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Posted by alblack56 on 4/13/2011 4:24:00 AM (view original):

Mid-major coaches would do well to consider Georgetown.  When John Thompson went there in the late 70's, they were coming off a 3-23 season and had two NIT first round losses in the previous 25 years...that's it.  They were mid-major or below. He had them in the NCAA within 3 years. There's no way Georgetown would've been invited into the Big East in 1984  if Thompson had't built that program. We'd probably see them in the Colonial with George Mason and VCU.

Thompson proved you can stay at a private mid-major school and win consistently.

I partially agree with what you say, but don't necessarily think Georgetown is an applicable example... I think they actually tend to demonstrate the importance of being in a major conference, which is the opposite point of what many who attempt to reference Georgetown's rise from obscurity are intending.

First of all, Georgetown was a charter member of the Big East in 1979, not 1984 as you state. And yes, Thompson did a remarkable job turning Georgetown from a nobody into a respectable mid-major program pre-Big East. In the 5 seasons prior to joining the Big East, Georgetown went to 3 NCAA's and 2 NIT's. (That success certainly helped earn them an invite to the Big East, but being in the desirable Washington DC media market/recruiting territory played a big role as well). However, despite the multiple tourney bids, they lost in the 1st round of the NCAA's in all three of those appearances, so they didn't really make much of a mark on the big stage. It was not until after joining the Big East that Georgetown won any NCAA tournament games, and ultimately became a national power.

So I would say it's open to debate as to whether Georgetown would have enjoyed such success continuing as a mid-major as they had after they joined a made-for-TV power conference. Patrick Ewing committed to Georgetown one year after the school joined the Big East. Would that have happened if the Hoyas were still an independent? And where would Georgetown be today, if there had been no Patrick Ewing? No question, that was a momentous turning point for the program, and I think being a part of the Big East is what made it happen.
4/13/2011 10:12 PM (edited)
I hate the term "mid-major". The term was invented to describe those Football programs not in a BCS conference.  The term has no relevance to basketball.  There is no BCS in basketball.  It has morphed to describe teams in the non-major basketball conferences.  But teams like Xavier, Butler, Gonzaga, and Memphis regularly play and beat up on many of the teams in these major conferences and it could be argued that if they were in these major conferences they would be finishing near the top and still making the NCAA every season.  Year in and year out they are better than 75% of the teams in the Top 5 conferences and they prove it on the court.  Let's face it: it wasn't that long ago when UMass was ranked #1 and the A-10 was one of the top 5 conferences.  On the court you would never hear a Big East, ACC, SEC, or Big Ten coach ever describe these programs as mid-major, nor would they ever consider them any less dangerous to play than the top teams in any of these top conferences.
4/14/2011 12:08 AM
1st, thanks alblack (actually my brain sees allblack and goes to lazy images of vacationing in New Zealand) for this yearly thread.

I wish I could find a listing of programs who bring in and get hired out assistant coaches. I've been following Gonzaga basketball since the early 80's and am impressed with how the current coach Mark Few handles losing so many. It's as if assistants come here knowing they will get a shot somewhere else. I'm guessing Few always has multiple applicants and gets the pick of the litter. 
4/14/2011 2:36 AM
it wasn't that long ago when UMass was ranked #1
 
I guess they can't expunge the old rankings...just the wins...
4/14/2011 9:47 AM
Posted by dacj501 on 4/14/2011 9:47:00 AM (view original):
it wasn't that long ago when UMass was ranked #1
 
I guess they can't expunge the old rankings...just the wins...
LOL!!!
4/14/2011 11:01 AM
Posted by jenningss on 4/14/2011 2:36:00 AM (view original):
1st, thanks alblack (actually my brain sees allblack and goes to lazy images of vacationing in New Zealand) for this yearly thread.

I wish I could find a listing of programs who bring in and get hired out assistant coaches. I've been following Gonzaga basketball since the early 80's and am impressed with how the current coach Mark Few handles losing so many. It's as if assistants come here knowing they will get a shot somewhere else. I'm guessing Few always has multiple applicants and gets the pick of the litter. 
You would think that all assistant coaches are looking for a head coaching position, but that isn't always the case.  There are programs that have a lot of assistants that go on to become head coaches.  But there are other programs that seem to hold onto their assistants for a long time.  Roy Williams seems to have a very loyal staff who are content where they are.  And Coach K hires former Duke players who seem to stick around forever.

I guess some coaches like the security of the program and job and like the are where they and their families live.  Some, like Chris Collins at Duke, may be waiting in the wings with hopes or a promise of being the next head coach at some point.  Other assistants are more on the head coach career plan and they also seem to be the coaches that are quick to leave one head coaching position for another at a drop of the hat.   
4/14/2011 11:21 AM (edited)

As a follow-up:

 

Doug Collins doesn't want son to follow Mike Krzyzewski at Duke

By Erick Smith, USA TODAY
 
Chris Collins played four seasons at Duke and has been an assistant coach at the school for the past 11 years, making him a possible successor when Mike Krzyzewski steps down.

 But don't count Doug Collins as one of those people that wants his son to eventually become the Blue Devils coach.

Speaking on the Dan Patrick radio show, the veteran NBA coach wasn't enthusiastic about the possibility of his son dealing with the pressure of the job.

"I would not recommend my son to take that job. They still talk about John Wooden at UCLA. I think that to follow a Coach K I don't know how you could do that. I just think that would be an incredibly tough job, especially for a young coach who hasn't been a head coach. So I think you're going to see eventually Chris go somewhere else. I don't think you're going to see him sit around and wait."

Previous Duke assistants have reached various levels of success venturing out on their own.

Mike Brey has had strong runs at Delaware and Notre Dame, while Tommy Amaker has had mixed results at stops at Seton Hall, Michigan and Harvard, and Quin Snyder struggled after initially winning at Missouri.

The future for Johnny Dawkins, who just finished his second year at Stanford, is uncertain.

4/14/2011 11:19 AM (edited)
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Syracuse assistant Rob Murphy will become the next coach at Eastern Michigan. 

Sources told FOXSports.com that Murphy, a Michigan native, accepted the job on Tuesday afternoon.

Murphy has spent the past six years on Jim Boeheim’s staff. He was also an assistant at Kent State under Jim Christian and a successful high school coach in Detroit with Detroit Central and Crockett Technical High. 

Murphy also helped land Wes Johnson, who transferred from Iowa State and became a lottery pick after just one season with the Orange. 

---this is great for Coach Rob, but it sucks for us here in SU land coz Coach Rob was the mixmaster responsible for penning and dropping our new theme song every season...oh wait, since that was getting kinda corny in its 2nd year already, maybe that doesn't suck. Him not being here to land guys like Wes Johnson does suck though. GL Coach.
4/19/2011 7:01 PM
Mitch Henderson, an assistant at Northeastern for the past 11 years, is returning to Princeton to coach his alma mater.  He played on the 1996 team that upset UCLA in the NT, and on the 1998 that eliminated  UNLV.
4/20/2011 5:36 PM
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has hired Dane Fife as an assistant coach.

The former Indiana player was 18-12 last season at IPFW  (Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne) in his sixth year as coach of the program. Fife was hired at IPFW in 2005, making him Division I basketball's youngest head coach at 25 years old.

Fife's brother, Dugan, played at Michigan St, as did his father

4/20/2011 5:39 PM
IUPUI (Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ.  at Indianapolis) has promoted 16-year assistant Todd Howard to head coach for 2011-12
4/20/2011 5:44 PM

Kennesaw St. has hired Penn St. assistant Lewis Preston as head coach. Before going to Penn St., he was an assistant at Florida and Notre Dame. Preston has a background in academic improvement that the Owls need

The accountability is necessary because Kennesaw State has failed to meet the minimum score in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate in the last two reports and expects to lose scholarships and practice time as part of historical penalties when the next set of scores come out later this year. The APR uses a formula to track students' academic progress over a four-year period. A perfect score is 1,000. The NCAA demands a minimum score of 925. The Owls posted scores of 883 (2008-09) and 843 (2007-08) the past two years.

4/20/2011 5:48 PM
Stetson University officially announced the hiring of Casey Alexander as the new head basketball coach today.

Alexander has been an assistant coach at Belmont University in Nashville for the last 16 years,

4/20/2011 5:50 PM
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