(03-10-2010 03:40 PM)RodShaw2 Wrote:  

(03-10-2010 01:38 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  

(03-09-2010 09:51 PM)PittsburghBucs Wrote:  07- You're heavily implying UNC-Wilmington.

Uh, Wilmington is slightly west of Greenville...........
Almost due south, but it's certainly not east.............

In all fairness doc I think in this case the mistake was on the part of the original poster not Pitt, since Greenville is inland and WIlmington is on the coast it would be natural to think Wilmington is east of Greenville.
So unless there is a college in Belhaven or Kilkenny I am forgetting I am pretty sure the guy was talking about UNC-W. Makes even more sense when you realize the job is open.

I knew all that..........just helping out the geographically-challenged........

(03-10-2010 09:02 PM)ETSU-07 Wrote:  Losing Bartow is not the problem. I can take him or leave him. It's the idea of Dave Mullins having the responsibility of hiring his replacement that we should be scared of.

This is what I've had in mind for years when I have said I am not in favor of any coaches losing their jobs at ETSU.

I can almost see Goldfinger's prediction of Mullins hiring Sloanaker instead of Wagers or Boyd to be true if this were to happen.

Of course, we've got Bartow out the door, and I don't think he's going anywhere.

This is what he's dealing with ultimately. Next season, this team is STACKED. Mike Smith, Tommy Hubbard, Isiah Brown, Sollazzo and Tubbs. That's a damn good lineup. It's going to be hard for Bartow to leave that for another job where he's going to go get his brains beat in for two years rebuilding. If he stays, this team definitely has to be an early favorite along with Belmont next year to win the conference (Especially if we beat Stetson at home next year). Also, he's got kids that are acclamated to the area, are in that age where moving them would be incredibly tough at this point. He's got his house and cars taken care of, his wife works for the university and though I don't know for a fact I'd say the kids are in private school and that bill is covered by someone. Johnson City may not be the beach (UNC-W) but for what he's making and what gets covered for him cost wise, he can fly to the damn beach.
Why he would leave. More money in the long run first off. He would have the chance to go to a program like a UNC-W or East Carolina and build a pretty nice program. 20 plus wins at ECU and you're planted firmly on the bubble at a minimum. Let's say he goes and builds something nice at a school at that level, which is atleast percieved to be at a higher place than ETSU is, then that takes you right into a major level job, which leads to million dollar plus salaries. This scenario though is a HUGE gamble. Programs that are looking for coaches typically aren't stacked with talent, so it's going to take whoever gets those jobs atleast three years to get them turned around, if at all. Then if the fans turn on you, you get fired and at that point you're the women's coach at Coastal Carolina.
People might be snooping around, but Bartow is a fool if he goes. He has it made at ETSU right now. A weak athletic director who doesn't have the backbone to fire anyone, a conference that isn't great and is very winnable for ETSU given our admission standards and the type of athlete we can recruit, which leads to NCAA Tournament appearances. This route sounds similar to this other unnamed coach who loves sweatervests and has a man crush on Vince Gill.

I remember when Les Robinson was hired. There was no internet to ***** on, but lots of fans were not happy. Some Buc fans that I talked to, and some that called in on the radio said they should have had a national search for a coach. They were idiots for hiring a coach from one of the worst teams in our conference who had a losing record, etc.
Then during most of the first year, I kept hearing it from fans at the games. He's not the right man for the job. They can't even beat a non scholorship team, I told you he was a bad choice and a bad coach.
But then a funny thing happened, he had brought in one of the best recruiting classes ever. Yes, he got very lucky on some of them like Greg Dennis who grew an extra six inches taller soon after he signed
But, a group of guys came in together and as they played together, they began to have great chemisty as a team. Then guess what?
A lot of those same fans that had shouted insults at him during games began to say, "I knew he was the right man for the job all along.
And the rest, as they say, is history.

From: http://blog.al.com/kevin-scarbinsky/2010...to_nc.html

When East Tennessee State beat Mercer 72-66 Saturday in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament championship game, it proved two things some of us already knew.

Murry Bartow can coach.

And nice guys can finish first.

Bartow lost four starters from last year's ETSU team, which won the A-Sun Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament. His Bucs, now 20-14 overall, finished fifth in the league this year at 13-7, but worked their way back to the championship game.

All they did Saturday in the final was beat a sixth-seeded Mercer team that had beaten them twice during the regular season, and ETSU did it on Mercer's home floor in Macon, Ga.

East Tennessee was led in scoring by another name familiar to basketball fans in this state. Trussville native Justin Tubbs, a transfer from Alabama, scored 18 points against Mercer. The junior is playing his first season for the Bucs after sitting out his transfer year.

This will be the third time that the 48-year-old Bartow has taken ETSU to the NCAA Tournament in his seven seasons there. He also led UAB there once.

It's worth noting that this will be East Tennessee's ninth trip to the NCAA Tournament in its history -- and that Bartow has been the coach for three of those trips.

68- On Robinson, wasn't Sonny Smith going to come back originally, but at the last minute that fell though, and so Robinson was brought in as it was perceived as something of an accomplishment to take a coach away from a conference rival?

The Wilmington newspaper has a blog and 10 days ago or so their Seahawks writer (I presume) had this breakdown of the UNC-W coaching search.

And if I were in Kelly’s shoes, here’s what I would and wouldn’t do:

1. I DO need a winner. Now. Whether that’s an established assistant from a top-level program or an already successful coach at a smaller level is a whole other ball of questions, but it’s someone that has those Ws lined up, one way or another.


Do not fall into the Pat Kennedy trap
2. I DO NOT need a big name to take over. I do not want a Pat Kennedy-at-Towson situation going on here. Granted, I think Pat Kennedy is a great guy, gracious to the media and has not been shy to suspend/dismiss players that don’t follow the rules. But Pat Kennedy has been to one NCAA tournament since 1993 at Florida State and hasn’t had a winning season since being at DePaul nearly a decade ago. Name recognition does not equal victories.

2a. I MUST tread carefully if the NBA route is one of my options. Is this coach still connected to the college game in any way? Is he willing to make concessions on his staff to address the obvious deficiencies in his coaching circle (recruiting, specifically)? The Sidney Lowe experiment at NC State is a good place to learn from here.

3. I DO want someone that can handle adversity. Fixing what’s broken at UNCW will take a uniter and someone that won’t panic if and when things go wrong next year or the year as he’s trying to reload and/or rebuild. I would be interested to see a candidate’s history … Has he been a rebuilder in the past? Has he been on a team that disappointed, then ripped off three or four years afterward that were back to, and above, expectations? History does tend to repeat itself, after all.


Northeastern's Bill Coen used long-time experience at winning -- and losing -- to turn around the Huskies
4. And finally, I NEED someone who wants to come here. I want hungry. I want passionate. While going out and asking people if they want to be the coach here isn’t a bad thing, I don’t want any tepid responses. As Mehrtens said one month ago, this is a desirable job — which is completely true. So I want someone that desires it. Who is beating down my door asking about this job?

That’s it. Those are the requirements. They sound so simple, don’t they? Now we get to find out if they’re part of the process or not.

And if I were Kelly Mehrtens, here’s who I’d look at. Again, I don’t know if any of these guys fit criteria #4, but they hit Nos. 1-3.


Mike Lonergan, Vermont
1. Mike Lonergan, Vermont. East Coast kind of guy, as Mull pointed out way early in the process. Already has 1-0 record at Trask. Team that has remained at the top of America East after the departure of Catamounts legend Tom Brennan.

2. Pat Sullivan, NBA Detroit Pistons assistant. Success at multiple levels, but also has seen his team bounce back from struggles. Experience in Wilmington, granted it’s a decade ago, but still …

3 (and a complete dark horse but … ) Dip Metress, Augusta State. Sure, I’m a little biased here, as I lived in Augusta in the pre-Dip era when the Jaguars were … well, just OK, at basketball and now are in line for a third consecutive trip to the Elite Eight in Division II. The big (legitimate) question: Can D2 translate to D1? Let’s ask Tony Shaver at William & Mary … I think he could give us a good answer.

A few thoughts on this

While this isn't the official search, I presume the writer has an idea of what he's talking about.

I do think Bartow's repuation can probably hang with these three coaches.

Now, let's look at the criteria-

1. Is Bartow a winner? Debatable, because his NCAA berths either came on the heels of another coach's work (Gene Bartow, Ed DeChellis) or thanks to the weakness of the A-Sun.

But he has been here for seven years and he has recruited these players at ETSU. He can win in the A-Sun for better or worse. Conference USA? Jury's out. And the last year in the SoCon was a disaster.

Does that lead one to believe he could win at the CAA level?

2. He's not a big name. He is, at best, a NICE name, a veteran coach who has been around some good coaches. But he is hardly a household name.

Then again, does UNC-W really think they'll get a household name?

I think he fits this criteria.

3. Handling adveristy? Debatable. Now, yes, there's Coy's death and Smith's injury and the team may not have faced world beaters at the end but they won with the hand dealt them.

But how will the Wilmington media treat a guy who responds to questions about a tough loss with "we've won three of our last four?" How do the fans?

What about the comments about fans leaving with 45 seconds left? That was a nothing instance and he couldn't leave well enough alone.

I'm not sure he has handled adversity with flying colors. As tough as this may sound, a veteran coach should have a handle on his team to keep them together through personal tragedy. Would he as a first-year coach with players that would be feeling him out as much as he would be them?

4. I'm not sure what it means to want to be there. My guess is any coach would like to be in a superior conference and make more money. But ultimately UNC-W is a mid-major, and mid-majors are destined to be stepping stones for most coaches.

My guess is ultimately if Bartow wants to go to UNC-W, aside from the money and the CAA, it's for the challenge of turning a team around instead of inheriting a winner, which is what he's already done.

But the appeal of turning UNC-W around would have to be to then get a shot at a major program, the way his buddy went to Tulsa and then got the Tennessee job.

Ultimately, I agree with Lover here. Even when we're talking money, he would seem to have a good thing here and could coach here for 10 years at $150,000 a year (or whatever it is he makes), which over time is a good bird in the hand. As long as ETSU doesn't fall flat on their face next year, this sort of offer UNC-W provides would seem to be on the table next year, if not a superior one.

Then again, Wilmington IS the final resting place of one Wilver D. Stargell, so what IS a superior gig than UNC-W?

Link to coaching changes on ESPN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4980452

One thing to consider- where is BARTOW's recruiting base.

Not his assistants. Where is Bartow's recruiting base?

I think this is very important to look at. Consider Fordham, for instance. You know that they are going to want someone who is able to get New York ballplayers.

Look at that list, and the schools that realistically might consider Bartow are UNC-W and maybe, MAYBE Louisiana-Lafayette.

Auburn won't. There is no way Auburn will hire a coach who would be looked upon as a failure at UAB.

Still, I just don't think he'll be going anywhere. It's not like when you KNEW Ed DeChellis would be a front runner at Penn State.

saw this on the Asun Conference site highlighting 3 Asun coaches receiving national recognition; Robbie Laing was named NABC district 3 coach of the year, Cliff Warren was named a finalist for the Ben Jobe coach of the year, and below see balance of article about Bartow.

"Bartow joins 14 other finalists for the 2010 Skip Prosser Award. The Skip Prosser Award was established last year to honor recipients who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off of it as well. Prosser posted a career record of 291-146 in 14 seasons as a head coach. During his time at Wake Forest, his teams averaged 21 wins per season while playing in arguably the nation's most difficult league, the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In his seven seasons at ETSU, Bartow has been highly successful, leading the Bucs to five conference championships, four postseason tournaments (three NCAAs and one NIT), and four 20-win seasons. In fact, he is the only ETSU head coach to ever lead the Bucs to three NCAA Tournaments."

The list of finalists includes Northwestern's Bill Carmody, Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, Temple's Fran Dunphy, Oakland's Greg Kampe, Murrray State's Billy Kennedy, Xavier's Chris Mack, Sam Houston State's Bob Marlin, Utah State's Stew Morrill, Portland's Eric Reveno, BYU's Dave Rose, Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings, Butler's Brad Stevens, Wofford's Mike Young and Maine's Ted Woodward.

and didn't realize there was already a separate thread with this information. Got ahead of myself.

(03-12-2010 08:38 PM)seagrove10 Wrote:  saw this on the Asun Conference site highlighting 3 Asun coaches receiving national recognition; Robbie Laing was named NABC district 3 coach of the year, Cliff Warren was named a finalist for the Ben Jobe coach of the year, and below see balance of article about Bartow.

"Bartow joins 14 other finalists for the 2010 Skip Prosser Award. The Skip Prosser Award was established last year to honor recipients who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off of it as well. Prosser posted a career record of 291-146 in 14 seasons as a head coach. During his time at Wake Forest, his teams averaged 21 wins per season while playing in arguably the nation's most difficult league, the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In his seven seasons at ETSU, Bartow has been highly successful, leading the Bucs to five conference championships, four postseason tournaments (three NCAAs and one NIT), and four 20-win seasons. In fact, he is the only ETSU head coach to ever lead the Bucs to three NCAA Tournaments."

The list of finalists includes Northwestern's Bill Carmody, Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, Temple's Fran Dunphy, Oakland's Greg Kampe, Murrray State's Billy Kennedy, Xavier's Chris Mack, Sam Houston State's Bob Marlin, Utah State's Stew Morrill, Portland's Eric Reveno, BYU's Dave Rose, Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings, Butler's Brad Stevens, Wofford's Mike Young and Maine's Ted Woodward.

(03-12-2010 08:26 PM)PittsburghBucs Wrote:  One thing to consider- where is BARTOW's recruiting base.

Not his assistants. Where is Bartow's recruiting base?

I think this is very important to look at. Consider Fordham, for instance. You know that they are going to want someone who is able to get New York ballplayers.

Look at that list, and the schools that realistically might consider Bartow are UNC-W and maybe, MAYBE Louisiana-Lafayette.

Auburn won't. There is no way Auburn will hire a coach who would be looked upon as a failure at UAB.

Still, I just don't think he'll be going anywhere. It's not like when you KNEW Ed DeChellis would be a front runner at Penn State.

Auburn probably wants to break up the string of coaches hired from ETSU... Sonny, Lebo

CBS is saying Auburn wants Tubby Smith to lead them into the new arena opening next year.

How about Lebo to ETSU if Coach B leaves???

Or think about this... Mark Gottfried is doing color on SEC games tonight
Last week he was on one of the conference championship games..the
Socon I believe, and he had some really nice things to say about Coach Bartow and ETSU. I thought at that time that it would have been very interesting if ESPN had sent him to do the ASun game with Tubbs playing in that game.

Tonight I was thinking.. what if Gottfried wanted to get back into coaching and he came to ETSU next year, and Tubbs got his old coach back. Some reports said that he left Alabama because he did not like his coach.

I don't think Bartow will leave.

But if he does leave, I will be stunned if the move isn't Wagers or Boyd getting the promotion.

(03-12-2010 10:00 PM)bucfan1968 Wrote:  CBS is saying Auburn wants Tubby Smith to lead them into the new arena opening next year.

How about Lebo to ETSU if Coach B leaves???

Or think about this... Mark Gottfried is doing color on SEC games tonight
Last week he was on one of the conference championship games..the
Socon I believe, and he had some really nice things to say about Coach Bartow and ETSU. I thought at that time that it would have been very interesting if ESPN had sent him to do the ASun game with Tubbs playing in that game.

Tonight I was thinking.. what if Gottfried wanted to get back into coaching and he came to ETSU next year, and Tubbs got his old coach back. Some reports said that he left Alabama because he did not like his coach.

Tubbs hates Gottfried, it would make for a very uncomfortable situation.

Some College of Charleston fans say it's time for Kresse to step in and do something about their basketball program. Some want him to go behind Cremmins back and find them a coach who can get them to the NCAA tourney.
They are upset with fans who think that just winning 20 games each year is enough. They have not been invited to the dance in something like 11 years, and they are feeling rejected. Lots of weeping and moaning in Charleston!
Maybe some of you guys on this board that don't like coach Bartow should tell them about how it's a good thing for them to NOT get into the big show, because when you go and go back again, it really makes it more difficult to get rid of your coach.

Charlotte just fired their coach today which creates another "local" job opening. It wouldn't surprise me to see them call.

I think Charlotte goes after Lebo due to the Carolina connection.

I always thought Lebo and now Schulman were bad for UTC