2022 Coaching Carousel

[RF1]

Dunphy was born October 5, 1948. He will be 74 years old when the college basketball season starts up again. While there may be a few others still coaching that might be older, most all of them are well established at their current jobs having been been employed there for many years. It is extremely rare for someone to take on a complete rebuild at this age. Pitino is the only other recent name that quickly comes to mind for me. The job to get Iona back to respectability within its conference was however probably an easier task than LaSalle.

[TruePoint]

Is projo trolling him by always using that picture where he looks like a “sanitation worker” from North Providence ordering shots for his table at his cousin’s wedding?

Oddly specific

It sounds like the trash is going to pile up on Virtue Signal Island.

What virtue am I signaling? Or are we just throwing around culture war buzzwords without really knowing what we are talking about? I’m making a joke referencing generically guys that I know and grew up with. I’m talking about my own people.

[DeanDome88]

Oddly specific

It sounds like the trash is going to pile up on Virtue Signal Island.

What virtue am I signaling? Or are we just throwing around culture war buzzwords without really knowing what we are talking about? I’m making a joke referencing generically guys that I know and grew up with. I’m talking about my own people.

You realize that you made a joke but do not realize I'm joking when I rib you about your island comments? Quite a condescending response.

[RF1]

La Salle hires Fran Dunphy as men’s basketball coach
https://www.inquirer.com/college-sports ... 20405.html

Selected Excerpts:

According to several sources, Dunphy is taking the job after he himself tried to convince several others, including former assistant Matt Langel, now Colgate’s successful head coach, to take it. Dunphy’s concern, one alumnus close to him said, is for the institution itself, beyond the basketball program.

Heading La Salle’s program is considered to be the toughest of basketball missions. Between the lack of Atlantic 10-quality facilities, and most of the current team now in the transfer portal, it’s the heaviest of lifts.


Seems many good candidates were not interested in the job given the low pay and challenges. Article also appears to hint at the school's recent struggles to survive as it faces financial and enrollment issues.

[Jdrums#3]

La Salle hires Fran Dunphy as men’s basketball coach
https://www.inquirer.com/college-sports ... 20405.html

Selected Excerpts:

According to several sources, Dunphy is taking the job after he himself tried to convince several others, including former assistant Matt Langel, now Colgate’s successful head coach, to take it. Dunphy’s concern, one alumnus close to him said, is for the institution itself, beyond the basketball program.

Heading La Salle’s program is considered to be the toughest of basketball missions. Between the lack of Atlantic 10-quality facilities, and most of the current team now in the transfer portal, it’s the heaviest of lifts.


Seems many good candidates were not interested in the job given the low pay and challenges. Article also appears to hint at the school's recent struggles to survive as it faces financial and enrollment issues.

Maybe Dunphy decided to take the job to help the school to a soft landing in a lower conference?

[reef]

Looks like LaSalle will be in the 14-15 range for at least the next few years

[Rhody15]

La Salle hires Fran Dunphy as men’s basketball coach
https://www.inquirer.com/college-sports ... 20405.html

Selected Excerpts:

According to several sources, Dunphy is taking the job after he himself tried to convince several others, including former assistant Matt Langel, now Colgate’s successful head coach, to take it. Dunphy’s concern, one alumnus close to him said, is for the institution itself, beyond the basketball program.

Heading La Salle’s program is considered to be the toughest of basketball missions. Between the lack of Atlantic 10-quality facilities, and most of the current team now in the transfer portal, it’s the heaviest of lifts.


Seems many good candidates were not interested in the job given the low pay and challenges. Article also appears to hint at the school's recent struggles to survive as it faces financial and enrollment issues.

Maybe Dunphy decided to take the job to help the school to a soft landing in a lower conference?

Uh, no.

[Blue Man]

La Salle hires Fran Dunphy as men’s basketball coach
https://www.inquirer.com/college-sports ... 20405.html

Selected Excerpts:

According to several sources, Dunphy is taking the job after he himself tried to convince several others, including former assistant Matt Langel, now Colgate’s successful head coach, to take it. Dunphy’s concern, one alumnus close to him said, is for the institution itself, beyond the basketball program.

Heading La Salle’s program is considered to be the toughest of basketball missions. Between the lack of Atlantic 10-quality facilities, and most of the current team now in the transfer portal, it’s the heaviest of lifts.


Seems many good candidates were not interested in the job given the low pay and challenges. Article also appears to hint at the school's recent struggles to survive as it faces financial and enrollment issues.

Not that I am rooting for it - but maybe the school struggling would mean they would have to drop down in athletics. Win/win.

[Ramfan22]

San Diego is hiring Steve Lavin. 6 tournament appearances at UCLA, and 2 tournament appearances at St. John’s.

[reef]

San Diego is hiring Steve Lavin. 6 tournament appearances at UCLA, and 2 tournament appearances at St. John’s.

Wow very surprising guess he wants back in on coaching good for the Toreros

[Jdrums#3]

La Salle hires Fran Dunphy as men’s basketball coach
https://www.inquirer.com/college-sports ... 20405.html

Selected Excerpts:

According to several sources, Dunphy is taking the job after he himself tried to convince several others, including former assistant Matt Langel, now Colgate’s successful head coach, to take it. Dunphy’s concern, one alumnus close to him said, is for the institution itself, beyond the basketball program.

Heading La Salle’s program is considered to be the toughest of basketball missions. Between the lack of Atlantic 10-quality facilities, and most of the current team now in the transfer portal, it’s the heaviest of lifts.


Seems many good candidates were not interested in the job given the low pay and challenges. Article also appears to hint at the school's recent struggles to survive as it faces financial and enrollment issues.

Maybe Dunphy decided to take the job to help the school to a soft landing in a lower conference?

Uh, no.

That’s it? Why not? What do you think? Did you read the quoted text above discussing the schools financial struggles?

[RhodyKyle]

Maybe Dunphy decided to take the job to help the school to a soft landing in a lower conference?

Uh, no.

That’s it? Why not? What do you think? Did you read the quoted text above discussing the schools financial struggles?

I think he wanted someone to come in and save the program so it can stay in the A10 but nobody was gullible enough so he decided he would fall on this grenade in a last ditch effort to save the program. Nothing I saw suggested he was there as a transition coach between the A10 and the MAAC (or whatever lower conference).

[Rhody15]

Maybe Dunphy decided to take the job to help the school to a soft landing in a lower conference?

Uh, no.

That’s it? Why not? What do you think? Did you read the quoted text above discussing the schools financial struggles?

You really think they hired Dunphy to "soften the blow" when they drop down a conference?

You're basically saying the La Salle athletic department met and agreed "Well yea, let's hire Dunphy which will make people happy and not mad at us for dropping down a conference. They'll care about the coach more being in The Patriot League." Zero chance that's their rationale.

Now will they drop down? Maybe, who knows.

But Dunphy was definitely not hired to make people feel better about leaving the A10.

That doesn't even make sense.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Uh, no.

That’s it? Why not? What do you think? Did you read the quoted text above discussing the schools financial struggles?

You really think they hired Dunphy to "soften the blow" when they drop down a conference?

You're basically saying the La Salle athletic department met and agreed "Well yea, let's hire Dunphy which will make people happy and not mad at us for dropping down a conference. They'll care about the coach more being in The Patriot League." Zero chance that's their rationale.

Now will they drop down? Maybe, who knows.

But Dunphy was definitely hot hired to make people feel better about leaving the A10.

That doesn't even make sense.

They're not dropping down. No one does that from here.

[RhowdyRam02]

Dunphy was hired to hopefully get the arena project funded. If he can't get that funded and doesn't get the program on track than La Salle might have to have some hard internal conversations about the athletic side of the house at the very least

[Jdrums#3]

Uh, no.

That’s it? Why not? What do you think? Did you read the quoted text above discussing the schools financial struggles?

You really think they hired Dunphy to "soften the blow" when they drop down a conference?

You're basically saying the La Salle athletic department met and agreed "Well yea, let's hire Dunphy which will make people happy and not mad at us for dropping down a conference. They'll care about the coach more being in The Patriot League." Zero chance that's their rationale.

Now will they drop down? Maybe, who knows.

But Dunphy was definitely not hired to make people feel better about leaving the A10.

That doesn't even make sense.

First, I asked an initial question to solicit discussion/opinions from the board for discussion not confirmation. Second, in the question I wrote “soft landing” not “soften the blow” as you wrote.

I should have clarified: I meant soft landing in a financial sense, not a human feeling sense.

I offered a possibility with a question but you certainly took the liberty to stick me with an opinion by putting - in quotes - words in my mouth with via an imagined scenario.

To answer your question above, I do not know why LaSalle hired Dunphy and there is no way I could know, hence, the initial question to the board and follow up questions to you after your limited initial response.

I understand I am new here so there is no history of board takes on what I think. I ask questions to illicit discussion to learn what others think and why they think what they think. I’m not a Rhody or A10 insider that has the luxury of being dogmatic on many topics on the board.

[bigappleram]

That’s it? Why not? What do you think? Did you read the quoted text above discussing the schools financial struggles?

You really think they hired Dunphy to "soften the blow" when they drop down a conference?

You're basically saying the La Salle athletic department met and agreed "Well yea, let's hire Dunphy which will make people happy and not mad at us for dropping down a conference. They'll care about the coach more being in The Patriot League." Zero chance that's their rationale.

Now will they drop down? Maybe, who knows.

But Dunphy was definitely not hired to make people feel better about leaving the A10.

That doesn't even make sense.

First, I asked a question to solicit discussion/opinions from the board. Second, in the question I wrote “soft landing” not “soften the blow” as you wrote.

I never gave an opinion but you certainly took the liberty to stick me with one. I frankly, do not know why LaSalle hired Dunphy and there is no way I could know, hence, the question. And, neither do you unless you have confirmed, documented sources of your “definite” take on the topic.

LOL, did you just meet 15? Barking up the wrong tree here.

[Jdrums#3]

Yes, pretty much. I only joined the board last month after years of lurking.
He has his strong opinions and assumptions. No problem. Just clarification for sake of discussion.

[bigappleram]

That's one way of putting it

[Rhody15]

Yes, pretty much. I only joined the board last month after years of lurking.
He has his strong opinions and assumptions. No problem. Just clarification for sake of discussion.

I do have to thank you for not calling me a PC fan.

That’s what I usually get when I offer my opinion / don’t agree with someone else.

It’s quite funny.

[URI_05]

That’s it? Why not? What do you think? Did you read the quoted text above discussing the schools financial struggles?

You really think they hired Dunphy to "soften the blow" when they drop down a conference?

You're basically saying the La Salle athletic department met and agreed "Well yea, let's hire Dunphy which will make people happy and not mad at us for dropping down a conference. They'll care about the coach more being in The Patriot League." Zero chance that's their rationale.

Now will they drop down? Maybe, who knows.

But Dunphy was definitely hot hired to make people feel better about leaving the A10.

That doesn't even make sense.

They're not dropping down. No one does that from here.

Who are the Charlotte 49ers?

[PeterRamTime]

You really think they hired Dunphy to "soften the blow" when they drop down a conference?

You're basically saying the La Salle athletic department met and agreed "Well yea, let's hire Dunphy which will make people happy and not mad at us for dropping down a conference. They'll care about the coach more being in The Patriot League." Zero chance that's their rationale.

Now will they drop down? Maybe, who knows.

But Dunphy was definitely hot hired to make people feel better about leaving the A10.

That doesn't even make sense.

They're not dropping down. No one does that from here.

Who are the Charlotte 49ers?

Charlotte was annoying

[SGreenwell]

You really think they hired Dunphy to "soften the blow" when they drop down a conference?

You're basically saying the La Salle athletic department met and agreed "Well yea, let's hire Dunphy which will make people happy and not mad at us for dropping down a conference. They'll care about the coach more being in The Patriot League." Zero chance that's their rationale.

Now will they drop down? Maybe, who knows.

But Dunphy was definitely hot hired to make people feel better about leaving the A10.

That doesn't even make sense.

They're not dropping down. No one does that from here.

Who are the Charlotte 49ers?

Charlotte is kind of a weird case. If I'm getting the timeline correct from Wikipedia - They joined the Atlantic 10 in 2005 mostly because they didn't want to be the only non-football playing school in CUSA. St. Louis joined at the same time. In 2008, Charlotte admin announced they would be creating a football program to play FCS in 2013, and then, to rejoin CUSA in 2015, partly because they wanted to move up to D-I football. They were competitive most years in A-10 basketball, but the A-10 isn't a football conference, so it made more sense for them to go back to their old home, vs. trying to go independent like UMass did.

[RF1]

LaSalle University has many issues much bigger than just its basketball program. It is facing threats to its long term survival as an institution of higher ed. It has never been a cash flush school as it has a relatively low endowment. It was founded as a Catholic school to primarily educate the children of the low to middle class Catholic families of greater Philadelphia. It was never considered an elite academic institution and has never been a particularly large school with a present enrollment of just 3,293 undergraduates. As with most urban schools, a large percentage of its enrollment was and is still today commuters. The school's campus is located in one of the least desirable parts of the city (unlike its local Catholic Villanova which is on the uber wealthy main line). LaSalle for much of its history drew its enrollment from the many Catholic high school graduates in the Philadelphia region. The closing of many Catholic K-12 schools in the local area has greatly impacted their student recruitment. The school has done its best to attract students. It was one of the first schools to freeze tuition rates many years ago guaranteeing that it would not rise in the four years of attendance. Enrollment still continued to drop and its finances were ultimately impacted. It is facing the same issues that many private liberal arts schools are facing. A dwindling number of college students along with a ever rising and expensive cost to attend is having a drastic effect. LaSalle's struggles have made the news in recent years. The school eliminated several staff positions via layoffs back in 2015. It faced a big backlash from the arts community in 2018 when its school art museum sold off many of its noted pieces to raise funds. Fitch dropped the school's credit rating to near junk bond status back in 2019. The school has faced a double digit percent decline in enrollment over the last three years. The school's future is therefore on shaky ground. As a result, LaSalle did recently explore options for its athletic dept operations. It formed a committee in 2019 which looked at dropping some sports (which it did) and examined the level at which it should compete. This included remaining in the A-10, dropping down to a less competitive conference such as the MAAC, or even dropping down to a lower NCAA Division such as the non scholarship D3. It dropped some programs but ultimately went with the status quo with remaining in the A-10 of D1.

With all of this as background, it is not out of the realm to question the future of LaSalle athletics or even that of the school itself.

LaSalle is part of the Big-5 in Philadelphia but its status has been in decline for many years. Penn and Villanova are wealthy academically elite schools with campuses located in far better neighborhoods. Public Temple University may be in the rough North Broad Street area but it is propped up by state money and offers majors in a wide variety of fields (med school, law school, nursing, engineering, liberal arts, etc...). Fellow Catholic St. Joe's is probably more similar to LaSalle than the other city schools. It however has taken actions to better survive challenges. It is in a better neighborhood and was fortunate to be able to expand its campus twice in the last two decades buying the adjacent former Episcopal Academy prep high school (Terrence Mack's alma mater) campus and the former residence of the Catholic Archbishop of Philadelpia. It has also merged with other area schools as it recently acquired the University of the Sciences in 2021. This Philadelphia school had been known for healthcare and science education for 200 years. St Joe's saw the potential in these growing fields.


2015
La Salle lays off staff in wake of shortfall
https://www.inquirer.com/philly/educati ... tfall.html

2018
La Salle sanctioned after selling historic art for university expansion projects
https://www.phillyvoice.com/la-salle-sa ... -projects/

2019
Downgrade for La Salle University amid enrollment struggle
https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/downgrad ... t-struggle

2020
La Salle University Dropping Seven of 25 Athletic Teams
https://www.athleticbusiness.com/operat ... etic-teams

2021
Philly’s beloved Catholic schools are slowly dying. It doesn’t have to be this way. | Opinion
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commen ... 10125.html

[ATPTourFan]

Thx RF!

[RhodyRams12]

LaSalle University has many issues much bigger than just its basketball program. It is facing threats to its long term survival as an institution of higher ed. It has never been a cash flush school as it has a relatively low endowment. It was founded as a Catholic school to primarily educate the children of the low to middle class Catholic families of greater Philadelphia. It was never considered an elite academic institution and has never been a particularly large school with a present enrollment of just 3,293 undergraduates. As with most urban schools, a large percentage of its enrollment was and is still today commuters. The school's campus is located in one of the least desirable parts of the city (unlike its local Catholic Villanova which is on the uber wealthy main line). LaSalle for much of its history drew its enrollment from the many Catholic high school graduates in the Philadelphia region. The closing of many Catholic K-12 schools in the local area has greatly impacted their student recruitment. The school has done its best to attract students. It was one of the first schools to freeze tuition rates many years ago guaranteeing that it would not rise in the four years of attendance. Enrollment still continued to drop and its finances were ultimately impacted. It is facing the same issues that many private liberal arts schools are facing. A dwindling number of college students along with a ever rising and expensive cost to attend is having a drastic effect. LaSalle's struggles have made the news in recent years. The school eliminated several staff positions via layoffs back in 2015. It faced a big backlash from the arts community in 2018 when its school art museum sold off many of its noted pieces to raise funds. Fitch dropped the school's credit rating to near junk bond status back in 2017. The school has faced a double digit percent decline in enrollment over the last three years. The school's future is therefore on shaky ground. As a result, LaSalle did recently explore options for its athletic dept operations. It formed a committee in 2019 which looked at dropping some sports (which it did) and examined the level at which it should compete. This included remaining in the A-10, dropping down to a less competitive conference such as the MAAC, or even dropping down to a lower NCAA Division such as the non scholarship D3. It dropped some programs but ultimately went with the status quo with remaining in the A-10 of D1.

With all of this as background, it is not out of the realm to question the future of LaSalle athletics or even that of the school itself.

LaSalle is part of the Big-5 in Philadelphia but its status has been in decline for many years. Penn and Villanova are wealthy academically elite schools with campuses located in far better neighborhoods. Public Temple University may be in the rough North Broad Street area but it is propped up by state money and offers majors in a wide variety of fields (med school, law school, nursing, engineering, liberal arts, etc...). Fellow Catholic St. Joe's is probably more similar to LaSalle than the other city schools. It however has taken actions to better survive challenges. It is in a better neighborhood and was fortunate to be able to expand its campus twice in the last two decades buying the adjacent former Episcopal Academy prep high school (Terrence Mack's alma mater) campus and the former residence of the Catholic Archbishop of Philadelpia. It has also merged with other area schools as it recently acquired the University of the Sciences in 2021. This Philadelphia school had been known for healthcare and science education for 200 years. St Joe's saw the potential in these growing fields.


2015
La Salle lays off staff in wake of shortfall
https://www.inquirer.com/philly/educati ... tfall.html

2018
La Salle sanctioned after selling historic art for university expansion projects
https://www.phillyvoice.com/la-salle-sa ... -projects/

2019
Downgrade for La Salle University amid enrollment struggle
https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/downgrad ... t-struggle

2020
La Salle University Dropping Seven of 25 Athletic Teams
https://www.athleticbusiness.com/operat ... etic-teams

2021
Philly’s beloved Catholic schools are slowly dying. It doesn’t have to be this way. | Opinion
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commen ... 10125.html

Great info. If I was a dayton fan this would be difficult to read.

[Obadiah]

While I would agree that La Salle has problems, I do not believe it is in the dire straits that you paint, RF1. First, I would not characterize the school as largely commuter since close to 60% live in on campus residence halls and another good percentage live in off campus housing. Also, the neighborhood around La Salle is not what you describe and is decent, a beautiful park adjoins the campus which is typically urban but nothing like Temple or Penn.
The school is run by the Christian Brothers who have a good record on the few schools they operate, such as Manhattan and St. Mary's (CA). Also of importance, the Christian Brothers manage many prominent high schools nationally, La Salle Academy in Providence being just one. Yes, their endowment is small at about $95 million, just ahead of St. Bonaventure, which in my opinion is the school on shaky ground. For one thing the article you cited about Catholic schools closing in Philly is far worse situation in Buffalo. For example, while most northeast cities have lost population in their central cities, they have gained population in the metro areas, but the Buffalo area is unique in experiencing a decline in both. This has led to many churches closing along with the schools. St. Bonaventure saw its enrollment fall below 2000 students a few years ago, before it recently recovered. And the Franciscans that run SBU do not have as large feeder high schools that the Christian Brothers have. But the Bonnies recent basketball may mask the overall situation, but then again we have Fordham with its $1 billion endowment and a strong school academics/enrollment, but little basketball success. So who's to say that any of this correlates.

[RF1]

Obadiah:

I am not suggesting that LaSalle is about to soon close its doors. It's position has however been in decline for several decades and future trends do not favor it. It would not surprise me to see it gone or merged with another school in the next decade or two.

I agree that St Bonaventure, as you suggest, is also not in a strong standing. It as you note it has the smallest enrollment in the A-10 and one of the smallest in all of D1 athletics. The fact that it can pay Mark Schmidt what it does amazes me. It has a small enrollment and student fees to draw upon. It has a small gym with low ticket prices keeping attendance revenues down. It is in a tiny town of just 13,437 within a metro of just 75,000. Its sponsorship revenue opportunities are very limited given its location. It is a good 1.5 hour drive from Buffalo of which it is not fully connected by high speed highway. The entire southern tier of western NY has seen a sharp population decline for decades.

[Jdrums#3]

This isn’t LaSalle specific but, speaks to smaller private schools in general. In my past life I worked for a global company that did risk consulting work for higher Ed institutions as well as other industry groups. Back in 2013 I believe, I read part of an economic study on the future of smaller private schools and their future prospects (into 2020 to 2030 IIRC). The study was based upon a national footprint and included religious and non-religious colleges.

Anyway, the study referenced issues with future reduced enrollment, increased costs and future less favorable economic environment which could facilitate the closure of up to 20% of smaller private schools. This is a brief summary of the study.

Back in 2013, a significant amount of smaller private schools were already showing financial stress. That said, I haven’t paid attention to developments with smaller private schools since 2017ish, so I don’t know if the predictions laid out in the study are on track or not.

I just thought I would throw this nugget out to the board as a backdrop to assist with any further discussion regarding small private colleges.

In the meantime, thanks for the info regarding LaSalle, RF. Good stuff.

[Jersey77]

It looks like Sean Miller is coming into a good situation at Xavier.
They should finish in the upper tier of the BE.

[ramster]

Again. People acting like these hiring processes only start when a coach is fired are missing the mark. No first rate athletic department operates that way. Back channels are everything. (This is also a thinly veiled shot at UMass because it actually seemed like they operated that way).

If Archie actually wanted to stay in Indiana and deal with that blowback every day from the larger program in his state, he would have. They would've already had conversations and he certainly wouldn't have accepted the job here.

I hope people can stop chicken littling and acting like we're some charity case lucky to swindle Archie into coming here. Archie is here because he believes in Thorr, and what URI can be - and because Thorr was finally given the support to for us to operate like a first-class institution.

Archie had his choice of jobs. Literally just about any job in America would've been lucky to get him. He chose URI. It's not like we were his only option, he wanted to be here.

As for Butler - their AD obviously knew he was firing their coach. He just pulled a cheap-ass move to save a couple hundred thousand dollars waiting for the buyout to expire- and negatively impact all of the coaches under Jordan.

I'm sure that when that AD was approaching potential candidates about an impending job opening, and when they were asking why the job wasn't open yet, a response of "we're waiting for his buyout to get lower so we can afford it" didn't go over well.

If you were a prospective coach - would you want to work for a program that operated in any of the following scenarios?

a) work for a place that would try to screw you every which way out of any penny you could possibly make on a technicality
b) screw you and your staff out of searching for potential jobs several weeks into a hiring cycle
c) be so cheap in an environment like college basketball where money is spent like water, and so important to the program - but a couple hundred thousand was hard to come by
d) all of the above?

Butler is d. That's sad. URI is not. Any coach would've chose URI over Butler when you lay it out like that.

Blue Man,

What makes you think that UMASS did not use back channels? or UMASS did not do anything prior to the firing of their HC?
Now that UMASS has their new HC in place what do you think of the end result? How would you rank the hire of Martin 1 - 10?

The hire was a 9/10.

The fake firing of the coach and letting him coach the rest of the year was 0/10.

The desperate public announcement about how they were going to commit to basketball was 2/10.

BlueMan,

I’d agree the hiring of Frank Martin is a 9. That’s the key ranking of the 3 you mention. Martin has upside ftom the 9 ranking as well.

The fake firing and letting MM Coach out the season was odd but in the long run will be temporary.

Since Martin is getting $8.5 million over 5 years (same as Archie Miller) then I’d say UMASS has upped its commitment to Basketball. Bamford is not Thorr. Watch out someday could Thorr end up at UMASS? Doubt it but you never know.

[Blue Man]

Blue Man,

What makes you think that UMASS did not use back channels? or UMASS did not do anything prior to the firing of their HC?
Now that UMASS has their new HC in place what do you think of the end result? How would you rank the hire of Martin 1 - 10?

The hire was a 9/10.

The fake firing of the coach and letting him coach the rest of the year was 0/10.

The desperate public announcement about how they were going to commit to basketball was 2/10.

BlueMan,

I’d agree the hiring of Frank Martin is a 9. That’s the key ranking of the 3 you mention. Martin has upside ftom the 9 ranking as well.

The fake firing and letting MM Coach out the season was odd but in the long run will be temporary.

Since Martin is getting $8.5 million over 5 years (same as Archie Miller) then I’d say UMASS has upped its commitment to Basketball. Bamford is not Thorr. Watch out someday could Thorr end up at UMASS? Doubt it but you never know.

LMAO I do know. No.

[ramster]

Blue Man,

What makes you think that UMASS did not use back channels? or UMASS did not do anything prior to the firing of their HC?
Now that UMASS has their new HC in place what do you think of the end result? How would you rank the hire of Martin 1 - 10?

The hire was a 9/10.

The fake firing of the coach and letting him coach the rest of the year was 0/10.

The desperate public announcement about how they were going to commit to basketball was 2/10.

BlueMan,

I’d agree the hiring of Frank Martin is a 9. That’s the key ranking of the 3 you mention. Martin has upside ftom the 9 ranking as well.

The fake firing and letting MM Coach out the season was odd but in the long run will be temporary.

Since Martin is getting $8.5 million over 5 years (same as Archie Miller) then I’d say UMASS has upped its commitment to Basketball. Bamford is not Thorr. Watch out someday could Thorr end up at UMASS? Doubt it but you never know.

As I said, doubt it.
Point is UMASS got a HC and paying the same money as URI is. We both agree Martin is a 9.

Who would have thought January 1, 2022, that UMASS and URI would both have new HC’s both getting $8.5 million for 5 years. Good for the New England portion of the A10.

[reef]

Both great hires for sure

[ramster]

It looks like Sean Miller is coming into a good situation at Xavier.
They should finish in the upper tier of the BE.

77,
Steele was a HC who spread minutes across 8-9 players.
Departing from the Top 6 Scorers for Xavier will be 2nd highest scorer Scruggs 11.7 and 5th best scorer Nate Johnson 8.8. But a key guy leaving is Dwon Odom who was the 7th leading scorer BUT…….

When Steele was fired after 1 game into the NIT Jonas Hayes took over as Interim HC. First move was he upped Dwon Odom’s minutes to:

Odom’s Minutes/Opponent/ Round for Xavier
27-Florida - Round of 16
30-Vanderbilt - Final 8
24-St Bonaventure - Semi final
34-Texas A&M - Championship. Odom went for 18 points on 8-12 FG and 4 rebounds.

Odom was #79 ESPN Top 100, 2020. Seemed Steele didn’t get the most out of Odom (among others too)
Odom led the Top 7 scorers for Xavier with 58% FG and 80.4% FT. Very efficient.

At any rate Jonas Hayes put more faith into Odom the last 4 games. Now Odom is transferring to Georgia State where Jonas Hayes will be the new HC replacing Rob Lanier.

Will be interesting to watch what Jonas Hayes does with this opportunity. My guess is he will do great things.

Interesting tidbit is current Georgia State President Brian Blake was 1 of the 2 finalists for URI President but he withdrew his name towards the end.

[Rhody83]

[steviep123]

Didn't see that coming - would have thought he'd be on the radar of an A10 level school or higher.

[ramster]

Didn't see that coming - would have thought he'd be on the radar of an A10 level school or higher.

15 miles between Wagner and St Peters

[reef]

Significant pay bump good for him

[Rhody83]

Good article by Finkelstein includes Archie
5. ARCHIE MILLER, RHODE ISLAND

This was a tremendous off-season for the Atlantic 10. They added proven head coaches like Archie Miller, Frank Martin (UMass), and Fran Dunphy (La Salle), along with a well-known up-and-comer in Chris Caputo (George Washington), to give the conference their latest boost of national recognition. Of all the newcomers, Miller’s Rhode Island program is the one that I believe is poised to make an immediate impression. Like his older brother Sean at Xavier, Archie too has that national recognition that makes a big difference, especially in the A10, not to mention a proven history of success in the league from his time at Dayton. He has also put together a very impressive staff in Kenny Johnson, Duane Woodard, and Austin Carroll, who collectively have New England, New York/New Jersey, and the DMV areas all covered.

https://247sports.com/Article/College-b ... 186410351/

[reef]

Good article by Finkelstein includes Archie
5. ARCHIE MILLER, RHODE ISLAND

This was a tremendous off-season for the Atlantic 10. They added proven head coaches like Archie Miller, Frank Martin (UMass), and Fran Dunphy (La Salle), along with a well-known up-and-comer in Chris Caputo (George Washington), to give the conference their latest boost of national recognition. Of all the newcomers, Miller’s Rhode Island program is the one that I believe is poised to make an immediate impression. Like his older brother Sean at Xavier, Archie too has that national recognition that makes a big difference, especially in the A10, not to mention a proven history of success in the league from his time at Dayton. He has also put together a very impressive staff in Kenny Johnson, Duane Woodard, and Austin Carroll, who collectively have New England, New York/New Jersey, and the DMV areas all covered.

https://247sports.com/Article/College-b ... 186410351/

Nice list , the 4 ahead of us are all P6

[Jersey77]

[giovanni]

[URI_05]

So crazy. Poor Fordham.

[ATPTourFan]

Unbelievable!!

[steviep123]

Wow. Didn’t see that coming.

[phipsiGD'11]

wow what a move for Neptune.

all 10 of Fordham's die hard fans must be beside themselves.

[Rhodymob05]

Hopefully he doesn’t have some serious medical news. This clearly didn’t seem planned.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Seems odd. Although....retirement always sounds like fun, no matter how you slice it.

[Rhody74]

Seems odd. Although....retirement always sounds like fun, no matter how you slice it.

Retirement is the best job I’ve ever had.