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Coaching Carousel 2022

104K views 1K replies 56 participants last post by  mainejeff 
#1 ·
Yes, it has begun.

First, Sacramento State's Brian Katz decided to retire right before the season: MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH BRIAN KATZ ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

Last night, Seattle fired Jim Hayford after he used a racial slur during a scrimmage: Statement by Seattle University Director of Athletics Shaney Fink on the Resignation of Coach Jim Hayford - Seattle University

Also, technically Cal State Northridge is open as well since Mark Gottfried is on leave, and Trent Johnson is coaching them in the interim.

Openings:
Cal State Northridge
Sacramento State
Seattle

My first bad guess at the hot seat/potential openings (based on hunches about the respective programs that may not be based in anything):

Multi-Bids:
South Florida
Temple
SMU
Pittsburgh
Kansas State
Washington
Vanderbilt
Georgia
UMass
La Salle

One-Bids:
Binghamton
Charleston-Southern
Long Beach State
Middle Tennessee
Quinnipiac
UL Monroe
Illinois State
Valparaiso
 
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#238 ·
So, not sure which thread this belongs in, but I will put it here...

Jai Steadman was named interim coach at UMaine on February 17, 2022. Did you realize that he was named interim coach at UTRGV on February 11, 2021? Almost a year to the day, he became an interim HC for a 2nd time.

I wonder if he had wanted the head gig down there and if so, why didn't he get it?
 
#240 ·
Is Steadman a serious candidate at Maine?
I don't know much about him, so ... what's in his background that would indicate optimism?

I like CCD494's view ... let's not speculate too much until we know if UMaine is actually going to make a commitment to basketball. That would mean coming into the modern world for salaries (for h.c. and assistants), recruiting budget and other amenities. At its current commitment level, the top candidates will be D2 head coaches, or mid-major assistants desperate to be a head coach anywhere.
Get into the $300K salary range and, then, you might draw interest from low-major head coaches or assistants from some of the lower-paying high-major programs. Will Maine do that? Is there someone with real insight into Maine's administrative philosophy going forward that can speak to that?
I don't agree with most of that opinion piece that recently appeared in the Bangor paper, but these parts are true:
  • (Maine) has been arguably the worst Division I men’s program in the United States the last 20 years.
    [*]It’s a monumental challenge for anyone to find players from America or abroad who wish to commit to four years in a Black Bear basketball uniform. And with new NCAA transfer rules, it will be impossible to keep any talent on the outpost that is eastern Maine.


I will amend the second opinion to say that it's a monumental task to find QUALITY players ...
This looks like one of the worst D1 jobs in the country. If they want to attract real quality candidates, they probably need to double salaries and resources for the program. Without that kind of commitment, the position will remain a "coach killer." And, there's no guarantee even that will work.
There has to be something there that would attract quality players. No coach wins without talent, and real talent doesn't want to play at Maine. Let's be honest about that.
So, what is there about Maine that would attract enough talent to be competitive?
What's the recruiting pitch to players who have offers from other mid-major programs?
Why would a basketball player accept a Maine scholarship over one from other America East schools?
I'm asking, because I have no answer.
 
#242 · (Edited)
Any word what the terms of Sanders contract looks like?

5 years for something in the $1M to $1.2M range? I’d be shocked at anything less than $200K/season given what they paid Dempsey (believe it was up to $277K his final year), but Sanders is a first time coach (as far as American/D1 hoops) and I don’t know how that might factor in. For the same reason, I can’t imagine they’d go over a quarter-mil for a guy with no D1 coaching experience given Dempsey himself hovered around that mark for much of his tenure after coming from Rider, where, comparatively speaking, he was pretty good.

All that said, I know very little how these things work. Any insights here?
 
#243 ·
ESPN is now putting the Rhode Island job on its hot seat watch list:



Atlantic 10: The A-10 job that seems to have the most buzz of late is Rhode Island, with the Rams losing nine of their past 10 games with zero NCAA tournament appearances since David Cox took over in 2018.
 
#244 ·
Rumor has it that 2 candidates applying for the Maine position are East Carolina AC George Wright-Easy and former Northeastern player and well traveled AC Andre Lafleur. No thanks on Lafleur (I believe that he is currently out of coaching and in his mid-50s). I do think that Wright-Easy is intriguing. He's 38....


Regarding Chris Markwood....rumor has it that there isn't much mutual interest. I don't think that he will be involved at all....and I don't think that money is even the primary reason. To me it seems like bridges have been burned in the past and everyone has moved on.

So right now....Steadman and Wright-Easy seem to be leading candidates (?). Probably more that I am not privy to.
 
#245 ·
Wasn’t Maine’s associate head coach during the Woodward years a good recruiter who was able to get talented international guys like Frazier and Edwards? If he is still In the business would it make sense to look at him?

I have no clue if he was the reason why they got those guys but I remember reading he was. I could be wrong… don’t shoot me if i am
 
#249 ·
Wasn’t Maine’s associate head coach during the Woodward years a good recruiter who was able to get talented international guys like Frazier and Edwards? If he is still In the business would it make sense to look at him?

I have no clue if he was the reason why they got those guys but I remember reading he was. I could be wrong… don’t shoot me if i am
Doug Leichner. Appears he is involved with some sports academy startup thing in Florida: Feltrim Academy
 
#248 ·
To support your point Maine has not won more than 10 games since 12-13 and not had a winning season since 09-10. Before that the next winning season was a 20 win season in 03-04. They have been bad since 05-06 but only at the very bottom for 9 seasons. Also pretty much all teams in our league that have been around for more than 25 years have had a stretch of 5-7 years where they didn't win more than 10 games.
 
#256 ·
UMass and URI are 2 good jobs IMO. No reason why you can't win at either place.
 
#258 ·
From all reports Becker was the other finalist behind heavy internal favorite Cox last time the URI job was open. Obviously, URI made the wrong choice there.

Will be interesting to see how that goes this time, I think it is a better job than UMass.
 
#259 ·
#260 ·
This movie plays out every year, so at this point, I’ll believe Becker moving when I see it. However, it does seem like the “now or never“ type of situation if in fact URI opens along with UMass. There are not many jobs in college basketball that are more logical steps for him than those two would be in terms of level, money and geography. If these aren’t going to make it happen, I’m not sure what would.
 
#263 ·
Has to be tough for Lonergan to see Maryland & Georgetown opening up in same off-season.

This would have likely been the right timeline.
 
#265 ·
Georgetown is such a rebuild. I don't know who is going to go there but they're going to need a long path to get things turned around. It feels like across the board, Maryland is just an average Big 10 school that's lost amidst the Penn States of basketball and the Rutgers of football. Maryland is not particularly well run athletically IMO.
 
#266 ·
G'Town AD put out a statement of support for Ewing today, which means one of two things...

1) They're really gonna do another year of this, or...

2) This will pave the way for Ewing's graceful, dignified, magnanimous program-before-self resignation at season's end, even though he had the support of a university "committed" to him.
 
#267 ·
Looks like Hurley at Arizona State and Keatts at NC State both got some public confirmations of support today, so two of the "Definitely Maybe" power conference job openings probably won't be open after all.

Remember, the Coaching Carousel is only partly about the coaches. It's mostly about the jobs.
 
#277 ·
Davis & Powell waiting to announce their plans for next season is likely also aligned to seeing if Becker will be returning to coach.

That was my initial read on their decisions.
 
#278 ·
Davis & Powell waiting to announce their plans for next season is likely also aligned to seeing if Becker will be returning to coach.

That was my initial read on their decisions.
Maybe. My take is they are going to evaluate their options for next year, regardless if Becker comes back. Powell may get feelers from a A10 team, maybe Davis can play Power 5 or Big East, but both need good fits. Not sure if they would move to a lateral low-major conference.
 
#282 ·
On the UMASS fan board people have discovered the little scandal that surrounds Becker and the athletic deparrtment. This has really soured their desie to see him as their next coach. Have to wonder if this situation at UVM will keep him from being a serious candidate for jobs. He might be seen as toxic and what school is going to want to answer to their fan base about hiring him. Even if he didn't do anything, just being associated with this mess is enought to keep schools at a distance.
 
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