Hey, maybe it’s Musselman. He makes $2.5m but that will surely get jacked up after the season. His buyout is $5m if hired before May 1st, but only $1.5m if hired on or after May 1st.
Whadya think? Doable to match and persuade (Northwest Arkansas is great so not a gimme)?
jk we ain’t getting him.
Oh good. I needed another reminder why I am rooting for the Zags destruction. I’m always happy to see them get bounced.
It seems like mid to p6 is the way to go.
Who is this year’s Musselman? There are objective metrics at hand.
Two years ago Craig Smith tied Musselman’s Nevada for the MWC championship and then won the tournament. Then last year won the MWC tournament again, beating San Diego State, no 1 seeded in the NCAA tournament. This year in the NCAA he led a lot higher seeded Texas Tech in the second half.
Objectively, Smith is the same as Musselman before Arkansas.
Smith played for the NCAA division II national championship before Utah State.
He immediately turned Utah Stare around.
You have to judge coaches on the curve in terms of their ability to recruit to the place they coach. In the NCAA playoffs he has a big talent mismatch.
Seems to me dismissing Smith is just sour grapes because he’s at Utah State. It’s particularly vexing to see him attacked for his looks. And ironic, considering who is our greatest coach.
The numbers don’t lie.
Wikipedia lays out their respective coaching records in detail.
The reason we’ve made bad hires is too much emotion, not enough research.
Musselman exited in the first round all three years at Nevada.
Top 40, eh. Wow! Nevada is as hard a sell to recruits as Utah State?
NBA assistant is not a valid data point. See Boylen. I watch those armies of NBA assistants on the sidelines. Seems like a cushy job to me.
@sancho Thanks for your work. You’ve given us sobering evidence of how chancy D1 basketball hiring is.
I’ll take 15 out of 50 over less than 5 percent any day.
Neither Musselman nor Smith should be extremely criticized for failing to get out the NCAA first round while in the MWC. NCAA culture shock is not unusual for lesser talented MWC teams. Only Utah has had much NCAA tournament success from the MWC. Nevada made the Sweet 16 once a long time ago. We wanted their coach but got Giacoletti instead.
Signature win. I hate that term. But Smith beating no1 seed in the NCAA tournament San Diego State last season in the MWC championship game was not that? What about winning the MWC tournament the year before after tying Musselman for the regular season title?!
That’s a good way of describing it in about 90 percent of the cases, it is. The trick is to find the right coach at the right time with the right fit. In 10 percent of the cases, it seems like there’s a candidate that seems to rise above the competition – like Rick Majerus or Urban Meyer – while they were at tiny schools, they were able to immediately turn dog crap into diamonds – and they just had “it” at the moment in time “it” was needed. I just don’t see that person out there right now. So, I’m hopeful we’ll find the right guy-time-fit candidate. My gut tells me it’s either AJ or JB. I think AJ has the edge.
I wouldn’t be upset about Smith, but, I wouldn’t be pumped either.
That was his point. Rare as hen’s teeth. The rest are posers but big money keeps getting thrown their way until they have enough to not care or be found out.
In all transparency, I work for an investment firm; currently serving as the CEO of a portfolio company, and previously the CEO of a couple of other companies. Have been in the boardroom of Fortune 50/100 companies. Saw a lot of good stuff. Also saw a lot of BS.
That was my experience in observation…sadly.
I have been there too. The worst case was a guy who inherited the company from his dad. Completely useless CEO.
Smith inherited Sam Merrill, Queta and Bean. Who exactly has he recruited to USU? Nobody of merit that I’m aware of?
You know after taking a harder look at Smith, I’m coming around on him. He’s young but has done some nice things. In my mind, he’s definately worth interviewing, and would probably work out nicely if AJ and JB take a pass. With his name his wife and kids would blend right into the community. 
First time poster here!
I like Alex J as coach. He’s no guarantee, but apparently he has the chops to be in line for an NBA coaching job; that tells me that (a) he knows the game, (b) he can develop talent, and, most importantly, © he has a sense for the newness of the game of basketball. For all of Larry’s faults (full disclosure: I was calling for his head 4 years ago), his biggest might have been his reluctance to embrace the three-point/layup philosophy. He continued an offense that relied on interior play and long 2s–a recipe for losing against the BYUs of the world. Alex will enter the college scene being WAY ahead on the tactics that win basketball games.
However, the big drawback is the recruiting aspect of college ball. This is where a coach’s career is made. Is USC in the sweet sixteen because Enfield suddenly learned how to coach? NO! It’s because he [paid] recruited the likely #1 draft pick and his brother. End of story. Larry could outcoach Enfield in Old Maid, but he couldn’t recruit the NBA draft’s #1 overall (who could to Utah?). Jensen isn’t going to either, but the ability to pull an Andre Miller or Kyle Kuzma or Tom Chambers once in a while will be key.
That is why the ideal combo would be Alex as head coach, Johnnie Bryant as asst. It will never happen. I’d be in favor of Johnnie too as head coach. He apparently has great recruiting skills (notwithstanding the bad review posted on this august website for his teaching of Econ), but I’d be worried if he has the head coaching skills.
And the rub of it all is, I’m not sure who much a good recruiter gets you at a place like Utah. The Ed Orgeron of hoops couldn’t convince Evan Mobley to come to Utah. Our great basketball success story involves beating an Arizona team that was STACKED, just because their coach couldn’t adjust to a triangle and two; then beating a North Carolina team with two HOFers because we had a quasi-HOFer point guard and they couldn’t figure out how to make a foul shot.
Basically, I think the “genius” of our coach becomes the recruiting pitch–if Alex is as good as they say he is, the results will manifest themselves and the semi-elite recruits will follow.
@applejack, Welcome!!!
From your finger tips to the ears of the Almighty.
I have a pretty strong feeling it’s Alex.