https://hoopdirt.com/daily-dirt-3-19-18/

"The search at Little Rock is moving quickly. I’ve heard that it could be down to four candidates, with on campus interviews this week. The hot name here has been Jacksonville State head coach Ray Harper. His squad is currently 22-12 and still alive in the CBI. I’ve also heard that a A DII coach is involved (and it’s not Darrell Walker)…"


Very interesting that Jax State will be in Conway tonight to take on the Bears in the CBI Tourney

Ray Harper would be a great hire. Unbelievable DII record. 7 time national coach of the year. Did ok at WKU and has done real well at Jacksonville State.

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What...no Darrell Walker?

Don't you guys know that you have to hire an ex pig as a head coach! They are Arkansas Guys...and Arkansas guys should be coaching Arkansas Schools!

I mean, Wes Flanigan and Sydney Moncrief worked so well for you guys...

Harper would be a home run, in my opinion.

Is Ray Harper named after his hometown of 'Raytown' and is he bringing his 'Momma' with him...

Raytown

(03-19-2018 02:13 PM)TroJams Wrote:  Is Ray Harper named after his hometown of 'Raytown' and is he bringing his 'Momma' with him...

Raytown

Is that Harper or his momma?

(03-19-2018 12:07 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Harper would be a home run, in my opinion.

I second that opinion and would be more impressive than USA's hire by a good margin.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...mrc&uact=8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Harper

Harper has won everywhere he has been. Big totals at Kentucky Weslyan and Oklahoma City.
He had three 20-win seasons at WKU, and two 20-plus win seasons at Jacksonville State.

I agree that Harper would be a home run hire. Can we actually get him? Is the Sun Belt that much better than the Ohio Valley? I saw where his original salary there was 175K. May have been improved after making the NCAA tournament last season. He may just win the CIT this year and Jacksonville State will surely sweeten the pot. Like many coaches he could be simply angling for a raise...or not. He is 57 so he might see LR as his last job. Looks like the guy at Hoopdirt is not just some guy in NY or LA who know nothing about us. I am basing this on the fact that he mentioned we are also looking at a DII coach who "is not Darrell Walker". This indicates, to me, that he is close enough to our situation that he knows Walker is being pushed on us by big donors. I trust Chasse to do his due diligence and get us the best coach available to us.

(03-20-2018 04:07 PM)mjs Wrote:  Is the Sun Belt that much better than the Ohio Valley?

Right now SBC ranking in RPI is 18th, and Ohio Valley is 21st.

(03-20-2018 04:07 PM)mjs Wrote:  I agree that Harper would be a home run hire. Can we actually get him? Is the Sun Belt that much better than the Ohio Valley? I saw where his original salary there was 175K. May have been improved after making the NCAA tournament last season. He may just win the CIT this year and Jacksonville State will surely sweeten the pot. Like many coaches he could be simply angling for a raise...or not. He is 57 so he might see LR as his last job. Looks like the guy at Hoopdirt is not just some guy in NY or LA who know nothing about us. I am basing this on the fact that he mentioned we are also looking at a DII coach who "is not Darrell Walker". This indicates, to me, that he is close enough to our situation that he knows Walker is being pushed on us by big donors. I trust Chasse to do his due diligence and get us the best coach available to us.

The Hoop Dirt site is pretty much entirely devoted to changes in the college basketball coaching ranks. Therefore, the leads there are usually about as solid as any you are likely to find.

Did anyone see Chasse at the UCA game last night?

I wondering the same thing. Would have been there if I wasn't out of town.

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Harper would be no Beard-level hire, but he’d be a good one, and likely to stay longer.

(03-20-2018 07:52 PM)eh9198 Wrote:  Harper would be no Beard-level hire, but he’d be a good one, and likely to stay longer.

Harper has been succesful everywhere, and at every level, that he's been. His team will be playing tomorrow night at UNT in the semis of the CBI on ESPN3 at 7 pm.

In a cruel twist of fate for Jacksonville State, a tornado that tore through Alabama last night blew big parts of the roof off their arena. Therefore, from what I understand, due to the Jacksonville State arena being unusable, if Jacksonville State wins tomorrow, they will have to play all three championship games on the home floor of the USF/Campbell winner from the other semifinal.

I’ll be pulling for them!

The question for me now is can we get him? He started at 175K at JSU. I'm sure they'll give him a nice raise. If we were paying Wes 300K, we might be willing to go to 350 or maybe 400K for an established DI coach. I'd also worry about schools like MTSU or Evansville (If they haven't hired someone yet) getting involved. Other midmajors may still open up as well. Of course, we can't do much of anything until his team stops playing.


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I don’t think I’ve been on the board in 6 months and did not know Wes got fired.

It’s like Xmas.


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Ray Harper was fired from Western Kentucky. Hiring someone who was fired from a mid-major is a lot different than hiring someone fired from a power 5 conference. Why is he looking to move to Little Rock? Why isn't he trying to get back to C USA or better instead of LR which many would see as a lateral move despite the fact the SBC RPI is better than the OVC RPI. His career path is going in the wrong direction. There is plenty of reading material here if you know how to read between the lines.