2019 NCAA Coaching Carousel Thread

Eielson said:
You guys actually think that TCU, a program that had the resources to hire Dixon, should follow that up by hiring Henson? Henson has done well with UTSA, and I think he could do a decent job, but he'd be a very underwhelming hire. I'd imagine TCU has their sights set on somebody more like Matta or Turgeon.
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You never know. Billy Tubbs was a very underwhelming hire at Oklahoma some years back, as was Kelvin Sampson. Neither were well known big-name coaches at the time.

My guess is that the folks at Kansas State are keeping an eye on Steve Henson, as a future possibility. Bruce Weber is 62 and Steve Henson must have close ties at KSU. He was a player there.
 
SoonerTraveler said:
You never know. Billy Tubbs was a very underwhelming hire at Oklahoma some years back, as was Kelvin Sampson. Neither were well known big-name coaches at the time.

My guess is that the folks at Kansas State are keeping an eye on Steve Henson, as a future possibility. Bruce Weber is 62 and Steve Henson must have close ties at KSU. He was a player there.
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Yeah, underwhelming hires are sometimes great in hindsight, which is why I stopped short of saying Henson would be a bad hire. I do think Sampson and Tubbs were more proven, but Henson could close the gap over the next 2-3 years.

The one benefit of a Henson hire is that they could likely keep him for longer (assuming a school like KSU didn't steal him away). Matta has the downside of potentially being too similar of a hire to Dixon, and they'd be back in this situation in 3-4 years if he was successful. They'd have to load up his contract with obnoxious buyouts, but they already did that with Dixon, and they still could potentially lose him.
 
Eielson said:
Yeah, underwhelming hires are sometimes great in hindsight, which is why I stopped short of saying Henson would be a bad hire. I do think Sampson and Tubbs were more proven, but Henson could close the gap over the next 2-3 years.

The one benefit of a Henson hire is that they could likely keep him for longer (assuming a school like KSU didn't steal him away). Matta has the downside of potentially being too similar of a hire to Dixon, and they'd be back in this situation in 3-4 years if he was successful. They'd have to load up his contract with obnoxious buyouts, but they already did that with Dixon, and they still could potentially lose him.
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Evaluation is such an interesting aspect of college sports. Coaches have to evaluate potential players (recruits). Athletic administrators have to evaluate potential head coaches. Then after all of the evaluation, the coach has to close the deal by getting the player on campus; and the AD has to close the deal by signing the new head coach to a contract.

Steve Henson is 51 years old and has been in coaching since 1999. He is gaining experience as a head coach and is winning within his conference, going 11-7 the past two seasons in Conference-USA. He is proving that he can win against his peers that have similar resources.

Not every P-5 school is in a position to hire a well known coach with a proven record at another P-5 school. If Steve Henson continues at his current pace, he may very well get an opportunity at a bigger program. The key is consistency. A losing season next year will not help his career.
 
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SoonerTraveler said:
Evaluation is such an interesting aspect of college sports. Coaches have to evaluate potential players (recruits). Athletic administrators have to evaluate potential head coaches. Then after all of the evaluation, the coach has to close the deal by getting the player on campus; and the AD has to close the deal by signing the new head coach to a contract.

Steve Henson is 51 years old and has been in coaching since 1999. He is gaining experience as a head coach and is winning within his conference, going 11-7 the past two seasons in Conference-USA. He is proving that he can win against his peers that have similar resources.

Not every P-5 school is in a position to hire a well known coach with a proven record at another P-5 school. If Steve Henson continues at his current pace, he may very well get an opportunity at a bigger program. The key is consistency. A losing season next year will not help his career.
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I mostly agree, but I think just about every P5 school has the resources to bring in a well known coach with a proven track record. TCU and VT were two of the worst P5 basketball programs a few years ago, and they were able to hire Dixon and Buzz.

Short of a 30+ win Sweet 16 kinda year at UTSA, I dont see his next step being P5. I think his next step is more SMU-level.
 
Eielson said:
I mostly agree, but I think just about every P5 school has the resources to bring in a well known coach with a proven track record. TCU and VT were two of the worst P5 basketball programs a few years ago, and they were able to hire Dixon and Buzz.

Short of a 30+ win Sweet 16 kinda year at UTSA, I dont see his next step being P5. I think his next step is more SMU-level.
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I prefer Tulsa.
 
Eielson said:
I mostly agree, but I think just about every P5 school has the resources to bring in a well known coach with a proven track record. TCU and VT were two of the worst P5 basketball programs a few years ago, and they were able to hire Dixon and Buzz.

Short of a 30+ win Sweet 16 kinda year at UTSA, I dont see his next step being P5. I think his next step is more SMU-level.
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You are likely correct about his next stop. Also, Steve Henson (age 51) got a relatively late start in obtaining his first head coaching job, so his window of opportunity to get a big time job is limited. By comparison, Kelvin Sampson was 26 years old when he became the head coach at Montana Tech. Billy Tubbs was 36 when he got his first head coaching job at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Shaka Smart was 32 when he became the head coach at VCU.

Steve Henson will never have the appeal that some schools look for: Hiring a young up-and-coming coach.
 
AdaSooner said:
ESPN is saying Dixon is likely out at UCLA due to “issues with his buyout” and that he will be back at TCU next season.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/26451253/tcu-dixon-likely-mix-ucla
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It's not a good look for to combat the "UCLA is too cheap" argument when they offer Calipari a pay cut to leave UK & then won't buy out Dixon's contract,

They either need to pay whatever it will cost to get Beard or hire a good, solid, not-quite-proven mid-major coach. Hire a guy who can recruit and coach but hasn't been given the opportunity that Dixon or Mick Cronin have been given.
 
I think Luke Walton to UCLA still makes a lot of sense.
 
Ghost of Gar Heard said:
It's not a good look for to combat the "UCLA is too cheap" argument when they offer Calipari a pay cut to leave UK & then won't buy out Dixon's contract,

They either need to pay whatever it will cost to get Beard or hire a good, solid, not-quite-proven mid-major coach. Hire a guy who can recruit and coach but hasn't been given the opportunity that Dixon or Mick Cronin have been given.
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Not sure Tech will let him leave. At all costs!
 
UCLA needs to figure out that they're no longer THE UCLA and make a rugged hire.
 
Not sure UCLA is going to be able to hire somebody that can't deal with being in LA. I never could picture Kelvin in that setting. Plenty of other suggested hires that I feel the same about. They need to find somebody that fits. I'm not sure who that is, but I have some ideas on who it isn't.
 
I wouldnt hire Luke Walton. Nothing against Luke Walton but I've never seen him do anything that suggested he should be coaching young men.
 
coolm said:
I wouldnt hire Luke Walton. Nothing against Luke Walton but I've never seen him do anything that suggested he should be coaching young men.
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He was GS' top assistant and went 39-4 when he took over in Kerr's absence. He's had some unfortunate circumstances in LA that have kept him from truly being able to show how good of a coach he is (or isn't). He'd recruit well at UCLA, and I think they'd have very good teams. Coach can laugh all he wants at Luke while praising Lon at every turn, but guess who has the better NBA record?

He played for Lute Olson, Rudy Tomjanovich, and Phil Jackson. He's the son of Bill Walton. He's played with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. He's coached under Kerr and Pastner. He's spent over a decade in LA with the Lakers. He has practically been raised for this job. I'm not saying he's the best/safest hire they could possibly make, but he makes a lot of sense.
 
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