Searchbits VI: Bunk About Bunk
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.
Sheeeiiiitttttt Cooley looks more like Clay Davis than the Bunk in the first picture.
Weirdly Courtney has a "Fab Five" shirt on in her twitter pic.
I was wondering if there was some kind of chummy/cozy conflict of interest that would put Cooley's name in the mix. And honestly, these coaching search consulting firms sound like total bullshit- seems like a reason for someone to get their buddy in as a head coach somewhere. It's like if I was being pushed to run for governor because my brother is the chair of the state party committee. Turnkey Sports sounds like a terrible waste of money (weren't they pushing Shaka Smart too? Same thing).
Otherwise, there's no way Cooley should've been considered. He's just flat-out not a great coach. And its perplexing how a meh coach like him could suddenly generate such buzz.
Coaching searches make no sense.
Just passing this along, i spoke with The father of Texas’ athletic trainer (who was also with Shaka when he was at VCU) and asked him if his son was moving to Ann Arbor any time soon, and his comment was, nah, doesn’t look like it. Probably one more year in Austin.
I'm just a humble mother*&^% with a big ass dick.
#bunk #itsallinthegame
You’re the AD. What if you don’t get any of the guys you’re most interested in, because maybe they like where they are, or want to stay in the pros, or for any other reason?
Could happen. Nothing wrong with interviewing lots of people.
Nonetheless, I’m on the Juwan bus, and I hope he gets (and accepts) the offer.
I've said this a few times on a variety of Michigan message boards since the saga started, but I categorically reject this concept.
Sure, there will be superstar coaches that simply won't come to Michigan. But this idea that the "timing" of all this is radically narrowing Warde's options is total nonsense.
Why?
Because in 97% of cases where "timing" is the only hurdle, Michigan has the ability *when motivated & organized* to offer the solution to overcome the *timing* hurdle. Namely, money. Gobs and gobs of money.
If a coach simply doesn't want to coach in the Big Ten, or doesn't want to coach for Michigan in particular, or doesn't want to uproot geographically due to some personal considerations, then whether JB resigned now or several weeks ago would not have made a difference.
Similarly, if a coach *WOULD* come coach at Michigan, BUT FOR the fact that he *just* signed an extension w/ his current school or a contract with a brand new team---that's negotiable.
Sure, there will be a few guys who would refuse to pull a JB and bail on their current team last minute over principle. But tha VAST majority could overcome any geographical or career-path whiplash if you wave millions & millions of dollars in their face.
"Honey, I know you were packing up the boxes & about to caravan w/ the kids down to XYZ college town, but something's come up....." Wife & kids will get over it pretty quick if you there is a $10M signing bonus that's being offered as a reason.
Is there anything to be read into Warde going to Miami to interview Juwan instead of Juwan coming to AA?
Howard will be announced shortly. Notifications within the program are taking place now.
One reason Cooley is a favorite is that Manuel clearly stated that college head coaching experience is one of his, or the, most important criteria. And Cooley is the only finalist that has that. That makes the other two interviews look political to appease the Michigan fan base. If this is true and Manual hires Cooley then he blew it.
We know that (unless you’re Duke or Kentucky and you can get blue chip recruits) the number one criteria is a genius offensive or defensive mind with the ability to lead kids. That along with a Michigan level of integrity. The only thing Cooley has going for him is a clean record, a Providence fan base happy with performing slightly above expectations, and connections to the recruiter.
Too many things about this process already smell bad. This is a far cry from Hackett hiring Harbaugh. This is more like Brandon hiring Hoke
I think dan dakich has a we had subs tatoo
Haven’t followed it closely, but how come the st marys ca coach wasnt looked at? Grew up in moraga. Taking st marys to the ncaa is like taking concordia college to the nit.
umbig11 called it Howard. It’s done.
Warde getting a raise for his buddy Ed Cooley is a good thing that costs all of us nothing.
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