OT: Amaker candidate for Boston College job
I realize that there have been a few other posts about Tommy Amaker's success at Harvard, but just noticed this piece indicating that he is a leading candidate for the Boston College job:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/03/18/donahuesuccessorsforweb/FE…
Obviously, moving from the Ivy League to the ACC would be a step up in facilities, income and potential recruiting. That said, my sense is that Tommy is in a good position at Harvard. Whatever he lacked as a floor coach here, his recruiting has made up for there. Anyway, while I know that worrying about an ex-coach's career choices isn't exactly the point of this blog (especially when we're all pretty pleased with the current coach), I have always thought Tommy was a good guy, did a decent, if not great, job here and thought that Harvard made a lot of sense for him. Coaches always seem to move to the higher league, bigger name etc. but I think this move could be a mistake and am curious if anyone has thoughts on that.
March 19th, 2014 at 10:04 PM ^
Yeah, I feel like he's in a good place right now. But I don't blame him for wanting another crack at the big time (though is BC big-time enough?).
Meh. Boston College is ACC basketball like Vanderbilt is SEC football. In name only.
March 19th, 2014 at 10:07 PM ^
He can coach there for a long time without the "win now or else" pressure that a place like BC is going to have. A man's gotta know his limits.
Al Skinner was allowed 13 years of mediocrity
March 20th, 2014 at 11:15 AM ^
I guess that depends on what your definition of mediocrity is.
His first 3 years definitely weren't anything to write home about:
15-16 (6-12 in conference)
6-21 (3-15)
11-19 (3-13)
But then he went on a pretty decent run for a few years:
27-5 (13-3, first place in their division), won the Big East tourney, NCAA second round
20-12 (8-8), NCAA first round
19-12 (10-6, first place in their division)
24-10 (10-6) NCAA second round
25-5 (13-3,first place in Big East regular season) NCAA second round
28-8 (11-5, lost in the ACC tourney title game), NCAA sweet sixteen
21-12 (10-6) NCAA second round
Then he had 2 bad years out of 3 and was gone.
14-17 (4-12)
22-12 (9-7) NCAA first round
15-16 (6-10)
March 20th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
Mediocre? The winningest coach in the history of the school, 7 tournaments in 13 years, ran a clean program and moved them past their prior point shaving/gambling scandals. I hate BC but you can't say Al Skinner was mediocre.
One Sweet 16 appearance in 13 years, I would say that's the definition of medicore at a supposed major program.
BC is not a major program. They are in a major conference though.
March 19th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
March 19th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^
I think Harvard is a perfect fit for Tommy and vice versa. The only position I could see luring Tommy away from Cambridge is a call from Duke some time way down the road.
I doubt he has any chance at the Duke job (unless he takes Harvard to the Final Four like, three years in a row or something). That ship has sailed. Duke would never hire a coach who was fired by another school.
March 19th, 2014 at 10:39 PM ^
March 19th, 2014 at 10:41 PM ^
If I was advising Coach Amaker, I'd suggest he stay at Harvard. He can coach there for the remainder of his career, make a very comfortable living, continue to succeed, and retire a Crimson legend.
March 19th, 2014 at 10:49 PM ^
He is not a good coach and will not be successful in a major conference. His success at Harvard stems from his being a big fish in a small pond.
I understand some people liked Amaker as a person and want him to succeed, but it's hard to forget how completely disoriented his teams looked on the floor here.
March 19th, 2014 at 10:55 PM ^
March 19th, 2014 at 11:04 PM ^
Big time leagues (Big 10, ACC, etc.) aren't exactly forgiving, and maybe he fails again, but how much more high profile is Tommy gonna get? He's won the Ivy some years in a row now, which is the only way an Ivy is gonna get in the tourney. They won't be getting an at large anytime soon. I say give BC a shot. See if he can turn them around. I'd like to see him get a second chance at a high major, and succeed.
March 19th, 2014 at 11:14 PM ^
March 19th, 2014 at 11:43 PM ^
Wooden, Auerbach and Phil Jackson combined. But smarter.
Seriously, anyone who thought Amaker was good here either didn't watch or has a short memory. Not making the tournament once in six years is very hard to do. I still can't identify what his basic offensive ideas were. Daniel Horton and Dion Harris probably can't either.
March 20th, 2014 at 10:36 AM ^
I think I can help. It involved Graham Brown holding the ball 5 feet above the circle----and then something magical was supposed to happen. s/
Amaker did beat State 3 times, but we were crushed in 6 of the 7 losses. And these weren't stellar State teams--save one over-achieving one.
Tommy's best recruiting year was essentially his first one. And he brought in his share of Ingersolls---Smith, Morris, Jones, Queen--to name just a few. Further, no one ever seemed to improve---making him the opposite of Beilein.
Tommy was a Stepford coach--devoid of emotion and his teams played accordingly.
March 19th, 2014 at 11:17 PM ^
He has probably earned a second chance at a big-time program, but he really could become an institution in the Ivy League is he stuck around. Going to BC, he'd probably suffer through some tough seasons like he did in A2.
March 19th, 2014 at 11:44 PM ^
Who wants to be an institution in the Ivy league? (as a sports coach that is)
March 19th, 2014 at 11:53 PM ^
If you actually care about the student part in student athlete?
As legendary as he was, Pete Carrill never made it past the second round of the NCAAs. When you coach an Ivy school, that's about your ceiling - a shot at one NCAA victory.
March 19th, 2014 at 11:22 PM ^
...is that TA failed at Michigan b/c he didn't put in the time required of a major college coach. You gotta get your face out there on ESPN (all channels and shows that serve college hoops), and your voice out there on talk radio, both national and regional. TA apparently wasn't willing to do the dance that comes with the territory, and that's not necessary in the Ivy League. If this is true, he should stay put. And if one has no big ego, why leave Harvard? Why uproot your family?
March 19th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
You do realize that Harvard to BC is less than 5 miles, right?
His wife has a position at Harvard (much like she did at Michigan). She would not have to leave her current job. Like was mentioned, the two schools are very close.
March 20th, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^
His greatest failings were in player development and coaching strategy. Spending time on the things you mentioned might help a little in recruiting, possibly fundraising. That wouldn't have been enough to keep him from falling short of expectations here. It may well mean he's going to be more comfortable at Harvard, though.
Yeah, he had pretty solid talent. Maybe not Final Four talent, but I thought he had Sweet 16-level talent his last two years. Those teams had several former top 100 recruits who were mostly upperclassmen.
March 19th, 2014 at 11:27 PM ^
I think it's a perfectly fine decision. Everyone here is pretty down on his coaching abilities, but I think overly so. Some things to consider:
First, his level wasn't low before. We saw him do an okay job at Michigan... not a bad job. He didn't establish himself as an elite coach, but he was certainly quite capable.
Second, what are his limits? He had 4 years of head coaching experience when he came to Michigan; he has 17 years of coaching experience now. Some men might be born to coach and can win like crazy from day one. However, just because you don't start out your career with headlines doesn't mean you have a low limit.
I agree that Harvard is probably a low pressure job that has a lot of advantages, but he's taking a step up to a program that has a higher bar. Many of us would leave a low pressure job for a promotion to a higher pressure, more responsibility, and higher pay job. Let's not forget, BC is in the same town... he's not uprooting his entire life to do this. Pretty ideal situation really.
Ultimately, I think he's probably a much better coach now than he was while at Michigan and will do a great job with BC.
March 19th, 2014 at 11:23 PM ^
March 19th, 2014 at 11:27 PM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 12:21 AM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 12:20 AM ^
The ACC is going to be loaded when Louisville comes into the league next year. You're looking at - Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, UNC and Pitt who are all annual participants in the ncaa tourney. Virginia looks like they might be on their way to joining that group. Then you've got some decent programs that are usually borderline ncaa tourney - FSU, Miami, NC State, GTech.
You'd be going to try to revitalize a program that doesn't have a ton of basketball history, plays in one of the toughest conferences and doesn't have a great local/regional recruiting base. Good luck.
March 20th, 2014 at 12:23 AM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 12:56 AM ^
He should stay. He does not put enough energy into coaching to win at a school like Boston College.
Do you have any evidence for your ridiculous claim?
The man's asking a legitimate question. The comment is the first made by a new poster. No legitimacy through history. I think it's a fair question to ask.
Most coaches are driven and competitive, and are looking for challenges as opposed to staying where things are comfortable. Tommy doesn't seem to be wired like that. Which is sort of the reason he's not a better coach. He's a capable guy with the passion of a turtle.
March 20th, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^
It's funny that you mention "passion" because wasn't that one of the "p" words Amaker inevitably used in his infrequent media appearances (mainly the perfunctory postgame radio interview)? I just recall him frequently talking about the team's "passion" and "pride"—and there may have been a couple others (poise?)
Steve Sharik rightly points out above Amaker's unwillingness to make media appearances as one of his shortcomings as a Michigan coach. This contrasts sharply with Beilein, who not only appears on WTKA at least once a week, he also does the weekly Inside Michigan Basketball radio show and appears quite frequently on other media outlets as well.
Amaker never seemed comfortable at Michigan, and he gave the impression (perhaps an incorrect one) of someone not fully committed to the job.
He'll be in the ACC next year.
Obviously he lives in Boston now and he's from VA...so both make sense.