Sure I agree with this. I’ve taken the pro-Georgetown side in many disputes with townie before and you’ve got the right side of history here. And Georgetown is for many reasons not a particularly good comparison to the situation Syracuse finds itself in. So I don’t want to make this about any particular situation, all of which are multi-faceted.
But the general point is this: even today, boeheim is in, say, the 85th percentile of coaches. (I’d probably put him a touch higher, you might put him a little lower.) Finding a replacement, even when you’re willing to spend money, who is as good is far from a guarantee.
Even looking at your list, I think every one of these programs other than Louisville went through at least one bust before they found a good coach. Escherick, guthridge, Sampson, etc.
Louisville is the exception that proves the rule - they got a proven, championship pedigree coach with deep ties in their state. If you can do that, it’s obviously a huge win, but there aren’t a lot of rick Pitinos lying around. I mean, the guy who is to some extent comparable right now is billy Donovan (big east ties, won titles in the NCAA, seems like there’s a good chance he bombs out of the nba). If we can get him, you take him immediately. But that’s not going to be what’s on the table.
I don’t want to overstate this. I wanted Hopkins to take over. I’m cautiously optimistic that the program will be fine in the long run. But people wanting boeheim to go because they’re tired of only winning 65 percent of games are taking a massive gamble that could end terribly.