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Posted

Rating the best coaching jobs in the Sun Belt

With the departure of Darin Horn to South Carolina, Western Kentucky is in the market for a new men's basketball coach, which got me thinking: Just what is the best coaching job in the Sun Belt Conference?

Troy football and Louisiana-Lafayette baseball and softball come to mind due to their tradition, along with WKU women's basketball. UNT football has the potential to be a prime job if the school gets a new stadium built soon. The same could be said of the Florida Atlantic and Florida International football jobs. Texas is an underrated hoops state, which makes the UNT men’s and women’s basketball jobs better than most people think. But at this point the top position in the league has to be coaching the WKU men‘s basketball team.

The Hilltoppers have been to the NCAA Tournament 20 times, made the Sweet 16 three times, the Final Four once and is ranked eight in NCAA history in winning percentage.

E.A. Diddle is the best basketball venue in the Sun Belt, although the Cajundome, Mitchell Center and Super Pit are not far behind.

WKU is also in the heart of hoops country, where a coach can recruit in Indiana and Kentucky. Both the Hoosiers and Wildcats recruit nationally, leaving plenty of the best players from two of the top hoops states in the country there for the taking.

There is big-time pressure to win at WKU, but the coaches who have fared well have moved on to bigger and better jobs. Don't think that doesn't come into play when it's time to hire a new coach -- or rate the job.

That is why it will be so interesting to see who Western comes up with for its next coach. The school should be able to sell the job as a perfect opportunity for an up-and-comer.

UNT could put its football job close to the same level as the WKU basketball job in the next few years with a new stadium. UNT is in the heart of one of the top two or three states in the country when it comes to producing football talent, is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and has the advantage of being only public school with a Division I football program in the immediate area. The Mean Green's in-state rivals point to an outdated Fouts Field and the Sun Belt as downfalls for UNT when it comes time for recruiting battles, but Fouts could soon be on its way out.

UNT doesn't have a baseball team and I haven't covered a softball or soccer game outside of Denton, so I can't rate those jobs, but here is my list of the top jobs in the league in football and basketball:

1. WKU men's basketball

-- Great tradition, facilities and a track record of attracting top players

2. Troy football

-- Larry Blakeney isn't going anywhere because he has a great facility, a history of success and the ability to recruit Florida and Alabama.

3. UNT football

-- One could make a case for this being the No. 1 job or not even being in the top five after a few down years and with a stadium that everyone agrees needs to go, but location goes a long way.

4. WKU women's basketball

-- For all the same reasons WKU men's hoops is No. 1, plus a huge budget that allows the team to recruit nationally

5. FAU or FIU football

-- FAU has done a remarkable building job in just a few years and won the New Orleans Bowl last season. FIU also has the potential to become a power quickly due to location.

Am I wrong? Think I missed one. Is UNT really No. 1?

Posted

The best job in the Belt is women's basketball coach at UNT...you can stay for 19 years without doing a whole hell of a lot.

Posted

I will agree with WKU as number one. But Troy football is in a very small market, and IMO only succeeds because the coach is good and they have a distinct advantage in recruiting because of academic standards. I also wonder how you could rate the Florida schools with the worst attendances in the nation as being a good job, particularly FAU who plays one of the most difficult schedules in the nation to support the program. I would also give high marks to WKU's and the Muts minor sports coaching jobs as they seem to support them more than most of the Belt schools.

1. WKU men's Basketball - Best tradition and overall support of any sport in the Belt.

2. UNT football - Best location and recruiting base. Other than stadium, other facilities should be or close to top of the Belt.

3. USA men's basketball - Good facilities, although I think the Pit is superior to both Mitchell and the Cajundome. Good support for Belt team.

4. ULL baseball - Best support of any program other than football or basketball.

5. UNT women's basketball - Traditional very low performance standard, great facilities and recruiting base

Posted

Arkansas State basketball is a great job. Attendance is the pits right now but for 15 years ASU was 1st or 2nd in attendance in the conference every year and was consistently in the top third of the nation in attendance. During that stretch local favorites coached the team and managed to share two regular season conference titles, make three NIT appearances and one NCAA.

Bring any degree of success and your resume can easily tout doubling or even tripling attendance and could crack the top 75 in the nation. The fans gave Nutt 10 years on the strength of a shared league title, one NCAA trip and no NIT appearances... unfortunately the school gave him 13 years. <_<

Loads of good basketball talent within a three hour radius of the school.

Posted

Arkansas State basketball is a great job. Attendance is the pits right now but for 15 years ASU was 1st or 2nd in attendance in the conference every year and was consistently in the top third of the nation in attendance. During that stretch local favorites coached the team and managed to share two regular season conference titles, make three NIT appearances and one NCAA.

Bring any degree of success and your resume can easily tout doubling or even tripling attendance and could crack the top 75 in the nation. The fans gave Nutt 10 years on the strength of a shared league title, one NCAA trip and no NIT appearances... unfortunately the school gave him 13 years. <_<

Loads of good basketball talent within a three hour radius of the school.

Arkstfan, would you consider Arkansas more of a basketball state than football, or vice versa? My entire family, minus me, is from Arkansas, and the support of the basketball programs around the state has always been good.

Posted

Not to mention I've usually thought of the U of Arkansas more of a basketball school than a football school - though obviously they've excelled in both thru the decades.

Posted

Not to mention I've usually thought of the U of Arkansas more of a basketball school than a football school - though obviously they've excelled in both thru the decades.

I consider Arkansas more of a basketball school....I think mainly cuz when I was a young lad growing up I remember the Corliss Williamson days and their national title. I think they can be considered both with their past success in football but I think it may have transitioned over to basketball since its their most recent success.

Posted

I consider Arkansas more of a basketball school....I think mainly cuz when I was a young lad growing up I remember the Corliss Williamson days and their national title. I think they can be considered both with their past success in football but I think it may have transitioned over to basketball since its their most recent success.

Yeah, when I was young Arkansas was great at hoops. Actually from the mid 70's(when Sutton got there) up until Richardson's last few seasons they were always very good. They have some decent history before that, but it's not as consistent.

Posted

when I was a young lad growing up I remember the Corliss Williamson days and their national title.

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

When I was a young lad, I remember the Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph, Sidney Moncrief days.

Posted

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

When I was a young lad, I remember the Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph, Sidney Moncrief days.

Me too.

Football gets the media attention and it gets the donor dollars.

I don't know why everyone in positions of authority is hell bent on football being king but down at the core, its really a hoops state.

Football has always had a bigger bandwagon when successful than basketball does, but basketball attendance usually remains pretty constant.

When the Nutt era at ASU peaked in the 98-99 season ASU was averaging a little better than 6,600 a game. Over the next 9 seasons ASU finished above .500 in conference play twice and posted losing records 4 out of 5 years. With a 20 loss season this year, ASU still finished sixth in the Sun Belt in attendance with 3,200 per game (boosted mightily by the firing of Nutt and Indian Family retirement ceremony).

So over nine years there was a drop of 52% in attendance. When football tanked it took only three years for attendance to fall 51%.

Posted

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

When I was a young lad, I remember the Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph, Sidney Moncrief days.

I cant say i'm terribly familiar with those guys....I THINK i've heard of Ron Brewer and I know Sidney Moncreif for what he did with the Mavs. Man you're an old fart aren't ya? :D

Posted

This from an interview with John Brady.

You said that other coaches told you this program is a diamond in rough. Can you expound on that?

They have a base of fan support that appreciates basketball and enjoys watching a quality team and will come out and support it ... I've talked to some coaches in the league, Ronnie Arrow, Kermit Davis. They think this is a special place where you can get it done here. What we need to do is hopefully encourage the fans to come support this program. I really believe this is a shared venture, it's not just the coach doing it all. I have to have the support of the fans, the student body, former players, former coaches. We all need to get on board and do what we can to create an environment, an atmosphere in the Convocation Center that is second to none. It's my job to recruit the kind of players to play in this league, to put them together in a way that makes a quality team and when all those factors work together, you can win in a significant way. The other coaches in the league think the possibility for that to happen is here because it's been done in the past.

What was most attractive about the Arkansas State job to you?

The chance to win. I think there is an opportunity to win here and win in the Sun Belt Conference. There's an opportunity to win the conference tournament, there's an opportunity with the recruiting base here to get the kind of players that can do that in this league. Hopefully I hire the right [assistant] coaches who can identify talent and maybe even steal a recruit or two, and that's just about building relationships and building credibility within that relationship. Possibly my name and being where I've been and done what I've done can get us farther ahead of the game than maybe if someone was here that they didn't know as well, and hopefully that will be the case. We're going to work in that regard and put a team together that hopefully people will enjoy watching play and also come watch play.

What do you tell a recruit, say, one out of Memphis that isn't on John Calipari's radar, what do you sell them on coming to ASU?

He can play for me. It's a big deal, man, come play for me (laughing).

He can come into a great community in which to find his way for the next four or five years that will be supportive. He can come into a situation in which the crowd will support him, that understands basketball, appreciates what he does as a player. He can come possibly win a Sun Belt Conference championship and get to the NCAA Tournament. And hopefully, with the experience I've had and the players I've developed, come knowing he can be well-coached and developed to his highest potential. That's what we're going to do. I think recruiting is all about credibility. I've been around long enough, I've recruited Memphis, I know a lot of high school coaches there, they know what I've done. And a player not on Memphis' radar or Arkansas' radar, maybe a notch below what they're thinking about, we can commit to that player early, lock him in and get him to come here and play in a wonderful environment.

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