The 70 Club:
(Everybody here is within days of 70 or several years older)

Jim Larranaga
Jim Boeheim
Leonard Hamilton
Mike Krzyzewski
Roy Williams


The Dead Man Walking Club:
(They tried. They failed. Give the AD a buyout free way to fire and they will.)

Josh Pastner
Brad Brownell
Danny Manning
Jim Christian



Over half the conference will turn over its MBB HC in the next five years, including nearly all the established powers. This means if you don't get out ahead of the high level hiring rush soon you're going to be out gunned on competing hires in conference. If you can time it well (probably requires a change this year or next) your new HC will be coming up to full speed in terms of staff and recruiting right as this turnover gets going.

If you're Duke or Syracuse or Florida State you have your hands full trying to replace a legend that defines your entire program. Replacing a legend might be even harder than hiring one in the first place.

If you're Virginia or Notre Dame or Louisville you're sitting there relatively happy knowing you've got the only proven assets at HC that aren't fully fledged AARP members. You just need to ride out the clock until your competition retires out and you'll have the strongest hand to play.

WF, Clemson, and GT are probably the best shots to make large improvement quickly in the next few years after a change based on athletic department health and timing of a likely coaching change.

.....as A Louisville fan we are indeed upon interesting times...

(02-11-2020 01:51 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  The 70 Club:
(Everybody here is within days of 70 or several years older)

Jim Larranaga
Jim Boeheim
Leonard Hamilton
Mike Krzyzewski
Roy Williams


The Dead Man Walking Club:
(They tried. They failed. Give the AD a buyout free way to fire and they will.)

Josh Pastner
Brad Brownell
Danny Manning
Jim Christian



Over half the conference will turn over its MBB HC in the next five years, including nearly all the established powers. This means if you don't get out ahead of the high level hiring rush soon you're going to be out gunned on competing hires in conference. If you can time it well (probably requires a change this year or next) your new HC will be coming up to full speed in terms of staff and recruiting right as this turnover gets going.

If you're Duke or Syracuse or Florida State you have your hands full trying to replace a legend that defines your entire program. Replacing a legend might be even harder than hiring one in the first place.

If you're Virginia or Notre Dame you're sitting there relatively happy knowing you've got the only proven assets at HC that aren't fully fledged AARP members. You just need to ride out the clock until your competition retires out and you'll have the strongest hand to play.

WF, Clemson, and GT are probably the best shots to make large improvement quickly in the next few years after a change based on athletic department health and timing of a likely coaching change.

Some thoughts:
*The calendar doesn't lie but Leonard Hamilton looks closer to 50 than 70.
*After winning in Chapel Hill Brad Brownell isn't going anywhere soon.
*Is Pastner doing well enough this season to keep hanging on?
*It's a travesty that Danny Manning is still a head coach. He's got to be up there on the list of worst coaches ever in the ACC.
*I don't know what Ol' Roy is going to do but he's looked awfully discouraged lately. Did anyone else catch his press conference after the loss to Duke? I don't think he wants to go out like this but coaching a group of freshmen phenoms is also challenging, particularly for a coach who seems to value experience even more than most.

(02-11-2020 02:21 PM)Hallcity Wrote:  *Is Pastner doing well enough this season to keep hanging on?

I expect the NCAA appeal to be withdrawn. If Pastner survives it will be because of finances and not his record.

(02-11-2020 01:51 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  If you're Virginia or Notre Dame or Louisville you're sitting there relatively happy knowing you've got the only proven assets at HC that aren't fully fledged AARP members.

Well ... technically ... you can join AARP at age 50 ... I know this, because I just turned 50. Chris Mack is also 50. So he's AARP level albeit just barely.


Having said all that ....

So far, I like what we have in Chris Mack. He's done pretty well in his year and a half ... Most importantly, he's brought together the two factions of the "Denny Crum guys" and "Rick Pitino guys". Apparently, Rick didn't do much to make the DC guys feel welcome around the program. Which is a shame. But all that is over now ...

If Chris can finish this year strong, I think he'll have solidified himself with the fan base. There's still a little "wait and see" with the fan base. A deep post season run is paramount to winning everybody over.


But you are exactly right with the state of the league .. some very good coaches are nearing the end of their tenures. Which will challenge their schools to find replacements up to the task of replacing living legends.

I have a feeling that most will do ok in this challenge.

But there is a chance for someone else to take advantage of the transition, and maybe snag a place near the top of the league on an annual basis.

(02-11-2020 02:29 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(02-11-2020 02:21 PM)Hallcity Wrote:  *Is Pastner doing well enough this season to keep hanging on?

I expect the NCAA appeal to be withdrawn. If Pastner survives it will be because of finances and not his record.

I thought of this a few weeks ago and was wondering. Is there anything stopping Georgia Tech from withdrawing their appeal the day after they are eliminated from the ACC tournament? As I understand it you'd lose eligibility to a NCAA tournament you weren't making anyway, the players aren't playing any games in a "lost season", and you enter next year eligible to make the field.

I figured out how to join AARP before 50.

I’ll take the over LH is still here after 5 years, but the under on all the other old coaches. Duke, UNC and SU will be fine, they are destination programs that could hire almost anyone they want. As for FSU, I have a feeling that they will settle in the middle of the ACC after LH retires which is still good for us. I have a couple of realistic candidates in mind who has coached with LH at FSU; Any Enfield ciurrently at Southern Cal is doing a solid job. Dennis Gates just got the dumpster fire job at Cleveland State this year, so he is a guy to look at in the years to come. Stan Jones is LH’s long time assistant, but he is up in age as well.

My thought on Brad Brownell is that he a solid coach, but if a new hire re-energized the fan base then you have to pull the trigger.

(02-11-2020 02:29 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(02-11-2020 02:21 PM)Hallcity Wrote:  *Is Pastner doing well enough this season to keep hanging on?

I expect the NCAA appeal to be withdrawn. If Pastner survives it will be because of finances and not his record.

Right on cue the AJC mocks Pastner for having a "next step" for the program of not playing on day one of the ACCT in his fourth year.

https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/josh-...9IbbcAQGP/

The next few years are definitely going to be an interesting time for the league.

I'm glad VT hired Mike Young. I was high on the hire when it happened, and the play of this young team has exceeded even my modest expectations. Hit a bit of a rough patch lately, but hey, when you play 6 freshman as much as we are, that's to be expected.

Mike Young has done a fantastic job playing the hand he was dealt. Shame on Kerry Blackshear for leaving VT high and dry, if he misses the NCAAT that would be perfect.

Pitt is doing well with Capel. We just hope is isn't Coach K's replacement in a few years.

(02-11-2020 09:44 PM)Shannon Panther Wrote:  Pitt is doing well with Capel. We just hope is isn't Coach K's replacement in a few years.

He’s turned that program around pretty quickly and made them competitive. I think it’ll either be him or Hurley to replace K.

Fortunately, there are a lot of good coaches out there that may wind up in the ACC. For Wake, I could see Dave Odom’s son or Mooney from Richmond. Mike Lonegran is a great coach that is just sitting at home right now. BC should look at Cluess from Iona. They run and gun the whole game and he has a NYC pipeline.

Just some thoughts from the bottom of the ACC standings. See you guys the first day of the tourney.

Is Duke expected to keep it in the K coaching tree? Just seems like limiting themselves when K's tree hasn't produced no-brainers.

I'm curious to hear from UNC and Syracuse (and Duke) fans when they expect their HOF coaches to finally walk away and who they'd expect to target.