yoyo

April 1st, 2013 at 11:50 PM ^

That's a bit harsh.  The guy was successful and wanted to move up the ladder.  You can't fault him for that.  That's like criticizing Beilein (spelling) for going to UMICH.

bouje13

April 1st, 2013 at 11:53 PM ^

How dare he take some school in existence for a few years at D-1 take them to the sweet 16 (as far as this school will ever go for years) and then leave for a power conference school. Damn capitalist.



Maybe you should pass up your next promotion at work.

MaizeRage89

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^

You can't compare passing up a promotion at work to leaving a school for another. My point is how do you walk out on your kids after you build them up and make a splash on the national scene. Chris Peterson didn't just bounce the fuck out after turning BSU into a power house

74polSKA

April 2nd, 2013 at 8:34 AM ^

I think it's easier to stay at a small school in basketball because you can build a good team around 1 or 2 really good players.  A good coach will always be able to get those couple of guys on a basketball team.  In football, it's much harder to get enough high quality recruits at a small school to build a team to compete with the big boys.

Magnus

April 2nd, 2013 at 8:57 AM ^

Right.  And there are many more examples of people moving up in the coaching world than people who stay put at small schools despite bigger job offers.  Three of the four coaches in the Final Four have done it: Rick Pitino was once at Providence, John Beilein has moved up in the coaching ranks every step of the way, and Gregg Marshall was once at Winthrop.  The lone exception is Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, which is his alma mater.

M-Wolverine

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:34 PM ^

And leaving one job for another at a different company? Would you do that and leave everyone on your work team behind? Even if the new job was more money, and the chance to achieve a lot more in your career?

Never understand why people hold others to standards they won't hold themselves.

jmblue

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:41 PM ^

Chris Peterson didn't just bounce the fuck out after turning BSU into a power house

Not a good comparison. Petersen is not the one who built up BSU. Houston Nutt, Dirk Koetter and Dan Hawkins were there before him. BSU has been very good for about 20 years now. They have an established niche in the CFB world. Moreover, Koetter and Hawkins were busts when they left BSU; in hindsight they probably shouldn't have left.

FGCU, meanwhile, is a school that's literally been in existence about 20 years and went 15-17 one year ago. There is no guarantee anyone, Enfield included, can sustain success there. Why not strike while the iron is hot?

Blue-in-the-Lou

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:03 AM ^

Any school in America will fire their coach without thinking twice if they have a couple of bad seasons. Why should coaches be more committed to the school than the school is to them? Yeah, I know, the kids, but the players know that's how it is, and heck, even the best players take the opportunity to leave early when they can.

wiper

April 2nd, 2013 at 3:00 AM ^

i remember bitching about jim thome going to the white sox a little, and my dad put it to me like this: "if _________ (rival school) offered you $xx,xxx to coach/teach there, would you?"

when he put it like that, i understood. 

just saying, 'dude already has a couple million in the bank why would he leave?' doesn't mean as much when you're talking about someone else's money.

Cali Wolverine

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:00 AM ^

...has a better basketball coach than UCLA and UCLA has a better football coach than USC. One thing is for certain...no D1 school has hotter football and basketball coaches wives than USC right now.

Cali Wolverine

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:13 AM ^

...are self made business millionaires, have super model wives (that they picked up in taxi cabs), and coached teams deep into the tourney at schools that did not even have a D1 basketball program 6 years ago?...historically speaking. Sorry I have seen Alford coach and I will put my money on Enfield.

M-Wolverine

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:39 PM ^

But didn't UCLA just hire a guy who just has one Sweet Sixteen run in his career....and that was way back in 1999?

So his point might be right, they still might have a better coach.

Rabbit21

April 2nd, 2013 at 8:52 AM ^

I think the key word is that USC "potentially" has a better coach than UCLA.  I'm not a fan of the Alford hire, but he has built solid recruiting ties in SoCal and won a tough conference, both of which are things that Alford has not done.  That said, FGCU plays an entertaining brand of basketball and the visibility is going to help Enfield in SoCal, along with this being the "sexy" hire, in the long run hiring Enfield has much more long term potential than hiring Alford.  Just goes to show what having a competent athletic director can do for a school.

funkywolve

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:30 AM ^

Alford's had 4 coaching stops in his career before taking the UCLA job and with the possible exception of Iowa, he's done a solid job at the other 3.

The first stop was Manchester, Division 3.  They went 4-16 his first year.  By the time he left after his 4th year they had made 3 straight trips to the d3 ncaa tourney and were 31-1 and ncaa runner-up in his 4th year. 

Southwest Missouri St:  stayed there 4 years.  In his 4th year they made the sweet 16.  He left for Iowa after that.  They haven't been to the ncaa tourney since.

New Mexico:  in 6 years there he won 4 conference titles and made 3 ncaa tourney appearances. 

I don't know if he's going to set the world on fire at UCLA but I doubt he's going to bomb either.

kicknback1

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:10 AM ^

Apparently his wife told him that if he took the USC job (for more $$$$ of course) she'd be waiting for him each night he got home, dressed like a USC Song Girl...