New coaching candidates

[Quoner]

1 hour ago, TreeFiddy said:

What about Underwood?  He's decent. Did you look at him?

 

 

 

 

 

Great find! Did you see UALR today? Wonder what a coach like that could do here...

[Greendylan]

With all due respect to the criteria, I tend to think that lower conference head coaches who lose in their first tournament games are still potentially in play.

[Arkstfan]

I was looking at the Chattanooga coach when AState was still looking. The talk on him is that he thinks he's about to be loaded for bear and is a year maybe two from a P5 job and not looking to move around to a mid-major needing a rebuild.

[Maduro]

21 hours ago, Arkstfan said:

Well it is easier to be the "winningest" coach when you are allowed 12 years to coach. Other than Happy Mahfouz who guided them from NAIA to the NCAA and then Division I (and was also AD) no one else has coached 12 years there, in fact of the 21 coaches they have had only three served more than 6 years there (Shields and Mahfouz 12 years each, Longstreth 8 years). Shields coached 72 more games at UALR than any other coach. Sort of had to be their winningest coach by default.

If you want to measure winngest by percentage of games won Shields was fourth at .519 behind Wimp Sanderson .594, Ron Kestenbaum .620 and Mike Newell .689

In 12 seasons at UALR they reached post-season once 2010-11 with a team that finished 7-9 in the Sun Belt and was 5th in the Western Division in 2011. They then lost the play-in game. Contrast that with Mike Newell who in six years went the NCAA tournament three times (1-3 record including a double OT loss to Valvano and NC State) and NIT twice (3-2 in the NIT).

AState fans vividly remember the SBC tournament where UALR knocked off UNT for the title because we remember that we the West Division champs and thought it was our tournament to win until three days before the tournament when Trey Finn blew his knee on a layup in practice. We had handled UALR without much trouble in the two prior meetings then lost by 7 without Finn.

That Sun Belt championship game was awful. UNT who finished three back in the west and five back of league best FAU was playing UALR who finished four back in the west and six back of FAU. UNT had tied for 6th best record in the league and UALR had the 8th best.

I may be a bit daft but winning the conference tournament by one point over the 6th best team in the league being the highlight of guy's career wouldn't put him high on my hire list. That year the top four seeds in the conference tournament went 1-4.

 

 

You're right.  Benford is a much better option than Shields.

I'm just butt-hurt now... was really hoping to save my 500th post for the Benford firing thread, but instead the sun belt trolled it out of me.

[Arkstfan]

3 hours ago, Maduro said:

 

 

You're right.  Benford is a much better option than Shields.

I'm just butt-hurt now... was really hoping to save my 500th post for the Benford firing thread, but instead the sun belt trolled it out of me.

If you are going to spend the money for a new coach, set your sites higher than Shields.

[Side Show Joe]

UNT always tries to find some cheap diamond in the rough. As long as that remains our game plan, we will miss on hires more often then we get it right.

If North Texas wants to compete with the bigger programs in college basketball, then we have to crack open that squeaky wallet and pay for a quality coach... just like the bigger programs do. SMU figured this out. Yes, Brown has them under a post-season ban, but they have drastically improved since shelling out big bucks on a proven winner.

My suggestions...

1. Eran Ganot- Hawaii (27-5 tourny team) $200,000

2. Ben Jacobson- Northern Iowa (22-12 tourny team) $550,000

 

Edited March 18, 2016 by Side Show Joe

[Harry]

8 minutes ago, Side Show Joe said:

UNT always tries to find some cheap diamond in the rough. As long as that remains our game plan, we will miss on hires more often then we get it right.

 

 

Joe -- I think you make a very honest assessment here.  RV gets all the blame, but at what point do we also put some of the blame on the administration?  It's certainly gotten better than it was in the Dickey era.  Still, you get what you pay for.  When you try to budget spend, you limit the type of candidates who will take the job.

[Side Show Joe]

32 minutes ago, Harry said:

Joe -- I think you make a very honest assessment here.  RV gets all the blame, but at what point do we also put some of the blame on the administration?  It's certainly gotten better than it was in the Dickey era.  Still, you get what you pay for.  When you try to budget spend, you limit the type of candidates who will take the job.

At this point, I'm not happy with Smatresk or the BOR either. I think there is plenty of blame to go around. The "bargain buy" worked okay in the early days of the Sun Belt. But, if we are going to be a force in C-USA or on the national level, then we need to move beyond the budget hire. Lets stop being settlers.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

I guess Billy G is too much of an issue, but I would all in for hiring him.  Last year Ranger was 2-23 and this season with him at the helm they are 31-5 and playing for the JC championship.

[Greendylan]

I wonder how many pages this thread will span before our AD actually begins considering new coaching candidates.  My guess is 16.  That should take us through next season and then the ensuing extension years.

[Army of Dad]

10 hours ago, Greendylan said:

I wonder how many pages this thread will span before our AD actually begins considering new coaching candidates.  My guess is 16.  That should take us through next season and then the ensuing extension years.

No way, too few fans will be left to get this to 16...

[CMJ]

1 hour ago, Army of Dad said:

No way, too few fans will be left to get this to 16...

Nah, we could get this to 16....in about six months!

[ADLER]

On 3/16/2016 at 10:30 PM, ADLER said:

I have a name that I'd like you guys to consider, former VCU and Alabama coach Anthony Grant.(currently an assistant for the OKC Thunder)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Grant

His success as an assistant at Florida alone is enough to warrant consideration as a head coach, but he has also been very successful as a head coach. He has a wealth of experience and is still only 49 years old.

From Wikipedia:

Anthony Grant posted an impressive 76–25 record in his three seasons as the head men's basketball coach at VCU. He was an outright dominating 52–10 versus CAA opponents, including conference tournaments, capturing three straight CAA Regular Season Conference Championships and two CAA Conference Tournament Championships. He led VCU to two NCAA Tournament berths and one NIT berth before departing the program to take over the head coaching position at the University of Alabama.

Season   Team   Overall   ConferenceStanding   Postseason

VCU Rams (Colonial Athletic Association) (2006–2009)

2006–07   VCU   28–7   16–2   1st   NCAA 2nd Round

2007–08   VCU   24–8   15–3   1st   NIT 1st Round

2008–09   VCU   24–10   14–4   1st   NCAA 1st Round

VCU: 76–25 (.752) 45–9 (.833)

Alabama Crimson Tide (Southeastern Conference) (2009–2015)

2009–10   Alabama   17–15   6–10   T–4th (West)

2010–11   Alabama   25–12   12–4   1st (West)  NIT Runner–up

2011–12   Alabama   21–12   9–7   5th   NCAA 2nd Round

2012–13   Alabama   23–13   12–6   T–2nd   NIT Quarterfinals

2013–14   Alabama   13–19   7–11   T–10th

2014–15   Alabama   18–14   8–10   T–8th   NIT 2nd Round*

Alabama:   117–85 (.579)   54–49 (.524)

Total:   193–110 (.637)

An ideal situation would be to hire Anthony Grant as head coach and retain Tony Benford as Associate Head Coach. I think that North Texas could quickly build something very special.

Wow Adler, that's nearly a perfect candidate for our requirements! I love that he won a national championship as the top assistant to Billy Donovan and his amazing success wit the VCU program (45-9, 83.3%) was against div.1 schools and not based on scheduling patsies. He is an excellent recruiter and a proven leader as a coach.

 

Here is his bio from the Oklahoma City Thunder:

Anthony Grant | Assistant Coach

Anthony Grant joins the Thunder bench in 2015-16 after spending the past nine years serving as head coach at the University of Alabama and Virginia Commonwealth University. In nine seasons at Alabama and VCU, Grant compiled a record of 193-110 (.637) at the two schools.

During the past six years at Alabama, Grant amassed a record of 117-85 (.579) while guiding the Crimson Tide to the 2012 NCAA tournament, their first tournament berth since the 2006 season. Alabama also advanced to the NIT tournament on three occasions during Grant’s tenure.

In addition to leading Alabama to three straight 20-win campaigns, Grant also led the Tide to a winning record in SEC play for three consecutive seasons (2011-13). It marked the first time since the 1994-1996 seasons that Alabama had compiled three consecutive winning seasons in conference play.

Prior to Alabama, Grant spent three seasons as the head coach of VCU where he led the Rams to a 76-25 (.752) record while winning three consecutive Colonial Athletic Association Championships. Grant’s time at VCU was highlighted by a pair of NCAA tournament appearances and a 45-9 (.833) mark in CAA games.

A Miami native, Grant spent 10 years at the University of Florida (1996-2006) where he served under Billy Donovan. Grant helped lead the Gators to their first national title in 2006 before departing for VCU.

Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Grant enjoyed a successful collegiate playing career at the University of Dayton (1983-87). The Flyers went 70-49 (.588), with a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT berth during Grant’s time in uniform. In 105 games at Dayton, Grant averaged 11.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game and was named the team's most valuable player as a senior.

 

[Army of Dad]

2 hours ago, CMJ said:

Nah, we could get this to 16....in about six months!

No way, we've had game threads where they barely got to three pages. There's just not very much interest in the program anymore.

I'm not even sure a resurrection is even possible at this point, that's how far we've fallen.

[bloodstunt]

I have long thought in order to build something here it would be much easier to do it in Basketball than it is in football. The right coach has a bigger impact in basketball and has an immediate impact. There are more basketball games per year and don't need outside help in getting to NCAA tourney, just win your conference. So why not load up and pay for a proven coach and start filling the pit. Pay him more than the football coach, go all in. That national exposure might even help the football program in the long run and if not Duke, Kentucky and Kansas have been getting along alright without winning much in football.

[EagleMBA]

On 3/19/2016 at 0:27 PM, Army of Dad said:

No way, we've had game threads where they barely got to three pages. There's just not very much interest in the program anymore.

I'm not even sure a resurrection is even possible at this point, that's how far we've fallen.

Much less, one that lasts more than four hours!

[UNT90]

On March 18, 2016 at 4:22 PM, Side Show Joe said:

At this point, I'm not happy with Smatresk or the BOR either. I think there is plenty of blame to go around. The "bargain buy" worked okay in the early days of the Sun Belt. But, if we are going to be a force in C-USA or on the national level, then we need to move beyond the budget hire. Lets stop being settlers.

UNT will never be a national level program. Ever. Nothing in past history of current leadership suggests this is even a remote possibility.

The same thing for being a conference power in CUSA. 

UNT has sucked most of its existence in all things major sports related and will continue to do so. They do not care to do any better.