OSU to hold afternoon press conference with Thad Matta & (AD) Gene Smith

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Sad way to end/stall a career. He has been visibly in pain for a couple of years at least and his health has been a negative recruiting tool for a couples years as well. I would not want to be the school that has its coach poached in June.
 

Holy Man said:
Sad way to end/stall a career. He has been visibly in pain for a couple of years at least and his health has been a negative recruiting tool for a couples years as well. I would not want to be the school that has its coach poached in June.
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Imagine the ripple effect if the Buckeyes are able to reel in Sean Miller. (I don't think they will.) Lots of dominos would fall, and way later in the cycle than usual.
 


builtbadgers said:
Would not surprise me at all if it was Donovan.
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OSU would need to make him one of the top 2-3 highest paid coaches in the country so he wouldn't have to take a massive salary cut. He's making $6M/year with the Thunder, while Matta was in the mid-$3M range at OSU.
 

builtbadgers said:
Would not surprise me at all if it was Donovan.
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Good for OSU. Bad for everyone trying to win the B1G. Would also be Urban Meyer Part II. Maybe Jeremy Foley can be their next AD and Brutus can learn the Chomp.
 


You think coaching the Buckeyes would be preferable to rolling the ball out to Russell Westbrook?

Yeah, it probably would be.
 

Otis said:
You think coaching the Buckeyes would be preferable to rolling the ball out to Russell Westbrook?

Yeah, it probably would be.
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I don't follow the NBA close enough to have any sense of whether Donovan is satisfied in Oklahoma, but even with the longer season, the NBA lifestyle without recruiting and babysitting and piles of PR work may be tough to wrench a guy who is successful from. How many successful college to NBA coaches return to college? I know Calipari and Pitino did but both of them kind of bombed in the NBA. If Donovan ends up in Columbus, another consistent top 10 program in the country is part of the B1G.

I see no way Sean Miller goes to OSU and competes against his little brother. I read one place yesterday that Crean might be a candidate. That would be interesting.
 

Holy Man said:
I see no way Sean Miller goes to OSU and competes against his little brother. I read one place yesterday that Crean might be a candidate. That would be interesting.
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I recently moved to and therefore wear maroon and gold all over Columbus, so I have gotten to hear insight from local media, radio, and casual fans throughout the "resignation". It sounds like the A.D. was on board with Thad coaching next season and evaluating the situation then, and Thad was under that assumption as well. A single booster or two approached the A.D. and indicated the program was not acceptable in its current state and that a change was needed now. Thad then was kindly asked to "resign", though his entire contract will be payed to him in full. It sounds like the program's decline had to do with Thad's health which is too bad, since by all accounts Thad is a genuinely good person.

The majority of fans (co-workers, friends, family, etc.) I interact with seem to be on board and wanted Thad out. Listening to peoples' reactions, it feels somewhat similar to when Tubby left, in that everyone appreciated what the Tubby did for the program, yet there was a stagnation that had set in. A slight majority of fans (IMO) wanted a change, but there was still a decent segment of the base that wanted him to remain. It feels similar here... I think it is important to note that Thad was beloved by everyone, even those who wanted him to be canned. They were simply ready for a change...

It seems that all the local media think the next coach will be, or want the next coach to be Billy D. They think it will be either him or a coach from an established program that you wouldn't expect (i.e. a big name coach with at least a fairly established program). They gave examples of Wright from Villanova, but noted that was just a high target and highly unlikely. A telling quote from their A.D. at the press conference for the firing was that the program is"not where we want it to be in recruiting, in the Big Ten Standings, or in the NCAA Tourney. OSU expects to be competing for national championships every year". That tells me they are going to shoot for the stars. Either Billy D, or another fairly big name coach... We will see...
 

Otis said:
You think coaching the Buckeyes would be preferable to rolling the ball out to Russell Westbrook?

Yeah, it probably would be.
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I think it would be as well.

Personally I'll never understand the desire for college coaches to jump to the NBA. In college you have all the power, control the narrative, etc. Coaching in the NBA is a glorified middle management position, unless you also have control in personnel matters like Pop, Thibs, Doc, SvG, etc.
 

coaching in the nba is the pinnacle of the profession - once you get a taste of that level it seems demeaning to grovel for teenagers at aau games
 

westcoastgopher11 said:
coaching in the nba is the pinnacle of the profession - once you get a taste of that level it seems demeaning to grovel for teenagers at aau games
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That's what I think, too. George Karl also said he did more teaching of the game at the NBA level than there is in college because of coaching contact limitations. I can see how the recruiting game would get old for coaches and would be a carrot to go to the pros (along with bigger paychecks).
 



Exactly. Recruiting is the least favorite thing of nearly every coach. There are a few of the college coaches that will move to the NBA when their kids are grown up. There are pros and cons to both. For sure get to teach more, less time spent on fundamentals as NBA PLAYERS are polished. What happens with recruiting is a joke. Shoe money and handlers have a ton of power and blue blood programs with power coaches have built in advantages.
 

Bold comments from the President of Arizona. Per ESPN:

If Ohio State is interested in Sean Miller as its next men's basketball coach, the Buckeyes will have a battle to bring him in from Arizona.

"The Ohio State University is great university, but they are not going to get Coach Miller," university president Dr. Robert Robbins told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday. "They will have to come over me to get him, as the saying goes, over my dead body."

Miller's name was one of many floated after the Buckeyes cut ties with Thad Matta on Monday and began a national search at a relatively late time in the offseason.

Robbins told the newspaper he takes such rumors "very seriously."

"I just think he is a quality guy," Robbins said of Miller. "I will do everything in my power to try to convince him to stay."

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...-state-buckeyes-hire-sean-miller-my-dead-body

Go Gophers!!
 

I know this is blasphemy but what about Bo Ryan being OSU next coach?

Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk
 




Wow, McDermott would be a really underwhelming hire for the Bucknuts. Hope it happens.
 


Zeppelin Gopher said:
Wow, McDermott would be a really underwhelming hire for the Bucknuts. Hope it happens.
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Agree. I feel like someone is getting played in the media. If McDermott was really offered the job last night, why wouldn't he have taken it by now? Overall that hire just doesn't make a lot of sense.
 

Is OSU basketball really that good of a job? I know they have the money, but it is a football school and has a terrible basketball atmosphere. Their arena is on par with Penn State's and Wisconsin's. Their recent success is all due to the coach, and not because it is a blue blood school or anything. I assume the hire will be very underwhelming considering the names being thrown out there.
 

Mark Titus is a great basketball writer who is plugged in at Ohio State as he played there. He reports that they went straight for jAY WRIGHT. He told them he was not interested. Then they called Bennett and he said no thanks. Mcdermott and Hoiberg said no last night. Becoming a clown show.
 

builtbadgers said:
Mark Titus is a great basketball writer who is plugged in at Ohio State as he played there. He reports that they went straight for jAY WRIGHT. He told them he was not interested. Then they called Bennett and he said no thanks. Mcdermott and Hoiberg said no last night. Becoming a clown show.
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Oh come on, a clown show? Those are four of the top coaching choices any program would want, you always have to swing for the fences to begin. Lets be honest here, coaching at OSU is a pretty dam good gig on the college basketball scene, they are still going to get a solid coach. Those coaches you listed would each turn down basically any other school as well, lets not act like OSU is a "clown show" because of this. Im a gopher fan by the way, just think its uncalled for to act high and mighty in this situation
 

victor04 said:
Oh come on, a clown show? Those are four of the top coaching choices any program would want, you always have to swing for the fences to begin. Lets be honest here, coaching at OSU is a pretty dam good gig on the college basketball scene, they are still going to get a solid coach. Those coaches you listed would each turn down basically any other school as well, lets not act like OSU is a "clown show" because of this. Im a gopher fan by the way, just think its uncalled for to act high and mighty in this situation
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I wouldn't group McDermott in with the other 3 at all. An NBA coach, a national champion coach, one of the most highly respected young coaches in college basketball, and... a guy who's missed the NCAA tourney about 2/3 of the time (despite benefitting from the luck of having a kid who happens to be a star player). Now that they're down to the realistic names, it'll be interesting to see who they get. I would think they'd be able to get Chris Mack, pry him away from a lesser (and much lesser funded) in state school, and that's who I'd be going for if I were them.
 

Holy Man said:
I don't follow the NBA close enough to have any sense of whether Donovan is satisfied in Oklahoma, but even with the longer season, the NBA lifestyle without recruiting and babysitting and piles of PR work may be tough to wrench a guy who is successful from. How many successful college to NBA coaches return to college? I know Calipari and Pitino did but both of them kind of bombed in the NBA. If Donovan ends up in Columbus, another consistent top 10 program in the country is part of the B1G.

I see no way Sean Miller goes to OSU and competes against his little brother. I read one place yesterday that Crean might be a candidate. That would be interesting.
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You must be kidding if you think there is no "babysitting" in the NBA. You think you are dealing with kids with big egos in the NCAA? In the NBA you might have the entire team give up on the coach, and it's not all that uncommon.
 

victor04 said:
Oh come on, a clown show? Those are four of the top coaching choices any program would want, you always have to swing for the fences to begin. Lets be honest here, coaching at OSU is a pretty dam good gig on the college basketball scene, they are still going to get a solid coach. Those coaches you listed would each turn down basically any other school as well, lets not act like OSU is a "clown show" because of this. Im a gopher fan by the way, just think its uncalled for to act high and mighty in this situation
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Yes, I think there are some people being very dramatic about the process and hanging on to all of the twists and turns - I guess it is kind of a slow sports news time. I do not see June as being that bad of a time to make a coaching change, although outsiders seem to think so because of some unwritten rule that "firings are supposed to happen in March or April" as if it makes that much of a difference to wait two months.

Myron's genius column called the firing a mess and said the coach never got a chance to fight for his job - that is flatly false, as Matta was put on notice I'm sure by the dreaded "vote of confidence" in March that things needed to improve, but instead of improving the downward spiral continued even worse, as Matta lost two key starters "early" for different reasons, lost his top recruit in the future, and in spite of "trying" to get a few players he failed to get a single additional player committed for next season at a time when he had only 9 scholarship players. Yet Myron also called the decision 2 months too late - as if that would've been fairer to Matta to have less of a chance to fight for his job? AD Smith gave Matta a chance to right the ship, but the damage was done in the last two months, there was no chance Matta would have a successful season in 2017-18 with two key personnel losses combined with the failure to land impact freshmen or transfers. So 2017-18 was going to be a lost season regardless, and doing it now at least gives them time to get a new coach in with time to evaluate and target 2018 prospects in the key July recruiting period, knowing that they have at least five open scholarships to offer the class in addition to the one commitment they have now.
 

WanderingGopher said:
I wouldn't group McDermott in with the other 3 at all. An NBA coach, a national champion coach, one of the most highly respected young coaches in college basketball, and... a guy who's missed the NCAA tourney about 2/3 of the time (despite benefitting from the luck of having a kid who happens to be a star player). Now that they're down to the realistic names, it'll be interesting to see who they get. I would think they'd be able to get Chris Mack, pry him away from a lesser (and much lesser funded) in state school, and that's who I'd be going for if I were them.
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Supposedly Mack is not in play. It seems like Holtmann is gaining some traction lately. But this situation is fluid, seems to change by the hour.
 

WanderingGopher said:
I wouldn't group McDermott in with the other 3 at all. An NBA coach, a national champion coach, one of the most highly respected young coaches in college basketball, and... a guy who's missed the NCAA tourney about 2/3 of the time (despite benefitting from the luck of having a kid who happens to be a star player). Now that they're down to the realistic names, it'll be interesting to see who they get. I would think they'd be able to get Chris Mack, pry him away from a lesser (and much lesser funded) in state school, and that's who I'd be going for if I were them.
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I don't think there is as good of a chance at this as you think. Xavier can probably boost his pay to $2-2.5 mil and he went to Xavier himself. Hard to pull someone away from a school that they attended.
 

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