mes102

I'm sure they talked this weekend in-person. You would not believe what it's like at the Final Four, men's or women's. It's like a coaching version of a political party convention. The networking that goes on at these final fours for coaches is just incredible. It was a brilliant idea that our AD went down there this weekend. Example of what I'm talking about:

Whoever said Paris preferred UT-Chattanooga over Akron? I'm not going to wait around for someone to offer me a job if someone else is already offering me one. Plus, if we did offer one, I'm sure ours was a 3 year deal and Chattanooga's was a 6 year deal. More security to leave Wisconsin. That's IF we did. Goodman's tweet said Paris was the frontrunner from the time the Chattanooga job opened.

Already done. I sent him one about McDevitt this morning and one originally with the 34 names I came up in the middle of late Monday night/early early Tuesday morning when KD left. Hoping that that would give him a decent head start on some names for the search firm, etc. For the people that were wishing they would be hearing things right now. I look at it in these two ways: 1. We probably won't hear anything until Tuesday morning at the earliest. With the national title being tomorrow night, I see a lot of candidate and reference in-person interviews going on as we speak in Phoenix. 2. I consider this the "calm before the storm". It's only a matter of time before we get bombarded with rumors all over the place. EDIT: LZip just answered what I was about to answer..

All of that information is from the person I talked to about McDevitt. Just voicing on who I think should be our next head coach. And by the way, if he's not our next head coach, then whenever our next head coach is announced, you will not see the name Nick McDevitt in another one of my posts. Unless in a couple years we have another coaching search

I was skeptical too if he would leave. Didn't we think the same about Dambrot though? Also, I brought this up to the person close to the UNC-Asheville program if he thinks McDevitt would leave. He says not only can he see him leave, he believes that it's only a matter of time before someone hires him away, He feels it will be either this off season or next off season, someone will hire him away from UNC-Asheville. He even said that he stopped by McDevitt's office to say hello and visit, when he got "one of those phone calls" and asked him to leave for. Do I see him leaving for Akron? Maybe not. Do I see us have a chance though? Absolutely. If people close to him thinks he can leave, then I think it's possible. We won't know unless we give him a call. And hopefully, Larry Williams already talked to him in Phoenix. McDevitt left a couple days ago for Phoenix.

No lol...I just went through a list of 34 names, cut it down to fifteen, then ten, and then five the night and day after the Dambrot announcement. I researched those five a ton and thought McDevitt as the best fit for the program after Dambrot. Plus, I ended up talking to someone on twitter that I didn't realize was very connected with the UNC-Asheville program, and he told me a lot of information about McDevitt, so it's easy for me to mention McDevitt's name as an example. I know it looks like I'm his relative or his agent or someone else close to that, but I just think he's a good example of a coach we SHOULD be getting, and it's easier for me to keep mentioning him than to keep saying the same traits I'm looking for in a coach over and over again. I'm not used to us having a basketball opening. I guess I'm so locked in on McDevitt, I know it might not happen, but if we get a coach very similar to him. I'm okay with it.

There are some head coaches at DI level that would take this job. For example, I know for a fact that McDevitt is taking phone calls from other schools. The right situation, he will leave. We have three times the budget than UNC-Asheville. We also have more seating, a better conference, better tournament site, and he would at least double his current salary if he came to Akron. Remember, the median MAC salary is $220k-$240k while McDevitt is currently making $114k.

After losing to Mississippi State last night in the Final Four, Geno Auriemma is now in Phoenix. He has decided to make the move to men's basketball, and is willing to take an assistant position to learn the men's game for a year or two. I heard Tom Crean paid for his hotel room and Tom Crean is bringing Geno to his meeting with Larry Williams today.

Could always name it after Fred. Wonder what he would be thinking right now...

I am mostly on point with all three of you here. Ran out of likes. I never watched the Duquesne press conference and never will. If I'm flipping channels and I see Duquesne is on, my remote will continue to flip to the next channel. Time to move on. Akron will still be suiting up next year, with or without any of the staff or players from this past season. Our goal should be to support those that stay and also the new coaching staff.

Certainly a name to consider, but I want someone with successful DI head coaching experience already. Not an assistant coach learning on the job.

72Roo, I think you made a few good points, but a few emotional points as well. First, Dambrot didn't take the first train out of town. He took the second train out of town. South Florida wanted him, and he turned them down. I do agree with you that the biggest factor of getting this team to the NCAAT was Dambrot. He got outcoached in all three games. We just had enough talent to get through the first two. I have no problem saying this now, because he's no longer here. But one of my closest friends was in a class that was being led by Jim Tressel. Dambrot came in as a speaker. I was told that Dambrot compared himself to Coach K at Duke by saying this(I'm completely paraphrasing here. It was obviously a few yrs ago): "I'm a better coach than Coach K. If Coach K was at Akron and I was at Duke, who would have the better team? Of course it would be Duke. I have to do more with less, unlike Coach K." Sure, for the first year or two, Duke may have a better record. But after that, Coach K would be getting better recruits so....Besides, Coach K is Duke...not the other way around... Then, I knew Dambrot's ego was less humbled than I expected. And I've seen it show up numerous times in press conferences. Since then, I knew that all these years of having the best MAC team and not making it to the NCAA Tournament, was going to take a toll on his ego. To me, it was only a matter of time before he bolted. I just never thought it would be Duquesne. I thought it would be a place like Dayton.

You can add coaching staff to that as well.

I understand it's more complex than that. Did I ever say "every time" at all? There's certain parts of the game that adjustments are made. Maybe because I'm a coach at the high school level, I can see more specific details and what adjustments are being made and which ones are not being made. I'll give you an example: Our MAC semifinal game, Ball State was fronting Big Dog and having someone behind him for the help side. That's why we had so much trouble getting it into Big Dog. Our adjustment should have been flashing Big Dog to the high post(near the elbow/free throw line). It would have made Ball State have to stop fronting Big Dog all the way out there. Or at the very least it would open a lob pass to Big Dog because there would be too much space for the help side defender to effectively help on Big Dog while also seeing the person they're actually defending. It leaves backdoors open and possible high low actions. We never really did that. And then when I hear Dambrot say in the postgame that it doesn't matter where Big Dog is, we need to give him the ball, which explains all the turnovers trying to force it in to Big Dog. It frustrated me that we never went to the high post in that game. To me, that was as simple as an adjustment as you make in a game. And we were lucky Ball State couldn't hit a shot in the last few minutes. Also, a lot about adjustments is not reacting to what is going on, but being one or two steps ahead on what's about to happen. A lot of times as a coach, you can see something coming after you spend so much time scouting the opponent and then see things play out in the game. My main point to oldschool was that if he can base off of one game of a halftime score and who had the superior talent be the "better" coach, than I can base my "adjustments" on one play-by-play box score. One of the main reasons why I choose McDevitt over Stewart is the OOC schedule. Stewart has coached against 5 power five schools , and McDevitt has coached against 10 power 5 schools. And if you count Villanova and Georgetown as power 5, then mark that as 12 power 5 schools. Like you said, Stewart has superior talent than McDevitt has, which makes it more impressive that UNC-Asheville has been losing to some of these Power 5 schools by small margins. Like 46-60 at Georgia, 77-79 at Ohio State, 78-82 at Tennessee, and 79-73 win at Georgetown.

He was most likely prepared for those two starters not to play. I'm talking more in-game adjustments. Plus, if his son wasn't going to go with him to UT-Martin and commit to Ole Miss anyway, what makes you think he would de-commit from Ole Miss and come to Akron with his father? Too many variables there. Stewart isn't a dumpster fire pick. I would be okay if Stewart is the guy. But Nick McDevitt is still my first choice, and one of very few guys that would entice me to buy season tickets.

Difference is Stewart has only been at UT-Martin for four years and Wyoming for 4-5 years. Everywhere else was just 2 or 3 years. I much rather have a guy that did more with less at UNC-Asheville while being there for 20 years and being consistent for the past four years as a head coach, compared to someone that has only been at UT-Martin for two years as an assistant and two years as a head coach. McDevitt is someone I can see to take Akron to the next level. That won't happen in just two years, which seems to be the track record of Stewart to bolt somewhere else(like it would be here since he's only been a head coach at UT-Martin for two yrs). I don't get that "Caleb Porter" instinct with Stewart as I do with McDevitt. Even though Stewart is from Ohio and McDevitt is not, I just talked to someone very close to the UNC-Asheville program that says McDevitt does have former players and coaching connections in Ohio. So it won't be like McDevitt would have a big disadvantage like many may think he might if he comes to Ohio. EDIT: It was 48-29 at halftime, so not sure how that's a 25 point difference(last time I checked, 48-29=19). Plus, I looked at that box score, McDevitt and UNC-Asheville cut it down to 9 before UT-Martin hit free throws down the stretch, So the fact that UT-Martin almost let that game be that close down the stretch, tells me that McDevitt made the in-game adjustments to get his team back into the game, 71-80, with two minutes to go. It was also 50-58 with 11 minutes left in 2nd half. That's a 21-10 run to start the 2nd half. Sound like halftime adjustments to me. That also tells me that Stewart didn't make good counter in-game adjustments. I don't think I need to say this, but I don't think I'm the only one that wants a coach that can make solid in-game adjustments, not someone that can't counter in-game adjustments. We just had that.

Let me rephrase my post. I don't think McDevitt would go to the extreme that Charlie Coles did, but if you see the schedules I posted above, I think that was a good balance. He's closer to scheduling OOC opponents like Coles than Dambrot, which I think is good for our program.

UNC-Asheville's schedule the past four years(the years McDevitt's been the head coach there) along with some notable games: 2013-2014: http://uncabulldogs.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=126 @ Kentucky, @ Duke 2014-2015: http://uncabulldogs.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=129 @ Wake Forest, @ South Carolina, 2015-2016: http://uncabulldogs.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=132 @ Tennessee, @ Texas A&M, vs Drexel, vs Middle Tennessee, @ Georgetown 2016-2017: http://uncabulldogs.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=134 @ VCU, @ Georgia, @ Kansas, @ Ohio State, vs Siena, vs UNC-Greensboro

That's why McDevitt is my top choice. If you skip to 27:00 in this clip (http://www.hipcast.com/podcast/H1tJ6XnG), this guy is not afraid to bulk up on OOC opponents like Charlie Coles did at Miami. Interview was 29 days ago.

Nick McDevitt, finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year award http://uncabulldogs.com/news/2017/3/30/mens-basketball-mcdevitt-chosen-as-finalist-for-skip-prosser-man-of-the-year-award.aspx "One example of McDevitt's involvement in the community is that he recently showed off his Subway Sandwich Artistry skills at the Subway restaurant on 740 Merrimon Ave., Merrimon Square, Asheville, NC 28804. The special appearance by McDevitt at Subway was part of an effort to help raise awareness and support for the fight against cancer through the Coaches vs. Cancer campaign. Bulldog fans, normal Subway lunch lovers and even some of McDevitt's own players came out to support the tremendous cause during McDevitt's appearance from 12-1 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1. Sporting a blue UNC Asheville Adidas polo, a Subway hat and his own personal Subway nameplate, McDevitt by the conclusion of his time at Subway even had people ringing the bell at the end of the line to denote he had made a perfect sandwich." "Just the third coach in Big South Conference history to win 15 or more games in each of his first four seasons as a head coach in the conference, McDevitt guided the Bulldogs to their second-most wins in program history in a season this year with 23. This year's Bulldog team reached 20 wins faster than any other team in program history in 27 games. McDevitt's program has now collected back-to-back 20-win seasons and made two straight postseason appearances with the Bulldogs playing in the 2016 NCAA Tournament and the 2017 CollegeInsider.com Tournament."

I agree with you on it's important to get the correct coach rather than doing it quick. My point was that if anyone wants to coach in this region of the country as a head coach, we're the only one in the state now, and possibly of the adjacent states as well. My comments were meant to be as a positive, not a negative. This opening is only three days young. It'd be foolish to hire someone this quickly. I think going to Arizona is a brilliant idea. You can have as many interviews as you want in a day compared to having to wait for them to get into town to have maybe two or three in a day. It will be a very productive weekend for us in Arizona, that's for sure.

We're now the last Ohio DI school with a men's basketball opening.

Article/Bio on Mr. Sugiyama http://www.dhrinternational.com/about/news-media/glenn-sugiyama-visionary-collegiate-arena/

Nick McDevitt is still my top choice. Matt Figger was another of my top choices, but he just got hired as head coach at Austin Peay. Baker Dunlevy was my top choice, but he got hired by Quinnipiac before ours opened, so it never was a possibility anyway. If not McDevitt, my next choice would be Lamont Paris. Travis Steele at Xavier too. I want to try and stay away from major power assistant coaches like Jerrance Howard at Kansas. Hard to tell if a move from a penthouse to townhouse would go well(P5 to mid-major analogy if anyone doesn't get it).

Missed opportunity on Matt Figger. It happens. Plenty of solid candidates out there still though.