Would we hire someone else's assistant? | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com

Would we hire someone else's assistant?

Anything and everyone should be on the table at this point.

I would think JW has 3-5 proven guys in his top tier and would go from there if they declined or decided to stay where they are at.

I look at this potential HC opening as a great opportunity for our basketball program, like the old Air Force slogan lets "Aim High"
 
I have to assume Schertz, Skinn and Hodgson are on the list. After that, maybe Travis Steele and someone we haven’t mentioned.
 
Newhouser said:
Like Miami did with Lucas? I mean of course after Billy Donovan and Jay Wright turn us down. Are there any big time assistants like the guy at AZ was when he worked for Few?
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No. They can’t go that route after Autry. Even though I like Tommy Lloyd.
 
crv1728 said:
I agree. But can you think of one other assistant that you would hire? I think the offensive genius of a two time (with him as asst) national champion is the only exception I can think of.
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Probably just him. I know some people at UCONN and he 100% thought he was getting the Xavier job last yr
 
orange79 said:
I have to believe the farthest down the food chain we would go is a low-major HC. Given how this choice has gone, I don't think ADJW would take a chance with anyone who doesn't have head-coaching experience.
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Yep. I see no way Tony Bennett dips back into the portal era. Need to find a portal coach. And I think there is not chance but Young in BYU should be in the convo of best young coaches
 
Cooper05 said:
Thad Matta? I would like to hear why? That guy got lucky as hell against us In The elite eight! He hasn’t accomplished anything! Not what SU needs
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From 2000-2013, he was a top 10 coach in college basketball (possibly even close to top 5). There is a problem in bold below though.
- Had a great first year at Butler in the MVC in 2000 turning around their fortunes.
- Then went to Xavier in 2001 and did great with them in the A-10 - led them to an Elite 8.
- He then went to Ohio St in 2004, and won 5 regular season titles in 9 years.

After 2015, its been tougher for Thad though, and his current 4 year run at Butler has not went too well and is not very inspring.
- His last 2 years at Ohio St they missed the tourney, and they were a little down
- And his comeback at Butler has not went well. 4 years of about .500 ball.
 
I honestly could care less whether the next coach has been a HC before... typically all HC's are assistants before they are HCs. What I care about:
1. Can the guy raise NIL
2. Can the guy bring in top 50 recruits with a semi regular Mcd AA
3. Does the guy have a cohesive strategy for D and O beyond "level 5" and iso-ball that he can communicate to his guys and get them to play consistently
4. Can the guy make adjustments in real time based on game flow.
5. Can the guy set up all aspects of the program to execute from student assistants, to LLM training to workouts, to meals, etc...

That's it... those are the 5 things I care about. Basically we need a borderline OCD person who is willing to eat, sleep, drink basketball 24/7 and 365 days a year until he gets this thing rolling.

The only advantage of hiring a HC is that they probably have proven what they can do in those areas. But If they can find some golden child assistant who can do those things then that's fine too. The main issue with Autry is I don't think anyone asked how he would do 1-5 in his interview process.
 
Throwing this out there... Why not some JUCO action... The head coach of Vincennes Todd Franklin

"One of the most accomplished and respected coaches in NJCAA history, Todd Franklin enters his 29th season as a collegiate head coach in 2025–26 and his 16th season leading the Vincennes University (VU) men’s basketball program. With a career record of 747–184, including 417 wins at VU, Franklin has built a legacy defined by excellence, consistency, and national impact."
 
Cuse_NYC said:
I’d take Murray and be fine with it
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Question is can an assistant be the head man. Very different roles. Definitely want a high energy person who can instill discipline and also implement winning strategies, fund raise and close deals. I am not asking for much (lol)
 
AZOrange said:
Yep. I see no way Tony Bennett dips back into the portal era. Need to find a portal coach. And I think there is not chance but Young in BYU should be in the convo of best young coaches
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I agree Young is excellent but frankly I don't think we could pull him from BYU. Not sure we are the better job.
 
CardiacCuse said:
competency is all that matters

not name brand

not previus success or experience

simply competency at coaching basketball
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As Coach Fran Brown has shown, recruiting an an elite level is more important than any other talent. Brown revitalized the football program in an immediate turn around, and his on field coaching has been good but not great. The fact he had to fire his DC and a bunch of position coaches reinforces the belief that he is learning on the job... The fact that he hired a former head coach to be his DC indicates he at least understands he needs to work on things.

Frankly, Red gave a lot of indications he figured things out after last season. Red hiring support staff to help him shore up his weaknesses were great decisions. The roster was much better this season than last. The conditioning and team building in the off season were much better than last. His in season management seems to be a weakness he couldn't overcome.

Reverting back to the original question, I think hiring a star assistant from a winning program, with proven recruiting talent, wouldn't be a fail. But, looking at Red's hiring, he was a legacy coach from a losing program. He has recruited high school well, but left a lot of his JB learned habits in place.

Getting a UConn assistant fresh off winning two national titles wouldn't be so bad. Assuming, of course, that he is actually an engine of that previous success and not merely along for the ride.
 
My question is is this going to be a done deal before it’s a done deal? I’m assuming JW is talking back channels circuitously two agents to make sure he’s got his coach before he fires Red
 
Capt. Tuttle said:
My question is is this going to be a done deal before it’s a done deal? I’m assuming JW is talking back channels circuitously two agents to make sure he’s got his coach before he fires Red
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If he's going to do that, I would rather he fire Red now and make Dan Engelstad (or one of the other assistants or Eric Devendorf for all I care) interim head coach so he can openly do a coaching search.
 
Niastri said:
As Coach Fran Brown has shown, recruiting an a I'n elite level is more important than any other talent. Brown revitalized the football program in an immediate turn around, and his on field coaching has been good but not great. The fact he had to fire his DC and a bunch of position coaches reinforces the belief that he is learning on the job... The fact that he hired a former head coach to be his DC indicates he at least understands he needs to work on things.

Frankly, Red gave a lot of indications he figured things out after last season. Red hiring support staff to help him shore up his weaknesses were great decisions. The roster was much better this season than last. The conditioning and team building in the off season were much better than last. His in season management seems to be a weakness he couldn't overcome.

Reverting back to the original question, I think hiring a star assistant from a winning program, with proven recruiting talent, wouldn't be a fail. But, looking at Red's hiring, he was a legacy coach from a losing program. He has recruited high school well, but left a lot of his JB learned habits in place.

Getting a UConn assistant fresh off winning two national titles wouldn't be so bad. Assuming, of course, that he is actually an engine of that previous success and not merely along for the ride.
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Football is different than basketball. There's more examples of lesser talented teams winning in basketball due to good coaching. We need someone who has a system and recruits to it. Red appears to be all over the place and doesn't put players in the best position to succeed.

I am all for kicking the tires on Luke Murray, but it does scare me he's never been a HC at any level. He's been an assistant at everywhere including AAU. I am sure he has a great philosophy and is a great recruiter or he wouldn't have been Hurley's second in command off and on the past 15 years, but it's totally different from going to good cop to bad cop. Hurley is JB on steroids. We saw how that worked out with Hop when he had to run the entire operation and everyone thought he would be great too.
 
Niastri said:
If he's going to do that, I would rather he fire Red now and make Dan Engelstad (or one of the other assistants or Eric Devendorf for all I care) interim head coach so he can openly do a coaching search.
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Why? Everybody already knows Autry is not coming back. That includes anybody who might be interested in the job. There have already been conversations and some people do not want to be asked if they are going to SU while they are still coaching their current team.
 

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