(Some) UK fans getting their wish???

[flyer85]

I agree w/ everything you just said here, RL. I can't imagine Matta or Donovan wanting to leave the top programs they've built to come to a pressure-cooker job like KY's. I think it would be foolish. I guess stranger things have happened though.

if you can recruit and coach it isn't a pressure cooker. If you are the coach at UK you can walk into any recruits house anywhere in the country.

The pressure cooker comes if you are not up to the task. For whatever reason the recruiting at UK has really fallen on some hard times(for their standards) in the last 3-4 years.

[WMR]

We won't "run anyone off" if they play the caliber basketball the elite programs of the nation expect. It doesn't mean the Final Four every year like moron talking heads suggest. But 25 losses in two years and back to back 8 seeds all the while claiming "I don't see the problem here" ISN'T Kentucky-caliber basketball. I'm sure UNC, Kansas, UCLA, Indiana wouldn't expect any different.

Great news and good for Tubby, he needs to go somewhere like Minnesota.

Flyer is spot on.

[Sweetstop]

Oh, please, there is constant pressure, even if you CAN "recruit and coach".

Recruiting has been brutal lately, I agree.

[paintmered]

UK is a step up from tOSU in the world of college basketball.

Couldn't that be said of tOSU and Eggsavier as well?

[BRM]

Couldn't that be said of tOSU and Eggsavier as well?

I think that may have been his point. He jumped from Xavier to Ohio State because it was a step up in prestige. What would stop him from jumping up another notch and going to UK?

[BuckeyeRedleg]

Donovan and Matta coach at schools was basketball is behind the football programs and it will always be.

And if you are getting paid (check), have top facilites (check), and don't have issues landing top recruiting classes (check) having a program that is not under the microscope with a football program that defelcts much of the attention is a perfect situation for some coaches.

All the positive that comes with being the man at a university also comes with some stresses. Ask Jim Tressel if OSU goes 8-4 this year. Columbus will not be a very cozy place. Tubby knows first hand.

As for UK, it is a top 5 prgram of ALL TIME. I wouldn't say it a top 5 prgram now, but that can change in two years with the right guy. If the money were thwe same and I was Donovon, (like Matta at OSU) I personally would not leave Florida.

My guess is that Kentucky lands Calipari. He's got just the ego to want that job.

[WMR]

Pat Riley???

[BuckeyeRedleg]

He's a snake. Never say "no way" when talking about Matta.

Seriously. Is this necessary?

[dabvu2498]

And if you are getting paid (check), have top facilites (check), and don't have issues landing top recruiting classes (check) having a program that is not under the microscope with a football program that defelcts much of the attention is a perfect situation for some coaches.

All the positive that comes with being the man at a university also comes with some stresses. Ask Jim Tressel if OSU goes 8-4 this year. Columbus will not be a very cozy place. Tubby knows first hand.

As for UK, it is a top 5 prgram of ALL TIME. I wouldn't say it a top 5 prgram now, but that can change in two years with the right guy. If the money were thwe same and I was Donovon, (like Matta at OSU) I personally would not leave Florida.

My guess is that Kentucky lands Calipari. He's got just the ego to want that job.

Kentucky will pay more than Ohio State for a hoops coach (see Tubby's $4 million dollar bonus).

It wouldn't surprise me if UK ends up with Coach Cal. However, he's going to ask for a guarantee that anyone he recruits will be admitted to the University (he did when he applied at NC State). I'm not sure UK will go for that.

[Blimpie]

Pat Riley?

Glory Road, part deaux?

I'm thinking no.

[Red Leader]

And if you are getting paid (check), have top facilites (check), and don't have issues landing top recruiting classes (check) having a program that is not under the microscope with a football program that defelcts much of the attention is a perfect situation for some coaches.

All the positive that comes with being the man at a university also comes with some stresses. Ask Jim Tressel if OSU goes 8-4 this year. Columbus will not be a very cozy place. Tubby knows first hand.

As for UK, it is a top 5 prgram of ALL TIME. I wouldn't say it a top 5 prgram now, but that can change in two years with the right guy. If the money were thwe same and I was Donovon, (like Matta at OSU) I personally would not leave Florida.

My guess is that Kentucky lands Calipari. He's got just the ego to want that job.

Only basketball threads would find me agreeing with an Ohio St. fan.

That whole first paragraph is what I was trying to say before. Why leave an awesome job that has minimal stress, people treat you like a god, and you can still pull national talent at will for a job where people are going to ride you from the minute you step on campus to win a national championship, and YOU actually have to recruit your butt off to turn the program around, and THEN you actually have to coach your butt off to get them there.

Me, I'm naturally kind of lazy. I'd stay at OSU or FLA. History and tradition are nice, but so is being treated like a god instead of getting death threats for the same salary, if not a tad less.

[dabvu2498]

Only basketball threads would find me agreeing with an Ohio St. fan.

That whole first paragraph is what I was trying to say before. Why leave an awesome job that has minimal stress, people treat you like a god, and you can still pull national talent at will for a job where people are going to ride you from the minute you step on campus to win a national championship, and YOU actually have to recruit your butt off to turn the program around, and THEN you actually have to coach your butt off to get them there.

Me, I'm naturally kind of lazy. I'd stay at OSU or FLA. History and tradition are nice, but so is being treated like a god instead of getting death threats for the same salary, if not a tad less.

Some people (usually high-performing coaches) love that kind of pressure and seek it whenever possible.

Seeing if you could rebound (not rebuild) a program that is, historically, a top 5 program, would be a great challenge for a guy that's already taken an above-average program to near greatness.

Guys like Matta and Donovan thrive on that stuff, particularly when they're compensated like they would be at UK.

[BuckeyeRedleg]

Red Leader, we're Reds fans first here, brother. That's what got us here.


There is also something to be said for building (and maintaining) your own dynasty program.

The big five of all time (in no particular order) are:

Kansas
North Carolina
Duke
Kentucky
UCLA

FWIW, I'd put (in no particular order) Indiana, Louisville, and UConn in the next tier, followed by OSU, UC, Arkansas, Arizona, Syracuse, and Oklahoma State in the next tier after that.

As for the big 5, the only current coach that pretty much put that team in that upper-tier (dynasty) category is Coach K. If a coach follows him, they are following a legend. UK, UCLA, and Kansas are all programs where other names were responsible for putting them on the map. Even Roy Williams, for as great of a coach as he is, will always be under Dean Smith's shadow. Anyone at UK will play in Rupp arena under that shadow. UCLA with Wooden. Kansas with the father of basketball - Naismith. Coach K. and Knight at IU pretty much made a name for themselves.

Matta is at a university with decent if not good tradition, but the big name at OSU, Fred Taylor, is no Rupp, Wooden, or Naismith. He has the ability to make OSU his. If he were somehow able to make a run like K has had at Duke, you can bet he will elevate his program into that upper tier and it will be his. As long as the money is the same, unless you played for or grew up in the vicinity of one of these traditional powers, why bother? It's the coaches that lay the foundation or take it to the next level that have the buildings named for them long after they've gone - sometimes, even while they are still coaching.

[Matt700wlw]

Pat Riley?

Glory Road, part deaux?

I'm thinking no.

Wouldn't shock me if he got a phone call....I can't see it getting any further than that.

[WVRed]

I realize this will draw pitchforks from the Buckeye fans, but count me in the category who do not want Thad Matta anywhere near Lexington.

For somebody who is coming from the Atlantic 10 to the Big 10, lands a top two recruiting class last year, a top 10 this year, and a loaded class already for 2008, it leads me to think one of two things are happening.

1.Thad Matta is a great recruiter and can sell ice to eskimos.

2.There are some major recruiting violations that haven't been uncovered yet at Columbus.

For a team to get top recruits and to become that good as quick as Ohio St has done it, it always leads to these type of questions. I wouldn't take an oath on it, but I wouldn't be surprised either.

I do have a feeling that a lot of coaches are going to be pulling a Rich Rodriguez and using the Kentucky situation to get big time contract extensions.