Ranking the Big 10 Basketball Coaching Jobs (Chicago Tribune)

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...tball-coaches-ranked-photos-photogallery.html

Considering how Penn State has actually successfully started to tap into the Philly talent recently, I'm kind of surprised they ranked Nebraska ahead of PSU.

 

[Harry Caray]

Yeah, I'd say the fact that we're the only team who hasn't won an NCAA tournament game means we are the school that is toughest to win at. Add in that we have no recruiting base and there's a more succcessful program one hour down the road. We do have money, but so does everyone else now with the BTN.

Is Indiana really the easiest school to win at? IU basketball seems a lot like Nebraska football - passionate fan base, and won a lot of games a long time ago because of a legendary coach who was there a long time. But now that that coach is long gone, doesn't really have any advantages that other schools don't.

Maryland has won a National title more recently and is located in a recruiting hotbed. It should be the easiest place to win in the conference.

 

[chicolby]

But fire the guy who is here because it should be easy to win at Nebraska. Look at what happened in Minnesota and Northwestern!

There are two ways to dig out of being the bottom two coaching jobs in a conference. 1) stick with a guy and hope he turns the culture or 2) go get a shady guy who pulls recruits illegally.

I choose path one and think we can turn the corner.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

But fire the guy who is here because it should be easy to win at Nebraska. Look at what happened in Minnesota and Northwestern!

There are two ways to dig out of being the bottom two coaching jobs in a conference. 1) stick with a guy and hope he turns the culture or 2) go get a shady guy who pulls recruits illegally.

I choose path one and think we can turn the corner.

Minnesota and Northwestern hired young coaches with a name, not a dude from Colorado St.

 

[NU 71 72 74]

The top 9 on the list are plums -- not a bad one among them. A guy could build a national championship program at any of them.

.02

and, Go Cats !!

 

[Harry Caray]

But fire the guy who is here because it should be easy to win at Nebraska. Look at what happened in Minnesota and Northwestern!

There are two ways to dig out of being the bottom two coaching jobs in a conference. 1) stick with a guy and hope he turns the culture or 2) go get a shady guy who pulls recruits illegally.

I choose path one and think we can turn the corner.

Nobody said it should be easy. But if a guy can coach, you should at least see consistent improvement. And any program should expect better than 4 losing seasons in 5 years. Even Collier and Sadler didn't have that many losing seasons here.

 

[huskerbaseball13]

But fire the guy who is here because it should be easy to win at Nebraska. Look at what happened in Minnesota and Northwestern!

There are two ways to dig out of being the bottom two coaching jobs in a conference. 1) stick with a guy and hope he turns the culture or 2) go get a shady guy who pulls recruits illegally.

I choose path one and think we can turn the corner.

How many losing seasons do you stick with a guy like that? All the while when the team continues to do the same crap over and over and over again.

 

[schuele]

But fire the guy who is here because it should be easy to win at Nebraska. Look at what happened in Minnesota and Northwestern!

There are two ways to dig out of being the bottom two coaching jobs in a conference. 1) stick with a guy and hope he turns the culture or 2) go get a shady guy who pulls recruits illegally.

I choose path one and think we can turn the corner.

So if the program can somehow sink from 13th to 14th, that would be grounds for a lengthy contract extension?

 

[jlb321]

Major investment in the program + coaching salary of 2 million

We don't have to be a perennial tourney team but after 5 years there should be some definitive progress ... There hasn't been

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Nebraska is ranked to high on that list.

 

[Red Steve]

Remind me again how we finished the second half of the past 3 seasons!!!! Same coaches back next year. YEA!

 

[artguy68]

But fire the guy who is here because it should be easy to win at Nebraska. Look at what happened in Minnesota and Northwestern!

There are two ways to dig out of being the bottom two coaching jobs in a conference. 1) stick with a guy and hope he turns the culture or 2) go get a shady guy who pulls recruits illegally.

I choose path one and think we can turn the corner.

I think maybe, juuuussstt maybe, there are more than only those two choices.

 

[chicolby]

I think maybe, juuuussstt maybe, there are more than only those two choices.

Fair enough, but a program like Nebraska just isn't going to land an established high achieving coach from a P5 program. So they are pulling from successful mid-tier programs or assistants from established programs. While Collins is the coach du jour as a hot assistant, I can point to several assistants who didn't get it done when given the opportunity to run their own program.

 

[artguy68]

Fair enough, but a program like Nebraska just isn't going to land an established high achieving coach from a P5 program. So they are pulling from successful mid-tier programs or assistants from established programs. While Collins is the coach du jour as a hot assistant, I can point to several assistants who didn't get it done when given the opportunity to run their own program.

...and if you try, you can also point to many who succeeded. If making a change were guaranteed to work, everyone would do it. What we do know is that the status quo is not working. Nevertheless, I agree that he should have one more year.

By the way, did anyone else notice that Colorado State was 24-12 and in the NIT this year? Maybe we should hire their coach.

 

[jlb321]

Fair enough, but a program like Nebraska just isn't going to land an established high achieving coach from a P5 program. So they are pulling from successful mid-tier programs or assistants from established programs. While Collins is the coach du jour as a hot assistant, I can point to several assistants who didn't get it done when given the opportunity to run their own program.

Yep. Going to be tough to find the right coach. But you don't keep a guy who has made no progress in 5 years just because the next guy might not work out. I would say 5 years is a reasonable time frame to show improvement. After 5 years we remain the lowest of the bottom feeders among major conference programs. We survive on the feces of the other bottom feeders.

The program is an embarrassment to the people of the state, the university and a black eye to the entire conference. The fact we aren't making a change after a 12 win season is evidence that athletic department just doesn't give a damn. Foolish that we flushed all that money we put toward the arena, practice facilities etc. rather than directing it to volleyball, football or other worthwhile endeavors.

 

[schuele]

By the way, did anyone else notice that Colorado State was 24-12 and in the NIT this year? Maybe we should hire their coach.

Eustachy isn't funny, never Tweets and doesn't make fans feel like they're his BFF. He's not even from a small town in South Dakota, for God's sake - so we'll have to pass.

 

[huskerfan1414]

Fair enough, but a program like Nebraska just isn't going to land an established high achieving coach from a P5 program. So they are pulling from successful mid-tier programs or assistants from established programs. While Collins is the coach du jour as a hot assistant, I can point to several assistants who didn't get it done when given the opportunity to run their own program.

And I can point to one coach who isnt getiing it done at a P5 program right now. Tim Miles.

 

[schuele]

Meanwhile Central Florida - a mediocre team, but one that specializes in perimeter defense - has somehow found a way to shut down Illinois - which just a couple of weeks ago was deemed the greatest 3-point shooting machine this side of the Golden State Warriors.

 

[St_Henry_Buckeye]

Yeah, I'd say the fact that we're the only team who hasn't won an NCAA tournament game means we are the school that is toughest to win at. Add in that we have no recruiting base and there's a more succcessful program one hour down the road. We do have money, but so does everyone else now with the BTN.

Is Indiana really the easiest school to win at? IU basketball seems a lot like Nebraska football - passionate fan base, and won a lot of games a long time ago because of a legendary coach who was there a long time. But now that that coach is long gone, doesn't really have any advantages that other schools don't.

Maryland has won a National title more recently and is located in a recruiting hotbed. It should be the easiest place to win in the conference.

I bet IU fans wish their program was in a recruiting hotbed.

 

[chicolby]

This team lost a bona fide 20 pt scorer to transfer. They also beat Indiana and Maryland on the road then lost Morrow to injury where they turned around and went 1-7 in his absence. I'm not excusing Miles for losing White but these circumstances played a big role in the outcome of this season and I would argue that things could have ended quite differently. This team has more talent than we've seen in several years and while the conference returns a lot of talent we've seen Minnesota turn around a program in a year.

Next year will be a big year no doubt but I dont think we will see a repeat of this season.

 

[Cornicator]

This team lost a bona fide 20 pt scorer to transfer. They also beat Indiana and Maryland on the road then lost Morrow to injury where they turned around and went 1-7 in his absence. I'm not excusing Miles for losing White but these circumstances played a big role in the outcome of this season and I would argue that things could have ended quite differently. This team has more talent than we've seen in several years and while the conference returns a lot of talent we've seen Minnesota turn around a program in a year.

Next year will be a big year no doubt but I dont think we will see a repeat of this season.

I was willing to give Miles a pass for the very reasons you mentioned. But I changed my tone after the final 3 weeks of the season. Tim completely lost his team down the stretch. They were competitive well into February, and seemed ready to push towards a .500 finish. Then all of a sudden, the wheels came off.

Talent is one thing. X's and O's or game management is another. But when a team stops playing hard for their coach, it's done.

 

[tpmcg]

3 straight losing seasons are hard to justify. compelling reasons to let it linger? i guess. just hope the extra year doesn't cost us a coach we coulda had.

 

[chicolby]

In my opinion the team did give up late, but I didn't see it as much giving up on the coach as simply human nature of striving for .500 and when it was no longer in their sights they lost their will and frankly ran out of gas. Maybe that's on Miles to keep them going but ultimately I do think human nature kicks in.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Human nature is to quit? Not in my world

I would rather you have said this team was just outplayed than to say they had their will broken. A team that quits once will quit again. We can only hope they don't get off to a slow start next year because the season will be over quickly.

 

[chicolby]

When your goals are no longer achievable, combined with not having the horses down the stretch, yes I do believe it is human nature to quit even subconsciously. I'm proud of you for never quitting and I think it would have shown great character if they would have kept playing at a high(er) level once their goals were no longer achievable but they didn't.

 

[huskerbaseball13]

This team lost a bona fide 20 pt scorer to transfer. They also beat Indiana and Maryland on the road then lost Morrow to injury where they turned around and went 1-7 in his absence. I'm not excusing Miles for losing White but these circumstances played a big role in the outcome of this season and I would argue that things could have ended quite differently. This team has more talent than we've seen in several years and while the conference returns a lot of talent we've seen Minnesota turn around a program in a year.

Next year will be a big year no doubt but I dont think we will see a repeat of this season.

The excuses have been plentiful for the past three years. What you leave out is we were 11-12 when Morrow provided minutes(still under .500.) Last year White WAS on the team and Tim Miles produced a 16-18 season with another second half collapse going 4-8 in the last half of the Big 10 and three of those wins were over Rutgers/PSU. In addition, rumors swirled that White looked to transfer due to Miles. Considering the lack of production and progression on offense under Tim Miles, I really can't blame him.

 

[schuele]

Next year will be a big year no doubt but I dont think we will see a repeat of this season.

So if the team is .500 or worse overall next year and finishes in the bottom half of the conference, is it time for Miles to go? Or should we just fall back on the "Dana Altman won't come here and nobody else will take the job" rationalization?

 

[rrdls]

Indiana obviously produces a large number of Division I players, with neighboring states of Illinois and Ohio also producing a lot of Div I kids. The problem with Crean is that he alienated Indiana high school coaches and could not longer get Indiana studs to go to IU. He signed Farrell and Zeller, and that is it. Blackman had a number of quality offers, but he is a pretty one dimensional player-- good shooter but turnover prone and doesn't play defense.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

When your goals are no longer achievable, combined with not having the horses down the stretch, yes I do believe it is human nature to quit even subconsciously. I'm proud of you for never quitting and I think it would have shown great character if they would have kept playing at a high(er) level once their goals were no longer achievable but they didn't.

Wow. Not sure I am buying the goal is not in reach stuff. The team was 12-14 and 6-8 in the league with 4 games left coming off a win at Ohio St. .500 overall and upper division finish was well within reach.

 

[BroskiRed]

A dagger was thrown at the end of Nebraska's page on that article that there was "no recruiting radius to speak of: trending down". I never really thought about that before as it pertains to basketball. You could make the argument easily that Nebraska in basketball recruiting doesn't even have a pipeline into its own borders. How much does a lack of recruiting radius affect the overall product on the court? Kind of like Timmy recruits guys to nowhere land: there is no homegrown talent/culture, there is no winning history. There's only the fans and the conference that you're selling to guys, and that you might maybe get some transfers to have a cup of coffee in the NBA, or Syracuse

 

[schuele]

Wow. Not sure I am buying the goal is not in reach stuff. The team was 12-14 and 6-8 in the league with 4 games left coming off a win at Ohio St. .500 overall and upper division finish was well within reach.

Yep. Coming off that win in Columbus, most people had pretty realistic expectations about the remainder of the schedule. Go 2-2 down the stretch and get one win in the Big Ten Tournament, and the Miles diehards would have been demanding an extension for him because of how he held the team together and posted a decent finish. But completely crap the bed by going 0-5, getting blown out twice at home and getting bounced in the bunny round in DC? Why, heavens to Mergatroyd, none of that's on Miles! The players just got tired and succumbed to human nature.

 

[chicolby]

There's a lot of heated and angry feelings on here. Yes the team sucks. Miles sucks. It's an embarrassment to the entire state. Burn down the whole program.

Jeezus. I'm merely suggesting a point of view of how things went south. You disagree. I get it.

 

[Mr.Scary13]

Yeah, I'd say the fact that we're the only team who hasn't won an NCAA tournament game means we are the school that is toughest to win at. Add in that we have no recruiting base and there's a more succcessful program one hour down the road. We do have money, but so does everyone else now with the BTN.

Is Indiana really the easiest school to win at? IU basketball seems a lot like Nebraska football - passionate fan base, and won a lot of games a long time ago because of a legendary coach who was there a long time. But now that that coach is long gone, doesn't really have any advantages that other schools don't.

Maryland has won a National title more recently and is located in a recruiting hotbed. It should be the easiest place to win in the conference.

Indiana is loaded with talent in high school basketball.

 

[schuele]

There's a lot of heated and angry feelings on here. Yes the team sucks. Miles sucks. It's an embarrassment to the entire state. Burn down the whole program.

Jeezus. I'm merely suggesting a point of view of how things went south. You disagree. I get it.

So who brought the issue of firing Miles into this thread in the first place?

Don't go out of your way to start an argument, then squeal when it happens.

 

[St_Henry_Buckeye]

Indiana obviously produces a large number of Division I players, with neighboring states of Illinois and Ohio also producing a lot of Div I kids. The problem with Crean is that he alienated Indiana high school coaches and could not longer get Indiana studs to go to IU. He signed Farrell and Zeller, and that is it. Blackman had a number of quality offers, but he is a pretty one dimensional player-- good shooter but turnover prone and doesn't play defense.

Well said and very true.

 

[chicolby]

So who brought the issue of firing Miles into this thread in the first place?

Don't go out of your way to start an argument, then squeal when it happens.

Seems relevant when a neutral party calls the Nebraska job 13th out of 14 teams in conference and yet everyone wants to find the silver bullet coach to come in and fix things. I didn't know I was squealing.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Seems relevant when a neutral party calls the Nebraska job 13th out of 14 teams in conference and yet everyone wants to find the silver bullet coach to come in and fix things. I didn't know I was squealing.

so why aren't we paying 13th or why don't we have 13th best facilities or 13th best budget?

 

[huskerbaseball13]

Seems relevant when a neutral party calls the Nebraska job 13th out of 14 teams in conference and yet everyone wants to find the silver bullet coach to come in and fix things. I didn't know I was squealing.

Miles has played a large part in that current ranking. NW would not have been ranked top 10 pre-Collins. Do you think Nebraska would be ranked 13th had Miles capitalized off year two? No. No need for a silver bullet coach....but you can't go 41-55(19-40) and expect for the fans to think that the guy who produced that record will magically turn things around in due time. Especially when that guy's team continues to look lost on the offensive end of the court AND the one thing he says he's building his program around(defense) was equally as bad down the stretch.

 

[schuele]

Seems relevant when a neutral party calls the Nebraska job 13th out of 14 teams in conference and yet everyone wants to find the silver bullet coach to come in and fix things. I didn't know I was squealing.

The OP didn't say anything about Miles. The second post didn't say anything about Miles. But you saw the article as yet another great opportunity to wag your finger at everyone who just isn't as good a fan as you are. So if you want to do that, fine. But don't get all pissy about it when people talk about how the season went completely down the crapper and they don't buy your shopworn excuses for why it happened.

 

[PeliniTheCrutch]

so why aren't we paying 13th or why don't we have 13th best facilities or 13th best budget?

Boom.