2019 Offseason

I started a new thread for this one because it didn’t seem appropriate for any of the existing ones. Interesting news out of Provo today...

@gregwrubell wrote:BYU announces that head hoops coach Dave Rose will hold a press conference today at 1 p.m. MDT on the Marriott Center floor.

Rose out??

Retired...

Yeah, whatever!

As BYU is owned and operated by the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (I hope I got that right as I understand they've been doing some rebranding lately), the search for a new coach will be pretty narrow as the new coach must be a member of that faith.

I have a number of family members who are LDS (that term might be banned now ) and live in Utah, and they're telling me the current head coach at Utah Valley, Mark Pope, can have the job if he wants it.  Pope was an assistant at BYU under Rose for four years, and his Wolverines beat BYU this past November.

PSU coach Barret Peery meets the faith criteria, and I found him to be a likeable guy when we met at the OCAA Tournament a couple of weeks ago, but I would call him a long-shot at this point

CBS' Jon Rothstein is reporting on Twitter that USF's Kyle Smith is finalizing a deal to be Washington State's next coach.  This is a big loss for USF (and the WCC), if true.

Rothstein is also indicating that if Wazzu and Smith do come to a final agreement, USF will promote Associate Head Coach Todd Golden to Head Coach.

PilotNut wrote:CBS' Jon Rothstein is reporting on Twitter that USF's Kyle Smith is finalizing a deal to be Washington State's next coach.  This is a big loss for USF (and the WCC), if true.

Smith was the first choice of a number of us to come to UP when Rev was let go, but he chose USF instead, and I don't think he ever interviewed at UP.

As a Washington taxpayer, I would still like to know who pays for all these coaches' salaries?

The recent firing Ernie Kent comes with a significant price tag as "the Cougars" will have to buy out the remainder of his contract, which was set to expire after the 2021-22 season..."someone" is on the line to pay Kent $4.2 million over the next three years....is it the taxpayer?

The WSU AD, Pat Chun said, “There’s always a cost. And there’s a cost with action, and there’s a cost with inaction,” Chun said. “And we made the decision the cost of inaction was going to be higher than the cost of action.”  Really, who is this "we" you are talking about, "quien no sabe," and who is paying for this "action?"

DD wrote:As a Washington taxpayer, I would still like to know who pays for all these coaches' salaries?

Umm...you do, bunky.

Just be thankful they and you don’t live in Oregon and you don’t have to pay their Pers until they die (cough...Chip Kelly)

Geezaldinho wrote:

DD wrote:As a Washington taxpayer, I would still like to know who pays for all these coaches' salaries?

Umm...you do, bunky.

Just be thankful they and you  don’t live in Oregon and you don’t have to pay their Pers until they die (cough...Chip Kelly)

Chip Kelly worked for UO for six years, two of them as an assistant coach. I hardly think his benefits will break the bank, when he starts to collect them. Mike Bellotti, on the other hand, worked twenty-two years at UO, sixteen as the head coach or AD level, and collects about $46K a month. He was getting the third largest payout, after a couple OHSU docs.

How about Oregon's Howard Hobson? Eighty years ago today he coached the UO "Tall Firs" to the first national championship, by beating Ohio St. 46-33.

Not sure if Howard qualified for PERS, but he didn't pass away until 1991 at age 88....

Geez, were you and Howard classmates?

DD wrote:Geez, were you and Howard classmates? Razz

No, I was East back then. But he said he looked up to you flying those Nieuports.

Even if Coach Rose had not retired, Yoeli Childs would likely have announced his plan to hire an agent, leave BYU, and seek an NBA career as he did today.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900062688/yoeli-childs-leaving-byu-declares-for-nba-draft-with-intent-to-hire-an-agent.html

His wife, Megan, a volleyball player at Utah Valley, will also likely forego her senior season...

Three years ago, when 3.7 star PG Kendall Small transferred from Oregon after an unremarkable freshman year, his potential created quite a stir at the mid-major level, but as he grad-transfers from UOP this spring after averaging 18 minutes and less than 3 points per game in his RS junior year, it doesn't seem such a big deal.

PilotNut wrote:CBS' Jon Rothstein is reporting on Twitter that USF's Kyle Smith is finalizing a deal to be Washington State's next coach.  This is a big loss for USF (and the WCC), if true.

Kyle Smith moves from San Francisco, where the median price of a home is around $1.3 million, to Pullman where a nice house will set him back close $250,000.  Not sure what he'll buy with the reported $8.4 million over six years he'll get at WSU, but I doubt he'll be home much to enjoy it if he is to improve the fortunes of Cougars basketball.

It's good to see a WCC coach finally move to another head coaching job.  Check me on this, but the only two I can remember doing that over the last 20 years are Lorenzo Romar from PU to St. Louis (but now he's back at PU), and Jan Van Breda Kolff who went from PU to St. Bonaventure (where he lasted two years).

DD wrote:Check me on this, but the only two I can remember doing that over the last 20 years

Dan Monson just makes the 20 year threshold.
He’s moved to two more head coaching jobs.

PilotNut wrote:Rothstein is also indicating that if Wazzu and Smith do come to a final agreement, USF will promote Associate Head Coach Todd Golden to Head Coach.

Yup, that's what happened, former SMC point guard, Todd Golden, is now the head coach at USF.

Golden spent the last three years as the associate head coach at USF, and before that he was the DOBO for one year and then an assistant for another year under Bruce Pearl at Auburn.

My memory of him at SMC is he just didn't miss behind the arc and at the free-throw line...

Geezaldinho wrote:

DD wrote:Check me on this, but the only two I can remember doing that over the last 20 years

Dan Monson just makes the 20 year threshold.
He’s moved to two more head coaching jobs.

Oh yeah, that one should have popped from my memory first, but it honestly seems a lot longer than 20 years that Coach Few has been at the helm in Spokane.

Monson was to save Minnesota, but as I recall, the academic scandal left by the previous coach ultimately made the task just too difficult.  Now he gets paid for all the numerous away-games that Long Beach St. plays.

I don’t think the academic scandal was all of it. As I recall, Minnesota had just lost 5 games in a row when he resigned , the most they had lost in a row in 40 years. Attendance had halved.

We should have such problems.

Coaches tend to come and go, and former NBA coaches don't have a great record in the WCC, and certainly not at UP, but here's one NBA coach I would welcome to the Bluff....

https://twitter.com/i/status/1111003206195314688

I believe being a UP Alum and having a genuine good feeling for the school and the basketball program would make all the difference in the world, especially to the young kids who recognize Spoelstra as a guy who coached some of the best of all time...

DoubleDipper wrote:

I believe being a UP Alum and having a genuine good feeling for the school and the basketball program would make all the difference in the world, especially to the young kids who recognize Spoelstra as a guy who coached some of the best of all time...

Young kids recognize he coached some of the best of all time because, well, he coached the best of all time.

How that translates to recruiting competitive talent in the WCC is another issue.

The pitch we got for the coach we have now is that he could open doors.

As much as I would love to see Spoelstra here as a coach, I think that Pat Riley really likes him too much to let him go -- even if the Heat have not been as competitive since LeBron left. Spoelstra has done a fantastic job coaching the talent he has in Miami on the X's and O's. One or two bad seasons will not doom him like it has doomed other coaches around the league.

They are currently fighting for a playoff spot in a rather exciting NBA season thus far. I am going to be bold and predict that they will make it in as the 8th seed.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:As much as I would love to see Spoelstra here as a coach, I think that Pat Riley really likes him too much to let him go -- even if the Heat have not been as competitive since LeBron left. Spoelstra has done a fantastic job coaching the talent he has in Miami on the X's and O's. One or two bad seasons will not doom him like it has doomed other coaches around the league.

They are currently fighting for a playoff spot in a rather exciting NBA season thus far. I am going to be bold and predict that they will make it in as the 8th seed.

He should be on any search committee for either a coach or how to get out from under this mess

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:As much as I would love to see Spoelstra here as a coach, I think that Pat Riley really likes him too much to let him go --

Yeah, it was really just in jest that I mentioned Spoelstra would be the one NBA coach we could consider based upon our NBA to UP track record to this point.

I think if he were to ever consider coaching at UP, it would be more as a "hobby" during his retirement years.

Obviously, the next UP coach needs a number of positive qualities (and players) to be successful, but what UP doesn't need is (another) coach who's taken the job as a hobby.  UP needs a young up-and-comer who will turn the program around, get the team in the Dance, and move on to a Power-Six conference school.

Sounds easy...

DoubleDipper wrote:UP needs a young up-and-comer who will turn the program around, get the team in the Dance, and move on to a Power-Six conference school.

Wash, rinse, repeat, every 5 years.

Jeff Goodman wrote:Nevada’s Jazz Johnson has entered the transfer portal, source told @Stadium. Averaged 11 points per game this past season.

Source: https://twitter.com/GoodmanHoops/status/1116147015870709761

DoubleDipper wrote:I have a number of family members in Utah, and they're telling me the current head coach at Utah Valley, Mark Pope, can have the job if he wants it.  Pope was an assistant at BYU under Rose for four years, and his Wolverines beat BYU this past November.

As expected, Mark Pope is the new BYU coach...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2019/04/10/mark-pope-named-head-coach-at-byu/39328667/

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:

Jeff Goodman wrote:Nevada’s Jazz Johnson has entered the transfer portal, source told @Stadium. Averaged 11 points per game this past season.

Jazz said:

Only natural to see what my options are after a coaching change. It doesn't mean I am leaving.
I really do love this community and don't want them to think this means I'm gone. Only doing what's best for my future.

http://nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporters/nevada-sharpshooter-jazz-johnson-enters-ncaa-transfer-portal