Who should be the new coach?

[geezer]

I might not want Price as the permanent coach, but if that what comes I will still go support the players just like I have through this years debacle even though I don't think several of our current players are D1 caliber. We just need the program to win consistently. Everything else will take care of itself including opportunities for better coaches in the future.

[austin badbyrd]

I think the fans are loyal, but we want to see the best team we can field. I do not favor keeping Price or any coach currently on the staff. We need to start fresh with a new philosophy and energy. We can only go up from here, can't go any lower.

[geezer]

In many ways I would agree with the idea of a fresh start, but I will give Price credit for getting this bunch to play with a much higher energy than what I saw for most of the year. I think he has changed up the offense to take better advantage of the skills that these players have. I was out of town for the Sam game, so I don't know if he tried to start changing the offense immediately or if he waited until after the Sam game. I would suspect the latter as he needed that first week to learn the players and the players adjust to him. I would hope that LU conducts a serious search for the next coach, but believe me LU could do much worse than Price.

[Cardinalrule]

[quote author=geezer link=topic=38970.msg57464#msg57464 date=1394166112]
In many ways I would agree with the idea of a fresh start, but I will give Price credit for getting this bunch to play with a much higher energy than what I saw for most of the year. I think he has changed up the offense to take better advantage of the skills that these players have. I was out of town for the Sam game, so I don't know if he tried to start changing the offense immediately or if he waited until after the Sam game. I would suspect the latter as he needed that first week to learn the players and the players adjust to him. I would hope that LU conducts a serious search for the next coach, but believe me LU could do much worse than Price.
[/quote]

Who would be worse? Can we actually hire someone in prison?

[geezer]

If you are referring to his personal life off the court as in the affair at Memphis, you might be right and that is the main reason I would prefer LU finds someone else. But if you are trying to refer to his on court abilities, he actually was reasonably successful, especially at UNO and Memphis. I wasn't that impressed with him at McNeese but I think he won the series between Cowboys and Cards while he was there.

[TexGator]

I don't want a guy who is "settling for Lamar" because he needs to resurrect his reputation. We've had 2 of those in the last 4 hires and neither turned out well after year 1 (both had a great Year 1, though).

While I love Billy Tubbs, when LU and Deane parted ways, Josh Pastner would have taken the job and a 5-year contract. Then, when Roccaforte took the job, Pastner was still willing to take the job (just with an easier buy-out if someone bigger called). Where is Pastner now- oh yeah, he's the HC at Memphis.

Grab a good assistant who will give us 3-5 years of ascension... if they leave, we're in a position to get a better guy than we are now... retreads rarely work out on the low-seed-college level (when your conference tournament champ can only muster 13-16 seeds, you're not getting the good retreads).

[NorthoftheBorder]

TexGator, to your point that we have passed over really good coaches, the list of coaches we could have and should have hired through the years instead of who we did hire is mind boggling in their success!!! We need to understand this: if the poeple who were hiring (our beloved AD's and University Presidents) were running a "for profit" enterprise and they made as bad a decision's hiring key people as they have head coaches they would have long ago been bankrupt and out of business!!! Must be nice to be in the public funding world!!!

[TexGator]

[quote author=NorthoftheBorder link=topic=38970.msg57472#msg57472 date=1394208909]
TexGator, to your point that we have passed over really good coaches, the list of coaches we could have and should have hired through the years instead of who we did hire is mind boggling in their success!!! We need to understand this: if the poeple who were hiring (our beloved AD's and University Presidents) were running a "for profit" enterprise and they made as bad a decision's hiring key people as they have head coaches they would have long ago been bankrupt and out of business!!! Must be nice to be in the public funding world!!!
[/quote]

Let's not make the for-profit comparison. For-profit entities don't pay CEOs and high execs 90% of their budget.... as well as dozens of other differences.
What I think we need to focus on is understanding WHO Lamar is and who it isn't...
Lamar IS:
- a one-bid conference school that is one of the "haves" in their conference
- a school with a strong fan base that will follow and support the program when it's winning
Lamar IS NOT:
- a step away from major conference status
- a school who can pay top-dollar to steal a coach from another school

[eagle eye]

I'm not big on the shoulda, coulda, woulda game but Texgator has a point. Lamar has missed on some opportunities for whatever reason and it has not turned out well. Can we do a better job of hiring? That's the question the basketball program has been asking since Pat Foster left and that's about the last time Lamar has been consistently relevant. Who you hire is everything and we've seen that. Rhode Island, Buffalo and yes Memphis are prime examples of what hiring the right guy can mean. Lamar may never be a top 10 seed in the NCAA's but there's enough evidence out there that Lamar keeps shooting wide of the mark. Maybe this new administration can actually do a deal with a quality coach. Don't be surprised if Tic Price is the guy. There are those on this web site who are getting behind Price. There are still others who don't want Price at all. It's a hard decision but again, Texgator has a point. If this was a private school the people who hire the athletic coaches may not have a job if it's based solely on the basketball coach hires. We need to focus on what we have, the best basketball facility in the SLC, a loyal fan base and safe community to live in and a good academic school to get an education. I don't want the job to go to somebody's buddy or an assistant with no head coaching experience or a loser with a famous father. Been there, done that.

[LAZEEK]

I am not sure who the right guy is or isn't, but one thing for sure is the kids who will be getting recruited don't care what a coach did or did not do 10-15 years ago. The parents may research the coach, but a athlete just hears what they want to hear from a coach. I have seen enough to know that with what PK left LU with, and with what Tic has done in 5 games I will be completely fine with Tic taking over on a full time basis.

[Card Nation]

I agree with you Lazeek.

[NorthoftheBorder]

I disagree!!!

[geezer]

I agree too that the kids don't care about history. Unless you are being recruited by a top twenty program or one of the major schools in the state that you live, most kids probably don't know that much about any of the coaches that are recruiting them. Example, who is the head coach at UT San Antonio? I don't have a clue and probably very few people in Beaumont do either especially as they are no longer in the same conference, but if you are from the San Antonio area as a player I would bet you know and I bet you have an opinion whether you want to play there or not. Recruiting is a sales job by the coach and he is selling both the school and himself. That is one reason many coaches go recruit where they came from as opposed to the new school area where they just got hired. It's easier to sell the school to a kid who has an idea of who the coach is.

[eagle eye]

Well said Geezer!