While maximizing wins next season shouldn't be the main priority when looking for a new BC coach, it will be a consideration. If there is one guy who could smoothly transition to Donahue's roster it would be Greg McDermott. If anything McDermott would probably have our team shooting even more 3s and pushing tempo that much more. McDermott's success appeals on many levels. But there are also a few questions that would keep him from being a sure thing.
What you need to know
Although Doug McDermott is carrying this current Creighton team, Greg was winning well before his son reached college. Creighton is his fifth college head coaching job. All stops showed the typical progression until he reached Iowa State. In four years in the Big XII, he never finished the season above .500 and was near the bottom of the conference. When he got a lifeline from Creighton he bailed and jump started his career. The Blue Jays have been very good since he took over with a mix of highly efficient offense and solid defense. In fact, McDermott is proof that you can have a Top 10 offense and still have a Top 100 defense without great athleticism.
Pros
-- Coached at a Jesuit school
-- Recruited at a high level
-- Innovative offense without sacrificing defense
-- Winner at multiple schools
-- Major conference experience
Cons
-- Spent his entire career in the Midwest
-- No more superstar offspring on the way
-- Struggled at Iowa State
Overall
Even without his son as part of a package deal, I am willing to roll the dice with McDermott. He has many of Donahue's positive aspects yet wins at a higher rate and coaches better defense. He's got a longterm deal and now that Creighton is in the Big East, it is a better job than it once was. I have no idea if he would want the BC job. But it wouldn't hurt Bates to reach out.
Posts
22 comments:
Atlanta, your candidates outside of Pearl are nothing to be happy about. Is it that bad out there in the coaching ranks?
Every coach is going to have an Achilles Heel or gap in his resume. The coaches that don't are in other jobs and not looking to move.
Howland is going to be coaching this summer, Bates would be foolish if he didn't reach out.
ATL
How many more profiles do u have in the pipeline?
I agree about Howland - he has to be in the mix. I doubt that this guy would view Creighton to BC as that big a jump for him to take the risk. He's probably waiting for an offer from a traditional hoops power. All BC has going for it is its membership in the ACC.
With Creighton in the Big East now, that job was way more attractive than the BC job. No chance he even considers BC. As for Howland, I don't know if he would be a good choice. UCLA is having much better success this year under Alford than it had in the previous 4 or so seasons under Howland. Ever since Howland had his Final 4 streak in the mid 2000s, he didn't seem to do much after that.
In what universe is BC in the ACC not a big step above Creighton in the new and less improved Big East?
Not good. Nyet. Rejected as a viable candidate.
Next.
I don't know anything about this guy, but he looks like he's ordering two dogs, so he gets a thumbs up.
From the way that the candidates are being grilled, it appears that Donohue is indeed on his way back to 2-25 Cornell. For sure, the king is dead and long live the king". I would hope and pray that the Bates Motel makes a good choice.
I'm obviously in the minority, but I see Donahue getting another year on a short leash. Also...bashing the guy is classless. It was classless to bash Spaz too. It didn't work out for these guys. We change coaches and we move on. Big deal. Focus your venom towards something more constructive. If college sports is the only thing that gets you excited, there's something wrong with you.
Oh and ATL...I check your blog everyday and read it without fail. Keep up the good work. Here's to a big showing for hockey and a big season for bb and fb next year.
Another close loss.
But, hey, we're classy.
There's always that.
Cannot imagine a universe in which Donahue stays, but watching the offensive movement against FSU, it would be interesting to see if they could build on these last few weeks. The defense has been so bad, the team can never grab any momentum, but on night like tonight when they force a few mental mistakes, the motion/reverse/drive-and-kick has been mildly impressive in a where-the-F have you been sort of way.
No way McDermott comes east with the time he has bought in Omaha… it's fun being the only show in a big town.
A couple of other names that may get hot:
John Becker- Catholic U background, but very little HC exp… Mike Lonergan (now at GW) would be a better fit.
Derek Kellogg- UMASS Athletics is a hot mess right now, but the basketball program has thrived despite.
Mark Schmidt- Hard to stay on top at at a place like Bonnie… jump while you have momentum.
Kevin Willard- Results haven't met the expectations yet. Youth is on his side, but think that BC would have same problems they've had under Donahue.
Ed Cooley- Probably not.
Larry Eustachy- Always delivers the goods, not sure his checkered past gets approved.
Tommy Amaker- Ditto
Tod Kowalczyk- Bates will go back to the MAC well to at least investigate. Would be a solid hire that would bring a structured approach, improve the defense. Nobody in the BigTen calling right now.
Tim Cluess- No… don't care if Iona makes a run.
Gregg Marshall- Doesn't hurt to ask
Joe Jones- Fits so many of the desired and required "checkmarks" for BC.
Ben Howland- Blue-collar style meshes well with the caliber recruit BC targets…UCLA slipped away from him at the end because he couldn't adjust to the Blue Chip entitlement. The program would fly under the radar… easily could dethrone aging Boeheim and K in five years.
BC should immediately reach out to Howland and Schmidt, meanwhile building that portfolio of candidates… They will go after someone with HC experience… don't think someone like Hopkins is in play.
This may be a total pipe dream and completely unrealistic, but what about Shaka Smart? I don't know what he's still doing at a mid major since he's probably had a choice of jobs over the past few years, but he would immediately bring legitimacy to our program.
Hard to imagine Shaka Smart coming to BC after having turned down UCLA just a hear ago and re-committing to VCU through 2023. But ... he would be an amazing get.
I wasn't aware of the UCLA offer, but I figured he was pursued aggressively at some point by a big name school. His $1.5 million salary doesn't seem out of reach to surpass with a decent raise(last year Donahue made $1M and we were still paying Skinner $530K), and his wife graduated Harvard, so he has a (weak) tie to the area. Definitely seems quite unlikely and "pipe dreamy" but marijuana laws are loosening around the country.
John Wooden is available.
Bobby Knight is available.
Seriously the best we are going to get is the weirdo down at GW.
Just looking for a sexier alternative to some of the names previously mentioned and a reason to get excited about the upcoming search.
I live in Iowa so I have followed McDermott for several years. He built the Northern Iowa program that has had success in the Mo Valley. Then, he went to Iowa State and completely failed. Not sure what happened there. But, he took the opportunity at Creighton and has once again been a success.
Incidentally, his son Doug was a high school classmate of Golden State's Harrison Barnes. One of the most dominant high school teams I have ever seen.
Post a Comment