2020 Recruiting

[BoulderSooner]

It will be announced soon that Chris Crutchfield will be leaving for the same position
at Arkansas. This will cost us Bryce Thompson and any shot at Wilson. Our best
recruiter is leaving because Castiglione would not meet Arkansas offer. Yet we continue
to pay a women's basketball coach 1.2 million for a program that has gone steadily downhill
for several years plus losing over 2 million a year. I have been a season ticket
for 42 years and I have never been so disgusted. Served on the Tip-In club board for
over 30 years, including a term as president

that is sad to hear coach Crutch is really good for the program ... and i would think that kruger will not be a big fan of this either

 

[Abe]

Ok, Chris was making 317,000+, what did Arkansas offer. Tight budgeting at OU, Arkansas may just took advantage of the opportunity to get a good coach.

 

[WTSooner]

It taking so much to lure Lon from UNLV probably doesn't help. I'm guessing at the end of the day what we're paying the entire staff is probably on par with other similar universities. Can't imagine the budget is much tighter than any other point in recent memory. Probably just a matter of not overpaying for the guy.

 

[CoachTalk]

It will be announced soon that Chris Crutchfield will be leaving for the same position
at Arkansas. This will cost us Bryce Thompson and any shot at Wilson. Our best
recruiter is leaving because Castiglione would not meet Arkansas offer. Yet we continue
to pay a women's basketball coach 1.2 million for a program that has gone steadily downhill
for several years plus losing over 2 million a year. I have been a season ticket
for 42 years and I have never been so disgusted. Served on the Tip-In club board for
over 30 years, including a term as president

Biggest sticking point was he wanted head coach in waiting

 

[usedtobe1]

Here’s an article showing the salaries of the top 10 basketball assistant coaches. It’s data from the 2016-2017 season so it’s a couple of years old. I was surprised Jeff Capel wasn’t on the list..... they probably didn’t have good data on some schools.

https://fansided.com/2017/06/29/highest-paid-college-basketball-assistant-coaches-2016-17/

How many of the incoming class are Crutchfield’s recruits.... ones where he was the primary recruiter? I don’t know the answer. I would say his salary should be in the 400k range.

 

[CMSOONER]

Maybe we could hire Jalen Wilson's father

 

[WTSooner]

Here’s an article showing the salaries of the top 10 basketball assistant coaches. It’s data from the 2016-2017 season so it’s a couple of years old. I was surprised Jeff Capel wasn’t on the list..... they probably didn’t have good data on some schools.

https://fansided.com/2017/06/29/highest-paid-college-basketball-assistant-coaches-2016-17/

How many of the incoming class are Crutchfield’s recruits.... ones where he was the primary recruiter? I don’t know the answer. I would say his salary should be in the 400k range.

You think he should be a top 10-ish paid assistant coach?

 

[CoachTalk]

Maybe we could hire Jalen Wilson's father

Or rj hamptons dad... or Bryce Thompson’s dad...

 

[mict085]

This really sucks.

The basketball programs continue to be mismanaged by the university. Losing our best recruiter to freaking Arkansas? Ridiculous.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

Is this really a big deal? Last time I looked, Crutchfield was one of the assistants that coached the OU team to 20 conference wins, and 34 conference losses over the past 3 seasons. If Crutchfield is such a valuable recruiter and coach, why did the OU team only win 37% of its conference games over the past 3 years? How good could he really be?

Is Crutchfield even considered a top-100 college assistant coach within the coaching profession? I don't know, but I doubt it. (If some of you know better, I can only take your word for it.)

Assistant coaches change jobs quite frequently. Chris Crutchfield is a very nice man and it is good to see him get a pay raise. Best wishes to Chris Crutchfield at Arkansas.

Personally, this coaching departure does not disturb me one bit. None of the potential high school recruits were CERTAIN to become Sooners because of Crutch, otherwise they would have already committed to OU. On the other hand, the players Crutchfield helped recruit in recent years were only able to win 37% of conference games. Big Whoop.

Compared to many jobs, college coaches are highly paid people. There are literally hundreds of coaches with similar years of experience to Crutchfield that would be happy to interview for the assistant spot at OU. Coach Kruger has an opportunity to upgrade the staff.

:OU-logo:

 

[cjhsooner]

Is this really a big deal? Last time I looked, Crutchfield was one of the assistants that coached the OU team to 20 conference wins, and 34 conference losses over the past 3 seasons. If Crutchfield is such a valuable recruiter and coach, why did the OU team only win 37% of its conference games over the past 3 years? How good could he really be?

Is Crutchfield even considered a top-100 college assistant coach within the coaching profession? I don't know, but I doubt it. (If some of you know better, I can only take your word for it.)

Assistant coaches change jobs quite frequently. Chris Crutchfield is a very nice man and it is good to see him get a pay raise. Best wishes to Chris Crutchfield at Arkansas.

Personally, this coaching departure does not disturb me one bit. None of the potential high school recruits were CERTAIN to become Sooners because of Crutch, otherwise they would have already committed to OU. On the other hand, the players Crutchfield helped recruit in recent years were only able to win 37% of conference games. Big Whoop.

Compared to many jobs, college coaches are highly paid people. There are literally hundreds of coaches with similar years of experience to Crutchfield that would be happy to interview for the assistant spot at OU. Coach Kruger has an opportunity to upgrade the staff.

:OU-logo:

It's the fact that OU refused to pay up. Now, in order to replace him with some of his caliber, it will cost a lot more (and those candidates are not really available this late in the game).

 

[SoonerTraveler]

It's the fact that OU refused to pay up. Now, in order to replace him with some of his caliber, it will cost a lot more (and those candidates are not really available this late in the game).

I do not know that any of that is actually factual.

Why would an assistant coach somewhere doing great job at a smaller school not be available? Why would they cost more? Its possible that you could give them a significant raise from their current salary at a smaller school, and still pay them less that what Crutchfield was making.

Deciding the "caliber" of a coaching candidate will be a judgement call by Lon Kruger. He is the boss, although I would guess that Joe C. would have to approve any hiring.

I just do not believe that Coach Crutchfield was some super-duper high-caliber assistant coach. Where is the evidence that he is? (It is just a question. I can be convinced, but the evidence of his greatness is not evident to me.)

:OU-logo:

 

[usedtobe1]

You think he should be a top 10-ish paid assistant coach?

No. I do t think OU’s recent record warrants Crutch be paid as one of the top 10. That article was 2 years old, and #10 was making almost $400k, so I figure with inflation he would close to the $400k range by now.

I don’t know who was most responsible for this year’s recruiting class. I know he was the primary recruiter for Trae.... but Trae and Crutch’s son were HS teammates and friends.

 

[skyvue]

Is this really a big deal? Last time I looked, Crutchfield was one of the assistants that coached the OU team to 20 conference wins, and 34 conference losses over the past 3 seasons. If Crutchfield is such a valuable recruiter and coach, why did the OU team only win 37% of its conference games over the past 3 years? How good could he really be?

If you're going to assign Coach Crutchfield what strikes me as excessive blame for the past two or three seasons, then you have to give him equal credit for the Final Four run. And for bringing in Buddy Hield and Trae Young, among others.

The new coach may be terrific, but he'll be well behind the curve on the current recruiting efforts (surely our odds of signing Bryce Thompson will be reduced if Crutchfield departs) and may well not be up to speed on recruiting Oklahoma, Texas and surrounding states (that depends upon who gets hired, of course).

It's a precarious time for our program. The last two seasons have been not disastrous, but they have been disappointing. We appear to be in a position for an upswing with the incoming class, but the next class is key too. Now whatever inroads Crutchfield has made with 2020 recruits is potentially lost.

 

[Sooner04]

Ouch. He was the only one on the staff who was much of a recruiter. These are bad optics.

 

[sanguinetti]

It's a precarious time for our program.

agree. lot easier to take a step down than up.....though, like others say, there's some reason for optimism with the incoming class, etc.

don't like losing Crutch, but not a fan of "HC in waiting" in principle (and a lot harder pressed to think of examples of it being a "good move" going forward/big picture than bad).....so, maybe a tough pill now but i think the institution is doing the right thing.

 

[cjhsooner]

Kruger's hiring history after having to replace Henson and Hill = garbage. We will see who he can get this time or a lead assistant role, but I am not getting my hopes up.

 

[Max Power]

If you're going to assign Coach Crutchfield what strikes me as excessive blame for the past two or three seasons, then you have to give him equal credit for the Final Four run. And for bringing in Buddy Hield and Trae Young, among others.

The new coach may be terrific, but he'll be well behind the curve on the current recruiting efforts (surely our odds of signing Bryce Thompson will be reduced if Crutchfield departs) and may well not be up to speed on recruiting Oklahoma, Texas and surrounding states (that depends upon who gets hired, of course).

It's a precarious time for our program. The last two seasons have been not disastrous, but they have been disappointing. We appear to be in a position for an upswing with the incoming class, but the next class is key too. Now whatever inroads Crutchfield has made with 2020 recruits is potentially lost.

He got a raise after the final four run. In the three years since, OU has the worst record in conference. Is that worthy of another raise?

 

[mict085]

Kruger's hiring history after having to replace Henson and Hill = garbage. We will see who he can get this time or a lead assistant role, but I am not getting my hopes up.

I agree. He hasn’t done very well hiring assistants while at OU.

 

[CoachTalk]

I agree. He hasn’t done very well hiring assistants while at OU.

Almost every news media former coaches analyst love crutch to Ark.

Hired a defense first guy to replace his son.

I get people hate the son hire.

But to say he hasn’t hired well is... blah