Sounds to me like WKU is getting nervous... before we were nothing, and overnight we have a coach who can potentially bring in colossal recruits. The fact is, this is probably gonna be Isiah's last chance at salvaging his reputation in his post-NBA career, so he HAS to put in effort and turn FIU into a winner. If not, he's most likely finished.

I don't know if he will be successful or not, heck it's been less than 12 hours since he was hired! But what I do know is that this might be the spark we have been looking for to put us over the top.

Seems like most of us here at FIU are willing to give the man a chance to get a clean slate and try to turn things around! Heck, in 24 hours he's turned FIU into a nationally known institution!

Haha, I am not worried. The guy was a great player -- but sucks as a coach and has no idea how to recruit.

We'll see... :)

(04-14-2009 09:42 PM)galojah Wrote:  Haha, I am not worried. The guy was a great player -- but sucks as a coach and has no idea how to recruit.

Doesn't know how to recruit? This is his first coaching job at the college level. Give it a chance, I think he will be able to flash his rings and get a players attention.

Congrats on the hire, FIU fans. (If you use that graphic anywhere else, please link to our story on TakeAKnee)

Even the North Texas beat writer you were all angry with yesterday is praising the move:

Vito blog: FIU gets its home run hire

This should be an interesting experience, one way or another. Can't wait until he makes his first trip to Denton.

It is going to be a circus show the next few days here at FIU. But I think he will have a shot to make a turn around here. You never know how going from one level of a sport to another is going to work for a coach. I certainly think he is going to be able to sell the program to recruits. I just hope that his coaching is not as bad as it looked in NY.

(04-15-2009 02:27 AM)posterchild Wrote:  

(04-14-2009 09:42 PM)galojah Wrote:  Haha, I am not worried. The guy was a great player -- but sucks as a coach and has no idea how to recruit.

Doesn't know how to recruit? This is his first coaching job at the college level. Give it a chance, I think he will be able to flash his rings and get a players attention.

That is exactly my point, no college experience. Agree or not, I believe this hire was more about "Isiah Thomas" than it was about getting the best "COACH" out there.

It may work out great, I hope it does. SBC needs to step it up as a league in basketball. But, it could be a flop. It is a risky hire.

I think the other issue is the fact that hes at a Mid-Major.

The budget and fan support (Not raggin, FAU's is NO better for basketball) are not what hes used to.

Coming from a storied Indiana program as a player and achieving at the highest level in the pros hes gonna be in for some culture shock at what he'll have to do at FIU.

No matter what its been good pub for FIU and the Belt. On 560 yesterday on the way home, even Jim mandaich talked about nothing else and he usually is a pure Cane/Dolphin homer and doesnt allow other conversations.

(04-15-2009 07:36 AM)OwlFamily Wrote:  I think the other issue is the fact that hes at a Mid-Major.

The budget and fan support (Not raggin, FAU's is NO better for basketball) are not what hes used to.

Coming from a storied Indiana program as a player and achieving at the highest level in the pros hes gonna be in for some culture shock at what he'll have to do at FIU.

No matter what its been good pub for FIU and the Belt. On 560 yesterday on the way home, even Jim mandaich talked about nothing else and he usually is a pure Cane/Dolphin homer and doesnt allow other conversations.

I wonder if he'll get used to travelling in a Sun Belt team as opposed to an NBA team. No more charted flights.

He'll travel to a main airport, then a 2 hour bus ride to whatever Sun Belt city they're playing at. No more private planes!

He'll have to get used to staying at a Motel 6 instead of the Four Seasons!

And like you said, this is FIU basketball...people just don't go. We don't go to Hurricanes basketball (and they play in the ACC!)

I hope he know what he got himself into.

By the way, I heard that Pete Garcia gave up his own office to give to Isiah Thomas.

(04-15-2009 09:29 AM)PantherNation Wrote:  I wonder if he'll get used to travelling in a Sun Belt team as opposed to an NBA team. No more charted flights.

He'll travel to a main airport, then a 2 hour bus ride to whatever Sun Belt city they're playing at. No more private planes!

He'll have to get used to staying at a Motel 6 instead of the Four Seasons!

And like you said, this is FIU basketball...people just don't go. We don't go to Hurricanes basketball (and they play in the ACC!)

I hope he know what he got himself into.

By the way, I heard that Pete Garcia gave up his own office to give to Isiah Thomas.

The office doesnt surprise me very much. I dont see him sticking with this. I hope he does cause it could drive some fan interest for you and the belt but this is NOT the gig he thinks it is.

In all honesty how much has FIU sold out its soul to make this happen? It could really be a huge hire or it could really backfire. Only time will tell.

FAU VS FIU next year promises to be VERY enteraining on the Basketball AND Football fronts.

I think its a great hire for FIU and will give them some good exposure, but I think Isiah is using this as a springboard for a comeback. FIU is not where he wants to be in five years. He'll stick around for a couple good seasons and then he'll take off to whoever comes calling. If he can keep his crap together, that is.

The hiring of Isiah got FIU a nice sized article with a pic of Isiah on page four of the sports section in today's Arizona Republic.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic...s0415.html

Florida International hires Thomas as coach
Apr. 15, 2009 12:00 AM
Associated Press

MIAMI - While growing up in Serbia, Florida International forward Nikola Gacesa often heard his father talk about the way Isiah Thomas played basketball.

"He is a big fan," Gacesa said.

Gacesa will soon have his own stories to tell: Thomas is back in coaching, accepting an offer from Florida International to revive his career.

Ending a whirlwind courtship, Thomas and Florida International agreed to a five-year contract Tuesday - an out-of-nowhere deal that gives the former Knicks coach and president a chance to restore the reputation he built as a Hall of Fame player and tarnished through a series of embarrassments in New York.

"I'm committed to growing something here and strongly believe that over time, we'll put a team on the floor that everyone at FIU can be proud of," Thomas said.

Thomas helped the Detroit Pistons win two NBA championships as one of the all-time great point guards, then coached the Indiana Pacers before taking over in New York, where an array of problems marred his tenure.

Nonetheless, Florida International moved quickly to lock up its top choice for the job.

"I know he is a good person," Florida International Athletic Director Pete Garcia said. "Isiah is going to give our fans and alumni a lot of reasons to be excited."

In New York, Thomas endured legal and personal troubles off the court, and more losses than wins on it. His Knicks were 23-59 last season, prompting a firing many fans had long awaited. The Knicks never won a playoff game in his tenure as president or coach, and many of his moves didn't work out as planned.

Here is the most harsh story I've read on the subject:

Thomas won’t find soft landing in college
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports


FIU hires Isiah Thomas

Months before his banishment to the bench to coach the New York Knicks, Isiah Thomas made a Division-1-winter scouting trip to South Beach replete with the 5-star hotel and lavish amenities befitting the emperor of Madison Square Garden.

The expense report was detailed, but the scouting report was a little light. Upon inspection, the University of Miami had been on the road. There was no ACC basketball, no pro prospects in town. Just Isiah, an expense account and several days and nights on Ocean Drive.

This time, Thomas will burn through someone else’s cash in South Florida. He’s been hired as the basketball coach at Florida International University, and Thomas can make history here. This job gives Thomas the chance to obliterate programs in the NBA, CBA and now, NCAA.

Already, Thomas is talking about how he’s always wanted to coach college basketball, about how taking a job in the Sun Belt Conference was about a challenge, a choice. He isn’t going to FIU because he wants to, but because there’s nothing else for him. Beyond his professional failures, his behavior has made it impossible for a franchise to sell him politically in a public job.

“He feels like he’s toxic in the NBA right now,” a longtime Thomas associate said. “He thinks this is the only way to get back in the basketball world.”

Out of the era of Michael, Magic and Larry, Thomas always considered himself the outsider, the dismissed superstar. He was the captain of the Bad Boys, the 6-foot-nothing point guard missed on being mythologized like Jordan, Johnson and Bird because genetics dealt him six too few inches. He never got over it, and never stopped making everyone else pay a price for his perceived slights. As a pro basketball commissioner, executive and coach, Thomas lived to abuse power and humiliate and even sexually harass underlings. He spent too much money on players, too little time on the job. His Knicks days were one big party on someone else’s tab.

Out of charity, Donnie Walsh let Thomas stay as a scout this past year. They were paying Thomas, anyway. Friends described him as disconsolate over his tumble, a spiral that culminated with an overdose of sleeping pills at his suburban New York home. In what had to be some altered state of reality, he appeared to pin the episode on his teenage daughter.

Through it all, Thomas kept scouting for the Knicks. For the past few weeks, he had been on the pre-draft scouting circuit in Europe. As the GMs and scouts gathered at the arenas, they noticed that Thomas still reveled in his celebrity there. Some league executives are relatively recognizable ex-players, but none come close to Thomas’ stature.

“He was kind of a pseudo-celebrity in the VIP rooms at the games,” one NBA executive said. “But even then, he seemed out of it, distant, somewhere else.”

For Thomas, this kind of behind-the-scenes grunt work no longer could be balanced with the public glare that came with running a franchise, or coaching. His vanity couldn’t be nourished this way. So, league sources say that he started calling close friends over the past week, and asking opinions on this Florida International job: Should I do it?

In the end, the truth made itself clear: This was the best he could do. He’ll probably believe that his playing credentials, his charm, his smile, will make recruiting a snap. It won’t be that easy. If he doesn’t work at this job, Thomas won’t win there. He can’t just show up and be Isiah Thomas. After the Pistons, he’s tried that everywhere and it doesn’t work.

Eventually, something strange will happen at Florida International, because it always does with Thomas. Since retiring as a player, he’s been searching for something that he never seems to find. Now, he leaves behind the cold winters of Chicago and Detroit, Indianapolis and New York, and moves toward the warm sun, the light, in Miami.

He has a news conference on Wednesday, where he’ll smile and charm everyone and make promises that’ll he’ll never keep. He’ll take shortcuts, make egregious mistakes and this shortsighted, wannabe basketball power will end up like everything else in Isiah Thomas’ post-Pistons path. He’ll be gone, leaving behind a carnage of angry, confused and betrayed people.

Mostly, Florida International University will wonder: What the hell hit us?

Adrian Wojnarowski is the NBA columnist for Yahoo! Sports.

Hide the women and the sleeping pills.

Quote:By the way, I heard that Pete Garcia gave up his own office to give to Isiah Thomas.

I think the hire is fine, esp. since he is working for free. FIU has nowhere to go but "up". However, why in the hades would the AD give up his office for Thomas? Who is running the show?

Thomas should get the men's hoops office, period. Or is he "too good" for that ?

Is this all about "Isiah" or is it about "FIU" ? That's the choice Thomas is going to have to make.

(04-15-2009 11:57 AM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  

Quote:By the way, I heard that Pete Garcia gave up his own office to give to Isiah Thomas.

I think the hire is fine, esp. since he is working for free. FIU has nowhere to go but "up". However, why in the hades would the AD give up his office for Thomas? Who is running the show?

Thomas should get the men's hoops office, period. Or is he "too good" for that ?

Is this all about "Isiah" or is it about "FIU" ? That's the choice Thomas is going to have to make.

If true...the office thing...this is the way I see it. FIU Football coaches will move out of the office complex behind the arena to the new Football Fieldhouse complex in June-July, thus vacating a lot of offices, including Mario Cristobal's...which is accross from Pete Garcia's....so, you get my drift....no biggie, just a direct result of FIU's new Football Fieldhouse becoming operational in the Summer..

gotcha- that makes sense

(04-15-2009 01:35 PM)FIUFanatic Wrote:  

(04-15-2009 11:57 AM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  

Quote:By the way, I heard that Pete Garcia gave up his own office to give to Isiah Thomas.

I think the hire is fine, esp. since he is working for free. FIU has nowhere to go but "up". However, why in the hades would the AD give up his office for Thomas? Who is running the show?

Thomas should get the men's hoops office, period. Or is he "too good" for that ?

Is this all about "Isiah" or is it about "FIU" ? That's the choice Thomas is going to have to make.

If true...the office thing...this is the way I see it. FIU Football coaches will move out of the office complex behind the arena to the new Football Fieldhouse complex in June-July, thus vacating a lot of offices, including Mario Cristobal's...which is accross from Pete Garcia's....so, you get my drift....no biggie, just a direct result of FIU's new Football Fieldhouse becoming operational in the Summer..

Bump.