bierce

That's not entirely true or the whole story, even if 1999 was a typo and you meant 1989. UConn had a lot of good teams in the 50s and early 60s, but it was stuck in the soon to be defunct Yankee Conference with a lot of schools that had small athletic departments and no football program to grow departments in the 70s, so it went backward for several years before it finally got into the newly formed Big East which had quite a few programs already at a high level, was beaten up there for a while, then finally hired Calhoun.

And they canned Michael White because he didn't keep the program at Donovan's level, but instead of giving up on the idea of young coaches from mid-majors, they went back to that well a third time for Todd Golden. I still say Murray, McCollum, Wade, or Pitino is the way to go here. Hey, maybe even Eric Olen of UC San Diego. Not happening, I know.

I don't think it was just the felony arrest that caused Beard to be fired. I can't prove it, but there were rumors about Trew and his relationship with Trew being a problem in Lubbock. I suspect he was hired with the understanding that he needed to keep everything under control in his life, whether by letting her go or otherwise keeping everything under control. Things got out of control. You don't pay a guy $5M a year to bring his problems to the program.

I think he's staying put at a school that totally had his back when Title IX investigations were pending against him and a staff member.

I've gotten a few good answers to this question, but I'll give you my list UConn, Alabama, Arizona, Duke, ISU, and Florida hiring: Hurley, Oats, Lloyd, Scheyer, Otzelberger, and Golden I don't think it is too early to put Scheyer on the list. He had to work with a rebuilt roster in year one at Duke, and this year's team starts three freshman, a transfer, and a junior who never played for Shuh. Yes, he inherited a recruiting network, but he was a large part of that network for years. May might make the list soon, but I think it is too soon to make the call on him. None of these guys had any P5 head coaching experience at the time UConn, Alabama, Arizona, Duke, ISU,and Florida (and Michigan) hired them. Tommy Lloyd was the oldest of the bunch at 46. There have been other good hires like Cronin and Buzz, but I don't think they are quite the success the guys on my list are proving to be. Some mid-major hires flopped. Smart changed his identity and was snake-bit here but is doing well at Marquette now. Prohm was a disaster at ISU. Holtmann went the wrong way in year 5. Moser is on the verge of his 4th straight year without a tournament appearance. I don't have any input with CDC. I'm just a guy who watches a ton of basketball. But I think the lesson here is that great coaches are there at the lower level. A smart AD will find one and get him full support. I'll support the team no matter who we hire (short of Dave Bliss), but I will always think we should go with a young guy who is brilliant at strategies and tactics.

I have a question for the board. Which P5 programs made the best hires in the last 7-8 years?

Actually, I think you will find Jordan is of the opinion Terry is done here but never received the full support of the fans, administration, or bmds. He's not wrong. Terry is not a world beater D1 head coach. Terry did not have the full backing that another coach would have received. Both are true statements, and our program has suffered because BOTH are true statements.

Sunday's bubble games: Xavier @ Seton Hall. Seton Hall is awful. Xavier has a week off before hosting Creighton. That won't be a q1 game for Xavier, which is only 1-9 in q1 games, but it would be a very good q2 win. tOSU @ UCLA Would definitely be a q1 win for tOSU, but tOSU's problem isn't lack of q1 wins (it has 5), but the presence of q4 losses (4 so far).

You got it. It's pretty much a recap of comments I have made over the last couple of weeks. Despite our experience with Smart crapping out (in large part because he redefined himself the moment he got here), I'm still of the opinion we would be better off hiring a guy who can define his career here. I'd look at Murray, McCollum, and Pitino first before going an expensive but "safe" option of a guy who hasn't played above seed in the tournament for 12-15 years.

BYU just got that signature win by beating Arizona in Tucson. Houston will run away with the Big 12 regular season title.

I'm not at all worried about funding a buyout for Terry. I'm worried about getting the right new guy.

I don't see the rationale behind not hiring Wade but hiring a guy 13 years older who has the same federal investigation about his doings a few years back. I don't see the rationale behind hiring a guy who probably already makes close to $5M a year when you can get someone a lot younger and a lot hungrier for 1/2 to 2/3 that amount and use the savings to fund the NIL package. I don't think Miller is as good as an architect of offense as Murray, Wade, or even Pitino. I don't see the rationale spending a ton of money to hire a guy who is 10 years removed from his period of great success, when it was probably fueled by playing outside the rules. Now everyone can do what he was doing, so what advantage does he have? I grant Gerry's point about Miller getting a lot of international recruits, but I don't give him a pass for not making the tournament last year without Freemantle and maybe not making this year with Freemantle. Miller made the second weekend 5 times in 7 years. That is a major accomplishment. It also happened ten years ago. Was Barnes as desirable in 2016 as he was in 2008?

Sounds about right, I guess. 7.2 x 3/5 = 4.32.

BYU missed ft, just missed getting the rebound, and Ariz went down and nailed a 3. BYU by one with 32.6 seconds left.

BYU just jobbed by the refs. Secondary defender left his feet but rule of verticality should have prevented the whistle. Arizona made both ft to close to within 2, but BYU just scored on a baseline drive and has a chance for the and one to go up 5 with 41.8 seconds left.

It's your question, so it is your rules.

Auburn, Tennessee, Mississippi, Vandy, and Arky losses were not blowouts.

I have a hard time believing Terry's buyout is even that high. But we didn't have to pay Beard's buyout because he was terminated for cause. Terry won't be.

Except I'm not watching the game and I can't watch the game. How can I be said to fail a test when I can't even see the question?

Not Jordan here, but I don't have ESPN+, so why don't you tell me?

The younger Pitino recently said of the elder Pitino's now viral rant that it evoked PTSD of what he heard growing up when he didn't make his bed.

Let's get this on record. Terry was given a stacked deck. He went much farther with a team assembled by Beard than Beard did, but he was never going to get credit for it. He was given a team that was going to lose guys who had played in 651 D1 games and a pair of recruits who were going to back out of their commitments to go pro in April and left scrambling to fill a roster with 5th year transfers to keep it in the tournament one more year. He made the tournament again, and won a game in it again, but was faced with another rebuilding project. He had a great offensive but terrible defensive future NBAer coming in. He filled the roster with what he could because he didn't get the jack to get a quality big man or ankle breaking pg, the two huge needs. I neither praise Terry nor bury him. Had he received better support, then we might have a better team this year, but this team has not performed as well as was possible for the lineup assembled. We're replacing Terry at the end of the year. Of that, I am certain. I will always thank him for his contributions rather than pillory him for what some believe to be his shortfalls. It isn't everyone who will voluntarily leave a head coaching job to become an assistant at his former employer.

Damn you to hell for all eternity if you are willing to sacrifice our volleyball program.

Maybe not 22-5, but 19-8. We probably don't lose to Vandy, Arky, or Tennessee. Which is not to say that I would think 19-8 would be a good record if we had Toppin.

A supposedly savvy AD, a supposedly wealthy athletic department, a lame duck coach, a single HS recruit, and not much returning talent.