Unbelievable.
Do you know what the Cavaliers had to pay in the form of a
buy-out to get Beilein? Are you sitting
down? You’re not going to believe this:
$0.00
That’s
Zero Dollar’s and Zero Cents.
Zippo. Nada….Nuttin’
Warde Manuel just gave Beilein and lifetime contract last
year and in the day and age of EVERY SINGLE COLLEGE COACH having a
buy-out, didn’t include one in Beilein’s contract.
Well
That’s Fantastic…
Either Manuel is the biggest idiot in the room or had a plan
in place already if Beilein did bolt. I’m
nervous that my observation is the former. And if that is the case, how is Warde viewed
in the world of college athletics? What
do coaches hear when they make a phone call to ask about Warde Manuel? What are the other guys saying? To me, that’s a big deal.
Rumors:
There are rumors flying about
That Michigan is at least making the Home Run Phone calls
they should be making. But similar to
the UCLA debacle, it would appear that most coaches that have a good or great
gig aren’t ready to give it up for the unknown, even if there’s more money
involved.
Kiss Jay Wright good-bye.
Mike Brey (Domers) and Mike White (Florida) have been
mentioned. I could live with (maybe?)
the Brey idea but ABSOLUTELY HATE the Mike White idea. Don’t ask me why. If you’re going to go after White, open the
checkbook and go get Donovan from OKC.
It was depressing to read that one of the first guys Beilein
is looking at hiring is Juwan Howard.
Apparently they hit it off when the Fab 5 (4) visited Crisler
this past season and there was a lot of mutual respect. Juwan is also very religious and that fits
with Beilein’s personality. So, the idea
of Juwan coming back to coach at his alma mater probably just wandered off to
Cleveland…
Ed Cooley’s (Providence) name is being tossed about, but to
me that’s not even close to a replacement.
I’d just as soon keep Yak or Saddi in the interim role for the upcoming
season and see what shakes out in 6 months during the next carousel.
If you can’t be bothered to read the mgoblog link above, Brian
linked to an article that covered the fiasco that was the UCLA search. Apparently, they had 60 names on the list and
they included:
Calipari
– Stevens – Izzo – Wright – Donovan – Few – Bennet – Hopkins – Painter and
Prohm.
Hopkins, Painter and Prohm all declined to be interviewed
by UCLA.
So, that doesn’t bode well for the Home Runs listed
above. When Tier II guys are shooting
down a Blue-Blood, well, it’s going to be really hard to land a Tier 1. Granted, UCLA’s AD (Rebholz) is a bit of a
tool or melon-head (take your pick) and doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing
and that may have been a big contributor as to why guys were saying no. (Let me remind you about a guy named Dave
Brandon). So we all get why that
could be a big part of UCLA’s problem…
But, as mentioned above, what’s Warde’s reputation out in
the basketball world? What has he done
as an AD? He’s raised the ticket and
donation prices during his tenure and I think he hired a varsity coach in some
sport, but the who escapes me at this point.
I’m nervous that anyone seriously
considering the position is going to want at least 5 years guaranteed in order
to survive JB’s legacy and hopefully build one of his own. I don’t know if Warde is shrewd enough to
figure all of this out…
I know if I was a coach and I heard that Beilein didn’t
have a buy-out, that we be a major concern I would have during the interview
and I would need that answered ASAP before I could even begin mulling over the
decision.
The LA Times article also talked about some of the big name
coaches not surviving the vetting process (which will be an issue at Michigan)
and it makes me wonder about Gregg Marshall (Witchy State). Why hasn’t he made the jump to a Power 5 and
what skeleton is in that closet? My
guess is it’s something big and Marshall isn’t leaving Witchy State any time
soon.
Rick Barnes had more or less left for UCLA until his buyout
caused UCLA to balk. Jeez,
a buyout protecting a coach – what a novel idea! So Barnes would probably listen, but at 64,
you’re going to be going through this whole process again in 5 years. OF course, if he’s a bust, you’ll WANT to go
through this whole process again in 5 years.
Porter Moser (Chicago Loyola – think Sister Jean) has his
name being tossed about, but with the exception of 2017-18 and some very lucky
shots going in during the NCAA tourney, he hasn’t done ANYTHING remarkable with
teams ranked in the KenPom 100’s…So, no.
Not interested.
Jamie Dixon’s name (TCU) is also getting play. TCU has been playing better and he was also
headed to UCLA until his $9M buy-out got in the way. Dixon is 53 and is one of the few coaches to
stand toe to toe with Kansas and Bill Self.
So he can build a program. But
this doesn’t exactly move the needle for me, either.
The News just ran an article about how difficult (read: impossible) to get Chris Beard. So that's over.
And that’s about it.
The list of potential candidates is pretty sparse and not incredibly
exciting. Jordan’s name wasn’t even
mentioned by the insider so Michigan must not even have him on the list.
Why isn't Rick Pitino's name in your list? He is on a LOT of short lists in the sporting news. Not sure if the Greek league has a buy out, but Michigan has a LOT of money in the Athletic Department.
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