Fortunately for the university, the AD, and the fanbase, your opinion is not a realistic depiction of our current situation / financial wherewithal. The men's head basketball coaching position is, will, and will continue to be a highly attractive, upper echelon position for a variety of reasons -- not the least of which include ACC conference affiliation, the largest on-campus basketball arena in the nation, and a fervent fanbase that supports the program, travels well, and per ESPN metrics garners top 10 interest nationally.
What the school has done in the past reflected the station of the program / University and financial situation of those times. We are in a completely spot today as a function of ACC revenue sharing -- which is why we won't have to resort to "cheap" hires, hiring unproven candidates, or settling for candidates that are already on staff.
Tomcat nailed it -- we have the right guy at the helm, equipped with the financial resources to identify and hire the best possible candidate. What we saw on the football side with the last hire being a proven commodity with a track record of success stood in marked contrast to previous football hires, and this next basketball hire will follow suit. That doesn't mean that it will be Jay Wright, or any of the names that frequently get floated -- but it also doesn't mean that we have to roll the dice on some flash in the pan, or restrict our pool of candidates unnecessarily to those with historical ties to the program.
The one part of your post I agree 100% with is that the JB bashing around here is tiresome as hell.
You misunderstand.
I agree with just about everything you wrote which is pretty much from the University's view. There's plenty of money and a huge incentive to keep the ball rolling. Men's basketball has been carrying pretty much the whole load for decades. JW does not want to be the guy that kills the goose that lays the golden egg.
I do think that the University is aware of the impact of the whole compensation structure of the Athletic Department associated with giving the basketball coach some huge pay package. If that happens every coach on will be looking for some sort of adjustment with Dino first in line saying what about me. This will be followed almost immediately with the entire faculty --- in full outrage mode --- looking for more money complaining about the ascendency of athletics over academics. This ain't Alabama.
But, I think the great mistake much of the SU fan base makes is in over-rating the attraction of the job. This is a pattern at almost every school with a coaching vacancy. When Gary Williams left Maryland, the fans were hollering for Mike Brey.
It's not about big crowds or any of that. It's the cold-blooded calculus that a prospective coach will have to make relative, "Can I succeed there?"
And that's closely connected to another question, "What are the expectations and how achievable are they?"
So it's not about "Who do we want". IMO opinion, it's going to be mostly about "Who will see this as worth the risk?"
We will hire somebody and they'll be a pretty good coach. But it isn't going to be Jay Wright or anything close to Jay Wright. And the whining will commence. (It's already started.)
I'm also affected but what I have seen SU do for a very long time (50 years) with coaches. There IS a bias towards hiring internally. There IS a bias to staying within the SU family. Even for outsiders, SU has rarely been a stepping stone job. It's almost always a final destination.
Boeheim has been like the Rolling Stones of college basketball coaching. He or they might not have been the most popular or best in any year since the 1960's, but when you look at the totality and the consistency of their careers, that's when you see the genius of it.
Asking someone to follow that is a challenge.
