Coaches that you think should be on Nebraska's list, if this trend continues

[Bugeaters1]

Well my source says that you are all nuts!!

[Cowboy Kermit]

"My sources" Season!

[HuskerFever]

14 minutes ago, HoiBall said:

Vibes with my sources and is a random legit basketball account in Texas. Why the heck would they care about Nebrasketball

 

Picking sources that support your position can be a slippery slope. Doesn't mean it's not accurate, but it doesn't confirm anything. Not saying it will be anything like past hires, but the past ADs went off their own lists and not off of the popular vote.

[Cazzie22]

An AD has to look at Craig Smith at Utah State.  

[atskooc]

27 minutes ago, Cazzie22 said:

An AD has to look at Craig Smith at Utah State.  

Would Craig Smith look at us after we fired his mentor?

Edited March 3, 2019 by atskooc

[hskr4life]

6 minutes ago, atskooc said:

Would Craig Smith look at us after we fired his mentor?

 

Not a chance I wouldn’t think.

[bb33ch]

26 minutes ago, atskooc said:

Would Craig Smith look at us after we fired his mentor?

Yeah there’s no way. Shame because he’s a fantastic coach.

[B-town hoopsfan]

2 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

An AD has to look at Craig Smith at Utah State.  

He hasn’t really won anything yet however he is a great coach. Plays a brand of ball we would love but the hire would not go over well with probably about half the fan base. I think he probably coaches a few seasons at Utah state then comes back to coach somewhere in the big ten since most of his ties are Midwest 

[B-town hoopsfan]

2 hours ago, atskooc said:

Would Craig Smith look at us after we fired his mentor?

Not sure what he makes now but I would think if we offered him say two million a year he would take it and miles would understand what a raise like that would do for his family n be okay with it. I’m not saying he’s the guy for the job but I don’t think the whole firing his mentor would be the hold up. 

[hskr4life]

5 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

An AD has to look at Craig Smith at Utah State.  

 

 

Post Game was nuts!

[Huskerpapa]

Interesting question based upon the word great.  What is the difference between, say, a great coach like Craig Smith, and a perceived bad coach, say, Tim Miles?  Tim Miles has gone, but not won in the NCAA tournament.  Yet, he is about to be fired.  If Coach Smith is considered a great coach, then how are coaches such as Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, etc defined?  Super great?

[ladyhusker]

Not sure what he makes now but I would think if we offered him say two million a year he would take it and miles would understand what a raise like that would do for his family n be okay with it. I’m not saying he’s the guy for the job but I don’t think the whole firing his mentor would be the hold up. 

Gotta think we wouldn't be the only high major he hears from though, if he's as good a coach as everyone says (and I think he is). And others would have the benefit of not having just fired one of his good friends. Not saying it would be an absolute dealbreaker, but.......sure makes it a lot longer shot.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[The Polish Rifle]

19 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Interesting question based upon the word great.  What is the difference between, say, a great coach like Craig Smith, and a perceived bad coach, say, Tim Miles?  Tim Miles has gone, but not won in the NCAA tournament.  Yet, he is about to be fired.  If Coach Smith is considered a great coach, then how are coaches such as Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, etc defined?  Super great?

I'm not ready to anoint Coach Smith a great basketball coach, he just hasn't had enough time to prove that. But in 1 season in the Mountain West he has already surpassed milestones that Coach Miles couldn't do at CSU, so it seems like he is well on his way.  In year 5 Coach Miles best team went 20-12 (8-6) and got an at-large. Right now Coach Smith's team is 24-6 (14-3), could get a regular season championship, and are in line for a at-large bid and a 1st round NCAA match-up they could possibly win. Obviously he is not with the elite names you named, those are all time greats - but if he keeps this up, he will be considered one of the top coaches in college basketball. 

[89Husker]

8 minutes ago, The Polish Rifle said:

I'm not ready to anoint Coach Smith a great basketball coach, he just hasn't had enough time to prove that. But in 1 season in the Mountain West he has already surpassed milestones that Coach Miles couldn't do at CSU, so it seems like he is well on his way.  In year 5 Coach Miles best team went 20-12 (8-6) and got an at-large. Right now Coach Smith's team is 24-6 (14-3), could get a regular season championship, and are in line for a at-large bid and a 1st round NCAA match-up they could possibly win. Obviously he is not with the elite names you named, those are all time greats - but if he keeps this up, he will be considered one of the top coaches in college basketball. 

Just to clarify, the great wins for Utah state this year (meaning, Quad 1 wins) are neutral floor against St Mary’s and then yesterday vs Nevada. Smith is doing a great thing this year, but let’s be real about who he is doing it against. This has the up and coming mid major ring to it. 

[The Polish Rifle]

5 minutes ago, 89Husker said:

Just to clarify, the great wins for Utah state this year (meaning, Quad 1 wins) are neutral floor against St Mary’s and then yesterday vs Nevada. Smith is doing a great thing this year, but let’s be real about who he is doing it against. This has the up and coming mid major ring to it. 

Yep the MW is solid, not great this year. But the team he took over was 8-10 in the conf last year, and he has taken that group to the top of the conf - very impressive. Like I said he still has to sustain this to be considered not just the next hot mid major name, but its hard to not respect what he's done thus far.

[ladyhusker]

 

 

 

I'm not ready to anoint Coach Smith a great basketball coach, he just hasn't had enough time to prove that. But in 1 season in the Mountain West he has already surpassed milestones that Coach Miles couldn't do at CSU, so it seems like he is well on his way.  In year 5 Coach Miles best team went 20-12 (8-6) and got an at-large. Right now Coach Smith's team is 24-6 (14-3), could get a regular season championship, and are in line for a at-large bid and a 1st round NCAA match-up they could possibly win. Obviously he is not with the elite names you named, those are all time greats - but if he keeps this up, he will be considered one of the top coaches in college basketball. 

 

It's probably also worth comparing what they started with, though, too. CSU was a complete rebuild that was entirely in the crapper. USU wasn't all that bad, and returned a LOT this year where I want to say CSU had like 5 players return total in Miles' first year, and the MW was a pretty solid conference at least for a while he was there, although I don't recall its condition his first year. I'm out and about so not really in a spot to do a full comparison, but I don't know that it's necessarily an apples to apples thing either. (And for the record I do think Smith is an outstanding coach who has a super bright future ahead of him wherever he goes, so this isn't a slam on him at all. Just for the sake of accuracy, I don't know that I'd look at their first season and draw any conclusions from that.)

 

Edit: you aren't comparing their first seasons only. Serves me right for trying to read this, post, and grocery shop. Still think the condition of the team at the time of takeover is a factor, but I read wrong. Sorry about that.

 

 

 

[colhusker]

Speaking of great coachs, Coach K got hired by Duke after a 9-17 season with Army.  And no I am not sure what this has to do with the price of tea leaves in China.  Just found it interesting.

[Cazzie22]

I would take Tony Bennett, but it’s not happening.  Tell me a successful Division I Coach that will leave their current job to come to NU?  We have to choose the right Mid Major Coach or a current top Assistant.  We have to get it right.  

[Ron Mexico]

I'm far behind on reading all of the posts in this thread and it will take me a couple of days to catch up. Can't believe this is up to 47 pages. It will probably reach 100.

Here are my thoughts.

I want Miles to remain our coach and I hope and pray that he is able to do what it takes in order to be retained.

Miles is going to be fired if he doesn't win a game in the NCAA. I said so a long time ago. Told to me by source.

If Miles does that he will be given a contract extension. Told to me by a source.

I'm not sure of the relationship between Miles and Moos but I do know that Moos wants the best for Miles and by extension our basketball program  and Miles wants to stay at Nebraska.

Like it or not Moos made the correct decision last year when he gave Miles a 1yr extension. From a fiscal and optics perspective this was the correct decision, even if it made Miles job a bit harder. 

If Miles is let go it could end up being a complete rebuild depending on who the next coach is and what direction they would like to take the program.

If we were to hire a Hoiberg or Matta type of coach it would cost us in the neighborhood of $3.5 - $4mil. Lesser name coaches would be about $3mil, regardless that coach will be given a lengthy contract. It is going to take a lot of convincing and assurances to get a big name coach to come here. 

 

The question then becomes who should we hire? That is a complicated question as I believe hiring a coach for our basketball program is every bit as difficult as it is for our football program.

That coach needs to have a full understanding of how difficult this job is going to be. 

Coach needs to be an excellent recruiter with strong ties to recruiting in this area of the country.

The good thing is that nobody is going to care, well most people anyway, about the style of basketball we play so long as it gets us into the NCAA tournament. 

 

As a fan base we need to be realistic about who we can get to come here as a coach.

The big name list is very short. I believe anyone on list would have to have some sort of familiarity and/or a connection to Nebraska.

Hoibert - Family connections to Nebraska.

Matta   - Coached in the BIG and was an assistant under Barry Collier, who comes to at least one Nebraska basketball game a year. I wonder if him and Moos talk at all?

Altman - From Nebraska. Coached at the Omaha school. Friends with TO.

Are there any others with ties to Nebraska that I omitted? I have a gut feeling that Moos will lean heavily towards a Nebraska connection.

There are some others out there that aren't as well known but with Nebraska ties.

Craig Smith - Former assistant under Tim Miles.

Derrin Hansen - Long time coach at UNO. I'm not sure how the fan base would feel about this hire.

Others?

 

I've seen a few people speculate about names like Lue, Alford etc. Those are not realistic and will never happen for a lot of reasons. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ron Mexico]

On 2/24/2019 at 5:10 PM, hskr4life said:

 

He was on the Mike Riley bandwagon until it went off of a cliff. With all due respect to Coach Pettit his track record on these things is crap.

[BannedAccount]

59 minutes ago, Ron Mexico said:

I'm far behind on reading all of the posts in this thread and it will take me a couple of days to catch up. Can't believe this is up to 47 pages. It will probably reach 100.

Here are my thoughts.

I want Miles to remain our coach and I hope and pray that he is able to do what it takes in order to be retained.

Miles is going to be fired if he doesn't win a game in the NCAA. I said so a long time ago. Told to me by source.

If Miles does that he will be given a contract extension. Told to me by a source.

I'm not sure of the relationship between Miles and Moos but I do know that Moos wants the best for Miles and by extension our basketball program  and Miles wants to stay at Nebraska.

Like it or not Moos made the correct decision last year when he gave Miles a 1yr extension. From a fiscal and optics perspective this was the correct decision, even if it made Miles job a bit harder. 

If Miles is let go it could end up being a complete rebuild depending on who the next coach is and what direction they would like to take the program.

If we were to hire a Hoiberg or Matta type of coach it would cost us in the neighborhood of $3.5 - $4mil. Lesser name coaches would be about $3mil, regardless that coach will be given a lengthy contract. It is going to take a lot of convincing and assurances to get a big name coach to come here. 

 

The question then becomes who should we hire? That is a complicated question as I believe hiring a coach for our basketball program is every bit as difficult as it is for our football program.

That coach needs to have a full understanding of how difficult this job is going to be. 

Coach needs to be an excellent recruiter with strong ties to recruiting in this area of the country.

The good thing is that nobody is going to care, well most people anyway, about the style of basketball we play so long as it gets us into the NCAA tournament. 

 

As a fan base we need to be realistic about who we can get to come here as a coach.

The big name list is very short. I believe anyone on list would have to have some sort of familiarity and/or a connection to Nebraska.

Hoibert - Family connections to Nebraska.

Matta   - Coached in the BIG and was an assistant under Barry Collier, who comes to at least one Nebraska basketball game a year. I wonder if him and Moos talk at all?

Altman - From Nebraska. Coached at the Omaha school. Friends with TO.

Are there any others with ties to Nebraska that I omitted? I have a gut feeling that Moos will lean heavily towards a Nebraska connection.

There are some others out there that aren't as well known but with Nebraska ties.

Craig Smith - Former assistant under Tim Miles.

Derrin Hansen - Long time coach at UNO. I'm not sure how the fan base would feel about this hire.

Others?

 

I've seen a few people speculate about names like Lue, Alford etc. Those are not realistic and will never happen for a lot of reasons. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never understand why so many people think it has to be some coach or person with some sort of tie here.  Why does it have to be that way? Find the best person who can recruit with assistants and can develop that talent.  Its crazy to say that paying a coach $3M would put that guy in the top 15 in the country of salaries above some pretty big names and proven winners.  Hope they get this hire right. I'm all for Turgeon, Sampson, Martin, Matta, or Marshall

Edited March 4, 2019 by coughunter

[Ron Mexico]

52 minutes ago, coughunter said:

I never understand why so many people think it has to be some coach or person with some sort of tie here.  Why does it have to be that way? Find the best person who can recruit with assistants and can develop that talent.  Its crazy to say that paying a coach $3M would put that guy in the top 15 in the country of salaries above some pretty big names and proven winners.  Hope they get this hire right. I'm all for Turgeon, Sampson, Martin, Matta, or Marshall

Not necessarily a direct tie to here but a strong familiarity with this area.

The reason I think it matters is because:

1. One of the worst P5 BB programs in history.

2. No history.

3. Strong following.

4. Difficult to recruit to. Geography.

5. Little D1 talent.

6. Toughest conference, top to bottom, in the country.

7. Fan base that will more quickly turn on an "outsider".

8. Fan base with with a fragile ego.

9. Small state population.

10. Potential security/safety concerns.

[hhcmatt]

On 3/2/2019 at 10:23 PM, hskr4life said:

 

Not a chance I wouldn’t think.

 

Craig Smith is making $600k at Utah State and that tops out at $750k.  His 5 year deal is worth 3.5M which is what he'd make here in about two years.  You'd have to think being paid a lot of money to coach in the B1G would counter Miles getting fired here.

 

It would be disappointing if we hired Smith not because he's not a good coach but because it means we struck out on everyone else

[Ron Mexico]

On 2/26/2019 at 2:27 PM, ladyhusker said:

Reading this, and understanding he's got $9 million coming his way WITHOUT taking another job...I'd be kind of surprised if Thad Matta gets back into coaching, much less back into coaching in the Big Ten, and very much less into coaching in the Big Ten in a place with actual expectations and pressure to win.

https://www.cleveland.com/osu/2018/06/thad_matta_back_in_columbus_on.html

 

An excerpt:

"Probably haven't felt like this in 10 years," he said. "I found out stress is real. It's a legit disease. In retirement you sleep until you're tired of sleeping, then you go about and start your day. It's being able to sleep in the night, you wake up in a good mood. I hadn't woke up in a good mood in like 18 years. That's what coaching is. You can't be happy."

 

Maybe that's a little dramatic, but Matta's been away from coaching for a year and he sure seemed happy on Monday.

 

He was happy to see his younger daughter off to prom a few weeks ago and not have to worry about a recruiting visit or devising summer workout plans. He was happy this winter to watch basketball, not give a crap who won, and then sleep without those 40 minutes playing on a loop in his head.

 

A funny thing happened to Matta once he left coaching. He became a telephone therapist for his former brethren. Through those calls, Matta realized he didn't miss it all that much.

 

I'm clearly not the AD, but for those putting him on the wish list...maybe temper those wishes a little bit. This kind of makes it sound like I'm just as likely to be our next coach as he is.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22633659/thad-matta-meets-ole-miss-rebels-coaching-vacancy

 

There is also this:

According to one source close to Matta, he currently is in much better shape physically and is rejuvenated after dealing with back and foot issues.

"He wouldn't take any job," the source said. "But he'd possibly consider coming back for the right one."

 

[GoBigRed]

19 minutes ago, Ron Mexico said:

Not necessarily a direct tie to here but a strong familiarity with this area.

The reason I think it matters is because:

1. One of the worst P5 BB programs in history.

2. No history.

3. Strong following.

4. Difficult to recruit to. Geography.

5. Little D1 talent.

6. Toughest conference, top to bottom, in the country.

7. Fan base that will more quickly turn on an "outsider".

8. Fan base with with a fragile ego.

9. Small state population.

10. Potential security/safety concerns.

 

This is nothing personal, Ron, but I am so sick and tired of our fanbase making this job seem so much harder than it actually is.

 

This state has produced two NBA Draft picks in the last three years, one of the all-time leading scorers in NCAA Division I history who will be on an NBA roster most likely next year, and a guy who is starting on a top-15 team. I didn’t have to go back more than three years to find a handful of great (not good, great) players. We recruited none of them seriously. 

 

Our arena is is one of the nicest you will find for any college anywhere, period. AND it is consistently full despite the team never being very good.

 

We pay our coach like we’re a top 25 program and get nothing close to that in return.

 

History and tradition might scare away some on the surface, but anyone who steps foot in the facilities and PBA would immediately not care about that. I can promise you recruits DEFINITELY don’t care. 

 

If it wasn’t already obvious, the one shining season we had this decade was clearly spearheaded by the guy who is doing it at Utah State now.

 

Sure there will be many coaches who say “Nebraska, shoot, no way. No one wins there.” But do 5 minutes of research and you’ll realize it’s not that bad. Hell, Creighton wins year in and out 45 minutes up the road and they probably just put themselves in some brackets today, despite having a “down year”.

 

We don’t need someone who necessarily has ties to Nebraska. But I think we do need someone who KNOWS what it’s like here and has been here and knows it’s actually really great place to coach. Turgeon for example knows what Lincoln and PBA is like (even though he has ties here, I’m just saying, he’s a guy who could be intrigued rather than just saying no way).