Rumblings that LaVall Jordan will soon be announced as HC of UW-Milwaukee UPDATE: Officially announced
probably our best assistant. Well, we already have guards locked up for the next 2 classes (hopefully) and this is a chance to improve defense at least.
Milwaukee is a decent job but given that Valpo was available and he almost got butler last year, I thought Vall might do better. Hopefully he has the chops to be our next HC down the road
I wonder if this season led to a lower opinion of LaVall Jordan.
Absolutely not. If you look at it away from the "THIS IS MICHIGAN-no-excuses-championship-or-fail" perspective, Michigan shouldn't have made the tournament, yet they did. If anything, you cacn point to MAAR's development, Walton's continued incremental improvement. Despite what people here like to yell about, Irvin had a very good second half of the year. There's a lot to suggest that LaVall is continuing his great work and that, had Michigan had a healthy Caris and Spike, they would have been a top-25 team and maybe poised for a deeper tourney run.
This is one of the best posts I've read on any of the message boards concerning Michigan Basketball this year. Oh, and LaVall is one of the best assistants out there! I would hate to lose him, but I will be happy for him if he gets this job.
Jordan is a big loss but TBH Walton, Irvin, and MAAR all looked a lot like the players we saw last year. As good as MAAR was at getting to the basketball he still wasn't a very efficient player and struggled with his outside shot. Irvin actually looked worse than he did at the end of last year and it was clear by the secod half of the year the minutes Walton was logging were clearly having an effect on him. Not saying that Jordan's fault, just pointing out this wasn't a year to write home about. Remember, Michigan had Caris and Spike when they got blown out by UConn, SMU, and Xavier. There was no fixing that defense and post play.
This is a huge off season for Beilein. Has to be replace likely two assistants and really get the kids on the team to develop.
Where was that top 25 team when we were getting destroyed by Xavier and SMU?
Why should a team comprised of three top 30 recruits (two of them being juniors) + top 100 Donnal, + Beilein's targets in Doyle, Wilson, Wagner, and then Rahk not be able to make the tournament?
This is the team that Beilein should have been expecting for this season based off his own recruiting minus Levert who wouldn't have originally been expected to be so good and then later wasn't guaranteed to stick around.
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Unless there's a lot happening behind the scenes that we don't know (which is possible), there's no reason to believe that Jordan has fewer opportunities now than he had before. The one serious rumor for Jordan was that he was a candidate - but not the preferred candidate - for the Butler job. He wouldn't have been a candidate at Butler, though, if he didn't have ties there.
I think this is a good opportunity for him. The NCAA Tournament gives head coaches of small schools opportunities to make some noise, prove themselves against high-profile teams, and get promoted very quickly. That's the usual path for assistants. You take a small school head coaching job and try to work your way up. Very few guys step into major head coaching jobs right away.
Agree that losing Jordan is blech. When he was interviewing at Butler, the hope/dream was that if he got the job he'd have a solid 4-6 years and be a prime candidate for replacing Beilein when he retires.
A path back to Michigan from UW-Milwaukee might be a litte tougher, but still plausible. His competition in the Horizon league would certainly be lower, making it easier to win. I'd suspect a couple Horizon league championships puts Jordan on many Power-5 radars, though from Michigan's perspective, I'd probably prefer the experience at Butler, even if he doesn't win a championship.
Regardless, a big loss for UM, but it is exciting to see LaVall is going to be taking the next step very soon.
be moving up as a fine assistant coach. Not everything is a stick to beat Beilein with.
Brendan Quinn at MLive said to expect something today. Everyone seems to think that Bacari to UD Mercy is a lock. I wonder if that job is a pay cut for him.
But it would be a great chance for him. I think of him as a possible future U of M head coach, and this would get him some experience.
JB can give us 3 more tournament teams and one more Final Four run and then Lavall Jordan can be named head coach after he leads UW-Milwaukee to a 65-35 record over the next three seasons.
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what? its almost noon your time! :)
...the guy makes point guards.
i love the idea that he might take over from beilein in a few years, though, and wish him the best.
Reports from ESPN and CBSSports surfacing that Michigan assistant coach LaVall Jordan has been hired as head coach of Milwaukee.
— Brendan F. Quinn (@BFQuinn) April 7, 2016
I agree that a staff shakeup could yield some real dividends (fresh coaching ideas, new recruiting contacts, etc.), as it did the last time when Beilein brought in Jordan and Alexander. Six years is an unusually long time for a coaching staff to stay intact.
Off the court at least, given the way that JB handcufss his assistants on the recruiting trail.
On the Court, Lavall seems like a loss unless we bring in a defensive wizzard. But, again, with they type of athletes we bring in I am not sure that a new assistant will be able to help much in that regard.
I'm not sure losing your best assistant is the shakeup needed. The shakeup this program needs is Beilein to start changing things that are weaknesses in his program. Toughness, defense, recruiting, etc. The June 15th offer deadline is so ridiculous. That's Beilein. The don't foul appraoch that literally renders playing defense impossible is Beilein. Recruiting guys like Donnal and Doyle in the post is Beilein.
The shakeup needed is sitting in the head coaches office. He needs to change himself not the people around him.
looks like we were posting the same thing at the same time. It all starts with JB and unless he changes his philosophy on a lot of things a change in assistants isn't likely to help all that much.
Best of luck to Coach Jordan! I hope Beilein takes this opportunity to scout out a defensive minded coach who is also a good recruiter.
Worth a phone call at least
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are they still around?
My Bleacher Report app says it is done, and that is always timely and correct, Right????
Oh, it is usually neither, well then nevermind.
That is really the question here...
It reports news way faster than the ESPN app.
I still haven't signed up for twitter, and I like having all of the tweets from beat reporters in one place. I find it to be good for looking at things during commercial breaks during games, not for their journalism skills.
Perhaps an even better indicator - at least the measuring stick that I tend to use - is whether or not the media in the target region is reporting that it is official. In this particular instance, the stories that Jordan has in fact been hired at UW-Milwaukee are starting to break all over, well, Milwaukee, so yeah, we definitely have a vacancy now. I really liked Jordan actually - probably the one assistant I would least want to leave if I had a choice.
Dumb decision by Jordan. The basketball program is a mess, with an awful AD. AD refused to send the team to a postseason tournament, even though alumni were willing to pay for it. Then after the firing of Jeter, three of UWM top players have requested release from the team to transfer (even though they can still come back if they like Jordan). On top of that, attendence has been struggling over the years. Just think there were better options out there
Surprised he couldn't get the Valpo job.
His son
Cornell Mann is a name being floated out there as a possible replacement. Former ISU assistant under Hoiberg. Know nothing else about him.
I believe he is from Michigan, yes. I think he also helped them land Monte Morris. Not sure if he's an upgrade over Lavall but he seems like he'd be a decent hire.