ITT we discuss coaches entering the twilight of their career cycles (think Tulsa season ticket holder minus ~15 years for human lifespan equivalency).

Leading Candidates:

Kevin Ollie

Last 5 seasons:

2013-14 - 32-8 (12-6) - T-3rd - NCAA Champions
2014-15 - 20-15 (10-8) - T-5th - NIT First Round
2015-16 - 25-11 (11-7) - 6th - NCAA R32
2016-17 - 16-17 (9-9) - T-5th - N/A
2017-18 - 7-7 (0-2) - T-9th - TBD


Fran Dunphy

Last 5 seasons:

2013-14 - 9-22 (4-14) - 9th - N/A
2014-15 - 26-11 (13-5) - T-3rd - NIT Semifinals
2015-16 - 21-12 (14-4) - 1st - NCAA R64
2016-17 - 16-16 (7-11) - 8th - N/A
2017-18 - 7-7 (0-3) - T-11th - TBD

Darkhorse:

Tubby Smith

Since hire date:

2016-17 - 19-13 (9-9) - T-5th - N/A
2017-18 - 9-6 (0-2) - T-9th - TBD


Special congrats to Jeff Lebo for earning charter member status earlier this season.

Let's hear your takes on when the coaches above can expect a visit from the vocational grim reaper or, alternatively, what they need to achieve to change their current trajectory.

My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

No Ollies, No Ollies, No Ollies. No Ollies...

Could we possible make some room for Frank???

(01-05-2018 04:37 PM)invisiblehand Wrote:  Could we possible make some room for Frank???

Should we?

Tulsa showed remarkable stamina for "better than trainwreck, worse than good" status under Wojcik. Is the appetite for change there if Haith posts 10-8ish records in conference play for perpetuity?

I am open to being convinced but have not heard much serious grumbling from the natives regarding this prospective candidate.

(01-05-2018 04:40 PM)Play Angry Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 04:37 PM)invisiblehand Wrote:  Could we possible make some room for Frank???

Should we?

Tulsa showed remarkable stamina for "better than trainwreck, worse than good" status under Wojcik. Is the appetite for change there if Haith posts 10-8ish records in conference play for perpetuity?

I am open to being convinced but have not heard much serious grumbling from the natives regarding this prospective candidate.

I think one more year of mediocrity (and dwindling attendance) will be enough for us not to renew his contract at least. I don't know if we have the $$$ to let him go early anyway.

(01-05-2018 04:30 PM)Rocky Mountain Shock Wrote:  My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

I'm generally not a big fan of retread coaches, but Crean would be a solid hire. Of the teams likely to lose coaches, Temple seems like it would be the best fit for him.

(01-05-2018 05:45 PM)geef Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 04:30 PM)Rocky Mountain Shock Wrote:  My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

I'm generally not a big fan of retread coaches, but Crean would be a solid hire. Of the teams likely to lose coaches, Temple seems like it would be the best fit for him.

I'll take one of the Hurley brothers (Arizona State/Rhode Island).

(01-05-2018 05:49 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 05:45 PM)geef Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 04:30 PM)Rocky Mountain Shock Wrote:  My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

I'm generally not a big fan of retread coaches, but Crean would be a solid hire. Of the teams likely to lose coaches, Temple seems like it would be the best fit for him.

I'll take one of the Hurley brothers (Arizona State/Rhode Island).

This would be a terrific fit.

(01-05-2018 04:30 PM)Rocky Mountain Shock Wrote:  My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

Other than the year Dwayne Wade carried Marquette on his back to the Final Four, nothing on Tom Crean's resume has ever stood out to me. He took Indiana to the Sweet 16 three times... but it's Indiana. You're supposed to do that. I think he's a solid coach and at 51 has some juice left, but in terms of retread hires, I don't see what makes him much better than Tubby Smith.

(01-05-2018 06:00 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 04:30 PM)Rocky Mountain Shock Wrote:  My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

Other than the year Dwayne Wade carried Marquette on his back to the Final Four, nothing on Tom Crean's resume has ever stood out to me. He took Indiana to the Sweet 16 three times... but it's Indiana. You're supposed to do that. I think he's a solid coach and at 51 has some juice left, but in terms of retread hires, I don't see what makes him much better than Tubby Smith.

I'm not sure what to make of Crean. I think the job he did at Indiana is under-appreciated a bit. He took that thing back down to bedrock and rebuilt it.

(01-05-2018 04:34 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

No Ollies, No Ollies, No Ollies. No Ollies...

My absolute favorite show growing up.

(01-05-2018 06:04 PM)Wudizzle Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 06:00 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 04:30 PM)Rocky Mountain Shock Wrote:  My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

Other than the year Dwayne Wade carried Marquette on his back to the Final Four, nothing on Tom Crean's resume has ever stood out to me. He took Indiana to the Sweet 16 three times... but it's Indiana. You're supposed to do that. I think he's a solid coach and at 51 has some juice left, but in terms of retread hires, I don't see what makes him much better than Tubby Smith.

I'm not sure what to make of Crean. I think the job he did at Indiana is under-appreciated a bit. He took that thing back down to bedrock and rebuilt it.

I think he would get any of the 3 programs mentioned above back to being regular NCAA tournament teams, so he would be a safe, if not spectacular hire. Now if someone like East Carolina could hire Crean, that would be huge. But he will have better options than that. ECU needs to offer LeVelle Moton about quadruple what he makes at NC Central and go after him. I don't see how he could turn that down.

(01-05-2018 06:11 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 06:04 PM)Wudizzle Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 06:00 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 04:30 PM)Rocky Mountain Shock Wrote:  My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

Other than the year Dwayne Wade carried Marquette on his back to the Final Four, nothing on Tom Crean's resume has ever stood out to me. He took Indiana to the Sweet 16 three times... but it's Indiana. You're supposed to do that. I think he's a solid coach and at 51 has some juice left, but in terms of retread hires, I don't see what makes him much better than Tubby Smith.

I'm not sure what to make of Crean. I think the job he did at Indiana is under-appreciated a bit. He took that thing back down to bedrock and rebuilt it.

I think he would get any of the 3 programs mentioned above back to being regular NCAA tournament teams, so he would be a safe, if not spectacular hire. Now if someone like East Carolina could hire Crean, that would be huge. But he will have better options than that. ECU needs to offer LeVelle Moton about quadruple what he makes at NC Central and go after him. I don't see how he could turn that down.

Moton is probably the best ECU can do. Forbes and Medved are going P5 soon I believe. Pat Kelsey is a good coach but his background is a little bit sketch.

(01-05-2018 06:00 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 04:30 PM)Rocky Mountain Shock Wrote:  My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

Other than the year Dwayne Wade carried Marquette on his back to the Final Four, nothing on Tom Crean's resume has ever stood out to me. He took Indiana to the Sweet 16 three times... but it's Indiana. You're supposed to do that. I think he's a solid coach and at 51 has some juice left, but in terms of retread hires, I don't see what makes him much better than Tubby Smith.

I'm not a big fan of Tom Crean the person, but I've come around on him as a coach. He's a damn good recruiter, for one. In terms of Indiana and Sweet 16 expectations, they had been to the Sweet 16 one time in 18 years before he took them three times, so he did get them (almost) back to the expectations under Bobby Knight. He's younger than Tubby, as you mentioned, and I think he's got much more left in the tank.

I am not sure it is wise to fire coaches who have won a national championship, especially one so recent. Is Ollie really that bad? UConn certainly is down this year, but as I recall from our game, you guys only have one senior that gets significant playing time. If everybody else comes back next year, you should be pretty good. If I was the UConn AD I think I would probably give Ollie one more year, since he should have a pretty good team next year.

(01-05-2018 04:30 PM)Rocky Mountain Shock Wrote:  My uneducated predictions:

I think Ollie is visited by the Reaper at the end of this season. Dunphy will "retire". Smith gets another year.

Somebody hires Tom Crean.

Temple will not 'retire' Dunphy. 3 more years on a contract that was extended a couple of years ago. Temple needs a young ambitious coach with fire. That guy is barely a blip in the radar right now.

(01-05-2018 05:40 PM)invisiblehand Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 04:40 PM)Play Angry Wrote:  

(01-05-2018 04:37 PM)invisiblehand Wrote:  Could we possible make some room for Frank???

Should we?

Tulsa showed remarkable stamina for "better than trainwreck, worse than good" status under Wojcik. Is the appetite for change there if Haith posts 10-8ish records in conference play for perpetuity?

I am open to being convinced but have not heard much serious grumbling from the natives regarding this prospective candidate.

I think one more year of mediocrity (and dwindling attendance) will be enough for us not to renew his contract at least. I don't know if we have the $$$ to let him go early anyway.

Although Haith hasn't done much to help the situation I don't really think he is the main problem with attendance. Feel that the AD is the biggest problem. Plus a lack of any sales staff at all who know what they are doing. Right now Tulsa couldn't put together a real sales strategy to increase attendance if they tried.

Someone needs to keep an eye on Chris Jans at New Mexico State. He's gonna move up quick. I know he doesn't have a ton of Division 1 head coaching experience. But he is gonna be a steal, I promise. While Memphis or Temple may want a big name splash with lots of experience. It's just hard to find unless you go NBA (which can be great, or a flop) or get a retread.

Outside of Hurley (Rhode Island) I honestly think Jans would make a great hire.

UConn needs to hire Donnie Jones. Championship. Just name the amount of banners you'll end up hanging at the XL Center.