New Coach

[LUSportsFan]

[quote author=eagle eye link=topic=38953.msg1#msg1 date=1392832964]
You have to be careful judging where a guy hails from because in the case of Abatemarco he was on Jim Valvano's staff when they beat Houston for the 1983 NCAA title. When Abatemarco came here he tried to act like Jimmy V but he managed to make everyone mad starting with insulting Patrizi's saying it wasn't real Italian food. The job done at NC State was more about Jimmy V than any of the assistants. Green has been a head man and had a lot of success. If he's willing to leave after 14 years I see very little, if any, downside. I have no issue with some of the other names on the list. Personally, I'd rather get a guy like Green who has been a head coach and has WON. I think the Pat Foster reference is a little lame because I don't think Foster was all that good at recruiting. He inherited a good team from Billy Tubbs and rep of Lamar and the strength of the Southland Conference it aided the recruiting. He inherited a good teams from Guy Lewis at Houston and the program went downhill. Both programs had some success but the talent level waned. Seriously, I would still like to ring Jerry Everett's neck for personally blowing a 7 point lead with just over a minute left in the game vs Tenn-Chattanooga in the 1984 NIT at home before losing in overtime. BTW, at the time Foster received a lot blame for not pulling in the reins on Everett who kept running down the court and taking long shots without running time off the clock. Even today I'll bet people who were there can't fathom what Everett and Foster were thinking. Again, this was before there was a 3-point shot. That's four possessions minimum and Lamar couldn't hold the ball or the lead when Tenn-Chatt sank a layup at the buzzer to for overtime. Sheesh, I was a kid and I'm still mad about that.
[/quote]

Agree about Everett, but I think criticism of Foster is a little harsh. It's true he inherited a good team here, but he kept it going with tournament appearances every year here (2 NCAA's and 4 NIT's...should have been 3 NCAA's). Other coaches have inherited good teams and the program goes in the dumpster (example Billy Kennedy at A&M who took over a 24-9 team after Mark Turgeon left and had a 14-18 record the next season). With Foster, we didn't miss a step.

Guy Lewis's last two years at Houston were 16-14 and 14-14. UH finished tied for 5th and then 6th in the Southwest Conference Lewis's last two years. Foster missed a tournament his 3rd season at UH, but Houston went to a tournament every other year (3 NCAA's and 3 NIT's).

It is interesting that 3 out of 4 of the most recent UH NCAA tournament teams were coached by Foster. His last two years at UH were 25-6 and 21-10 so he hardly left the program in shambles. The only losing seasons he had in his head coaching career were his first and last years at Nevada. That's 17 winning seasons and 2 losing seasons. His main knock is that he didn't have any Final Four appearances, but that could be said of just about every NCAA coach. Coach K, Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, John Wooden, and Guy Lewis's good years are the exception.

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[Knightman]

I would feel pretty comfortable with any coach that Lamar decides to go with as the full time coach, as long as it ain't Tic Price, because of his previous incident at Memphis, he is a winner, and I am sure that he would a great job recruiting, but...

Go Lamar!!!!!!!!!!!!

Knightman

[Cardinalrule]

Why are we still discussing this. I already found our next coach. Let's go ahead and get rid of Tic "Don Jon" Price and hire Green. It isn't that complicated. :D

[LAZEEK]

You found??

[coachacola]

Too bad Lamar didn't hire Green instead of Knight three years ago. They better not make the same mistake.

[Cardinalrule]

[quote author=LAZEEK link=topic=38953.msg57153#msg57153 date=1392857106]
You found??
[/quote]

No need to split hairs :

[Cardinalrule]

[quote author=coachacola link=topic=38953.msg57154#msg57154 date=1392858586]
Too bad Lamar didn't hire Green instead of Knight three years ago. They better not make the same mistake.
[/quote]

No kidding! It will be interesting to watch how we screw up this search process

[West]

Steve Green is a no-brainer hire here. He is a tireless recruiter, proven X's and O's guy, and he still has quite a few friends in Beaumont.

However, I hear his wife has a pretty great job at South Plains which could explain why he has been rooted there for so long

[Cardinalrule]

[quote author=West link=topic=38953.msg57159#msg57159 date=1392883848]
Steve Green is a no-brainer hire here. He is a tireless recruiter, proven X's and O's guy, and he still has quite a few friends in Beaumont.

However, I hear his wife has a pretty great job at South Plains which could explain why he has been rooted there for so long
[/quote]

Money talks. If we want someone worth a damn...spend a little money. Or go get a hot shot super recruiter assistant coach (like we've done in the past) and watch him fail. Or maybe a 60 something with baggage who was a one year wonder and watch him fail. The one thing we haven't done is gone after a good JUCO or lower division head coach. And when someone throws names out like Kasper, and the ex SHSU coach, and NWSU's coach, that is enough for me. Those guys have been great and have kicked our asses for years.