coolhandgopher
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I'm linking a little nugget from Gary Parrish about Oregon assistant Kenny Payne, former Louisville Cardinal and buddy of "World Wide" Wes, flying to Lexington over the weekend to talk with Coach Cal about joining the staff of the Wildcats. In some ways, the timing for the union is perfect (Oregon's undergoing a staff change with the firing of Ernie Kent and the hiring of Dana Altman), but it leads one to wonder, why hasn't this occurred before? And why now-if WWW is indeed the puppet master everyone makes him out to be, why centralize your power and influence just in Lexington? Here's my wild theory:
* Coach Cal and WWW are indeed trying to link up with Lebron and place Cal wherever Lebron may land. With head coach openings in Cleveland and Chicago the possibility exists.
* If and when Cal gets hired in the offseason, it will be at a very inopportune time for Kentucky to hire a proven head coach. In addition, Payne has a connection not just with prized recruit Terrance Jones, but he's also got WWW on his side, who I'm sure has had conversations with Brandon Knight, Enes Kanter, or at least their people about how solid Payne is. . .
* And a similar conversation will happen with Kentucky's AD Mitch Barnhardt when Cal leaves and Kentucky seems to be scrambling. WWW and/or Cal will tell him, 'you want to keep this team together? Make Payne your head coach'.
* WWW will then claim quite an off season-matching up Lebron and Cal in the city of their choosing while also procuring one of the elite college basketball jobs in the nation for an assistant coach who's never been a head coach before.
* Precedent? When Bob Huggins left Kansas St. after one year, Frank Martin stepped in (along with Dalonte Hill), kept Michael Beasley's commitment intact and has went on to pretty good success at the other Manhattan.
Crazy? Probably, so please just forget this if the Bulls, Cavaliers and whoever hire their next head coach not named Slick Cal. But if I'm right, remember where you heard it first
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...yne-visits-kentucky?tag=pageRow;pageContainer
* Coach Cal and WWW are indeed trying to link up with Lebron and place Cal wherever Lebron may land. With head coach openings in Cleveland and Chicago the possibility exists.
* If and when Cal gets hired in the offseason, it will be at a very inopportune time for Kentucky to hire a proven head coach. In addition, Payne has a connection not just with prized recruit Terrance Jones, but he's also got WWW on his side, who I'm sure has had conversations with Brandon Knight, Enes Kanter, or at least their people about how solid Payne is. . .
* And a similar conversation will happen with Kentucky's AD Mitch Barnhardt when Cal leaves and Kentucky seems to be scrambling. WWW and/or Cal will tell him, 'you want to keep this team together? Make Payne your head coach'.
* WWW will then claim quite an off season-matching up Lebron and Cal in the city of their choosing while also procuring one of the elite college basketball jobs in the nation for an assistant coach who's never been a head coach before.
* Precedent? When Bob Huggins left Kansas St. after one year, Frank Martin stepped in (along with Dalonte Hill), kept Michael Beasley's commitment intact and has went on to pretty good success at the other Manhattan.
Crazy? Probably, so please just forget this if the Bulls, Cavaliers and whoever hire their next head coach not named Slick Cal. But if I'm right, remember where you heard it first
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...yne-visits-kentucky?tag=pageRow;pageContainer