JB...Hop is ten times better than any other coach they could've hired...

[IthacaMatt]

Are my post confirmed by Jake, deal was essentially done, until the upsets by fgcu Enfield wasn't considered and hop was ready to go.

I'm not sure if it was this article, but I read somewhere that Hop was trying to negotiate an out clause to come back to SU if it opened up. That probably was the sticking point. "How bad do you want this job, if you are already planning your return to Syracuse?"

 

[cuseinchina]

I wonder if Gross didn't put the nail in on this one - I mean his comment that Hopkins would always have a place here at Syracuse or whatever the exact quote was surely signaled to the USC AD that as soon as Boeheim leaves the job is his for the taking. No one wants to hire a head coach with such high odds of him leaving in the next 3 years. It's not a risk worth taking. Hopefully there won't be any lingering resentment or bitterness as a result.

 

[orangecuse]

My first thought was "It's easy for him to say that, now that Mike isn't getting the job." I still recall pretty clearly JB calling him "Coach Hopkins" in his initial press interview - "Coach Hopkins has to decide if he wants it." Big change of tone; I'm guessing a little fence mending by JB.

Maybe, you make a valid point. Other incidentals may have been going on as well, who knows. Maybe, deep down, JB was not thrilled about the timing of the job interview, etc, and that it was a possible distraction to the team during the stretch of losing 4 out of 5 prior to the great run in the BET? :noidea: