Mike's Mailbox: Is St. John's botched coaching search a glimpse into Syracuse's future?

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Trueblue25]

Is this a god damn troll attempt?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Is this a god damn troll attempt?

Letters from Syracuse.com readers are always amusing.

 

[rrlbees]

Clown

 

[UnknownOrange]

If the Loyola Chicago coach turns down the Syracuse jo...

if the Loyola Chicago coach is even asked his OPINION on who should take the 'Cuse job

I will eat my shoes.

Syracusedotcom does a lot of good but lord they can stink up the place often

 

[Sherman20]

I wonder if Townie wrote this letter.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Who knows. There aren’t many candidates worthy of a job like ours so it only takes a couple guys to say no and then you are Tennessee football hiring and firing Shady.

A lot more truth to this than anyone will admit.

We’d have likely revolted over the guys UCLA went after and their blood is bluer than ours.

 

[Briancuse]

A first grader couldn't screw it up more than st johns did. Wildhack will be fine.

 

[cuse10]

Not even close. St. John's is a mess and this search exposed how bad affairs are at the University.

 

[NKR1978]

We saw how SU handled the football search. While that was Coyle, JW has also proven to be competent.

 

[OrangeDW]

I wonder if Townie wrote this letter.

My money is on edfromsodus.

 

[RF2044]

Who knows. There aren’t many candidates worthy of a job like ours so it only takes a couple guys to say no and then you are Tennessee football hiring and firing Shady.

A lot more truth to this than anyone will admit.

We’d have likely revolted over the guys UCLA went after and their blood is bluer than ours.

Disagree. This is what happens when you don't have a competent strategic leader in charge of the process.

And in addtion to what you describe above, the candidate pool shrinks immensely when we delimit ourselves to a small group of pre-defined candidates. So, let's not do that -- and give our highly competent AD the degrees of freedom he needs to do a comprehensive search for the top possible candidate.

So long as Wildhack's hands aren't shackled by any arbitrary evaluative criteria, I'm confident he'll knock this out of the park. This hire will be his AD career defining legacy.

 

[AZOrange]

Disagree. This is what happens when you don't have a competent strategic leader in charge of the process.

And in addtion to what you describe above, the candidate pool shrinks immensely when we delimit ourselves to a small group of pre-defined candidates. So, let's not do that -- and give our highly competent AD the degrees of freedom he needs to do a comprehensive search for the top possible candidate.

So long as Wildhack's hands aren't shackled by any arbitrary evaluative criteria, I'm confident he'll knock this out of the park. This hire will be his AD career defining legacy.

His hands won’t be tied.

 

[Trueblue25]

“We love you Jimmy!”

 

[AZOrange]

Kind of funny but if you make it past the goofy headline and Waters really odd take the questions were fine. Hard to believe people pay for that content

 

[Newhouser]

We saw how SU handled the football search. While that was Coyle, JW has also proven to be competent.

Proven?

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Disagree. This is what happens when you don't have a competent strategic leader in charge of the process.

And in addtion to what you describe above, the candidate pool shrinks immensely when we delimit ourselves to a small group of pre-defined candidates. So, let's not do that -- and give our highly competent AD the degrees of freedom he needs to do a comprehensive search for the top possible candidate.

So long as Wildhack's hands aren't shackled by any arbitrary evaluative criteria, I'm confident he'll knock this out of the park. This hire will be his AD career defining legacy.

Was the Tennessee AD incompetent he made some good hires at Kansas St Martin and Weber have done well there?

Our fans only want Wright/Bennett/Hopkins (the later most wanted no part of 2 years ago) we aren't ending up with Mike Anderson but we might not get a 'name' that everyone is behind from day 1.

 

[RF2044]

Was the Tennessee AD incompetent he made some good hires at Kansas St Martin and Weber have done well there?

Our fans only want Wright/Bennett/Hopkins (the later most wanted no part of 2 years ago) we aren't ending up with Mike Anderson but we might not get a 'name' that everyone is behind from day 1.

Tennessee botched it for a variety of reasons, but I was referring to St. John's.

Wildhack needs to do better than both of those debacles -- and he will. But if you want to predict doom, that's your choice. I don't accept that we are predestined to fail, challenging though it will be to replace an iconic figure. The best way to avoid a negative outcome is to dispense with false constraints that limit choice.

 

[Townie72]

I wonder if Townie wrote this letter.

Hardly.

This guy is more positive than I am.

SU is a good job, but no where near as attractive as some on here think it is. Especially following JB and maybe even requiring the complete multi-year re-tooling of the program for a coach with a different strategy/style.

Lot's of risk in that for a "hot" new coach. who in most years has a number of good opportunities in which they don't have to supplant Duke and UNC at the top of the ACC to be seen as successful.

If JB's successor isn't on the staff now, we'll be shopping for a coach for which the SU job is a definite step up. In other words, it'll be a crap shoot.

The school does have a history of promoting current staff and of favoring alumni in coaching jobs. Desko, for example.

 

[kuethstheman]

Kind of funny but if you make it past the goofy headline and Waters really odd take the questions were fine. Hard to believe people pay for that content

Not sure what people are complaining about. Maybe the person who wrote the headline? Also, I don't know what's wrong with Mike's take.

 

[Townie72]

Was the Tennessee AD incompetent he made some good hires at Kansas St Martin and Weber have done well there?

Our fans only want Wright/Bennett/Hopkins (the later most wanted no part of 2 years ago) we aren't ending up with Mike Anderson but we might not get a 'name' that everyone is behind from day 1.

Exactly, Frankiefan. That's exactly how it's going to go down.

First JB says he's done.

Then there is this huge furor from the fan base and maybe even the media on the candidates. It'll start with Hopkins, if he has had continued success. If he has, he'd be crazy to leave UW. (Although Gary Williams did leave OSU for Maryland)

It'll shift to the "Unattainables" like Bennett and and Wright.

Then it'll work down to a choice between the current staff and the then current list of "hot" mid-major coaches. Guys like Oates.

When Wildhack identifies a coach he wants that wants the job, Syracusefan will predictably have some posters who are disappointed and even livid with the choice.


If you live in a world in which you beleive that Jim Boeheim is what is holding SU back from greatness, than you probably aren't receptive to a coach that is going to have to learn the ropes at the top level of the ACC.

 

[NKR1978]

Proven?

Was pretty successful at ESPN and handled the Dino extension well. No drama. Nothing played out in the media. I'll be shocked if we have a clownshow coaching search.

 

[hoopsupstate]

SU won’t be the only opening. In the next five years, Duke, UNC and SU will all be looking for new coaches. Be sure the coaching world is aware of this. I’m sure certain coaches are trying to line themselves up for these three jobs.

 

[sutomcat]

Was pretty successful at ESPN and handled the Dino extension well. No drama. Nothing played out in the media. I'll be shocked if we have a clownshow coaching search.

I agree. Some ADs have little experience running a big organization and selecting leaders that will have a lot of responsibility. Say for instance, the AD at St Johns.

John has been doing it for decades.

St Johns has a reputation as a graveyard for coaches. Syracuse is at the other end of the spectrum on that front.

Then there is the comparative health of the two programs, the revenue each has to work with coupled with the current massive gap in facilities, academics and fan support and a reasonable person should be able to see the situations are not comparable in any way, shape or form.

More on John Wildhack: The best way to handle a coaching change is to identify possible candidates well in advance, make discrete inquiries, preferably indirectly, and have the replacement largely ready to go when the time comes. One good thing about this transition is that everyone knows it is coming and even the end date is pretty much locked in.

There should be no surprises. John will have done his homework and will be prepared to act. The new coach will be well qualified and will want to coach here. The new coach will be our first choice and Syracuse will be his first choice.

As it should be.

 

[Townie72]

What are the examples that support this SU Tomcat claim?:

"St Johns has a reputation as a graveyard for coaches. Syracuse is at the other end of the spectrum on that front."

From what I see the school's reputation might be:

1. There's a strong, historic preference for hiring internally or hiring alumni.
2. If you do well, you stay here forever. (Except for Mac and Marrone)
3. If you don't do well, you are given a chance, but then are replaced like the string of football coaches since Mac.

In Basketball we have had one alumnus coach since the early 1970's. I guess you can say that Roy Danforth used SU as a springboard ... into the void.

In lacrosse, we have either a Simmons or Alumni/Asst Coach Desko forever.

In football, we have had a stream of head coaches since P. Only one of which ended up in better shape after SU than he was in prior to coming. Dino is TBD.