Dave in Green

@zipdiehard, you can believe whatever you choose to believe. But I can find no data that supports that low-ball Xavier men's basketball budget that you want to stake your bet on. The most recent reference to Xavier's basketball budget came in a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article less than a week ago that gave the budgets of all Atlantic 10 teams from the 2006-07 and 2010-11 seasons. Xavier's increased 24.6% from $3,154,000 to $3,929,000. In fact, there are many references on the internet to Xavier's basketball budget being just under $4 million. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on that number. Duquesne hoops budget doubled

I don't pay much attention to aw-shucks coach talk about fan expectations. What's important are the goals the coach and team set for themselves. Everyone here supported the goal of KD and the team to make it to the Sweet 16 this season, right? Heck, KD has nowhere near the aw-shucksiness of Coach Bowden, who appeared to be doing a little fan expectation lowering today in Zanesville: "Our goal this year is to win one more game than last year," Coach Bowden said. Bowden excited about Zips' future

Whoa there on Xavier. There's conflicting data on that. Your link shows Xavier with a way low 2010 basketball budget of $1,645,652, while the link below has the following to say about Xavier: Xavier has sixteen intercollegiate sports, none of which are American-Style Football (it dropped the program in 1973 because it was losing the school $200,000 per annum). Over the following 20 years -- and this is the genius part -- Xavier made a major push towards building one of the best men's basketball programs in the country. Of those overall athletic expenses, nearly $4 million -- a full 30 percent of X's athletic expenses -- are now spent on men's basketball. That's the largest percentage of any school in Division I. (Similarly football-free Gonzaga spends 23 percent, by comparison.) Xavier: It's a Basketball School, Dammit Big difference! Also, I count dozens of "BCS" schools below Gonzaga in the numbers you linked to, including some perennial powers such as tOSU, Something tells me the good Captain will be keeping his clothing on and walking shoes off.

@GP1, as good as that turnaround in season record was, Cooper was also pretty good at getting his team up for the big games: Perhaps TSU's most impressive victory this past season came on Feb. 9 when it defeated seventh-ranked Murray State, 72-68. The loss was only one of two in `11-12 that was suffered by the 31-2 Racers. Cooper's team nearly earned a berth in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, losing at the hands of Murray State by a score of 54-52 in the OVC Tournament final.

Cooper not only has a fine coaching record, but he has to be the MAC's first head basketball coach who was a Rhodes Scholar candidate. I'm impressed.

Good info. This is another area where Coach Bowden brings an advantage to UA. Most of the big-name coaches are at the top football programs which are loaded with talent and wouldn't have a lot of PT available for transfers. It's the weaker programs which generally have little-known coaches that tend to offer the most opportunity for transfers to earn immediate PT. UA has both a big-name coach to attract transfers and lots of immediate playing opportunities for the right talent. Having Coach Amato as defensive coordinator also adds to the big-name coach attraction, especially for defensive player transfers. This is going to be interesting to track.

Does anyone on this forum really know for a fact that KD hasn't gotten an offer for more money from a bigger program than Duquesne, or is this an assumption based on the fact that no previous offer has showed up on Twitter?

KD is running the UA basketball program exactly the way UA wants him to run the basketball program. If he was doing something they didn't like, they'd instruct him to change. If he didn't, they'd replace him.

The term mid-major is used in various contexts these days, clearly lacking a concrete definition. While some coaches and players find it to be a demeaning term akin to the minor leagues, others, such as college basketball blogger and author Michael Litos, believe there will never be a precise definition and that the term is used out of convenience to describe teams with fewer financial resources. Mid-major madness

KD has done a lot of the things that some of his biggest critics have requested. The Zips need to bring in quality transfers if they can't get enough quality players directly out of HS. KD brought in three good ones. The Zips need more athletic players. KD brought in a bunch of them. The Zips need a tougher OOC schedule to get a higher RPI. KD scheduled a top 100 SOS for the first time this season and earned an RPI in the 50s for the first time. When considered objectively, the efforts to improve the Zips are clear to see. Some of the results are also clear to see. But it's not unreasonable to point out that the big result that everyone wants to see -- winning one or more NCAA tournament games -- has not yet been reached. The real question is whether progress is being made toward the big goal, or if the team is just treading water or slipping backwards. On any issue like this there are going to be disagreements that have been made clear in this thread and previous threads on this subject. It's fair to say that whatever the results, fans always want more. Personally, I'm pleased with some of the results and disappointed with others. But overall I like where KD is taking the program, and the way he's going about doing it. I enjoyed watching this season's team much more than previous editions even if they didn't reach that higher goal we were all hoping for. But I expect to see further improvements next season and beyond. For example, I'd like to see all the players be in better physical condition, especially as it relates to endurance, and I'd like to see them press more on defense and run more on offense. If I ever thought that KD had peaked and that the Zips were no longer making progress toward the next level, I'd join in with those looking for a replacement.

@Big Zip, several times in my professional career I passed up offers for big raises to leave American companies and go to work for foreign-owned companies with operations based in the U.S. I did so because I've always felt a strong sense of loyalty to what I believe in the most, not who lined my pockets with the most money. I'm not as wealthy as I could have been, but I'm comfortable and have a great sense of fulfillment that I did the right thing for me. No regrets.

@Carol, as @bobbyake says, the MAC is a mid-major conference. You can't be a major team in a mid-major conference. But there are always rumors out there that UA is looking to move up. If the Zips moved to a conference like the Big East, for example, they would become a major team overnight. Then the problem becomes one of consistently winning against higher-level competition as the Zips under KD have consistently done against lower-level competition. Becoming a mid-major power by regularly knocking off major teams in OOC play as Gonzaga has done would be a good first step.

KD is a special person. He's fortunate to have his dream job, and UA is fortunate to have him. Ideally it would be great if he could continue to build Zips basketball to a higher level, and then when he eventually retires has a young assistant with the talent and abilities of a Shaka Smart to turn the reins over to.

Coach Bowden has magnitudes greater TV experience than KD. If Coach Bowden does a show, the production values he would demand to do it right could then be carried over to KD's show next season. It would be a win-win for both the football and basketball programs.

The most important thing is to have a better all-around game -- both inside and outside -- and to execute best when it most matters. Clearly, OU has done that better than UA, especially over the last three seasons. The Zips began transitioning this season to more of an inside game from the previous profile of relying heavily on the backcourt's 3-point shooting. Last season the Zips shot 3-pointers 33.6% of the time (43rd in the country) and this season dramatically reduced that to 25.3% (218th in the country). By comparison, OU this season shot 3-pointers 32.1% of the time (71st in the country). Despite the reduction in 3-point shooting, the Zips raised their scoring average from 70.1 per game last season to 72.2 this season. Part of that was due to scoring more shots from mid-range and in the paint, and part of that was raising their average number of free throws attempted from 18 per game to 21.8. An offense more focused on the inside game generally results in drawing more fouls and more free throw attempts. Of course there's more to the game than just the balance of inside vs. outside shooting. For example, OU's quick-handed guards gave the Bobkitties the 3rd highest average number of steals per game of any team in the country. And despite often having four guards on the floor at the same time, OU ranked 76th in the country in offensive rebounds. That's impressive. I give great credit to OU for assembling a nice group of quick, sharpshooting guards, and for executing their game plan extremely well against tough competition. But I like UA's new focus on the inside game even better because inside games are generally more reliable than long-range shooting. The Zips just need to continue working on development of their inside game and execute it better than they did this season.

The only post on ZN.o that I recall sounding like that is one that I made. But it had nothing at all to do with football, facilities, hiring new coaches, etc., etc. It was in a discussion about the NCAA tournament, and was very narrowly aimed at OU's style of relying so heavily on 3-point shooting to win, and how their NCAA tournament run would end when their outside shooting went cold. It was intended to be complimentary of the Zips' new focus on the inside game, which is generally more reliable over the long run than UA's prior reliance on 3-point shooting. Here's a link to the original post for those who might want to consider the statement within its original context. And, by the way, I give credit to OU for staying hotter from the outside longer than I thought they would.

Interesting line at the end of the story: After Tuesday’s practice, Bowden headed off to Western Pennsylvania in a private jet to speak at a leadership conference for FirstEnergy. Beyond just being a great football coach, Coach Bowden's exceptional motivational speaking skills bring an added value to UA and sponsoring companies that few other college football coaches could come close to matching. I just can't get over the total impact Coach Bowden is going to have on UA and the whole Akron area.

Consider that Hilltopper told us his contact at the ABJ told him that they've been planning for quite awhile to refocus their resources more on local stories -- including sports -- than on state, national and world stories. Also, GT was assigned his new beat by the ABJ before Coach Bowden agreed to come to UA. The quality of GT's writing wouldn't be any different if there were a different head football coach. But it's also true that Coach Bowden is one of the most newsworthy and quotable coaches UA could have hired. So, by good circumstance we have an outstanding sports writer covering a UA football program run by an outstanding football coach at a time when the local newspaper is focusing more on local stories. What a great combination!

The following story on Jeff Boals includes the comment that "he's not sure why he wasn't chosen as his alma mater's new head coach." Men's Basketball: Boals Had "Brief Conversation" With Schaus About Coaching Position

So much for the "comparable to his TCU salary" of $600k per year. But even the reported $425k is too much for some at OU: OU Faculty Senate President Unhappy With Coach's Salary

@johnnyzip84, I'm speculating that your speculation is pretty intelligent. Based on KD's statement of going after only 5s and 4s in this class, only two of the eight players identified in the first post of this thread fit that description (Nigel Hayes and Isaiah Johnson). So there should be changes coming in the offers list.

Oops, must be a wire story, as CBS Sports has it wrong, too: Ohio expected to introduce Christian as next coach

The latest ESPN story has a major faux pas, totally missing OU's victory over Georgetown in the NCAA tournament opening round two years ago: Coach Jim Christian leaves TCU

I really appreciate PN7 sticking with UA through a really crappy part of its football history. He looked promising at times and lost at others. It's hard to say how much of that was him and how much was the mess around him. He never gave up trying, and for that he deserves great credit. I sincerely hope he succeeds in whatever comes next in his life.

@UAZip0510, good observation. It's also fair to note that KD turned around a UA program that had not won more than 50% of its games in any of the four seasons before he became head coach. KD built a losing program into a winning program at UA while Christian maintained a winning program at Can't. So their winning percentages tell only part of the story. Another key point is that Christian's Can't teams lost all of their NCAA and NIT games while KD has at least a couple of NIT wins during his tenure. OU fans are not going to be satisfied with anything Christian does during the regular season if he can't at least match what Groce accomplished in the NCAA tournament, just as Zips fans are no longer content with good regular season results without a strong postseason run.