Inside info on Basketball coach
Just sharing a conversation with my son's coach/trainer. He is good friends with Chris Beard and Bacari Alexander.
1. Chris is not coming
2. JB left because of the 3 who left for NBA, he thought he a shot at a title run. He just did not want to start over again.
3. JB is working to get lavell jordan the job and does not plan to take any assistance to Cleveland. JB feels if they can get Jordan they can keep most of the team intact and perhaps bring Iggy back.
Just passing it along, take it how ever you want
If JB didn't want to start over, why go to Cleveland? That's the definition of starting over.
Obligatory Counter Strike comment.
He's not starting over in the NBA, he's just starting.
Strike back
If he left cause 3 players left seems like one of the dumbest reasons to leave that I've ever heard. Fake news
Exactly, he can't be that stupid.
If he views it as similar effort to start over, you might as well try something new. Not sure why that is stupid.
It’s not that simple. It’s the constant rebuild and recruit year to year vs building a team the way you want and having them play together with minimal turnover over seasons.
Agree, it is absolutely the recruiting. It’s a nonstop grueling job. Every moment you aren’t contacting a recruit, someone else could be swooping in. It must be the worst part about being a college coach at a school with big aspirations. There are no days off.
Beilein would have left a year earlier if the Pistons wanted him.
People are grasping at straws. He was already looking to leave, nothing that happened in the last year pushed him out. Now maybe, if things had worked out perfectly, he'd want to stay. I'd guess the NCAA cracking down on cheating would have been the biggest factor in changing his mind.
This is right. I remember last year when a reporter asked Beilein about the Piston's job, he said he was interested but they didn't give him an offer.
Especially when one of those guys (Matthews) was never expected back next season.
There's probably some truth to it though. Not really that he left because of those three alone, but because of those three on top of everyone else that has left.
JB was so good at player development, it probably actually got a bit frustrating. He didn't land your typical one and dones, but he sent players like Morris, Burke, Stauskas, and Wagner to the NBA early. Some of those players you would have never expected to be gone after two years when they first arrived on campus.
Add in the fact that now two players are leaving with even more dubious draft prospects, and the weight of keeping a championship contender intact starts to really get to you.
We already know JB isn't a fan of the recruiting climate in college basketball, but he's had to hit the recruiting part of his job even harder just to keep a competitive team on the floor. It's not something he used to have to worry about. Add in his recent health issues and combine them with the grind and filth that is the world of major college basketball recruiting, I get it.
Well said. I agree completely. And when you look at his age, he probably said to himself, I've put my time in recruiting and it's time to do something easier to finish out my career. Poole and Iggy leaving early may have been just the final justifications in his mind for a decision that he pretty much already had made.
I'd "counter" that JB was GREAT at player development. It cannot ever be forgotten or overlooked that he essentially developed Duncan Robinson into an NBA player, given four years. That is a phenomenal accomplishment. If he can do that at Michigan, how could he not do similar work in the NBA? There are plenty of projects in the NBA, some on the Cavs' roster. And, he's not only great at player development, he's GREAT at talent evaluating. Guys like Robinson, Burke, Lavert, Iggy...all the big time programs passed on them. This is also another skill that will serve him well in the NBA, where players come from out of left-field all the time. Finally, he's spent the last few years watching players like Burke and Stauskas and GR3 go into the NBA, but not really continue their success. What's the missing piece? Maybe they weren't quite that good, but, every year there are dozens of players who probably have the talent to be successful in the NBA, but aren't. Why not spend a few years trying to maximize some of that talent at the highest level? With the confidence he has in his skills, he probably thinks he can put some of his ex-players on the Cavs, and whip them into a playoff contender within a year.
Maybe the 2 he thought would, and should come back for their own good. At this point, who cares. He's gone, they are gone, and half of the recruiting class is gone, so let's just move on.
NBA - starting over but no recruiting of high school players in competition with cheaters
No expectations in Cleveland.
I love how your profile picture matches exactly with this comment
It's a semi retirement gig. Nobody tries until the 4th quarter anyway.
He gets to see the entire country on Gilbert's team Jet.. ..
Bring Iggy back? Highly doubt Jordan would have an impact on that.
Why not? Especially if the rest of the staff is in place, plus don’t underestimate the pull his friends/teammates may have on him returning.
Because as far as we know, Jordan and Iggy are total strangers.
Maybe you missed my “the rest of the staff” point. He does have a relationship with them. I’m not saying he’s returning but it is not a foregone conclusion that Jordan can’t get him back.
I just haven't been impressed with LaVall's head coaching work to this point. His one season at Milwaukee probably can't be held against him because from what I've read, that athletic department is completely screwed up. However, he had a team of upperclassmen in a down Big East this past season and proceeded to go 16-17 overall and 7-11 in conference play. Does not exactly inspire confidence.
I also don't think that LaVall would have much impact with the current team since he last was an assistant in '15-'16. I can't imagine Iggy has any relationship with him and therefore don't see why suddenly Iggy would want to return to A2 because of LJ's presence.
Jordan or Shaka?
FWIW I'm not crazy about Shaka Smart, either, but I'd be less unimpressed with him than Jordan.
If Juwan Howard were able to keep a few (or all) of the current assistants, I think I am coming around to that being the "best" scenario given that all "home run" candidates appear to be extremely unlikely.
I do think that we collectively are starting to engage in negative group-think about some of the names that are in play. We kind of immediately began thinking about the "best-case scenarios" as the only options available and have become dismissive of pretty damn good coaches.
Think about the statement that Jalen Wilson made - "I would like it to be a coach I know." That is not exactly saying "Coack K or bust." It sounds like he, and presumably a lot of other recruits who are considering Michigan just want to see that the hire is going to be a relatively proven commodity and Michigan still a consistent or ascending program.
Hiring a guy like Shaka Smart is not really a bad outcome, at all. This is not the last coaching hire that Michigan will ever make. We don't need a guy that we will eventually name a floor after or build a statue for, but a guy like Smart who is an experienced recruiter and has an established style of play that is fostering from Day 1 would be pretty damn good, all things considered.
Juwan Howard, I believe would be a real boom or bust situation. I think the question is, how badly does Michigan need to take that risk? Bring in a guy like Smart and we are an upper-tier BIG team with regular second weekend potential. Is that enough is the question? It may be. It may be that it is foolhardy to assume that the program is going to get through this big of a transition and not take some manageable steps back, and re-gain ground over time.
Shaka is a lifetime in conference .500 coach.
He is more likely to get us an NIT championship than the 2nd weekend of the NCAAs.
He turned VCU into a very formidable program. Yes, we had success against them but they were not an easy out. Texas is also the very definition of #footballschool and he wasn't entering that program with as much momentum as Michigan has seemingly built up. You can just look at W-L if you want but that is far from the full picture. Shaka Smart was a good enough coach to take a mid-major with barely any success to speak of an make them a very formidable program, that isn't nothing. He could be very successful at Michigan, a school in the heart of BIG basketball with a ton of resources and an established track record of success.
We aren't going to get very far if we are only considering every candidate by searching for the negative, only. With the circumstances as they are if you told me that Shaka Smart was the hire and that every assistant comes back I would take it no questions asked.
Yes, Smart obviously did well at VCU but that program was already a good mid-major well before he became the head coach. Look at the coaching records of Jeff Capel and Anthony Grant during their times at VCU and then afterward. Both left VCU for a P5 position and were eventually fired after lackluster runs at their new school.
Also, despite gaudy records, Smart never took VCU beyond the second round after their Final Four run in 2011. I get what you're saying about it being easier to find the negatives versus the positives. I just think you're giving Smart too much credit for his time at VCU.
Shaka is the James Franklin of college basketball.
The James Franklin that recruits has ass off, won 9 games in the SEC at fucking Vanderbilt for two consecutive seasons, rebuilt Penn State from crippling sanctions in two years, won 11 games two years in a row, went to the Rose Bowl and won the Fiesta Bowl within 4 years of being hired?
If that is what you mean by Shaka Smart = James Franklin?
OK. Where do I sign?
You are sugar coating it. Shaka is a garbage hire that would be done by people who don't really follow basketball looking for a splash hire that wins the press conference.
Rick Barnes, the coach he replaced at Texas, won 20 games the year he got fired. He only got canned because his teams were woeful in the NCAA year after year. His record at Texas was .691/.664 non-conference/conference
Shaka's VCU teams never won their conference. His record at Texas after 4 years is .518/.431. They didn't even have a winning record last year in a down Big12.
This is not the coach for a team that regularly competes for the B1G Championship and has 2 recent championship appearances. I'm not pulling for Jordan but there is something to be gained by maintaining the current culture over bringing in a meh coach. Same with promoting Yak or Saddi.
I don't think I am sugar coating it as much as you are taking a diarrhea-hangover-shit all over it for no good reason. It would not be a great hire but it would not be a "garbage" hire.
You must be Shaka's agent.
No, I'm not.
The Board is just having a major depressive episode and I am kind of getting sick of the doom and gloom.
Shaka is a guy that has consistently done "less with more" as opposed to Beilein's "more with less."
I don't expect that we are going to get another JB, but I can't see Shaka being any sort of success with his very underwhelming background to this point in his career.
It says something that everyone in the UT fanbase is willing to personally drive him to the airport.
Barnes left Smart with a senior team, and Shaka did slightly better with it than Barnes had done, and Barnes had Myles Turner plus the center, Cameron Ridley, for a full season. Ridley got hurt just before conference play and basically missed the rest of the year.
But Barnes left Smart only two freshmen and two seniors who had been bench guys for his second year. He has been working on the rebuild ever since.
He finally has the roster that he needs to compete in the Big 12. This was going to be a decision year for the AD anyway, who did not hire Smart.
Given those two choices - I'll go with Juwan Howard.
The thought of Juwan Howard just brings images of Patrick Ewing at Georgetown and Chris Mullins at St. Johns. Not horrible, but not good either.
I hear your concern, but as an NBA fan first, I can saw that Howard seems to be widely respected as an assistant, and it’s perceived to be a matter of when and not if as to his head coaching prospects. Ewing was an assistant for awhile, but the story around him seemed to be that he wasn’t perceived as a future NBA head coach.
I grant that college and NBA head coaching is different, and what could make Howard potentially successful in the NBA is not necessarily that same as in college, but in general I think Juwan is viewed as the better coach. If he kept the current staff/convinced them to stay, I think he could be quite successful.
That's a choice between Brady Hoke and Tommy Amaker. Just hire Juwan if those are the other top choices.
Not sure how "inside" this info is. It's still just speculation and I am highly doubting Iggy comes back just because a former Michigan assistant he never even played for got the head coaching gig.
Agreed, I think the deal breaker would be if all the assistant stay.
Now when you guys talk about "all the assistance" are you talking about things like wheelchairs? Or maybe a couple live-in nurses? Or just a couple of well-intentioned young men who are handy and helpful around the place.
Just trying to get a bead on what kind of assistance the program is keeping and/or losing.
The op needs assistance.
Assistants, dude. Assistants.
Assistance is what those coaches give to the Head Coach.
Well, thank you for clearing that up.
Thanks for your assistance with my grammar error.
You're the best assistant grammar coach on the board.
He's not a grammar coach. He's not even an assistant grammar coach. He's an assistant TO the grammar coach.
providing assistance?