Syracuse considered the 10th best job in college basketball

[Briancuse]

If you win the NC there will be a ton of people at the parade. Texas fans may be lukewarm during the season but liking basketball or not the fact one of their programs won means they'll show up in droves.

If you could pry them away from spring football practice.

 

[HOFCeluck]

How was Texas basketball attendance in 2003?

You know another football school? Florida, and its funny how people started to give a down there about Florida basketball when Donovan made them relevant.

 

[anomander]

Only reason I can assume Texas is ahead of us is their ability to give a much higher salary. Still don't see it.

I would have Syracuse 7th.

How is Georgetown 15th and Uconn behind them? The 1980's were a long time ago.

 

[jncuse]

Texas. Lol

I actually think it's one of the top jobs. It depends on perspective. If you want a pressure cooker, with the absolute best chances to win the title, the blue bloods are better. But if you want a school that still provides a chance to win it all in one year when things go right, Texas is a great option.

As someone used to point out on another board that I use to frequent -- Rick Barnes has the easiest job in America.

Pay is very good, city is great, you have relatively good resources and a good brand. You should be able to get good recruits, plus you are in a state that is now pretty fertile for basketball players. You will not recruit at blue blood level, but the conditions are there to have consistently good recruiting classes.

Just look at all the NBA talent Texas has had drafted in the first round the last 10 years - Kevin Durant, Lamarcus Aldridge, TJ Ford, Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph, DJ Augustin, Jordan Hamilton, Avery Bradley, Damion James.. Then you have second rounders who carved out decent NBA careers (PJ Tucker, Royal Ivey, Daniel Gibson). That is 9 first rounders since 2003, with 3 other players having nice little runs in the NBA.

Not many schools have had more talent pass through its doors. Barnes just has not been good at piecing it all together.

The essentials are there to be pretty good -- and yet the demands are pretty low. Rick Barnes should have been able to accomplish much more with the Texas program. But he hasn't and yet still has a job.

Say Jim Boehiem and Rick Barnes leave Syracuse and Texas tomorrow. I'm not sure that new coach for Syracuse has a big resource advantage over a Texas coach -- perhaps some advantage

If that new Syracuse coach struggles or only has moderate success he will not last long. That may not be the case in Texas. They will be more forgiving.

It's not only Syracuse. While blue bloods / next tier have had some coaches with long tenures, they have also crushed the careers of a few people recently - Matt Doherty, Mike Davis, Billy Gillespie. Even Tubby Smith never had any respect at UK. They would have crushed Rick Barnes as well.

 

[jncuse]

What other schools have had 8 nba first rounders since 2006? Not many have more than Texas. Add in 3 fairly successful 2nd rounders. By my count we have 6 - Greene, Flynn, Johnson, Waiters, Melo, MCW. I suspect we may equal it this year.

My count (perhaps an imprecise scan) from basketball reference, for the most successful programs in recent years... and Texas:

Kentucky 11
Kansas 10
UNC 9
UConn 8
Texas 8
Duke 7
UCLA 7
Syracuse 6
Florida 6
Arizona 4
Louisville 3
Indiana 3
Michigan St 1

Those were the only programs I checked -- perhaps there are some I am overlooking. But Texas has been getting some really good talent for a while.

 

[jncuse]

I would put Texas, Louisville and Syracuse right behind the big 4 blue bloods right now. I think UCLA should be up there, but quite a few have struggled a bit with job for some reason. A coach like Izzo has done a great job at Michigan St, but the structure of that program is not at the level of those other schools. It should definetely not be above Syracuse.

I don't think Indiana is that great a job. It is not a recruiting haven, the pressure is insane, and it has crushed some coaches.

 

[jncuse]

If you could pry them away from spring football practice.

But why does number of fans make the job that much better?

Being in a pressure cooker and being in an environment that gives you a decent shot at high success can definetely be mutually exclusive.

A school like Texas still gives you the resources, the brand, and the location to be very successful with less pressure. Rick Barnes has screwed up a pretty sweet deal in Austin for a while.