Coaching Carousel

Richard Pitino signed a contract extension last year for $1.4 million/year. Given his record at New Mexico this year, there will be opportunity to leave or leverage.
 
I do think the "succession" talk is premature. But Rick brought up some interesting points in the interview. He said STJ is a very unique job, and they have to be able to connect with the Wall Street alum/be from this area and understand New York City + get the pro sports town angle of it.

On paper, who really qualifies for this?

The dream candidates are Billy Donovan (still a dream but he does have close connections with Shanley and Pitino) and Dan Hurley (only if he bails on UConn for the NBA and predictably flames out). Edit: Jay Wright is another dream candidate. Would be shocked if it happens. Maybe by then he's bored broadcasting + the instability of the NCAA actually subsides so he wants to jump in.

After that, the list seems pretty rough.
Sha -- better coach than he's shown, but can he also be the CEO of a big time program? This was a dreadful year.
Claxton -- bad year for him at Hofstra
Robert Jones -- probably 1-2 coaching jobs away from being a serious candidate
James Jones -- totally different beast than the Ivy league, not sure it makes sense
Mike Boynton -- mediocre results at OK State. Probably would be a perfect AHC like he is now at Michigan.
Matt Langel -- big step up from Colgate and same issues with James Jones candidacy.
Richard Pitino -- not from the area but obviously well-suited. Honestly looks like the best candidate based on this criteria
Kevin Willard -- not sure he'd be interested but he'd probably be more of a home run hire than anyone would want to admit if the list dwindles.

Assistant coach list:
Mas
Kimani Young -- left STJ under I think not great circumstances but could be misremembering. He's due for a HC job, but this is a tough first one.
Luke Murray -- more of a CT guy

Am I missing anyone obvious? It's not really helpful that the NYC/NJ coaching pipeline seems to have dried up a bit.
 
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Based on what Pitino has accomplished in two years I expect/hope that the candidates to take over when he leaves is a lot more impressive than those posted. If SJU is able to play 14 games a year at MSG and create an impressive NIL situation as it appears to be doing there will be far more impressive candidates interested in the job.
If the NCAA can come up with a reasonable NIL plan with some guidelines I can dream of Jay Wright getting antsy in a few years and taking over what is then a thriving SJU program.
 
GardenCity62 said:
Based on what Pitino has accomplished in two years I expect/hope that the candidates to take over when he leaves is a lot more impressive than those posted. If SJU is able to play 14 games a year at MSG and create an impressive NIL situation as it appears to be doing there will be far more impressive candidates interested in the job.
If the NCAA can come up with a reasonable NIL plan with some guidelines I can dream of Jay Wright getting antsy in a few years and taking over what is then a thriving SJU program.
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Agree and with SJU’s NIL $upport, marked improvement and national attention under Pitino, imo the job wiill be substantially more attractive when he retires.
 
The obvious ideal scenario from my perspective is Rick passes it to his son when he doesn't want to keep up with the grind anymore in a few years. Whether that is going to be realistic or not is anybody's guess at this point. But if Richard is the coach here Rick will still be heavily involved as he's not going to be able to just not be closely around the game anymore. His guidance and sitting in the 2nd row behind the bench at MSG will still keep us successful.
 
MugCostanza said:
The obvious ideal scenario from my perspective is Rick passes it to his son when he doesn't want to keep up with the grind anymore in a few years. Whether that is going to be realistic or not is anybody's guess at this point. But if Richard is the coach here Rick will still be heavily involved as he's not going to be able to just not be closely around the game anymore. His guidance and sitting in the 2nd row behind the bench at MSG will still keep us successful.
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Agree with this. Also agree Luke Murray would be an interesting outside the box candidate. Two other names that occur to me are Sean Miller and Buzz Williams.
 
NCJohnnie said:
Agree with this. Also agree Luke Murray would be an interesting outside the box candidate. Two other names that occur to me are Sean Miller and Buzz Williams.
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Miller is an interesting choice.

Bruce Pearl is too old and too comfortable at this point. Calipari isn’t and shouldn’t happen. But the other idea of a coach who can excite a pro town would be a coach who gravitates towards the media, big personality, gravitas and big time track record of winning (sound familiar?).

I can’t think of who that next generation of coach is.
 
dk423 said:
But the other idea of a coach who can excite a pro town would be a coach who gravitates towards the media, big personality, gravitas and big time track record of winning (sound familiar?).
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People will hate this, but Will Wade lives to schmooze and cheating no longer exists. But timing obviously not right.
 
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