TheTastyGreek

The basketball banquet is Monday. Weird to think that there's a chance it could be JJ's last event as a North Texas coach.

I wouldn't say that for just any coach, either. I'm not suggesting that blindly sliding the top or next available assistant over to the HC job is a blanket foolproof policy for success. But, this coach in this situation... Could be a home run waiting to happen. Everyone looking to replace a coach talks about wanting the next Brad Stevens or Shaka Smart... Neither of those guys had any head coaching experience before Butler and VCU gave it to them. We've got a guy right in our building with major recruiting skills and 5 years of stability working his local connections. He's well liked, well respected, almost 15 years of experience as an assistant coach, he's under 40, and most importantly: he owns a house in Denton. (NOTE: Address will not be provided, even if I knew it) Put him in charge of the kids that love him, most if not all of whom he played some role in bringing to North Texas (particularly the Metroplex and high school recruits), give him the roster we've got coming back, help him bring in the assistants he'll need to replace whoever would go with JJ... If Shawn Forrest has what it takes to lead a team, it very likely wouldn't be more than a year or two before we'd be worried about him getting hired away from us. If his goal is to be a head coach, then he's already played a huge part in rolling out the red carpet for himself in a stable job with the possibility of explosive immediate success. If he can take his own guys to their potential, he'd be a major conference head coach within a few years.

Offer it to Forrest, immediately. If he turns it down, take your time and see who has interest. Either of the guys you mentioned would be great (though I don't think Cross would leave). I don't think Forrest is necessarily guaranteed to be the best coach out there, but I think he's the best coach for us right now. Continuity is HUGE in the sustained growth and development of a program. Look at the schools that have continued, significant success outside of the power conferences (the ones that keep getting their head coaches hired away by BCS schools). Xavier's last two coaches were assistants prior to their promotions. The last time Butler hired someone outside their own staff was Barry Collier back in 1989, and he was an alum and former basketball player there. Gonzaga hasn't hired outside their own walls for a head basketball coach since 1978 with Dan Fitzgerald. A level below, but still consistently solid... Akron promoted Keith Dambrot from within and he's delivered 7 straight 20+ win seasons (his inaugural season was only 19), with 2 trips to the NCAAs and 2 to the NIT. Nevada replaced Trent Johnson with Mark Fox, and then Fox with David Carter. That approach worked out pretty well for them since the late 90's. BYU (which is a bit of a special case, being a Mormon institution and likely more inclined to hire within) had 5 postseason appearances in 6 years under Steve Cleveland in the late 90s/early 2000's, promoted Dave Rose, and won 20 with an NIT berth in his first year. 6 straight NCAA appearances since then. Shorter term... Murray State promoted Steve Prohm from within after last year. Instead of a rebuilding/transition year, they won 31 games and spent most of the year undefeated. When you bring in an outside coach, no matter how good they are... It's always a higher risk than promoting a qualified assistant. Look at Jankovich here. Never really got off the ground. When I started at UNT, one of my favorite alums was thrilled to see him out the door and excited about Trilli. Another place, another chance... And he's a consistent winner at Illinois State. Success is always a delicate house of cards. It takes a hell of a lot of effort and sometimes luck to keep things up, and it's not hard for something completely beyond your control to bring it all crashing down. We've actually got a foundation in place. The inevitable transition and potential shakeups that come with ANY coach change are minimized by promoting from within. Our current coaches have relationships with these players since they were all in high school or JUCO. They know what they know, what they can and can't do, how to communicate with and motivate them. They know how our institution works (or doesn't), and any philosophical changes they may want to implement can be done with the smallest possible amount of chaos and fallout. So much of recruiting and retention is the relationships with the kids and the AAU/High School coaches. Look at Brandon Reed and Derrick Gordon. Both of them jumped ship when the ASSISTANT that recruited them left or was let go. After great freshman seasons, they bailed because the guy they had the connection to was out the door. Asprilla left FIU because of his loyalty to Roucco, even with the heat Isiah Thomas brought along in his hiring. I have a lot of fondness and appreciation for all our coaches. But if JJ goes, the one guy we can least afford to lose is Shawn Forrest. I think Charlie Leonard and JJ are joined at the hip. Coach Foy has previous HC experience and great JUCO connections... But Forrest is the guy who keeps the talent pipeline open. He's the one who Tony Mitchell has repeatedly referred to as a surrogate dad. He had a reputation as a great recruiter before he got here, and he's been brilliant at forging relationships and landing great talent ever since his arrival. I don't think there's any way he stays here as an assistant over going to a BCS school in the same role... But I bet he'd be interested in taking over a team full of kids he knows and loves. Especially when he's set up to keep things rolling along for years to come, if he wants to. If Forrest would rather go be a BCS assistant elsewhere, then let the mailbox fill up and let's bring in a great experienced head coach from somewhere else. But if he wants to step up and make this his springboard to a head coaching career... I think we'd be fools not to give him the chance.

There is no bigger job for JJ than Louisiana State. He played there, he started his coaching career there. He loves that place. If he gets an offer from there, it's a dream come true and I'd wish him the best, because there's no way he'd turn it down. Would they hire him? I know we at North Texas never achieved anything that we couldn't manage to diminish and denigrate eventually (or immediately). But JJ has done some amazing things here. I'm not saying he's going to get the job, or even that they wouldn't call some other people first. But he definitely has to be on the radar. The fact of the matter for LSU is that they have 5 open scholarships to fill, and signing period opens on Wednesday. They can't afford to dick around hearing "no" for a month from 8 or 9 candidates like SMU did. They need to make a move within the next week or so. They'll probably put feelers out with some other people to gauge their interest, but I wouldn't be shocked at all if they wound up talking to JJ, and I definitely don't think it would take long for them to close a deal together if/when they do. Other than South Carolina, which got lucky with a disgruntled Frank Martin... Has anyone managed to make the much-desired "splash hire" this silly season? Every other team that has made a change has wound up doing it for change's sake. Most schools seem to have actually downgraded, in my opinion. If you're LSU, a school that fired a Final Four coach and was probably a year away from firing Trent Johnson... A school where basketball will always be a distant second priority, but the expectations will be top level... How hesitant will outside coaches be to take your job? And, would you hire a guy who played on one of your 3 Final Four teams and coached on another? A guy who turned our school into an actual basketball program? A guy who recruits over his league, who has over a decade of connections and is beloved in the Dallas AAU/High School area, and who also has a history of pulling recruits in from Louisiana and the Houston/Gulf Coast area? He's got a legacy at LSU, he's got a proven record of building a program, he can recruit, he wins games. He WANTS to be there. The one stain on him for LSU is the Lester Earl situation. And as fishy as that 'scandal' seemed to many of their fans at the time... Earl recanted everything 4 and a half years ago. Has JJ won any NCAA tournament games? Not yet. But just getting us there twice (and putting us on the cusp of it 2 other times) coupled with his recruiting background makes him a serious contender. If he can sell our program, he can definitely sell the hell out of LSU's. And even the skeptics in their fan base started turning around after the 20 point blowout in Baton Rouge back in the 2010-11 season. People tend to respect someone who gives them the most violent home spanking they've received since the national champs rolled through town 15 years before. I'm not saying he's getting the job, but he's definitely a possibility. And if they want him, they'll get him. The selfish part of me would hate to see him go. But with all he's done for this school and this program, if LSU makes his professional dream come true... I'd be happy for him. If he does go, Coach Forrest should have the head coach chair pulled out for him IMMEDIATELY. If he doesn't want it... The guys saying that this will be a very popular job are right. It could be an interesting and terrifying few weeks.

From a January 2012 evaluation by Sam Lowe of TexasHoops.com:

High School: Euless Trinity Rivals listing: Not yet fully evaluated Rivals currently lists interest in/from Baylor, Texas Tech, UTA, and North Texas. No confirmed offers (March 2012) Named a "Top Performer" at the 2011 GASO.

From Cash Sirois:

No idea. Fixed, though. Wish you were here in Hot Springs, man. Maybe next year?

Supposedly did it to 'consider Big 12 offers'. TCU bound?

For anyone with 2 hours to kill...

High School: Sanger Rivals listing Rivals lists past interest in/from Tulsa, Boise State, and Sam Houston State. Johnson was selected district Offensive Player of the Year as a Junior in 2010-11 (Clarke Overlander was MVP). He was named district Sophomore of the Year in 2009-10 (Clarke Overlander was MVP). As a Junior, Johnson averaged 18.9 points, 3.6 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and 5.1 steals per game. As a Sophomore, Johnson scored over 40 points in a single game. Johnson is expected to join the North Texas roster as a walk-on and redshirt the 2012-13 season while rehabbing from surgery on a torn ACL.

King verbals to Loyola (Chicago). Looks like he and another Houston private school kid decided to go there as a pair. I think if we'd had a ship to give him, he'd have been ours for the taking. Potentially a good sign for next year's roster if our staff isn't saying anything encouraging to potential late recruits about available scholarships for the class of 2012. Hat tip to NT03. Now, pretend I was never even here...

Shaggy, but sexy. Now, I shave my head every 6-8 weeks and I rarely even have enough hair to justify my continued use of shampoo. Boo, marriage.

I misread what you wrote. I thought you had MTSU in as one of four, not one with four left to give.

Juniors can't take official visits. He's come both times on an unofficial. I think we can give him a ticket, and the coaches can talk to him or show him around the public facilities. But he's come to back-to-back games on his own.

5 byes this year for the men's bracket. ULM being out of the running changes up the structure.

Serious question, and if it's not something you think you can realistically answer... That's a valid answer, too. If Pelphrey didn't have Kentucky stank all over him, would your fans hate the idea of him so much? How much of the animosity is based on him as a coach, and how much is the UK history?

Don't censor the man. There's still Eastern civilization to play for afterwards, and planet after planet in this solar system alone.

C'mon now... We lost in dominating fashion to a Southland team! That should never ever happen, right? Shouldn't you spend the rest of eternity calling Coach Lama overmatched and incompetent, and complaining that he still works here?

Alzee was actually a very late pickup (post April signing period) who had an extra year of seasoning at a prep school. http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/archives/2009/06/some-thoughts-on-alzee-william.html He was very much under the radar... Came in so late the year we signed Jacob Holmen early. I remember Cooley was pretty positive about him and GrandGreen was one of the guys most enthusiastic about Alzee when his commitment came in.

Was the team from Beaumont Ozen in attendance today for some reason? We saw a group of young guys in blue at Rudy's after the game, and one of the adults with them was in a set of blue Ozen warmups. The schedule says they played in Orange yesterday... Did they take a weekend trip up to Denton for some reason? Doesn't seem to be anyone on their roster on our radar for this year, or even next year that I'm aware of. But they do turn out some mid to high major talent every year or two.

Seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit. https://twitter.com/#!/K_Smoove05/status/163337269770592257 https://twitter.com/#!/K_Smoove05/status/163348196284825602 https://twitter.com/#!/K_Smoove05/status/163348877511114753 In attendance at 2 straight home games, both of them quite successful. That's an encouraging sign.

It just makes it faster and easier to make sure someone sees it. Right now, I'm very busy trying to organize a freestyle dance talent show to raise money and save the community center. Using breakdancing to fight off the evil, greedy land developers means I don't have time to read every post in every thread. Especially when I'm also tied up trying to get my parents to support my unorthodox dreams of following the music instead of going to a stuffy private college after graduation. But, I always check to see whether a problem has been flagged through the report center every time I log in. I apologize in advance for ruining CMJ's thread. And, by extension, the entire internet. For anyone who may be angry or offended, rest assured that I'll be regretfully dangling from a noose in the basement shortly.