New coach search...

JustNeedMe81

Hall of Fame
Sep 30, 2011
15,428
7,255
187
44
Huntsville, Al
I agree with the article that was posted recently on al.com We're probably not going to get those those big names.... It's most likely will be up and coming candidates from mid-major. I don't think we'll get Prohm...
 

Ldlane

Hall of Fame
Nov 26, 2002
14,249
398
202
Why Not? We pay well and we renew contracts with extra time for "mediocrity". It would be a dream job.


I agree with the article that was posted recently on al.com We're probably not going to get those those big names.... It's most likely will be up and coming candidates from mid-major. I don't think we'll get Prohm...
 

Rama Jama

All-American
Jan 4, 2011
3,312
267
102
Tuscaloosa
I would not take anything Al.com writes as anything other than fodder. Unless they have changed an Aubie runs the site. They have been leaned toward the boogs for the last 8 or 9 years with Scabs up there.

We can attract a high level coach if we approach the search correctly. Historically our job is much better than Auburn by a large margin and we will are willing pay a top coach very well. Auburn took a guy who was desperate to get back in the door and would have taken almost any high level job he was offered. Archie Miller could get a hefty raise by coming here and do we think Dayton's facilities are better than ours? I don't think Marshall is in play unless we pay him an unreasonable salary. Prohm appears to be a good coach, and there is something to be said for a guy who loves the school. A guy like that will have a passion for the school which can't be bought.

I would like to see Howland get a chance as well. He may be the biggest splash out there. Again, We need to consider his ability to recruit in the south and the SEC. Does he have the personality to generate some excitement in the fan base long term?
 

Ldlane

Hall of Fame
Nov 26, 2002
14,249
398
202
Cecil had an interesting observation today on TideSports.....

1. Howland seems not to be high on "the list".
2. But why would you pay huge money to a guy who doesn't have a job?


 

ALA2262

All-American
Aug 4, 2007
4,977
393
102
Cumming, GA

Ben Howland wants to coach, but will he ever again?


In his last season, his Bruins won the 2013 Pac-12 regular season title. But UCLA missed the NCAA tournament two of the previous three years and lost in the first round in '13, when its second-leading scorer, guard Jordan Adams, broke his foot in the conference tournament semifinals.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...tball-former-ucla-coach-ben-howland/23569565/
 

GrayTide

Hall of Fame
Nov 15, 2005
19,061
6,897
187
Greenbow, Alabama
I will admit upfront that I have not watched much Alabama basketball over the past 10+ years, but was impressed with Coach Moore's hiring of Anthony Grant. It didn't take long though to realize that a new coach, except for the rare conference upset win or maybe for one good season, actually changes Alabama basketball.

Not to diminish the success of C.M. Newton's teams and a few of Wimp's but Alabama basketball is, well Kentucky football, an occasional good season followed by a string of bad ones. Is it all on the coaches or is it a curse for having such a storied football program. Or is it the curse of the SEC? The only SEC school in recent history to produce nationally prominent football and basketball programs is Florida.

Can Alabama basketball be better and more competitive in conference play and at least get an invite to the NCAA tournament, of course. Can it reach the heights of a final 4 or elite 8 except on a rare occasion, my guess would be probably not regardless of who the HC is. We do need a HC who is not afraid of competing with the best football program in college football.
 

KrAzY3

Hall of Fame
Jan 18, 2006
10,966
5,483
187
45
kraizy.art
"You're not going to get Gregg Marshall, Archie Miller or Shaka Smart," Goodman said. "So you can throw those out."

That's what was said about Nick Saban coming to Alabama to right? Alabama football just wasn't good enough anymore to attract someone like that. Alabama, in basketball has a lot of metrics that indicate they are a top 25 basketball program. When the team is playing well, their attendance is around the top 25, they were paying their coach top 25 money, they have the talent in the area, they have the second richest athletic department, historically they have a claim to being the second best SEC program, etc...

There is nothing holding the program back, short of going out and getting the right coach. There's nothing Florida has for example, that Alabama doesn't. So, to me I think Alabama has to aim high, they have to try to get the best guy available, not just the best guy that people think they can get. Also, for guys like that, they are up against a wall in terms of what they can do. Clearly, Alabama offers them a chance to take the next step forward in their careers as well. To me the real question is how much is Alabama willing to pay? They can give all those guys a big raise, if they're willing.

There is actually no problem with getting a "Mid-Major" coach. All coaches know the same X's and O's. It's not like it's a jump from Jr. High to HS sports. It comes down to intangibles such as teaching, personality, recruiting, selling the program, and style of play. Those make the difference from coach to coach. CAG obviously didn't have those "intangibles".
I don't have a problem with a mid-major coach, I'd prefer a good mid-major coach over a mediocre major conference coach. The issue to me is that mid-major coaches leave a lot more in the way of question marks. If they haven't coached at a given place for at least 4 years, can they recruit and develop talent? If they've never made it past the second round in the NCAA tournament, can they coach at the top level? Can they recruit at the top level? Grant looked good, but those questions were unanswered, until he came to Alabama. Contrast that to a guy like Bruce Pearl, who took Milwaukee to the Sweet 16 in his fourth year, and in doing so he answered most of those questions. Gregg Marshall is a great potential addition because he's not only answered all those questions, but he's beaten Alabama a few times just in case anyone wasn't sure he'd be an improvement.

Ldlane said:
Cecil had an interesting observation today on TideSports.....

1. Howland seems not to be high on "the list".
2. But why would you pay huge money to a guy who doesn't have a job?
To me almost all the allure for Howland (who is not at the top of my list) is as a program builder. He knows how a top tier basketball program isrun , he knows what it takes to build a final four team. No Alabama coach has ever known what that takes. I think he's a plan B (if you can't get the people Alabama supposedly can't get), but to me you don't have to spend much on him, so it's a low risk contract and you just say up front look, we're not going to pay you a lot but we will invest money in the basketball program. Just tell us how to spend it. I think he'd come in with a chip on his shoulder and Alabama can offer him resources that are second to none.
 

imauafan

All-American
Mar 3, 2004
3,749
1,201
282
Huntsville, AL
Cecil had an interesting observation today on TideSports.....

1. Howland seems not to be high on "the list".
2. But why would you pay huge money to a guy who doesn't have a job?


I hope that means that there are bigger candidates available and interested. I have a gut feeling that we are going to go big with this hire. I could be wrong but the two sports that generate the most revenue are football and basketball. We went big with our last football coaching hire and that has paid huge dividends. Anyone with any business sense can figure out that if you invest a lot of money in the best basketball coach available then that will pay for itself in a fairly short time. Our basketball program is already profitable (~$8 million profit last year) so the right coach could grow that by 20-30% in 2-3 years time would be worth spending $4-$5 million. I agree 100% with Tide-HSV, give the new coach a Saban-like contract with no buyouts and plenty of incentives for performance. I think we could surprise a lot of folks with who we could hire and what he can do given the right environment.
 

imauafan

All-American
Mar 3, 2004
3,749
1,201
282
Huntsville, AL
"You're not going to get Gregg Marshall, Archie Miller or Shaka Smart," Goodman said. "So you can throw those out."

That's what was said about Nick Saban coming to Alabama to right? Alabama football just wasn't good enough anymore to attract someone like that. Alabama, in basketball has a lot of metrics that indicate they are a top 25 basketball program. When the team is playing well, their attendance is around the top 25, they were paying their coach top 25 money, they have the talent in the area, they have the second richest athletic department, historically they have a claim to being the second best SEC program, etc...

There is nothing holding the program back, short of going out and getting the right coach. There's nothing Florida has for example, that Alabama doesn't. So, to me I think Alabama has to aim high, they have to try to get the best guy available, not just the best guy that people think they can get. Also, for guys like that, they are up against a wall in terms of what they can do. Clearly, Alabama offers them a chance to take the next step forward in their careers as well. To me the real question is how much is Alabama willing to pay? They can give all those guys a big raise, if they're willing.



I don't have a problem with a mid-major coach, I'd prefer a good mid-major coach over a mediocre major conference coach. The issue to me is that mid-major coaches leave a lot more in the way of question marks. If they haven't coached at a given place for at least 4 years, can they recruit and develop talent? If they've never made it past the second round in the NCAA tournament, can they coach at the top level? Can they recruit at the top level? Grant looked good, but those questions were unanswered, until he came to Alabama. Contrast that to a guy like Bruce Pearl, who took Milwaukee to the Sweet 16 in his fourth year, and in doing so he answered most of those questions. Gregg Marshall is a great potential addition because he's not only answered all those questions, but he's beaten Alabama a few times just in case anyone wasn't sure he'd be an improvement.


To me almost all the allure for Howland (who is not at the top of my list) is as a program builder. He knows how a top tier basketball program isrun , he knows what it takes to build a final four team. No Alabama coach has ever known what that takes. I think he's a plan B (if you can't get the people Alabama supposedly can't get), but to me you don't have to spend much on him, so it's a low risk contract and you just say up front look, we're not going to pay you a lot but we will invest money in the basketball program. Just tell us how to spend it. I think he'd come in with a chip on his shoulder and Alabama can offer him resources that are second to none.
I like the way you think! I'm tired of all the negative-nellies/Debbie downers in the media and I hope Coach Battles is not listening to them.
 

Drifter

3rd Team
Mar 10, 2010
259
0
35
Keeping it real, Florida does have 2 National Championships, which helps recruiting somewhat.
 

RobK

All-SEC
Aug 27, 2004
1,506
7
0
48
Holts Summit, MO
knodell.blog-city.com
My concern with this hire is the perception that we will have BOTH a new president (within months) and a new AD (either in a few years or sooner) and coaching candidates will have to decide on our job without knowing who their long-term bosses will be. It probably means we'll have to either overpay or guarantee more years or a bigger termination buyout than we would other wise have to commit to. The last coach to leave our head basketball job on good terms was C.M. Newton 35 years ago, but of course we were on a similar streak of departures in football when Coach Saban was hired.

The good news is that ours is the best job that is open right now, perhaps by a long shot. It is the only Power 5 Conference job open right now, to my knowledge. That probably won't be the case as teams get knocked out of the NIT and NCAAs.
 

KrAzY3

Hall of Fame
Jan 18, 2006
10,966
5,483
187
45
kraizy.art
Keeping it real, Florida does have 2 National Championships, which helps recruiting somewhat.
You mean after they went out and hired a good coach? Before Billy Donovan they weren't even close to Alabama in basketball. They made the NCAA tournament 5 times before he showed up...
 

RobK

All-SEC
Aug 27, 2004
1,506
7
0
48
Holts Summit, MO
knodell.blog-city.com
You mean after they went out and hired a good coach? Before Billy Donovan they weren't even close to Alabama in basketball. They made the NCAA tournament 5 times before he showed up...
Actually, the coach prior to Donovan at UF (Lon Kruger) took them to a Final Four and elevated their program quite a bit, but I understand and agree with your overall point. Florida was a "nothing" program with no real tradition before they made good hires.
 

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
39,407
7
0
Prattville
You mean after they went out and hired a good coach? Before Billy Donovan they weren't even close to Alabama in basketball. They made the NCAA tournament 5 times before he showed up...
Since you bring up Florida hiring a good coach, he doesn't meet the criteria you want for a mid-major coach. He was only at Marshall from 1994 to 1996. He didn't make the NCAA tournament either year.
 

Hoot30

All-SEC
Jan 12, 2005
1,284
6
57
52
Nashville, TN
There's a good interview with Bryan Passink on WJOX from this morning that is archived on their podcast page. The gist is that he thought that Alabama would be aggressive in the coaching search. I recommend listening to it.
 

imauafan

All-American
Mar 3, 2004
3,749
1,201
282
Huntsville, AL
The point is that UF made a good hire. They took a chance on a unproven mid-major coach and it paid off big time. However, most mid-major coaches that move up to a power 5 school does not pay off like Donovan did. UF has been more willing to take chances with their coaching hires and in some cases it has worked out for them (Donovan) and in some cases it has not (Zook, Muschamp, etc.) I think the point several is trying to make is that we shoot for the big-name, proven coach first, THEN if that does not work out start moving on to the mid-major coaches. Regardless of how impressive an Archie Miller/Michael White/Steve Prohm may look on paper, they are unproven at a power-5 school. They may turn out like Donovan or they may turn out like Grant, it's a crapshoot.
 

imauafan

All-American
Mar 3, 2004
3,749
1,201
282
Huntsville, AL
I'm not a fan of Crean but there are some rumors out there about him. We could do worse although I think we could also do better. Looking at his Wikipedia page he coached with Tom Izzo. Now let me say this, IZZO AIN'T COMING TO BAMA!!!!! However, I do believe that Saban is the type of coach that would make phone calls to help the AD find the new coach and I have no doubt his first call would be to Izzo for advice (ONLY ADVICE). My guess is that Izzo would recommend Crean. Just a few rambling thoughts........
 

New Posts

Latest threads