TheTastyGreek

I hope she winds up spending 3 and a half years at McNeese State.

Also, Baylor alums (rather than administration) only benefit by trying to avoid a Penn State style stigma. Baylor the school probably suffers a bit for the next 5-10 years if it all comes out in the open. Baylor the degree doesn't. The damage is minimized for alums, potentially worsened for the school Again, one of the situations where the interests of alumni are not identical to the interests of university leadership and administration. And, in these situations, it must be nice to have a strong, vocal, fully independent and empowered association representing and fighting for alumni interests. Most schools don't have it. Whatever I may dislike about Baylor, I'm very impressed by their alumni association.

One of the benefits of an independent alumni association, one that has alumni (and not university, faculty, staff, leadership, or student) concerns as their primary priorities.

A few more things, because I had to giggle at least a little bit... http://eastman-beaudine.com/what-we-do/what-people-said/ Ooof. C'mon, gang... Way past time to clean up that company website.

If you're the paranoid, sky-is-falling type, here's some stuff to consider. Eastman Beaudine is proud to promote their placements of such luminaries as June Jones at SMU, Ian McCaw at Baylor, and Sandy Barbour, current AD at Penn State and the woman who (when she had to replace Tommy Bowden after Tulane's undefeated season) picked Chris Scelfo over promoting her own OC, Rich Rodriguez. And those are just three of the names I recognize that they're currently hyping on their own website. As for Trip Kuehne, well... Here's one of the first things to come up when you look into him. http://www.businessinsider.com/theres-a-term-for-why-john-paulsons-investors-are-sticking-with-his-firm-2011-10 That's a quote from about five years ago (October 2011). How well did that one work out? From January 16, 2016: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/01/hedge-funder-john-paulson-puts-up-own-fortune-to-save-firm I don't know Trip Kuehne, and I'm sure he's done pretty damn well for himself, this unfortunate (and quickly Googleable) example excluded. For anyone who wants to investigate more thoroughly, start here, here, here, and here. And I'm sure that Eastman Beaudine has made some great AD hiring suggestions, too. But, I'll tell you one thing... If the firm handling the search recommended a guy with the shattered moral compass of Baylor's ex-AD, and one of the consultants is willing to stick it out through five years of catastrophe from a formerly proud and successful institution? Everything's coming up TONY DENTON, baby! Who's up for a contract extension??

Already did it. A thread from last October... If I'm hiring, this is my guy. Fundraising isn't his selling point, but he's got a history of success with it, too. Read through the thread for several responses outlining more reasoning why he'd be fantastic.

Didn't see this until after I sent you a PM. I think you're already covered, and if not I'll take a 2nd crack at it.

Pro: This could be very exciting for whoever our AD is in 2022. Ditto for Coach Doesntworkhereyet or Coach Guyaftertheguywhodoesntworkhereyet. Con: Tulsa has six years to screw this up for us somehow.

Three years ago. And his head is a different color than his hands. And it looks like, according to his sash, he graduated with the help of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

It's not a golf cart plan, or an SUV plan. It's a driving plan.

Let's think in terms of husbands and fathers. I love you like a husband. We're peers, partners, and our relationship is based on a mutual respect and trust that we'll support each other through whatever life throws our way. I love him like a father. Inherently selfless, with optimism and hope that he'll live up to all his wonderful potential and accomplish more in this crazy, scary world that we ever did, maybe in part because of the sacrifices we made to give him that opportunity. Now, let's grab a few drinks, strap @ChristopherRyanWilkes in the carseat, and hit the road to infamy!

Both were good. I think the appropriate thing to do is wait 3 years and then continue this discussion on the McNeese State forum.

Respectfully, because I love you both... Holier than thou is one thing. But... Considering that we sat through FOUR YEARS of "better husbands and fathers" talk, and then this happens with Dad, child, and Grandpappy Todd in the car together, with a pending intoxication charge? I don't fault ANYONE for making a joke or two. Especially since no one was hurt. I don't think it's funny that Riley had an accident. And I definitely don't think it's funny if he was drunk, or if he has any sort of substance issue. But, I think it's fucking hilarious... HILARIOUS, that the guy who kept going on and on about coaching guys to be better husbands and fathers was right there in the car while his son, having been drinking at least socially, neglected to pay attention to the road and crashed into a pole (they can come right out of nowhere!). The only thing that would make it more perfectly absurd would be if they'd been stopped by an officer who used to play defense on a Sun Belt team, or if Todd failed a marijuana test connected to the accident. THIS is top notch. Perhaps Todd was coaching Riley to drive to the End Zone (in Grand Prairie) but, as usual, couldn't quite lead him there without failing and potentially getting him hurt?

306th out of 351 teams in pace-adjusted (points allowed per 100 possessions) defense.

I'm on board with this. You ARE proposing a "Cask of Amontillado" retirement plan for Rick, right?

Dodge getting Year 4 was precedent for Benford getting Year 4. This is a fucking disgrace. I've never been more disgusted with my university or it's athletics programs and leadership, which is really saying something. I think this is the ballgame for me. I really think this is the flashing billboard telling me to pack it up and find better ways to spend my time and attention.

I haven't seen or heard this kind of optimism since @James Mosley used to post here.

To your first sentence... There's a reason I stopped putting together these capsules yesterday. They take a long time, and it seems pointless right now. I hope I get a reason to get back to it. Lots of interesting people out there that aren't necessarily out of our reach. To your second sentence... There's nothing I can offer that a good grasp of Google and an analytical approach to modern college basketball history can't give anyone else. Even if I had some special wisdom or insight about basketball (I do not), or some essential talent I could offer... Let me give you a real quick breakdown of how that proposal would go: And... *Scene*. Thanks for the kind words, though.

Wondering what this is all about? - READ THIS Robert Jones Age: 36 Current job: Head coach at Norfolk State Current contract situation: Base salary of $145,000, under contract through 2016-17. Experience: 3 years as a D1 head coach, all at Norfolk State. 3 years as a high school head coach at a Catholic school in New York. 6 years as a D1 assistant, all at Norfolk State. 2 years as a D3 assistant coach at two different schools. Best year as a head coach: 2014-15. 20-14 overall record, 12-4 in conference. Lost in the MEAC conference tournament semifinals. Went to the CBI, lost their first round game against Eastern Kentucky. Worst year as a head coach: 2015-16. 17-17 overall record, 12-4 in conference. Lost in the MEAC conference tournament semifinals by two points, despite leading with 19 seconds to go, when they missed a jumper on their last possession. Accepted a CIT bid, lost their first game to Columbia. Context: Before the season, their best post player decided to transfer to Xavier, and during the season, their best guard (a 19 ppg guy) hurt his foot riding a hoverboard and had to play half his usual minutes and come off the bench to do it. What makes him worth considering? 3 years, 3 seasons .500 or better. A 19 and a 20 win season in that mix. May not sound like much... But Norfolk State is a MEAC school. That's a HBCU conference (like the SWAC, but Atlantic coast instead of Gulf coast). In his best year, Jones had 8 non-conference losses, and 4 of them were to Baylor, Georgia, Virginia, and Vanderbilt. So, overall record isn't the best gauge of ability. Against his own conference, Jones has gone 12-4 twice and 11-5 once. And, to give that 3 straight years of .500 or better records some context... Conference mate Maryland-Eastern Shore has been playing D1 basketball for 37 years and only has 3 .500 or better records total. Only one in the past 22 years. Even though he hasn't made the NCAA tournament as a head coach (yet), he did go in 2012 as a Norfolk State assistant. You may remember that year as the one where 15th seed Norfolk State upset #2 seed Missouri. Jones wasn't just an assistant, he was the lead recruiter that brought in most of those guys (one of them played for him in high school; he scored 11 against Missouri), and he was the assistant responsible for drawing up the game plan that led to the upset. Whycome would he'd suck real bad? FIU hired Anthony Evans (the Norfolk State coach that Jones worked under and replaced) and he has 3 straight sub-.500 seasons there so far. Worth noting that FIU got Evans for $225,000 per year across 5 years, which is significantly cheaper than what we're paying Benford now, and they got him on that deal a year after his Missouri NCAA upset. And even though Evans has been a game under .500 twice at FIU, those are the two best seasons FIU has had (other than Richard Pitino's one year) since Shakey Rodriguez back in the 90's. Additional comments: Fordham had him as a finalist for their opening last year (they're an Atlantic 10 school), and he was both flattered and interested. Jones never expected or intended to get into coaching. He works hard and expects to recruit above his league. He wears fancy ties and likes the color green.

Wondering what this is all about? - READ THIS John Becker Age: 47 Current job: Head coach at Vemont Current contract situation: Base salary of $230,000, signed through either next year or the 2017-18 season (please post a link if you can confirm the extension through 2017-18) Experience: 5 years as a D1 head coach, all at Vermont. 2 years as a D3 head coach at Gallaudet. 5 years as a D1 assistant at Vermont, 5 years as a D3 assistant. Best year as a head coach: Two contenders: 2011-12. 24-12 overall, 13-3 in conference. Won the America East conference tournament. Won their play-in game against Lamar, then lost to #1 seed North Carolina. 2013-14. 22-11 overall, 15-1 in conference. Lost their America East conference semifinal tournament game to eventual champion Albany. Auto-bid to the NIT, lost first game to #2 seed Georgia. 2014 America East Coach of the Year. Worst year as a head coach: 2015-16. 22-13 overall, 11-5 in conference. Final record doesn't look so bad, but at various points they were 6-7 and 10-9 on the season. At various points, Becker called his team "really dumb" and said of himself "I'm not doing a good job coaching". Some Vermont fans wanted him to get fired. Some are just idiots, but that's how fan dissatisfaction always starts. Ultimately, the team rallied late in the year, and made the America East conference tournament final. They blew a 13 point 2nd half lead and lost to Stony Brook. Currently alive in the CBI; won their first game against against Western Carolina, set to face Seattle in the CBI quarterfinals. What makes him worth considering? He's been a head coach for 5 years, he has 5 20+ win seasons. 5 years, one NCAA bid, one NIT bid, one CBI semifinals run, one (current) quarterfinals-and-maybe-more run. 9-4 record in conference tournament games, 4-4 (and counting) in postseason tournament games. If we gave him Benford's original contract, we'd almost double his salary and he'd have an extra 3 or 4 (unclear, see above... may still be a school option) guaranteed years beyond his current Vermont deal. His Vermont buyout is only $100,000 (see page 9). That's practically nothing... For comparison, we paid Wake Forest a $250,000 buyout to hire Mike Petersen to coach our women's team back in 2012. And he was awful! Becker is actually good! Whycome would he'd suck real bad? IS he actually good? He has five 20 win seasons in 5 years. But his best year was (arguably) his first year, and the past two years have been his worst. Before Becker took over, Vermont had 20+ wins in 8 of the previous 10 years, too. Additional comments: Briefly stepped away from coaching entirely to be an IT guy (he did both jobs at the same time while working D3), then took a $10,000 (not a typo- ten thousand dollars a year) job as the DOBO at Vermont. At his last D3 school, he was also a tennis coach (despite not really knowing how to play tennis). Gallaudet is a school for the deaf... Becker was an assistant and later the head coach there, despite not knowing sign language when he interviewed with the deaf head coach. If you wanted to convince me Becker is the propped-up product of a successful program, I'd have to concede that there's at least a small chance you're right. If you wanted to convince me that John Becker is a wizard because he can teach sports he doesn't know in a language that he doesn't speak (all while working a full time job as a computer technician), I'd have to concede that there's at least a small chance you're right about that, too.

The lesson is, don't skim. I'm sneaking jokes in that require full attention.

THIS IS FINALLY HAPPENING. I will be prepared for it!! Oh dear...

Wondering what this is all about? - READ THIS Steve Forbes Age: 50 Current job: Head coach at East Tennessee State Current contract situation: Base salary of $202,000, signed through 2019-20 season. Experience: One year as a D1 head coach, at ETSU. Seven total years as a JUCO head coach at Northwestern Florida State College as recently as 2013 (2 years), Barton County Community College (Kansas) ending in 1998 (3 years), and Southwestern Community College (Iowa) ending in 1993 (2 years). 15 years as a D1 assistant at Wichita State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Illinois State, Louisiana Tech, and Idaho. Four years as a JUCO assistant, all back in the 80's and 90's. Best year as a head coach: 2015-16. 23-11 overall record (and counting), 14-4 in conference. Lost SoCon tournament championship to Chattanooga. No NCAA or NIT auto-bid; scheduled to play Louisiana Tech in the inaugural Vegas 16 (which only has 8 teams playing in it... go figure) on 3/28/16. Worst year as a head coach: Well, he only has the one year... So, I guess, also 2015-16! See above, criticize aggressively. What makes him worth considering? He's coached in Texas (at A&M) and at Louisiana Tech. He's worked for Billy Gillespie, Gregg Marshall, and Bruce Pearl. Both seasons at Northwestern Florida State, he led the school to the NJCAA championship game. The school had only made it there once before, back in 1995 when they were still known as Okaloosa-Walton College. He's old enough to buy alcohol without pulling out his ID, unlike most of the other possible current D1 coaches we could probably get. Whycome would he'd suck real bad? One of the assistant coaches fired because of the Bruce Pearl recruiting scandal purge, where Forbes kinda-maybe-sorta tried to deceive an NCAA investigator when confronted with a photo of Pearl having improper contact (not sexually, you perverts) with a recruit. And maybe if he was REALLY any good at Northwest Florida State College, he woulda actually WON those JUCO national championships!!1! His successor there (Steve DeMeo, and don't worry, you'll see a thread for him in a few days) did! Additional comments: He used to be a head coach at a school in Iowa. He almost won a national championship as a coach at a school in Florida. DIDN'T WE JUST LIVE THROUGH THIS NIGHTMARE??? On the plus side, ETSU sold $20k worth of season tickets at his introductory press conference, which at UNT could mean as much as 190-240 general reserved ticket packages. And that would be a 10% or higher jump over our (reported) attendance last year alone.

Wondering what this is all about? - READ THIS Dana Ford Age: 31 Current job: Head coach at Tennessee State Current contract situation: Base salary of $190,000, contract duration unclear (please respond with a link if you can find anything) Experience: Two years as a head coach, both D1 at Tennessee State. Five years as a D1 assistant (Tennessee State, Wichita State, and Illinois State) and one year as a JUCO assistant. Best year as a head coach: 2015-16. 20-11 overall record, 11-5 in conference. Lost in the OVC tournament quarterfinals by two points to eventual champs Austin Peay. Lost in double overtime of their first CIT game against Ball State. Sadly, even in his best year, Ford got consecutively smacked around by both Peay-ness and BallS(tate). But, he did win the OVC Coach of the Year award! Worst year as a head coach: 2014-15. 5-26 overall record, 2-14 in conference. Dead last in the OVC, didn't qualify for the conference tournament. What makes him worth considering? Tennessee State has 39 seasons in Division 1, three 20 win seasons in their history. Ford has one of them in his 2nd year. Served as an assistant under Tim Jankovich at Illinois State for a year, so we may be able to get insight/reference from a former UNT head coach in making the evaluation. Whycome would he'd suck real bad? Youngest head coach in D1 basketball. Lost 26 games in a single season, though that happened in his first year, taking over a 25 loss team, and Tennessee State only has 3 winning seasons in the last 20 years, with one of them coming under Ford this past season. Additional comments: He's young, but he's obviously been well mentored by wise, experienced guys. Evidence: he used to use a four-in-hand knot as a college student/graduate assistant, but someone taught him that a grown man uses a windsor or half-windsor knot instead. His open collar and pocket square game is also very strong. Man fashion arguably shows us he's committed to the fundamentals and he's wise beyond his years. Also, his youth makes him the only active head coach who can put on a uniform and represent well in a slam dunk contest. If you REALLY like him, someone is selling a signed Dana Ford business card on eBay for $29.99 (free shipping!).