I believe we need an elite coach...

Who is everyone's top choice


  • Total voters
    72
On point 2 he’s never coached at the high major level even as an assistant. He’s never had to compete with power conference schools for players.

His Bryant team this year is underachieving a bit. They have far more talent than anybody in that conference (to his credit to be fair) aside from maybe Vermont but are 4-4 with a few questionable losses.

I personally don’t think he has anywhere near the X’s and O’s chops to compete with the heavyweights in this league. Would like to see him succeed at the A10 level at least before considering him for a job on the Big East.

Could be wrong but I think Grasso would be in over his head at the Big East level at this point in his career

There's also no guarantee he'd be a good recruiter here
 
Ultimately, the decision will come down to money. It always does, especially for a program on a budget. How much does it cost to let him go, and what will the school get for the money they are willing to spend. I suspect Pitino will never happen. Usual reasons of money and the excuse of his past. So it's a fired high major coach or a mid major building a reputation who is motivated, as everyone, by the money he will make. There is also what leverage CMA has if the school loses Storr, the Juco and Gardner if he leaves. A few tweaks and this team can be good next season. Maybe that's what the admin decides is best for the program, and certainly the least expensive choice.
I don’t think Gardner and the Juco can leave unless we let them out of their commitment
 
Current players and signed recruits and staff are the LAST thing you worry about when you have a coaching change.

Get the right coach and he will figure it out wrt staff and players/recruits.

If you lose a recruit or players transfer or he does not retain any staff members so be it, if you hire the right coach that is the most important thing.

Like just for giggles lets say they hire Pitino. Are you seriously worried about the staff he would be able to put together or whether a player or recruit leaves. You don't trust him to know what he is doing?

Some of you speculating on keeping player X or recruit Y or Assistant Coach P before you even have a coaching change let alone know who the hire is going to be is bizarre.
 
Some of you speculating on keeping player X or recruit Y or Assistant Coach P before you even have a coaching change let alone know who the hire is going to be is bizarre.

respectfully I feel it isn't that bizarre.

Everyone knows we need to wait and see who the hire is and then we will find out who is staying/going. But this is a st johns basketball message boards, of course people are gonna start the speculating a little early, especially when the season is not offering us much great content to talk about. I don't find anything wrong with talking about it here.

Like if someone likes a player or coach on the staff is hopeful that the next regime keeps them around and expresses that... I have no problem with it.

We aren't the ones who have to do the coaching search so we can worry about other parts of it too if we want as fans.

I am much more concerned with people thinking Jay Wright is a possible candidate enough to put him in a poll. Who's next John Wooden
 
respectfully I feel it isn't that bizarre.

Everyone knows we need to wait and see who the hire is and then we will find out who is staying/going. But this is a st johns basketball message boards, of course people are gonna start the speculating a little early, especially when the season is not offering us much great content to talk about. I don't find anything wrong with talking about it here.

Like if someone likes a player or coach on the staff is hopeful that the next regime keeps them around and expresses that... I have no problem with it.

We aren't the ones who have to do the coaching search so we can worry about other parts of it too if we want as fans.

I am much more concerned with people thinking Jay Wright is a possible candidate enough to put him in a poll. Who's next John Wooden
Respectfully disagree.

The idea that you aren't even sure if you will have a coaching change let alone who the next coach would be and you are speculating on keeping a staff member or worrying about players transferring/de-committing etc. Sorry.

All that can wait. Get the coach first then speculate on that other stuff.

I can tell you Gtown fans are not worried about incoming recruits or players transferring or assistants being retained when Ewing is dismissed. And they at least know for a fact a change is coming. They just want a coaching change. The other stuff will be dealt with once a new coach is in place.
 
Current players and signed recruits and staff are the LAST thing you worry about when you have a coaching change.

Get the right coach and he will figure it out wrt staff and players/recruits.

If you lose a recruit or players transfer or he does not retain any staff members so be it, if you hire the right coach that is the most important thing.

Like just for giggles lets say they hire Pitino. Are you seriously worried about the staff he would be able to put together or whether a player or recruit leaves. You don't trust him to know what he is doing?

Some of you speculating on keeping player X or recruit Y or Assistant Coach P before you even have a coaching change let alone know who the hire is going to be is bizarre.
I think it's far less of a concern now in the free transfer era than it was just a few years ago, but it's still a concern especially if you're looking to hire a 71 year old that may not want to be staring at a full-on transition year in year 1. If you have a few solid pieces already here and/or committed to be coming next year it's natural to want them to stick around to provide some sort of foundation to build around and not want the new coach to have to retool the entire roster in one offseason - which while doable, is very difficult
 
Respectfully disagree.

The idea that you aren't even sure if you will have a coaching change let alone who the next coach would be and you are speculating on keeping a staff member or worrying about players transferring/de-committing etc. Sorry.

All that can wait. Get the coach first then speculate on that other stuff.

I can tell you Gtown fans are not worried about incoming recruits or players transferring or assistants being retained when Ewing is dismissed. And they at least know for a fact a change is coming. They just want a coaching change. The other stuff will be dealt with once a new coach is in place.
I just feel like making certain spectulating off limits in this scenario is weird. Because its a message board about the team, I don't see a problem with people being like "Oh i really like AJ Storr I hope we keep him next season" or "this assistant coach has crushed it I hope the next coach sees their value and considers keeping them on"

Using your logic maybe you should hold off on even thinking about who our coach should be. We should fire Mike A first and then we can worry about it?
 
I think it's far less of a concern now in the free transfer era than it was just a few years ago, but it's still a concern especially if you're looking to hire a 71 year old that may not want to be staring at a full-on transition year in year 1. If you have a few solid pieces already here and/or committed to be coming next year it's natural to want them to stick around to provide some sort of foundation to build around and not want the new coach to have to retool the entire roster in one offseason - which while doable, is very difficult
But all that stuff is normal when you have a coaching change. That is part of the process. You have no idea who would be the next coach let alone who they would want to hire so why even worry about it.

Get the coach first. My God I like some of the assistants and players/recruits. But I am not going to be held hostage to them if it means SJU could hire a big time coach. Because that is what matters most.

"Oh no Rick Pitino may not retain Shoes that's a problem...." said nobody.
 
But all that stuff is normal when you have a coaching change. That is part of the process. You have no idea who would be the next coach let alone who they would want to hire so why even worry about it.

Get the coach first. My God I like some of the assistants and players/recruits. But I am not going to be held hostage to them if it means SJU could hire a big time coach. Because that is what matters most.

"Oh no Rick Pitino may not retain Shoes that's a problem...." said nobody.
I could be wrong but I don't think anybody is holding any hire hostage over the assistants and saying things like "I only want to hire Pitino if he keeps Van and Shoes on staff and if he doesn't want to then screw him and hire somebody that will". I think it's more along the lines of I want Pitino hired and will trust his decision making but it sure would be nice if he retains Van/Shoes to maybe keep some of the better foundational pieces around during the transition.
 
I'll also add that fans worrying about keeping some of our guys for next season is a valid concern for fans who want to compete in some way next year. We remember what it was like for Mullin to inherit nothing.

Also, take a look at Xavier. Got a new coach this year, Steele was a failed experiment. But the bulk of their team decided to stick around after Miller got hired. Now look at them. 4 of their top 5 scorers played for Xavier last season. They kept some continuity, added a stud transfer in Boum, and were able to compete and will (barring a collapse) make the tournament.

So no, we don't know who our next coach is. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with seeing who we have on our team right now, and hoping some of them are still here next year.
 
It's a concern whether valid or not is unimportant. But it is always a concern.

The focus is on either going on a long winning streak and salvaging this season or getting a new hire. That's it.

And by the way when you are consistently mediocre and losing a lot I am not sure why so many people are concerned over "keeping" so many people from those teams. Yeah they have some good players but there are plenty of other good players that could be brought in with the right coach.

Again if Rick Pitino or pick another name is hired and has a plan and that plan does not include keeping any of the current assistants and sees a number of players transfer so be it. Not worried. The portal and recruiting works both ways.
 
Jerome Tang is hired by Kansas St to replace Bruce Weber a pretty solid experienced coach whose tenure at K-St had gone south his last few years.

Tang replaced his entire staff and had 7 new transfers come in via the Portal.

See article below actually he inherited just 2 remaining players and added 11 new players of which only 1 was a signed Weber recruit.

I can't imagine their fan base caring much especially at this point about who did NOT stay at K-St or what assistant he did NOT retain.

Get the right HC hire that is what matters most.

 
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Jerome Tang is hired by Kansas St to replace Bruce Weber a pretty solid experienced coach whose tenure at K-St had gone south his last few years.

Tang replaced his entire staff and had 6 new transfers come in via the Portal.

I can't imagine their fan base caring much especially at this point about who did NOT stay at K-St or what assistant he did NOT retain.

Get the right HC hire that is what matters most.
True, except for the fact that he retained their best player who is playing like an All American and they would be nowhere near as good as they are without him
 
Way too much focus on Pitino being 71. I know plenty of people older than him who are still in the workforce full time. And they are not exactly people who kept themselves in shape. When you have passion for something, age, provided you have reasonable health, won't stop you from performing. We are talking about a coach, and not a player affected by father time.
 
Willard was hired late and did a good job keeping four of their best players although they were coming off a losing season. He added to that four transfers one of whom is excellent and the other three are serviceable. He is working with a team that has similar talent to last year but is producing at a much higher level. My point is that he has done a good job as a coach but without retaining the core of the team he might have been looking at a long season. He has a strong recruiting class coming in.
 
I'd suffer for another 3 years if they save the buyout money and put seatbacks on all the seats.

3 years of pain for 25 years of comfort....
 
All of this back and forth-the real issue to me regarding wanting certain players and recruits to stay and maybe some assistant coaches is that's fine as long as you don't make it so much of a concern that it prevents you from making the coaching change. Think you guys are actually in basic agreement I'm sure if Pitino came in he would love to retain Soriano, Storr and Gardner.
 
Whoever is doing the hiring should be talking to candidates (remember I remain convinced that will not include Pitino) in depth about what contacts they have all over the country in regard to current NCAA players and how comfortable are they utilizing the portal to assist in building a team. Because if you cant do that you need to retire and coaches all over the place are retiring because they can’t. Or see the work to rebuild annually as not worth it.

I just don’t see Joe Olivia leading that conversation in a productive way. Or Mike Cragg, frankly, and it’s not fair to expect a University President to be the basketball geek needed to run the process. The only way this school is going to get a very good coach is if they get lucky.
 
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