Marshall is from South Carolina, so that may pull a few strings. From reading other teams message boards, Marshall is choice A, B, C, and D for the Gamecocks.
Shaka to Illinois has been mentioned given the ties of Illinois AD to Smart when both worked together at Akron I believe.
Calipari is Exhibit A, B and C.
It's amazing how many guys who had mid-major success have flopped when they hit the "big time." Someone before mentioned Monson. Add Horn, Todd Lickliter, Jerry Wainright, on and on.
Would certainly give you pause if you had a really good thing going at a mid-major and got a job offer at a place like South Carolina or Nebraska.
That said, I think Illinois can be a big time program again. It has some advantages (tradition and a recruiting base) those other two places don't. And Shaka is as good a guy as any to give a shot there.
When all is said and done more is said than done.
The more I listen to coaches, the more I think one major difference between them and the vast majority of schlubs isn't in basketball knowledge but in an overwhelming confidence and optimistic outlook. The down side to this is they are never satisfied if there is a bigger challenge to conquer.
Part of the reason Shaka Smart has been successful is that not only did he not look at VCU going to the Final Four as impossible, but he was so confident in his own ability and in his team that he was able to inspire them to believe it as well.
This leads to the peter principle of coaching, but I simply don't think high level performers are hard wired to seriously contemplate what will make them fail.
While that may indeed be part of it, basketball is perhaps the most difficult game to coach properly. In baseball, there's not much you can do as a manager to change the game. Same thing in football, largely. In soccer, either your guys can play or they can't.
But in basketball, the right coach makes his team much better, IMO. The mismatches and alternating styles of play a coach can employ make it so, I think. You could theoretically go (or go against) 2-3 zone, 3-2 zone, 1-3-1 zone, 3-2 zone trap, 2-3 zone trap, man-to-man full court, full press, deny press, deny man-to-man, goal line man-to-man, deny the post, not to mention all the trick or garbage defenses like box and one or triangle and two.
You have to prepare your guys for all of it and have a system in place for all of it. You also have to recognize when to substitute, when and how much to needle the refs, when to call time-outs, et al.
I've coached football, baseball, and basketball, and the latter is definitely the most challenging.
Oh sure, I don't mean to make it sound as if it's not challenging. But there's no specific knowledge coaches have which can't be learned. It's not as if a coach has devised a system that can't be defeated, or else everyone would be mimicking the system.
What makes coaches successful(in all walks) is their ability to clearly communicate whatever strategy they are using and to get their players to perform that strategy.
My larger point was that it's next to impossible to ask a "hot commodity" coach to consider the chances of success, because if they had spent much time contemplating their relatively low chances of success, they'd never have gotten to the point where they were a hot commodity.
Everyone's favorite, Rick Stansbury, is allegedly out at Mississippi State.
When all is said and done more is said than done.
Now HE will have a front row ticket if he wants to watch UK games...yes sir!
...(Quote at presser before UK game this year) Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury took a couple of shots at his former player Twany Beckham today. As reported by the Courier Journal, Stansbury said:
“I saw his stats the other day in SEC play. Did he make one or attempt one shot?”
This was then followed by:
“He’s seeing some pretty good basketball. He’s getting a front-row ticket every night. Yes, sir.”
Karma.....sucks!
1st pick of the 2023 baseball amateur draft
Shaka Smart turned down Illinois. So did Anthony Grant, allegedly. Where do the Illini turn from here?
When all is said and done more is said than done.
I've heard Reggie Theus's name mentioned for the Illini job. The next coach needs to recruit the Chicago area more successfully than Weber, or it will not matter who the next hire is.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
I'm surprised Shaka turned down Illinois, I would have thought they'd have everything he'd want. good for VCU.
Would Brad Stevens take the gig, knowing that IU isn't going to open up anytime soon now that they've turned the corner.
Wichita State's head coach?
I've seen rumbling of Brian Gregory, but that doesn't make much sense
Chris Mooney? Scott Drew? Steve Alford?
Turns out Cuonzo Martin might want the Illinois job. That would be a good hire for them.
And it would please me greatly to have him gone from the SEC. He knows what he's doing.
When all is said and done more is said than done.
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