1. If Capel is fired there's a good chance Cam Clark leaves. He came here to play for Capel, and like most guys these days I doubt he'd wait around and hope that he likes the next guy just as much when he could go choose another school on his own.
2. But even if Cam were to stay he would be lucky to play for a "winner" by his senior year. The new coach would have to start over and guys like Pledger and Fitzgerald would likely leave to play their junior/senior years closer to home. We could be WORSE next year if Capel is fired. Then it takes years to build back up.
I have read this same argument on numerous occasions by various posters, and each time I am struck by the fact that this is a false premise.
When talking about any scholarship player, in any college, in any sport, it does
not automatically follow that the player will transfer when the coach that recruited him/her leaves the program.
Many college basketball coaches are fired each season. Throughout the United States, do most basketball players continue to stay with the program after their coach is fired? Of course they do. Why? Because it is usually in the player's best interest to stay with the program.
Most really good basketball players do not want to sit out a transfer year. They want to play. Typically, players transfer because they are not playing enough minutes. In other words, they are not good enough to get significant minutes in the current program, so they transfer.
Plus, if the new coach is any good, he has "been through the wars" and can show he is a proven winner, and will be able to talk most players into staying.
(Of course, there are exceptions to any rule. A ruthless coach like John Calpari might run off most of the team so he can bring in a dozen blue chippers all at once. But even so, it was not necessarily the players choice to leave when the new coach arrived.)
And yes, of course, a player will be very upset if their coach is fired. And, these players may say today, given a hypothetical, that they would leave if their coach gets fired. However, most end up staying with the program when it comes down to it.
