HC jobs. Eisley as the OC and Saddi as the DC.
In basketball, there isn't the specialization amongst coaches like there is in football because everyone plays offense and defense, and everyone kind of has to play a lot of different scenarios/be prepared to be "position-less". And the interaction between everyone on the court is so fluid and interchangable compared to football when linemen are linemen and corners are on islands and they do totally different things.
Lots of good comments as to why he should not take the job, and a couple for taking it. My thought, though - and I caveat this by saying I don't want him to go - is that he may be getting a reputation as a lifer that won't leave. And that seems like it would tank interest in him for other jobs. I have no idea how much interest he's been shown over the last couple of years, but there haven't been many rumors. I just have some thoughts about him pigeon-holing himself as a guy that's content as an assistant (not that that's bad if it is what he wants, but it would be unusual).
Nonetheless, his turn-down of WMU could also include reasons surrounding the long-term outlook for bball at WMU. Is it a sport they're willing to fund with infrastructure improvements, and/or NIL packages? What benefits do they extend to athletes? How much money/benefits would his assistants get?
People actually involved in the sport don't have to speculate, they can simply talk to him. And I doubt anyone would be too mad about the honest answer of "I believed in myself to get a higher profile gig in the future." No one is gonna go from wanting him as their guy to not even calling him up because he turned down the Western Michigan job- except similarly small programs- which he seems to not be interested in in the first place.
Yeah, I was just wondering if a P5 program might start to interpret this as a red flag. The reason not to take this job is that it's hard and I get that, but if you're a good coach, it seems like you should be confident you can win anywhere.
At some point, it starts to seem like you're scared of tough jobs and just want to parlay experience at a big time school into a job that you think might be your only chance because you're not all that confident you'll be good at it.
Wanting a better gig than WMU to pull you away from your current role would not be interpreted as "He doesn't believe in himself," except by a really inept program Saddi should stay away from regardless.
Saddi is going to be up for a much better job when his time comes. Whether that is when Juwan goes back to the NBA or when a Power 5 team comes knocking, he doesn't need to settle for Western
Pretty cool seeing how far he's come. I remember him playing at Sexton (Lansing) back in the day.
To be clear, it was the head coaching spot, if any of you wondered as I did. Turning down an assistant job there would be no news, but the head job at his alma mater? Awesome. Realistically, it's because he has his eyes set higher than MACtion. Hope he does eventually get a great gig at a place with lots of resources for him.
Hes going to take over when Howard leaves in a few years.
For the selfish reasons of living in Kalamazoo my whole life, I’d like Western to be good at all sports, it’s cheap to go watch! I hope they find a good fit!