AT LEAST HE LOOKS LIKE BUNK MORELAND

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[EDIT (Seth): It looks like we got Cooley a raise. He's staying at Providence with a multi-year extension

Staying home. pic.twitter.com/IFB8FbGJmN

— PC Men's Basketball (@PCFriarsmbb) May 21, 2019

Feel free to read the rest of this article as a low-ceilinged future avoided.]

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Ed Cooley moved from the fringes of the search to the dead center of it yesterday. Various media outlets reported that he interviewed with Warde Manuel yesterday, and then a Providence student aspiring to a job in media rushed out to a scoop of questionable veracity:

The rumored deal would be for $6 million.

— Matt St. Jean (@mattstdream) May 21, 2019

That six million dollar number is immediately dubious. What does that even mean? Six million a year? Michigan isn't making Ed Cooley the third-highest paid coach in the country. Six million over any reasonable length of time? Michigan isn't paying Ed Cooley less than Rutgers pays Steve Pikiell.

But when various folks set about debunking the above they picked their words carefully. Sam:

For those asking, I'm told this is premature. I'm told that Warde Manuel is on his way to, or already in Miami for tomorrow's planned meeting with Juwan Howard. Maybe they'll eventually land on Cooley, but they haven't yet. https://t.co/nDOv44As1p

— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) May 21, 2019

Interviewing a guy is a serious thing.

[After THE JUMP: I'd rather have a question mark.]

THE COOLEY PROBLEM

I don't know how much upside he has. Providence's rotation this year:

• C Nate Watson, 4*, #100 overall, sophomore
• F Alpha Diallo, 4*, #117 overall, junior
• G Isaiah Jackson, George Mason transfer, senior
• G David Duke, 4*, #47 overall, freshman
• G Maliek White, 4*, #127 overall, junior
• G Makai Ashton-Langford, 4*, #41 overall, sophomore
• G AJ Reeves, 4*, #48 overall, freshman
• C Khalif Young, 3*, #398 overall, junior

That's a lineup with a reasonable level of experience and plenty of talent. Those guys finished 164th in offensive efficiency. Providence offensive efficiency the three years prior: 100, 101, 92. Cooley's best offense, and best team, came immediately before that dismal four-year run of bricks. It featured Kris Dunn, a top 20 recruit who was about to be the fifth pick in the draft. That guy sucked up 30% usage and Providence was 42nd in offensive efficiency. They locked down a 6-seed and got bounced in the first round.

John Beilein had a worse offense than that once in the past decade—the team that lost both Caris LeVert and Derrick Walton. Cooley's teams have finished in the top 100 in turnover rate twice, topping out at 44th. After Beilein's first year his worst TO rate at Michigan ranked 38th.

That's eight years at the same program and all the offensive trends are negative. Cooley's teams are drifting increasingly far away from the new college "everyone's Steph Curry" paradigm. 3PA/FGA over the last four years: 128, 185, 291, 273. And they've been horrible bricklayers from three five of the last seven years, with one average season and a single lonely green blip:

Cooley is an outright bad offensive coach. There's no excuse for his results given the talent on hand. I don't know if I can deal with all that red immediately after the Beilein era. Raise your hand if this makes you want to crawl in a hole:

 

Want to play for Ed Cooley? Toughness is what he wants! (Via CoachTube) pic.twitter.com/iPYBdRPnSx

— NCSA Team Edition (@NCSA_Team) April 29, 2019

Want to get hired by a fictional Michigan led by a sports blogger? Precision is what he wants.

Cooley would clearly be a good recruiter at Michigan, but with the top 20-30 players all but off limits his hypothetical Michigan rosters aren't going to be leaps and bounds better than those he's had at Providence. So why would his offense suddenly become acceptable?

THE DEEP DIVE

Grantland did an embedded reporter thing with Providence's Kris Dunn team, which ended up in a 13-point round one loss to Dayton. Halftime:

Cooley walks in and steps to the whiteboard. “Here’s what’s going to win the game for us,” he says. “No turnovers, finishing, and better transition D. Just be physical around the rim. We’re complaining about not getting calls. Maybe we don’t deserve the calls. Just finish.

“Honestly,” he says, “I don’t see a need for X-and-O adjustments. Our game plan is working. It’s not our defense. It’s our offense.” He goes through a few minor points — avoid fouls, throw crisper passes, drive when you see a lane. “We gotta be attack dogs,” Cooley says, shaking his head a little as he speaks. “We gotta play with that swag. We need some dog in us.”

Yikes.

THE OTHER COOLEY PROBLEM

His name has come up for a reason other than his coaching acumen:

Remember, Michigan search is being run by Gene DeFilippo (Now at Turnkey Sports) — who was the AD at Boston College when Ed Cooley was an assistant and the Eagles had it rolling. Cooley was at BC from 1997-2006 and DeFilippo was the AD from 1997-2012.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) May 20, 2019

DeFilippo fired Al Skinner, the head coach when BC "had it rolling" with seven bids in ten years. BC has not had a bid in the nine years since. Skinner's replacement, Steve Donahue, had a Wile E Coyote season the year after Skinner left and then went 9-22, 16-17, and 8-24 before getting fired himself.

So Cooley's name comes up in part because a former BC athletic director who made an incompetent hire knows him. He's no less of a who-you-know hire than Juwan Howard.

THE OTHER OTHER COOLEY PROBLEM

Think of this poor woman.

My mother just reminded me that I literally have the words Heart and Soul in Ed Cooley’s handwriting TATTOOED ON MY BODY

— Courtney Buohl (@courtneybueller) May 21, 2019

I sincerely hope there are no Michigan fans with "We had subs, it was crazy" tattooed on their bodies.

THE INFECTION

We're contagious.

PROVIDENCE — Is Ed Cooley a Providence Man?

Officials at Providence College and Friar fans are about to find out just how wedded Cooley is to the hometown job that he’s elevated to unprecedented levels over the last eight seasons. Cooley has had contact with representatives of the University of Michigan regarding its vacant basketball coaching job and one source close to the situation termed the state of affairs as “fluid.”

Providence doesn't have football, at least.

TODAY IS JUWAN DAY

Juwan Howard is preferable to Cooley. Any NBA system is going to be closer to Beilein's style of offense than Providence's grindball flex. Cooley has eight years at a major conference school in which he's proven he is a below-average offensive coach. Howard is more likely to retain a couple of assistants. And he's interviewing today.