Man, I coulda had a V8 -- Or Which Coach did We not Get that You Most Wish We Had Gotten?

[Norm Peterson]

In the modern history of Nebraska basketball, which decision involving a coaching change turned out to be the worst? And not necessarily that we had a bad outcome, but that the option we didn't choose looks like it would have been better.

 

Place your votes and give your explanations. If you would have chosen an option not listed, make your case.

 

Go.

Edited January 13, 2022 by Norm Peterson

[hhcmatt]

Please just make the thread titles about the subject of the threads

[49r]

Rick Majerus was not ever a serious candidate for us, nor was he ever a candidate for the about 10,000 other open college basketball coaching jobs he was rumored to have "legitimate interest in" during his tenure as a basketball coach.

 

Rick Majerus was Mike Gundy before Gundy was Gundy.  So that poll option should not be a poll option.

[hskr4life]

It’s gotta be the home grown guy.  100%

[Norm Peterson]

12 minutes ago, 49r said:

Rick Majerus was not ever a serious candidate for us, nor was he ever a candidate for the about 10,000 other open college basketball coaching jobs he was rumored to have "legitimate interest in" during his tenure as a basketball coach.

 

Rick Majerus was Mike Gundy before Gundy was Gundy.  So that poll option should not be a poll option.

 

I know people who know people who say you're wrong about Majerus.

[Norm Peterson]

14 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

It’s gotta be the home grown guy.  100%

 

I could make a case for any of the options listed.

 

Look what Mike Montgomery went on to do, for example. He would have come in at a time when our athletic department was humming. Football was nationally relevant and we had a strong basketball following and a still fairly new Devaney Sports Center. The rest of the Big 8 outside of Kansas was respectable but not insurmountably, mind-blowingly good every year. Even Danny Nee managed to be fairly midling within that conference setting.

 

Our program did not, at that time, have the national reputation for futility it now has. We had a great opportunity to bring in a quality coach. And Devaney had his mind set on Nee for some reason.

[49r]

2 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

I know people who know people who say you're wrong about Majerus.

 

I refuse to believe it because that story was one told by many MANY people who were supposedly "in the know" at many MANY schools around the country all during the 90's and 2000's.

 

But ultimately, even if he was a legitamate option for us at that time (he wasn't) his best years were way in the rear-view mirror by the time Collier left us anyway.  His health issues caught up to him shortly after his run of success at Utah in the late 90's and by the mid-2000's he was a shell of his former self.

[busticket]

I went with Altman.  I knew many Husker fans were hell bent against it because he was a Creighton guy, or “failed” at K State (he didn’t), etc.  Dana badly wanted the Nebraska job by all accounts.  I’m not sure he would have ever left since his dad likes to attend games.  Everywhere he has been he had built the program year over year.  I think he would have been perfect here.  I think the work he has done at Oregon shows what he was capable of with resources at his disposal.

[Dead Dog Alley]

30 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

And Devaney had his mind set on Nee for some reason.

 

That's probably why the interview process no longer includes a night on the town with a whole bunch of drinking.

[millerhusker]

There were rumors, or maybe a real report (can't remember for sure), that Nate Oats wanted the job in 2019. 

[Norm Peterson]

7 minutes ago, busticket said:

I went with Altman.  I knew many Husker fans were hell bent against it because he was a Creighton guy, or “failed” at K State (he didn’t), etc.  Dana badly wanted the Nebraska job by all accounts.  I’m not sure he would have ever left since his dad likes to attend games.  Everywhere he has been he had built the program year over year.  I think he would have been perfect here.  I think the work he has done at Oregon shows what he was capable of with resources at his disposal.

 

I wasn't sure we could take him seriously after he recruited a tiny point guard to Kansas State named Bean. (Well, Beane, but you get the point.)

[hskr4life]

36 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

I could make a case for any of the options listed.

 

Look what Mike Montgomery went on to do, for example. He would have come in at a time when our athletic department was humming. Football was nationally relevant and we had a strong basketball following and a still fairly new Devaney Sports Center. The rest of the Big 8 outside of Kansas was respectable but not insurmountably, mind-blowingly good every year. Even Danny Nee managed to be fairly midling within that conference setting.

 

Our program did not, at that time, have the national reputation for futility it now has. We had a great opportunity to bring in a quality coach. And Devaney had his mind set on Nee for some reason.

I know there’s a case for everyone, but you’re looking at a probable lifetime hire if it works out.  With the other guys, there’s more of a chance they leave.

[Norm Peterson]

21 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

I know there’s a case for everyone, but you’re looking at a probable lifetime hire if it works out.  With the other guys, there’s more of a chance they leave.

 

I would rather a coach quit for greener pastures than get fired. Montgomery might have eventually moved on, but I have a very strong view that our program would have won its first NCAA tourney game with him at the helm. And that would have put us in a better position with the next coaching hire.

[Cazzie22]

I believe Mike Montgomery was at Montana at the time.  In retrospect, he would have been a very good hire. I also thought Bob Huggins, then at Akron, was a candidate.  He took Cincinnati to the 1989 Final Four.

[HB]

4 hours ago, 49r said:

 

I refuse to believe it because that story was one told by many MANY people who were supposedly "in the know" at many MANY schools around the country all during the 90's and 2000's.

 

But ultimately, even if he was a legitamate option for us at that time (he wasn't) his best years were way in the rear-view mirror by the time Collier left us anyway.  His health issues caught up to him shortly after his run of success at Utah in the late 90's and by the mid-2000's he was a shell of his former self.

With those other schools was he actually seen dining with the AD?  Just the two of them in a cozy  dinner?  

[OmahaHusker]

You wana know how you're at the depths of hell as a program? This kind of poll. 

 

 

 

 

(I went with Altman)

[Norm Peterson]

1 hour ago, OmahaHusker said:

You wana know how you're at the depths of hell as a program? This kind of poll. 

 

(I went with Altman)

 

Oh, believe me, we know.

[49r]

2 hours ago, HB said:

With those other schools was he actually seen dining with the AD?  Just the two of them in a cozy  dinner?  

 

I'm confident the answer to that question would be "yes".  I am sure that Majerus was not inclined to turn down a free dinner.  No matter who was buying.