Wow, shocked we were able to steal another in-state mid major from our rival school. We play them twice a year.

Not a bad hire at all. Jim Hayford is Seattle U's new coach

Shows the potential Seattle U has being able to hire from a HC from an in state school.

Hayford has proven he can win with a Washington mid major and build one of the best Big Sky programs. Beyond excited to see what he can do in the WAC

Jim Hayford:

6 years at Eastern Washington:

106-97 record
1 Big Sky Coach of the Year
1 Big Sky Championship
1 NCAA Tournament appearance
2 CBI invites
Averaged 22 wins per season last 3 years at EWU.
Road win over Indiana
1 NBA draft pick

10 years at Whitworth College (D3 Spokane, WA)

217-57 record
6 D3 Tournaments including Elite 8 and 2 Sweet 16s
5 time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year
5 Conference championships

Does it also speak of the directions WAC & Big Sky are headed? I don't think guys make moves like that to coach in a less competitive league. A lateral move doesn't even make much sense, unless the $$$ is that much better. I like the signal it sends about the strength and state of WAC hoops.

(03-29-2017 02:08 PM)gleadley Wrote:  Does it also speak of the directions WAC & Big Sky are headed? I don't think guys make moves like that to coach in a less competitive league. A lateral move doesn't even make much sense, unless the $$$ is that much better. I like the signal it sends about the strength and state of WAC hoops.

I think it signals how much better the WAC may be than the Big Sky. That, and potential SU has that a mid major football school doesn't like EWU. Interested to see what he says in press conference later today and when contract details come out to see how much money may have factored in

It's an average hire. I thought Seattle could do better, but I guess Seattle isn't really a place good coaches want to be.

(03-29-2017 01:29 PM)SeattleVandals Wrote:  Jim Hayford:

6 years at Eastern Washington:

106-97 record
1 Big Sky Coach of the Year
1 Big Sky Championship
1 NCAA Tournament appearance
2 CBI invites
Averaged 22 wins per season last 3 years at EWU.
Road win over Indiana
1 NBA draft pick

10 years at Whitworth College (D3 Spokane, WA)

217-57 record
6 D3 Tournaments including Elite 8 and 2 Sweet 16s
5 time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year
5 Conference championships

Great hire for your program! I've always liked Seattle U and wish them to do well. I think it also does speak volume for the WAC. It would be great if Seattle could become more competitive in the WAC. The WAC has already started gaining interest in AZ. Would be intresting to see if the same would happen if Seattle became more competitive.

(03-29-2017 04:37 PM)NMSTFan Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 01:29 PM)SeattleVandals Wrote:  Jim Hayford:

6 years at Eastern Washington:

106-97 record
1 Big Sky Coach of the Year
1 Big Sky Championship
1 NCAA Tournament appearance
2 CBI invites
Averaged 22 wins per season last 3 years at EWU.
Road win over Indiana
1 NBA draft pick

10 years at Whitworth College (D3 Spokane, WA)

217-57 record
6 D3 Tournaments including Elite 8 and 2 Sweet 16s
5 time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year
5 Conference championships

Great hire for your program! I've always liked Seattle U and wish them to do well. I think it also does speak volume for the WAC. It would be great if Seattle could become more competitive in the WAC. The WAC has already started gaining interest in AZ. Would be intresting to see if the same would happen if Seattle became more competitive.

SU attendance dwindled from 4k to 1k during Dollars tenure. Fans will come when wins come and interest will go back up. I have a lot of confidence that if Hayford could get a school like Eastern Washington in the NCAA Tournament, he can SU to the same level. He already has shown he can recruit local kids as a head coach (and get most across the state to Cheney) better than Dollar could as a HC.

Hayford had 4 players signed for next year at EWU.

2-star PG Jack Perry from Australia. EWU was only offer. 6'2 150

2-star SF Kim Aiken from Long Beach. 6'6 210. Utah State also offered.

2-star SF Brendon Howard from Great Falls, Montana. 6'6 200. Montana State also offered. Played AAU ball in Seattle on Seattle Rotary.

2-star C Tanner Groves from Spokane. 6'9, EWU only offer.

Howard intrigues me, and I know Groves was a popular name in the Spokane area and EWU fans were excited. Wonder if any will follow to SU

IMO a great hire! Congrats. This illustrates how $hitty the Big Sky is compared to WAC schools even right now and the WAC is only going to get better. The Big Sky is a joke conference with schools that don't get it (Montanas) that FCS football is horrible money losing enterprise with a delusional fan base that thinks they are relevant in the college football world. Give me Division I football independence with Olympic sports in the WAC any day over that bloated second rate conference. Montana is like that fat diseased gold fish that is looking more white than gold in a pond that is full of algae and scum that no one gives a $hit about anymore. Montana football fans are probably the most arrogant delusional fan base in the entire college football landscape.

What's the pay going to be for the new coach?

Good that SU got a seasoned D1HC. Will be interesting to see what happens. By coming to the WAC, it is an easier path to the NCAA's

(03-29-2017 03:12 PM)FINALFOUR1970SWEETSIXTEEN1992 Wrote:  It's an average hire. I thought Seattle could do better, but I guess Seattle isn't really a place good coaches want to be.

Yeah, Seattle is a horrible city with nothing to do. (sarcasm implicated).

(03-29-2017 05:18 PM)dancingNMSUaggie Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 03:12 PM)FINALFOUR1970SWEETSIXTEEN1992 Wrote:  It's an average hire. I thought Seattle could do better, but I guess Seattle isn't really a place good coaches want to be.

Yeah, Seattle is a horrible city with nothing to do. (sarcasm implicated).

And totally isnt a gold mine of some of the best HS basketball in the country

Very good hire. This guy runs a wide open offense that will be fun to watch. In the 2014-2015 season, Hayford went 26-9, beat Indiana on the road, won the Big Sky post-season tournament, went to the NCAA tournament and ended up with an RPI of 73. In the Big Sky, that is excellent. He also had a player drafted in the 2nd round of the 2015 NBA Draft. Seattle found a good D1 head coach in the state of Washington.

Preferred Ken Bone or Brandon Roy, but still a very good hire. Seattle poaching an employed long term above .500 D1 head coach with an NCAA appearance shows very well on SU and the WAC.

(03-29-2017 02:08 PM)gleadley Wrote:  Does it also speak of the directions WAC & Big Sky are headed? I don't think guys make moves like that to coach in a less competitive league. A lateral move doesn't even make much sense, unless the $$$ is that much better. I like the signal it sends about the strength and state of WAC hoops.

Absolutely. Establishes the WAC as a higher peg than Big Sky. I feel sorry for Vandal fans.

(03-29-2017 10:56 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 02:08 PM)gleadley Wrote:  Does it also speak of the directions WAC & Big Sky are headed? I don't think guys make moves like that to coach in a less competitive league. A lateral move doesn't even make much sense, unless the $$$ is that much better. I like the signal it sends about the strength and state of WAC hoops.

Absolutely. Establishes the WAC as a higher peg than Big Sky. I feel sorry for Vandal fans.

A little OT, but...I too feel sorry for Vandals fans, guys like Sparty.
Saw this news on Twitter a day or two ago. A million in the red.

https://www.uiargonaut.com/2017/03/29/de...appealing/

Related.....This article says they lost about 320k in donations due to the decision to drop down to FCS.
https://www.uiargonaut.com/2017/03/27/fu...n-deficit/

Currently mobile....but not necessarily upwardly.

I think so too. The WAC is recovering nicely, and yes ahead of the Big Sky. Not weighed down by Football, which is squeezing the mid-majors of FCS and G5. Just kills the budgets.

It was stupid for Idaho to drop down. People think dropping to FCS or dropping football is going to save money and it's the complete opposite. FBS football is a cash cow. FCS football does not make any money. Idaho was on it's way up and they do that. The AD of Idaho is a moron.

(03-30-2017 08:14 AM)dancingNMSUaggie Wrote:  It was stupid for Idaho to drop down. People think dropping to FCS or dropping football is going to save money and it's the complete opposite. FBS football is a cash cow. FCS football does not make any money. Idaho was on it's way up and they do that. The AD of Idaho is a moron.

Wasnt even the AD. Many think he didnt want to drop down either. It was the new President Chuck Staben who in his 2nd year just made an executive decision and did it. Now a big amount of boosters have pulled or cut funding.