OT: U of A's coaching search
I live down here in Tucson, AZ so I am close to the University of Arizona's coaching search and for those of you that were embarrassed by U of M's search to replace Lloyd, you haven't seen anything. Just recently Tim Floyd announced he will turn down the job making him like the 6 coach to say no. Jamie Dixon, Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo, Mark Few, Jeff Caple and now Tim Floyd is the latest to say no to the Wildcats. Just a few weeks ago everyone in my office was all smiles assuring me they were getting Pitino and still nothing.
didn't he win a B east title at UL?
LoL Arizona
I've been watching it from afar. I bet you're loving it and laughing watching it unfold.
It does not surprise me that any of those guys turned the job down. Not because its a lesser job, but those guys all have it rolling at places where they can win a title. Why take a reclamation job in the position they are in with their current schools? Pitino? That's just delusional on the part of the locals, likely fostered by some 'oh my god, he's condo hunting down here' hysteria.
Maybe Few surprised me a little, only because there was a chance that he could convince himself he needed a new challenge.
Thats not to say AU is bad job. Hardly. But, why would anyone rolling right now in those above posiitions want to go to 'Zona. IMO, there are only five places where you drop everything to go to, UK, IU, UNC, KU and UCLA.....and, yet, I dont think most of that above list would even go to those schools based on how well they have it going currently.
We'll see who the Cats get. I'd go for Lon Kruger. You know he can win and maybe he wants to get in a better league. I'm sure they feel like they can get Tubby, so I wonder if they'll make a pitch there?
We'll see what they do, but they're too caught up in getting a big name right now.
Good friend of mine is an AZ alum, he too was saying they would for sure get one of Pitino, Few or Capel. I told him the only one he had a good chance at was Capel, an outside shot at Few, and no shot at Pitino. For the record he did not want Floyd.
UA doesn't want Floyd. They think they might, but they don't. His reputation is: great recruiter, lousy X's and O's. And I'm not so sure his recruiting isn't because USC is shoveling dollar bills at kids.
UA is going to be crushed under the weight of their own expectations. Nobody wants to follow Lute Olson and nobody wants to risk being the guy that failed to get Arizona into the tournament since 1984. They saw what IU fans did to Mike Davis. I said earlier on the UVA boards while our search was going on that I think the UVA job is much more desirable than the UA job because of this (and because UA's got a difficult recruiting base) and I meant it.
For Arizona? Would leave a #1 seed where he's the big man on campus in the midst of fertile recruiting territory, and chuck it all for the desert? That's some mighty good crank they're doing out there among the cacti.
Lon Kruger's a good suggestion.
Don wrote:
"That's some mighty good crank they're doing out there among the cacti."
Lotsa peyote buttons out there in the desert, too....