Name the next head coach (a GMUJim tribute album)

[Patriot Lawdog]

Ben Howland really wants back into coaching.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...tball-former-ucla-coach-ben-howland/23569565/

I know everyone is a little gun-shy with a "retread" but not exactly a Paul Hewitt flash in the pan. Big Sky, Big East, Pac-10, & AP Coach of the Year, two Sweet 16's at Pitt, 3 Final Fours, & 1 National Runner-Up at UCLA.

The one retread guy I would consider and I think is somewhat realistic..."Failing" at UCLA is all relative.

 

[A.-Siegfried]

Howland is intriguing but tons of red flags with his departure. Read the SI article on it.

 

[Herndon]

Howland is, by all accounts, a world-class jerk. That said, I would have him at Mason in a heartbeat

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Yes, we're all familiar w/the Reeves Nelson incident, but getting someone of Howland's stature is going to require rolling the dice a bit. I'm sure Edwards would bring it up and need a satisfactory response.

 

[wijg]

The part that scares me from that article is:

"...he'd been portrayed as an unlikeable, aloof coach running an undisciplined program..."

I don't care about the likeable part, but we have seen what you get with an aloof coach running an undisciplined program. So, if that part is true...

 

[psyclone]

Yes, we're all familiar w/the Reeves Nelson incident, but getting someone of Howland's stature is going to require rolling the dice a bit. I'm sure Edwards would bring it up and need a satisfactory response.

Actually, I'm not. And too lazy to look it up. Is there a link?

I know we're tired of losing, but winning with a jerk isn't my idea of a good hire. And I'm guessing his cost is substantially more than what Hewitt is/was making. Strike three.

 

[GMUgemini]

Actually, I'm not. And too lazy to look it up. Is there a link?

I know we're tired of losing, but winning with a jerk isn't my idea of a good hire. And I'm guessing his cost is substantially more than what Hewitt is/was making. Strike three.

From the article: "Nelson was the Bruins' leading scorer and rebounder in his sophomore season of 2010-11. But in his junior season, he was suspended twice, then dismissed from the team in December. In the SI article that came out two months later, Reeves was depicted as a bully who divided the team but went undisciplined by Howland for too long. Reeves later filed a defamation lawsuit against Time Inc. that was thrown out of court."

The USA Today article also said he's going to be a lot less picky. Now of course, he held out for Missouri and Tennessee last year and turned down Oregon State, so how "open" he would be to an A-10 bottom-feeder rebuild job is a question.

 

[psyclone]

From the article: "Nelson was the Bruins' leading scorer and rebounder in his sophomore season of 2010-11. But in his junior season, he was suspended twice, then dismissed from the team in December. In the SI article that came out two months later, Reeves was depicted as a bully who divided the team but went undisciplined by Howland for too long. Reeves later filed a defamation lawsuit against Time Inc. that was thrown out of court."

The USA Today article also said he's going to be a lot less picky. Now of course, he held out for Missouri and Tennessee last year and turned down Oregon State, so how "open" he would be to an A-10 bottom-feeder rebuild job is a question.

Thanks Gemini for filling me in. I like the collegiality of information-sharing--just like a university should be!

 

[gmujim92]

The USA Today article also said he's going to be a lot less picky. Now of course, he held out for Missouri and Tennessee last year and turned down Oregon State, so how "open" he would be to an A-10 bottom-feeder rebuild job is a question.

I was thinking the same thing ... old CAA mindset at work, probably.

If he has to "start over" and prove himself because of the way his UCLA tenure ended, he could do worse than a bottom feeder in the 7th-best basketball league in America.

 

[wijg]

Apathy had set in for me, but the hope of a new coach started to get me interested again. But, I have to admit reading the posts above and seeing how we (including me) so naturally refer to our program as a bottom feeder has me a little sad.

Hopefully this is the beginning reversing the damage done to my mental health by Merten, TOC, and Hewitt

 

[KAOriginal]

so how "open" he would be to an A-10 bottom-feeder rebuild job is a question.

Despite all of our love for Mason, despite how we felt in 2006 and 2011.....this is the perception we have to contend with from the outside.

How does the coaching ranks see us?

While we have an upside to conference and location.....it's not like someone is coming into a Gonzaga or vcu where there has been a steady visibility. We are an anchor to the conference right now, and a coach has to contemplate how much of a clean up gig does he want. (Heck even Hewitt had to be talked into Mason with a potential Top 40 program at his disposal.)

Edwards has to sell Mason as a school where athletics is no longer the side door. But the question to a new coach...is that even true?

 

[GMUgemini]

Despite all of our love for Mason, despite how we felt in 2006 and 2011.....this is the perception we have to contend with from the outside.

How does the coaching ranks see us?

While we have an upside to conference and location.....it's not like someone is coming into a Gonzaga or vcu where there has been a steady visibility. We are an anchor to the conference right now, and a coach has to contemplate how much of a clean up gig does he want. (Heck even Hewitt had to be talked into Mason with a potential Top 40 program at his disposal.)

Edwards has to sell Mason as a school where athletics is no longer the side door. But the question to a new coach...is that even true?

Well that's partially up to us. Let Edwards know we are behind the program and will throw an extra donation their way once a new coach is announced.

 

[Vurbel]

The question is, can we afford him? And if so, how long will he stick around if he's successful?

Hopefully not long, cause that would have meant he turned the program around so much that a larger school wants what he did for george mason.

 

[disgruntled]

Covering the A-10 for whom exactly?

For NBC. i'm fairly certain he is the analyst on the RI/GW game QF game currently in progress.

 

[gmujim92]

From The Dagger's Jeff Eisenberg:

Howland's three Final Fours and unassailable tactical acumen made him an attractive candidate for Oregon State after six years of Craig Robinson's bumbling Xs and Os and inability to develop the talent he recruited. The Beavers finished eighth or better in the Pac-12 only once under Robinson despite impressive recruiting hauls that included standouts Jared Cunningham, Roberto Nelson, Eric Moreland, Devon Collier and Hallice Cooke.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab...s-wise-to-pass-on-oregon-state-035552146.html

Does the bolded section sound like anyone we know?

Forget Howland's three Final Fours, it sure would be nice to have a coach with "unassailable tactical acumen" on our sideline.

 

[gmujim92]

From the USA Today story on Howland already linked in this thread:

So he took the TV gig, which allows him time at home with his wife, Kim, time to admire the hawk that circles above his deck, time to wonder whether to grill fish or tri-tip, time for long walks.

And lots of time to watch basketball.

Next season, though, he intends to participate.

"It doesn't matter where," he says. "I'll go anywhere. I'll come back here to this house and Santa Barbara someday. This will always be here for me. But I'm fired up to get back to coaching. I think I'm ready to do my best job."

 

[Herndon]

Norman Dale

 

[disgruntled]

From the USA Today story on Howland already linked in this thread:

So he took the TV gig, which allows him time at home with his wife, Kim, time to admire the hawk that circles above his deck, time to wonder whether to grill fish or tri-tip, time for long walks.

And lots of time to watch basketball.

Next season, though, he intends to participate.

"It doesn't matter where," he says. "I'll go anywhere. I'll come back here to this house and Santa Barbara someday. This will always be here for me. But I'm fired up to get back to coaching. I think I'm ready to do my best job."

One would think it would be worth the cost of a phone call to gauge interest.

 

[wijg]

So, if I take my "Friday or Monday" thread pessimistic hat off, and play a little "what if"with the Howland idea.

First, it is tough to get the pessimistic hat off completely. I think we all have been so burned by the Hewitt debacle, that any "retread" is going to be viewed very skeptically. But, I'll stay positive with this post.

I think there is little doubt that he can coach. So, we should have little concern on the X's and O's side or head scratching time outs and substitution patterns.

Hopefully his name, alone, will be a benefit in recruiting (though 2 years of being out of coaching is a lifetime in recruiting circles). His UCLA resume would hopefully resonate with recruits to ensure we recruit competitively with other A10 schools.

There is the question above about how long he will stay. That seems to be moot to me. If he is successful enough that other schools want him, that is a good problem to have. If I am really optimistic, if he takes us a couple games deep in the tourney, and Edwards does his fund raising magic, I could see a scenario where he would want to stay at Mason for the rest of his career. If Edwards gets him the resources, and he is successful here, there is little reason for a basketball coach to want to be at a football school. The ceiling is high for a successful basketball coach in the A10.

 

[GSII]

Not only burned by Hewitt, but another west coast guy named Paul.