The new coach speculation thread

[SeattleUte]

S on a teal disc. Perfect avatar for me.

[Diehard_Ute]

@SeattleUte

Craig Smith? Why is nobody mentioning his name?

Did you not read the first post?

[SeattleUte]

Apparently not!

[LAUte]

@SeattleUte

S on a teal disc. Perfect avatar for me.

I’ll try to warn everyone about your return.

Seriously, welcome back.

[LAUte]

Craig Smith (basketball, born 1972)

[EUte]

The Mark Pope speculation I’m seeing online makes me laugh. It’s like there’s this “within a 100-mile radius” rule that should just make someone a candidate.

If we’re going to look at people with that level of HC experience and success, OK great. Then how about Robert Jones? Jeff Boals? Pat Kelsey? Shantay Legans?

[SeattleUte]

@LAUte

This is my first choice. He’s even already wearing red!

[SeattleUte]

@EUte

The Mark Pope speculation I’m seeing online makes me laugh. It’s like there’s this “within a 100-mile radius” rule that should just make someone a candidate.

If we’re going to look at people with that level of HC experience and success, OK great. Then how about Robert Jones? Jeff Boals? Pat Kelsey? Shantay Legans?

Pope has a strong resume. We might well do worse. I’m not opposed to him just because he’s at BYU.
But I don’t think he’s realistic. Still, he’s the kind of coach that should be considered because there’s less risk associated with him, and the Utes really can’t afford another bad hire.

[northernute]

Archie Miller will be talked about. I would prefer someone with western background.

[Diehard_Ute]

@SeattleUte

Pope has a strong resume. We might well do worse. I’m not opposed to him just because he’s at BYU.
But I don’t think he’s realistic. Still, he’s the kind of coach that should be considered because there’s less risk associated with him, and the Utes really can’t afford another bad hire.

I think there is great risk. We know he builds teams from transfers. That is a difficult way to succeed long term. And the Lohner situation makes me believe he’s not got much in the way of integrity.

[Wingnut]

@Ute_In_Texas

The Utes will be picking from 4 bins:

1. Current mid-major head coaches. Bruce Moser, Dennis Gates, Craig Smith, Niko Medved, etc.

2. Current P5 assistants. John Scheyer, etc.

3. Unemployed guys with a history. Gregg Marshall, Thad Matta, Rick Pitino, etc.

4. NBA coaches and assistants looking to come back to college ball. Brad Stevens, Kenny Payne, etc.

More names to follow once we do some research. These are the ones that came to mind in a couple of minutes.

Let the speculation begin!

Don’t be surprised if Alex Jensen ends up as the new utah men’s head basketball coach.

[Wingnut]

Keith Van Horn

Somebody who has not been mentioned yet is Keith Van Horn. Keith is currently working as the owner of Colorado premier an AAU youth basketball organization. His Premier organization has expanded into Utah and it would not be too difficult for him to find somebody to run the daily operations in Colorado while he moves to Utah.

[WSUute]

I’ll settle for anyone that can bring Utah basketball to any semblance of a respectable team that competes for an occasional PAC12 championship makes the dance every few years. Seems like with the money they have LK they should be able to find an established name. A “Meyer” like guy would be an amazing find, there are just more misses than hits with those types of searches.

[Ute_In_Texas]

@Ute_In_Texas

The Utes will be picking from 4 bins:

1. Current mid-major head coaches. Bruce Moser, Dennis Gates, Craig Smith, Niko Medved, etc.

2. Current P5 assistants. John Scheyer, etc.

3. Unemployed guys with a history. Gregg Marshall, Thad Matta, Rick Pitino, etc.

4. NBA coaches and assistants looking to come back to college ball. Brad Stevens, Kenny Payne, etc.

More names to follow once we do some research. These are the ones that came to mind in a couple of minutes.

Let the speculation begin!

I’ll add a 5th bin:

Coaches with Utah connections: Alex Jensen, Johnnie Bryant, Chris Burgess, etc.

A few more names pulled from the interwebs:

Darian DeVries (Drake) , Joe Pasternack (UCSB), Chris Jans (New Mexico State), Russell Turner (UC Irvine), Ben Howland (Miss St), Randy Bennett (St Mary’s), Mark Pope (BYU), Earl Watson (ex Phoenix Suns), Steve Wojciechowshi (Marquette)

My first call is to Mark Few. After he turns us down, my next call is to Thad Matta. Rumor has it that Matta is looking to get back in the game, has had some offers, but is being picky. The Utah job might suit him.

[Wingnut]

Pope is not going to Utah. You guys may as well just stop talking about that right now.

[mUUser]

@Ute_In_Texas

my next call is to Thad Matta. Rumor has it that Matta is looking to get back in the game, has had some offers, but is being picky. The Utah job might suit him.

Here’s an older article on Matta that also has threads of truth about Krystko. Basically, when a competing program cheats (Sean Miller), it’s really those that don’t cheat (other P12 schools) that pay the greater price.

NCAA basketball scandal and the reality for OSU fans

[Ben_In_Utah]

Newman shared that some early names being talked about are Craig Smith, Niko Medved, and Randy Bennett. If we can get Craig Smith, that would be terrific in my mind. But I have to assume he will be keeping his eye on those big 10 jobs before he looks our way.

Medved is solid and has a track record for turning things around, but is he a guy who can get it done quickly enough?

I will strongly pass on Randy Bennett this go around.

I don’t see a world where Alex Jensen takes the job. I dont think I would even call Pope because I am confident that a)he has his sights set on a bigger job and b) that call would be 100% used in a PR game, kinda like theyve done with football recruiting. Bryant or Burgess could be interesting, but I dont know if we will go the route of someone who has never been head coach before.

[Wingnut]

Think about this, Where did LarryK come from before he came to Utah? He was a coach that nobody knew anything about coaching at a lower level somewhere in the outer darkness of Montana. You’re next men’s basketball coach will most likely be of that mold. You could get lucky and get the next basketball version of Urban Meyer or you could continue to swirl down the toilet like you are with another LarryK.

[concerned]

@LAUte

I’ll try to warn everyone about your return.

Seriously, welcome back.

With SU’s post, I think you can officially put U-by-5 out of its misery. Better tell Sancho

I have really missed SU over here. Keep sticking around people won’t ask you questions about your sister anymore

[mUUser]

@concerned

post, I think you can officially put U-by-5 out of its misery