[Blue Dog]

Here's what the Enquirer had to say today:

KARL HOBBS, HEAD COACH, GEORGE WASHINGTON

Hobbs became a hot property this season, when he led the Colonials to a 27-3 record before losing to Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Hobbs has a 91-56 record in five years as the head coach at George Washington.

On the plus side, Hobbs, 43, has ties to the Big East Conference after spending eight seasons as an assistant coach at Connecticut, his alma mater, where he was a four-year starter at point guard.

At UConn, he was credited with recruiting and helping to develop current Detroit Piston Richard Hamilton, as well as Khalid El-Amin and Kevin Freeman - all of whom started on UConn's 1999 national championship team.

But Hobbs had two players on this year's team from Lutheran Christian Academy, a prep school in Philadelphia targeted in a New York Times investigation into prep schools built around basketball programs that serve as quick academic fixes to get players eligible to play NCAA Division I basketball.

One of the reasons Huggins' contract was terminated was that Zimpher questioned the academic achievement of his players. How, then, could the school hire a coach who has recruited players from Lutheran Christian?"

Also in the article were the other 3 candidates - Andy Kennedy, Mick Cronin (Murray St) and Jim Larranaga (George Mason). I don't see KH getting this job mostly because of the recent bad publicity. It may not be a big deal at a lot of places, but Cincy is trying to restore their tarnished rep and it seems like this would be a risky hire right now. Guess we'll find out.

 

[Blue Dog]

Really aside from keeping Kennedy this was probably the best move UC could make. What perplexes me is that I thought the problem with Kennedy was that he had ties to Huggins, but so did Cronin. Maybe the fact that he left cleansed him, I have no idea.

The fans will grumble a bit but I think this will help calm the waters in time.

I'm glad Kennedy got a head coaching gig too, he did a good job and seems like a good guy.

 

[Blue Dog]

Put Thad Matta right at the top of that list too. While Odia was a bust, he was the highest rated recruit ever at XU. On top of that he got Josh Duncan, Justin Cage and BJ Raymond amongst others and was in on a whole lot of big time talent, most of which ended up at an OSU that was facing NCAA sanctions.

 

[Blue Dog]

Guys who coach at big programs aren't great recruiters because they have big budgets. Regardless of the fact that people before them couldn't recruit players to those programs.


uhhhmmm.......NO. My point was its not an even field. If you cant look at it that way then there is no point in continuing the topic. Then Roy Williams is the best recruiter case closed.

I agree. If this logic is pursued, as soon as Hobbs is hired by a bigger school he will automatically become a less able recruiter.