Brad Stevens Leaves for the NBA

If I'm not mistaken Butler was a top 50 academic school nationally. They also have a storied basketball program and will only attract better recruits and more media attention being a major team now. Don't forget that Hinkle magic. They are just one of those gritty teams that never falls flat on its face even when they lose a player or coach. Butler will be fine and if SJ/Prov steps up as at least one of them are expected to, it will take a load off of Butler.
 
If I'm not mistaken Butler was a top 50 academic school nationally. They also have a storied basketball program and will only attract better recruits and more media attention being a major team now. Don't forget that Hinkle magic. They are just one of those gritty teams that never falls flat on its face even when they lose a player or coach. Butler will be fine and if SJ/Prov steps up as at least one of them are expected to, it will take a load off of Butler.
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http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/butler-university-1788
 
If I'm not mistaken Butler was a top 50 academic school nationally. They also have a storied basketball program and will only attract better recruits and more media attention being a major team now. Don't forget that Hinkle magic. They are just one of those gritty teams that never falls flat on its face even when they lose a player or coach. Butler will be fine and if SJ/Prov steps up as at least one of them are expected to, it will take a load off of Butler.
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http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/butler-university-1788
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And look who's above them in the Regional University Midwest Rankings.
 
Assistant Brandon Miller promoted to top job, per Andy Katz on twitter:

http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=ESPNAndyKatz

Actually was an assistant at Illinois this past year, and returned to Butler in the spring as the new Associate HC. Obviously, that didn't last very long.
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It's nice to see how a well-run athletic dept., and a sharp athletic director, can react to the unexpected departure of a coach. They consider maybe half a dozen candidates, all of whom had already played and/or coached at Butler, narrow the field and select one - all in three days. No need for search committees, shadow search committees, leaks to the press re candidates, background checks with archbishops, or school presidents and 80 year old ex-coaches secretly meeting with candidates. Butler's track record for hiring basketball coaches speaks for itself.
 
on several levels you're right.

but can he coach?
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I don't know anything about the guy, but the AD who hired him is very familiar with him. It's just a matter of having bright, independent, accountable people in charge. Look at the difference between Butler, Xavier, and Gonzaga vs. SJU, Seton Hall, DePaul and Rutgers. The first group, generally considered mid-majors, with limited conference revenue, who are always losing coaches to wealthier schools, seem to always hire effective coaches, where the latter group flounders around with poor and/or mentally disturbed hires, necessitating early firings, bad publicity, expensive buyouts, lost revenue opportunities, etc. Competence starts at the top and is expected everywhere else at a well-run operation.
 
on several levels you're right.

but can he coach?
Click to expand...

I don't know anything about the guy, but the AD who hired him is very familiar with him. It's just a matter of having bright, independent, accountable people in charge. Look at the difference between Butler, Xavier, and Gonzaga vs. SJU, Seton Hall, DePaul and Rutgers. The first group, generally considered mid-majors, with limited conference revenue, who are always losing coaches to wealthier schools, seem to always hire effective coaches, where the latter group flounders around with poor and/or mentally disturbed hires, necessitating early firings, bad publicity, expensive buyouts, lost revenue opportunities, etc. Competence starts at the top and is expected everywhere else at a well-run operation.
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if there's really no difference between the horizon league and the new big east, miller could be a slam dunk.
what's unnerving is how easily a conference can fall based on a top coach leaving.
that's why many of us were advocating a bigger league with kick butt teams right from the start. then this would only have been a blip on the radar.
 
"{On an unrelated note, some of you are aware that since my son was 8 or so, I've written to former pro athletes and college basketball coaches around my son's birthday, asking them to send birthday greetings that I pre-stamp and address. Over that time, coaches like the late John Wooden, a healthier Dean Smith, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Coach Lou C. (of course), Jay Wright, even Norm and other have sent cards, many with warm greetings and notes of advice and encouragement. This year I wrote to Stevens, and did not hear back. That makes only three coaches over ten years - Stevens, John Thompson III, and Steve Lavin who couldn't find the time to sign a card and drop it in their outbox. At least Stevens had his mind in other places."}

Funny about what you mention here, Beast, is that it can be completely anecdotal.....by that I mean, depending on when it got there, who received it, etc., you might have a good or a bad response.

My anecdote, is that after Syracuse won their Jim B. Championship, I sent a picture and note up to Jim B with a very warm message about my best friend who passed away a few years earlier at 47. He had two sons and a daughter, and they inherited their father's love for Syracuse BB, absolutely huge fans as their dad was also. Well, nothing came back, and I sent another note and still nothing I gave up. Luckily, I had was sitting next to and befriended Gerry McNamara's cousin Kelly at the big east tournament the next year. And lo and behold, she gets Gerry to sign a basketball and some photos for me, so the kids ended up with some cool stuff, just not from the legendary coach. I would have sworn that Jim B, would have responded if my notes made their way to him. In your case, it sounds like it did.

I know when sports talk folks hear callers mention that they ran into so-and-so and he was jerk or so-and-so and he was a nice guy, they minimize it--- probably for the same reasons.
 
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