See link:

Best/Worst Big East Basketball Coaching Jobs
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketbal...s-big-east

Also,
2 out of the 4 Big East newbies from CUSA were ranked at the top of CUSA:

Best/Worst CUSA Basketball Coaching Jobs
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketbal...the-others

Just curious, and I know this is an ESPN post, but this "writer" Eamonn Brennan lives in Chicago with his roommates and a dog.
His take on Cincinnati is laughable. Most of the people who post on this site know more about the Big East or college basketball
than this kid ever will.

Cincinnati is a good job in terms of history and "prestige" but the Athletic Department is closer to the bottom of the league than the top and the facilities aren't exactly top notch.

It was a vote among 14 panelists, not one guy's opinion.

(06-06-2012 01:14 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  Just curious, and I know this is an ESPN post, but this "writer" Eamonn Brennan lives in Chicago with his roommates and a dog.
His take on Cincinnati is laughable. Most of the people who post on this site know more about the Big East or college basketball than this kid ever will.

Credibility is certain an issue for many in the 'so-called' media today.

Many RU fans would laugh at his comments about RU's "good hoop facilities".

Maybe he and others on the panel doesn't get out much...or worse...doesn't take 5 secs to research available info that probably could have helped him write a better factual column.

(06-06-2012 01:14 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  Just curious, and I know this is an ESPN post, but this "writer" Eamonn Brennan lives in Chicago with his roommates and a dog.
His take on Cincinnati is laughable. Most of the people who post on this site know more about the Big East or college basketball
than this kid ever will.

10th is fair for Cincinnati. Everybody and their mother knows whoever coaches at UC at this time will deal with major budget constraints compared to their competition. Major props to Mick Cronin for overcoming those and still succeeding but he clearly does more with less. Few coaches can do what Cronin did. In addition a good majority of the UC basketball fanbase is still living in the Huggins years unwilling to accept Cronin as the guy leading this team. That's tough to work with always being in the shadow of a previous coach. The Bearcats' history and deep basketball culture are points in UC's favor but there are a lot of things that would make the job unappealing to the average coach.

The only thing I take offense to is saying Cincinnati 'never will' be a representation of what the Big East is.

(06-06-2012 01:16 PM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  It was a vote among 14 panelists, not one guy's opinion.

ok

Agree they missed the mark on Cincinnati. 22 winning seasons in the last 24 years, 14 NCAA tournaments in a row under Huggins, four winning seasons in a row under Cronin with a Sweet 16 bid last season.

Only down mark would be budget and the arena; however, at the end of the day a good job is one you can win at and people have won at Cincinnati for long time. Only two losing seasons from 1947 to 1978, a down period in the 1980's, coupled with a strong modern era.

At the end of the day who should Cincinnati jump, probably St. John's and maybe Notre Dame, Villanova, and Marquette. There are really no bad jobs in the Big East even DePaul with right coach can win at high level.

Pretty much nailed this one. Memphis should be one of the better BB jobs in the Big East once we move.

Quote:Conference USA: Well, duh. Memphis would be No. 1 in every category that was considered. It's rich history, rabid local following, recruiting prowess and NBA arena make it a coach's dream. Problem is, the Tigers (along with No. 2 UCF) are headed to the Big East in 2013. And unfortunately for C-USA, the leftovers are more like bottom-feeders ECU, Rice and Tulane than Memphis.

The Best
1. Memphis
2. UCF
3. Tulsa

The Worst
10. Tulane
11. Rice
12. East Carolina

(06-06-2012 01:38 PM)bearcatlawjd Wrote:  Agree they missed the mark on Cincinnati. 22 winning seasons in the last 24 years, 14 NCAA tournaments in a row under Huggins, four winning seasons in a row under Cronin with a Sweet 16 bid last season.

Only down mark would be budget and the arena; however, at the end of the day a good job is one you can win at and people have won at Cincinnati for long time. Only two losing seasons from 1947 to 1978, a down period in the 1980's, coupled with a strong modern era.

At the end of the day who should Cincinnati jump, probably St. John's and maybe Notre Dame, Villanova, and Marquette. There are really no bad jobs in the Big East even DePaul with right coach can win at high level.

The budgets at those schools blow Cincinnati's out of the water. Especially at Nova, St. Johns and Marquette where basketball is their main sport. In terms of winning Cincinnati is up there, but this analysis probably focused on poor fan support post Huggins and poor budget.

(06-06-2012 01:46 PM)Bearcat_Bounce Wrote:  The budgets at those schools blow Cincinnati's out of the water. Especially at Nova, St. Johns and Marquette where basketball is their main sport.

2010-2011 School budgets sorted by men's basketball spending:



I'd say Cincinnati gets a pretty good bang for their buck, unlike Seton Hall or St. John's.

I'd say the reason, fair or unfair, that Cincinnati was put so low on the list was the downward spiral after Huggins was fired. Based on the last few years, it appears that Cincinnati may be back.

So does UCF automatically go to the bottom of the list, or below USF when they join the BigEast?

USF arguably has the BEST college basketball facilities in the state of Florida and Stan Heath's program has turned the corner, plus recruiting is really beginning to improve.

I'd say DePaul recaptures last place. For some reason or another, they haven't been really good since the 1990s.

The UCF/USF rivalry in basketball should be just as exciting as the one in football. Donnie Jones is a pretty good coach and Stan Heath has done wonders as well.

(06-06-2012 02:02 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  So does UCF automatically go to the bottom of the list, or below USF when they join the BigEast?

USF arguably has the BEST college basketball facilities in the state of Florida and Stan Heath's program has turned the corner, plus recruiting is really beginning to improve.

renovated sundome isn't better than UCF's arena.

(06-06-2012 02:02 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  So does UCF automatically go to the bottom of the list, or below USF when they join the BigEast?

USF arguably has the BEST college basketball facilities in the state of Florida and Stan Heath's program has turned the corner, plus recruiting is really beginning to improve.

Why would UCF go to the bottom of the list?

UCF is already ranked ABOVE SMU and Houston in CUSA...and both of those schools will be joining Big East along with UCF.

Many things probably factor into their rankings...and no doubt UCF's location (Orlando), HUGE school (2nd largest in the nation), beautiful arena (located right next to their dorms...along with their dining facility and 24/7 practice facility), et al all play a factor.

New $$$$ pouring into UCF's program (along with UH and SMU as well) from just moving to the Big East Conf will be a huge BOOM for all those programs.

Yes and no. The schedule just got a hell of a lot tougher. Memphis has been scheduling up in non-conference games for years. Houston, SMU, and UCF will find out quickly if they're ready or not.

(06-06-2012 02:35 PM)TOGC Wrote:  Yes and no. The schedule just got a hell of a lot tougher. Memphis has been scheduling up in non-conference games for years. Houston, SMU, and UCF will find out quickly if they're ready or not.

For Hoops, I'm sure it will take several recruiting classes for the new hoop teams not named Memphis to maybe even get to .500 in conf play...but no doubt all are excited about taking that challenge.

Like I've said on several threads, I'm pulling for everyone in the Big East. Except when they play Memphis. I'd love to see everyone run the table in non-conference games.

(06-06-2012 01:52 PM)TOGC Wrote:  

(06-06-2012 01:46 PM)Bearcat_Bounce Wrote:  The budgets at those schools blow Cincinnati's out of the water. Especially at Nova, St. Johns and Marquette where basketball is their main sport.

2010-2011 School budgets sorted by men's basketball spending:



I'd say Cincinnati gets a pretty good bang for their buck, unlike Seton Hall or St. John's.

I'd say the reason, fair or unfair, that Cincinnati was put so low on the list was the downward spiral after Huggins was fired. Based on the last few years, it appears that Cincinnati may be back.

Temple:

Overall: $29,757,012
Football: $10,099,156
Basketball: $3,089,270

We get pretty tremendous value all things considered, but spending should go up significantly now that we're (back) in the BE.

(06-06-2012 02:15 PM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  

(06-06-2012 02:02 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  So does UCF automatically go to the bottom of the list, or below USF when they join the BigEast?

USF arguably has the BEST college basketball facilities in the state of Florida and Stan Heath's program has turned the corner, plus recruiting is really beginning to improve.

renovated sundome isn't better than UCF's arena.

I am not going to argue whether true or not, but will say that it doesn't take a backseat to anything UCF has. Plus when you consider that facilties wunderkind Populous designed both of our buildings...where are talking about two GREAT building that are easily the best in the state of florida. Please realize that it is a "renovation" in name only as the old SunDome was completely gutted sans the concrete walls and new roof that was installed a couple years ago. EVerything is new and the technology in the building in terms of scoreboards and visual, soundsystem were all done first class.

However notice I said basketball facilities. Nobody in the State of Florida can match what USF has built in terms of a practice facilities for both men and women and new arena. This should have been done years ago....but it was worth the wait. I agree with a previous poster that there should be some epic games between both schools. We've both come a long way from "The Garage" or USF's long neglected SunDome. Amazing turn around for both schools.