Bill Moos and Basketball: Ernie Kent, Miles, Roll over contract, and old ideas

[BmoreRed]

Despite having one scholarship left, young in-state talent to keep up with during the summer circuit, and the best returning team since Bill Clinton’s presidency, offseason is boring; therefore, let’s worry about problems that may or may not come to fruition here at gonu.

 

While doing research (Google) on Jordan Lathon (a guy who we are not going to get) I came across an interesting article about Washington State Basketball.

 

The coach of WSU, Ernie Kent, is doing a bad job. He was hired by Bill Moos at WSU after being relatively successful at Oregon when Moos was AD. I say relatively because Kent won just 16 games in his final two seasons at Oregon. Kent gets bagged, and in comes Dana Altman.

 

Just how bad has Kent been at WSU: they have won 18 out of 76 Pac12 games, 12 of Kent’s 21 recruits have transferred, and 0 of those who played 4 years under Kent graduated. WOW.

 

Attached is a graphic from that article

 

I could write a lot more about this, about how Moos rolled Kents contract over for nothing but hey, Bill Moos hired Scott Frost. Great. Should we be worried about his judgment when it comes to MBB. I say a resounding, “Hell Yes!”

Edited June 24, 2018 by BmoreRed

[colhusker]

At this point he is not hiring a basketball coach so I am not going to fret.  No his track record is not good but unless we tank it this year, he will not be hiring a new basketball coach again next year.

[cornfed24-7]

58 minutes ago, colhusker said:

No his track record is not good but unless we tank it this year, he will not be hiring a new basketball coach again next year.

This is what I am interested to see. I think he almost certainly will be hiring a coach next year regardless of a negative or positive result on the outcome of the season. As far as track record I have no clue how he will do if he has to hire a coach. There are so many variables on if you get a solid hire. One being luck.

[Swan88]

Wow.  A poster’s 13th post is to trash Bill Moos?!  That’s a new approach.

But that post is incomplete—it leaves out some solid stuff about Kent.

For example, it leaves out this:

 

“While at Oregon, Kent led the Ducks to seven postseason appearances, including five NCAA Tournament Appearances (2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008) as well as a Pac-10 regular-season (2002) and  two conference tournament (2003, 2007) titles”;
 
“Kent took two Oregon teams to the NCAA Elite Eight (2002 and 2007) and guided the Ducks to the NIT Final Four on two occasions (1999, 2004)”;

 

”Kent helped produce four NBA First Round Draft selections and became Oregon’s all-time wins leader”; and
 
“Under Kent’s direction, the Duck men’s basketball team ranked No. 1 amongst Pac-10 schools in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate several times throughout his head coaching career.”

 

Let’s stipulate that we don’t want Kent at Nebraska—for good reasons.  But while trashing basketball Moos, let’s at least acknowledge the full picture—part of which is pretty darn good.
 

[BmoreRed]

37 minutes ago, Swan88 said:

Wow.  A poster’s 13th post is to trash Bill Moos?!  That’s a new approach.

But that post is incomplete—it leaves out some solid stuff about Kent.

For example, it leaves out this:

 

“While at Oregon, Kent led the Ducks to seven postseason appearances, including five NCAA Tournament Appearances (2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008) as well as a Pac-10 regular-season (2002) and  two conference tournament (2003, 2007) titles”;
 
“Kent took two Oregon teams to the NCAA Elite Eight (2002 and 2007) and guided the Ducks to the NIT Final Four on two occasions (1999, 2004)”;

 

”Kent helped produce four NBA First Round Draft selections and became Oregon’s all-time wins leader”; and
 
“Under Kent’s direction, the Duck men’s basketball team ranked No. 1 amongst Pac-10 schools in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate several times throughout his head coaching career.”

 

Let’s stipulate that we don’t want Kent at Nebraska—for good reasons.  But while trashing basketball Moos, let’s at least acknowledge the full picture—part of which is pretty darn good.
 

I didn’t realize my number of posts said something about my judgement of Moos. 

 

We agree on this “Let’s stipulate that we don’t want Kent at Nebraska—for good reasons”

[Dean Smith]

1 hour ago, cornfed24-7 said:

This is what I am interested to see. I think he almost certainly will be hiring a coach next year regardless of a negative or positive result on the outcome of the season. As far as track record I have no clue how he will do if he has to hire a coach. There are so many variables on if you get a solid hire. One being luck.

 

Wha Wha What?

[royalfan]

44 minutes ago, Dean Smith said:

Wha Wha What?

 

He might think that Miles leaves for another job if we do well and Miles is fired if we do poorly.  That scenario possible but I would not use the word certainly by any means.  

[Fullbacksympathy]

4 hours ago, BmoreRed said:

I could write a lot more about this, about how Moos rolled Kents contract over for nothing but hey, Bill Moos hired Scott Frost. Great. Should we be worried about his judgment when it comes to MBB. I say a resounding, “Hell Yes!”

 

Might as well look at the whole body of work.  

Montana (1990-95) My Grade: A

Football: Montana, which had made the Division I-AA playoffs in the two seasons prior to Moos’ arrival, went 20-13 during his first three years. The Grizzlies then returned to the playoffs in 1993, won 34 games and two conference titles from 1993-95 and the 1995 national championship.

Men’s basketball: The Grizzlies won consecutive conference championships in 1991 and ‘92, making a pair of NCAA tournament appearances. After the 1990-91 season, then-coach Stew Morrill left to take a job at Colorado State. Moos promoted assistant coach Blaine Taylor to replace him, and Taylor went on to win 141 games and make two NCAA tournament appearances over the next seven seasons.

Women’s basketball: Consistently successful prior to Moos’ arrival, the program maintained that level under his leadership, reaching the NCAA tournament in four of five seasons while he was athletic director.

Volleyball: Montana won three regular-season conference titles while Moos was athletic director and reached the NCAA tournament in 1990, ‘91 and ‘94.

Oregon (1995-2007) My Grade:  A

Football: Moos had only one head football coach, Mike Bellotti, during his tenure at Oregon. Bellotti led the Ducks to 11 bowl games from 1995-2007; Oregon had only been to 10 bowl games in the 100 years before he became head coach. The Ducks also won a pair of Pac-10 championships — in 2000 and ‘01 — during Moos’ time as athletic director. Moos was still leading the department when Bellotti hired Chip Kelly as his offensive coordinator in 2007. Kelly eventually took over for Bellotti and led Oregon to four consecutive BCS bowls and the 2010 national title game.

Men’s basketball: One of Moos’ first major hires at Oregon was Ernie Kent prior to the 1997-98 season. Kent would go on to make five NCAA tournaments at Oregon, reaching the Elite Eight in 2002 and ‘07, and won a Pac-10 regular-season title in 2002. The Ducks also reached the NIT semifinals twice during Moos’ tenure as athletic director.

Women’s basketball: The Ducks reached the NCAA tournament eight times from 1995-2005 but never advanced past the Round of 32. When coach Jody Runge resigned in 2001, Moos hired Bev Smith to replace her. Smith won 140 games during her nine seasons at Oregon.

Track and field: Longtime track coach Bill Dellinger retired in 1998, and Moos replaced him with Martin Smith. The Ducks, which had won five men’s outdoor national championships from 1962-84 and a women’s title in 1985, didn’t win an NCAA championship while Moos was athletic director.

Washington State (2010-2017) My Grade:  B

Football: Moos inherited Paul Wulff when he took over as WSU’s athletic director prior to the 2010 season. Wulff went a combined 6-18 over the next two seasons and was fired in 2011. Moos replaced him with Mike Leach, who took the Cougars to a bowl game in 2013, the program’s first in a decade. Leach has gone 35-35 at Washington State, but has the Cougars off to a 6-1 start in 2017.

Men’s basketball: The Cougars haven’t reached the NCAA tournament since 2008 but did make the NIT semifinals in 2011 and the CBI finals in 2012. Moos fired coach Ken Bone after a 10-21 season in 2014 and replaced him with Ernie Kent, who coached under Moos at Oregon. Kent has gone 35-58 in three seasons at WSU.

Women’s basketball: Under June Daugherty — who has coached the Lady Cougars since 2007 — WSU has reached the WNIT three times since Moos became the athletic director.

Baseball: Moos became athletic director in the middle of the 2010 baseball season. That year, the Cougars made an NCAA Regional — the second straight under coach Donnie Marbut — but they haven’t been back since. Moos fired Marbut in 2015 and replaced him with Marty Lees, who has gone 43-64 in two seasons.

 

So far at Nebraska, based on the hiring of Scott Frost and cautious extension of TM:  A.

 

Moos' GPA:  3.75.  I'll take that all day compared to the colossal dipshit duo of Eichorst and Pederson.  

[cornfed24-7]

1 hour ago, Dean Smith said:

Wha Wha What?

What royal fan said. Just a guess from a guy in San Diego on how he sees this playing out. But if I'm right then I knew the whole time

[Huskerpapa]

Hahahaha

[The Polish Rifle]

WSU gets about 2000 fans per home game. Way outdated facilities, sparsely populated portion of the state. Share the state with a much more impressive program. Not an easy place to win at all. 

[hhcmatt]

I think if Miles had a 4 or 5 year contract Moos would have also rolled it over one year as this seems to be his style....Miles was just in the unfortunate position (for him) of having just two years left.

 

22 hours ago, BmoreRed said:

Should we be worried about his judgment when it comes to MBB. I say a resounding, “Hell Yes!”

 

 

It's probably somewhere inbetween.  If you look at Washington State athletics in general it's currently in dire straits financially after upgrading its facilities (also a Moos plan) What it seems he did for football and basketball was to hire two established but unemployed coaches with histories of success (you don't need to buy those guys out). Mike Leach, when he keeps his mouth shut, was a home run. Ernie Kent hasn't been able to build up recruiting and he might never.  I see articles that tout Kent's salary as being the highest in Washington State history but you could probably roll that factoid out for most schools; it's one of the lowest salaries in the Pac 12 and one of the lowest at any Power 5 school.  Kent led Oregon to 5 of their now 15 NCAA appearances and did so with the Ducks having little recent basketball success (I think they did start receiving Phil Knight/Nike money around this time) Thus his history of team building, recruiting, and working for Moos is what Moos had been banking on and probably still would be if he had remained at WSU. Kent is probably one of the most established names you could get for that sort of money so I get where he was coming from.  (other side note: Kent was the finalist for Miles' old job at Colorado St that ultimately went to Larry Eustachy)

 

What sorts of names does he keep on the back of a glossy 4x6 photo of Dana Altman should he need to break it out?  Old habits tend to die hard so it's probably coaches with a high profile with extra points if you're unemployed so we don't have to pay out a school. (Even our hiring of golf and tennis coaches were not hires of current head coaches) We're not Washington St we don't necessarily need to stick to this. Having midwest ties is a very big bonus.

 

Should we need to hire a new coach in the future the success will of this person will be contingent on the quality of a Moos-esque candidate that is available/will come here.  If our best move is hiring an up and coming assistant or coach from a smaller school I don't think that is the move we make.

 

[Handy Johnson]

Washington St. is so far off the radar Klay Thompson went there and I never heard a peep about him until he became a "Splash Brother" He should have been a Gopher (or Husker) THEN a Laker great like his Old Man Mychael.

[Cazzie22]

43 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

Washington St. is so far off the radar Klay Thompson went there and I never heard a peep about him until he became a "Splash Brother" He should have been a Gopher (or Husker) THEN a Laker great like his Old Man Mychael.

Klay  Thompson played for Tony Bennet at WAZZU and the Cougars were in the NCAA’s.  

[hhcmatt]

1 hour ago, Cazzie22 said:

Klay  Thompson played for Tony Bennet at WAZZU and the Cougars were in the NCAA’s.  

 

Klay played for them in Tony's last year when they made the NIT. The previous two years before he made the tourney. Here's a nice article about how Virginia landed Bennett including a Jim Molinari mention.

[Handy Johnson]

Didnt Bennet make a name for himself at UWGB the Phoenix? And I was always surprised Molinari wasn't given a longer look for the Gopher job.

[*Deleted Account*]

MOOS will go after Altman again. Then Ben Jacobsen at northern Iowa or Mussleman. If Tim leaves its because he had a great year, maybe a sweet sixteen year. I'll take it and worry about his replacement another time. 

[Jugular]

10 hours ago, hhcdimes said:

I think if Miles had a 4 or 5 year contract Moos would have also rolled it over one year as this seems to be his style....Miles was just in the unfortunate position (for him) of having just two years left.

 

 

 

It's probably somewhere inbetween.  If you look at Washington State athletics in general it's currently in dire straits financially after upgrading its facilities (also a Moos plan) What it seems he did for football and basketball was to hire two established but unemployed coaches with histories of success (you don't need to buy those guys out). Mike Leach, when he keeps his mouth shut, was a home run. Ernie Kent hasn't been able to build up recruiting and he might never.  I see articles that tout Kent's salary as being the highest in Washington State history but you could probably roll that factoid out for most schools; it's one of the lowest salaries in the Pac 12 and one of the lowest at any Power 5 school.  Kent led Oregon to 5 of their now 15 NCAA appearances and did so with the Ducks having little recent basketball success (I think they did start receiving Phil Knight/Nike money around this time) Thus his history of team building, recruiting, and working for Moos is what Moos had been banking on and probably still would be if he had remained at WSU. Kent is probably one of the most established names you could get for that sort of money so I get where he was coming from.  (other side note: Kent was the finalist for Miles' old job at Colorado St that ultimately went to Larry Eustachy)

 

What sorts of names does he keep on the back of a glossy 4x6 photo of Dana Altman should he need to break it out?  Old habits tend to die hard so it's probably coaches with a high profile with extra points if you're unemployed so we don't have to pay out a school. (Even our hiring of golf and tennis coaches were not hires of current head coaches) We're not Washington St we don't necessarily need to stick to this. Having midwest ties is a very big bonus.

 

Should we need to hire a new coach in the future the success will of this person will be contingent on the quality of a Moos-esque candidate that is available/will come here.  If our best move is hiring an up and coming assistant or coach from a smaller school I don't think that is the move we make.

 

 

The new golf coach may not have been a current head coach but he has rebuilt 2 B10 teams, helped raise $2-3M or each program’s facilities and was in high demand previous years to go back into coaching. This was a home run hire by Moos

[uneblinstu]

On 6/25/2018 at 8:57 PM, Jugular said:

 

The new golf coach may not have been a current head coach but he has rebuilt 2 B10 teams, helped raise $2-3M or each program’s facilities and was in high demand previous years to go back into coaching. This was a home run hire by Moos

A hole-in-one, you mean?