OFFICIAL Possible Basketball Coaches Thread

I guess the thing I don't get about this particular search is the need to find someone who has ties to Nebraska. It's not like Nebraska is like some former great that has fallen on hard times. We've been bad FOREVER. What exactly would be so wrong about getting someone who has no ties to that? I mean, it was hysterical to read the writeup in the paper on Jeter and go "ok at least there isn't some obvious Nebraska tie that is a reason he's in the mix" and then read on to see that his uncle played football here. This isn't six degrees of Kevin Bacon. We can hire a dude who's oblivious to how bad we've been and still have success.

 
I'm with Nexus. I'd be happy with Dana Altman. He's at least been successful, is very tied into the state and recruiting to the area, and likely won't be looking to move on. If anyone can make a success of Husker Hoops, I'd think he could. And I think most Husker fans will be happy to give him a chance.

 
HuskerFanChuck said:
I'm with Nexus. I'd be happy with Dana Altman. He's at least been successful, is very tied into the state and recruiting to the area, and likely won't be looking to move on. If anyone can make a success of Husker Hoops, I'd think he could. And I think most Husker fans will be happy to give him a chance.
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Yeah I'd be satisfied with Altman. He's an experienced successful coach who probably wouldn't treat this as a stepping stone job.

 
Nexus said:
Could Kansas assistant Danny Manning be a target for the Nebraska job? Hmmmm. #Huskers
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I kinda like this idea... To be honest, I really don't care who we hire. He just needs to get the job done and hit the recruiting trail HARD. I don't really care all that much about the x's and o's anymore. We just need to recruit 1 or 2 awesome players every year and just put em out on the court to put on a show. It would be exciting to watch.

 
Gumbercules said:
I guess the thing I don't get about this particular search is the need to find someone who has ties to Nebraska. It's not like Nebraska is like some former great that has fallen on hard times. We've been bad FOREVER. What exactly would be so wrong about getting someone who has no ties to that? I mean, it was hysterical to read the writeup in the paper on Jeter and go "ok at least there isn't some obvious Nebraska tie that is a reason he's in the mix" and then read on to see that his uncle played football here. This isn't six degrees of Kevin Bacon. We can hire a dude who's oblivious to how bad we've been and still have success.
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I'm not too hung up on whether the next hire should have Nebraska connections or not. I feel like Altman wouldn't take the job for granted. Any other "hot" name coach currently on the national radar might get Nebraska to a couple of NCAA tourneys and then bounce once another "tradition-rich" basketball school comes calling, and rightfully so. We're a stepping stone school in basketball. I guess if we're okay with being a "revolving door" for short-term coaching solutions with no real sense of program identity, then so be it. So long as we're gaining some success under that model, which isn't a given, obviously.

I'm guessing Altman would ride it out for as long as he's allowed to, maybe into retirement? Of course this assumes he is having success at Nebraska. The first thing that needs to happen is the old cliche of "establishing a culture" at the Hendricks Bldg. If anyone understands the landscape and attitudes of Nebraskans, it's Altman, which makes him the logical choice.

 
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Sorry, but Altman isn't going to get us success in the Big 10--the MVC and Pac-12 are much more insignificant beasts compared to the Big 10 in basketball. I understand that Altman won't treat DoNU like a stepping stone and that he's a native son and all...but there's some major reconstruction that needs to take place at Nebraska.

Now, if it comes out that Altman is signing on with, say, two of the best assistants in college basketball who will be under contract for a sizable amount of time and money (a la Erstad and our assistant coaches for baseball), then I would think the Altman hire could be sold to the masses.

But just Altman himself? That's going to be met with a resounding *thud* in the general public (and IIRC, this was already floated by the LJS)--not the kind of PR this program needs.

 
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matthew_m_g said:
Sorry, but Altman isn't going to get us success in the Big 10--the MVC and Pac-12 are much more insignificant beasts compared to the Big 10 in basketball. I understand that Altman won't treat DoNU like a stepping stone and that he's a native son and all...but there's some major reconstruction that needs to take place at Nebraska.

Now, if it comes out that Altman is signing on with, say, two of the best assistants in college basketball who will be under contract for a sizable amount of time and money (a la Erstad and our assistant coaches for baseball), then I would think the Altman hire could be sold to the masses.

But just Altman himself? That's going to be met with a resounding *thud* in the general public--not the kind of PR this program needs.
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Certainly the Altman experiment could fail. Acknowledged. But it could equally fail with the current "hot" commodity like Gregg Marshall or Shaka Smart too. Trying to predict which coach will have success at a school with absolutely no tradition borders on silly. We have to start somewhere and whoever is at the helm will be given the necessary resources to try and make it work. However, no matter how much $$ we throw at them, the end results might not be any better than the previous coaches we've had. Don't interpret that as me saying we shouldn't throw a lot of $$ at the right coach, but don't get your hopes up that a "splash" hire will be the cure-all that we're looking for either.

I know this response is equivalent to preaching to the choir, and for that I apologize. :P

 
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HuskerShark said:
Nexus said:
Could Kansas assistant Danny Manning be a target for the Nebraska job? Hmmmm. #Huskers
LINK
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I kinda like this idea... To be honest, I really don't care who we hire. He just needs to get the job done and hit the recruiting trail HARD. I don't really care all that much about the x's and o's anymore. We just need to recruit 1 or 2 awesome players every year and just put em out on the court to put on a show. It would be exciting to watch.
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Actually that was one of Doc's biggest failures in the B10. Not only was he behind talent wise the coaches actually could coach much better in the B10 than the B12. The style of the B12 was load up with as much talent as we can and go for for points. Doc did as well as he did in the B12 because he was a pretty decent coach of X and O against that style of play. Once we switched he was always working against systems where guys had BB IQ's and brought in kids who understood the game and were going to be 4 and 5 year college guys. We had a roster full of 2 year guys that played sloppy ball just like the B12 does. He was very frustrated that the B10 teams didn't get sloppy and turn the ball over like B12 teams and because of that we lost the ability to take advantage of that in transition.

On a different subject, I've never really been impressed with Dana. I've met him half a dozen times while doing some marketing projects with the Blue Jays. I can't put my finger on it but just something about him bothered me. He was always humble and more than willing to do what ever was asked but it didn't always seem 100% sincere I guess. Maybe it was just me, but I tend to be a good judge of people and something was just a touch uncertain with him. And I'd like to see NU do better than Dana. I don't care if we pay Phil Jackson 5 million a year to come here, or the next hot coach, as long as they prove that you can win at Nebraska. As soon as someone shows that, it won't matter if they are here 1 year, 3 years, 30 years it helps disprove a myth and makes it easier to find the next guy.

 
Nexus said:
CBS sportswriter Gregg Doyel chimes in on Nebrasketball's coaching search
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Pretty good article by Greg Doyle:

This is a problem, but not a surprise. Nebraska has played in the NCAA tournament six times in 74 years. All-time tournament victories: zero.
That's ridiculous, even nonsensical. Nebraska has one of the more complete athletic departments in the country, starring that monster football program that has won five national titles, but with lots more. The baseball team has three College World Series appearances in the past decade. The women's gymnastics team has made six Super Six appearances in nine years, and the men's gymnastics team is even better, with eight NCAA titles.

Wrestling? Nebraska has finished in the top 10 nationally 18 times. Track and field? The men and women dominated the Big 12, taking 22 of 56 indoor and outdoor titles since 1996. Three national championships in volleyball, too.

I would say Nebraska is good at pretty much everything but basketball -- but that wouldn't be fair to the women's basketball program, which reached the Sweet 16 in 2010, a season the Huskers started by winning their first 30 games.
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I think Doyle is right about the strategy we need to implement. Go after a hot-handed, talented coach like Shaka. And then beat him about the head and shoulders with large bags of money until he comes to Lincoln. Hey, it could work.

 
da skers said:
On a different subject, I've never really been impressed with Dana. I've met him half a dozen times while doing some marketing projects with the Blue Jays. I can't put my finger on it but just something about him bothered me. He was always humble and more than willing to do what ever was asked but it didn't always seem 100% sincere I guess. Maybe it was just me, but I tend to be a good judge of people and something was just a touch uncertain with him. And I'd like to see NU do better than Dana. I don't care if we pay Phil Jackson 5 million a year to come here, or the next hot coach, as long as they prove that you can win at Nebraska. As soon as someone shows that, it won't matter if they are here 1 year, 3 years, 30 years it helps disprove a myth and makes it easier to find the next guy.
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I've heard similar opinions from multiple sources skers, as well as some stories I won't publicly share here.

I'm really conflicted on this issue. College basketball feels beyond crooked to me, almost unapologetic in its sleaziness. Every single season Calipari is on the cover of SI or The Sporting News or doing interviews on the "leader" or radio shows. The guy is everywhere, and he's had TWO full seasons negated by transgressions against NCAA rules. And no one cares, at all. At this point I wonder, do you need a dirty head coach to win big?

Nebraska is about integrity, and I would hate to see that reputation sullied. At the same time, I want to win. And in college basketball, it really feels like you have to be in bed with shady entities (AAU shepherds, ect) to achieve success. Clearly Calipari does it. And he's one of the chief mouthpieces for the entire sport. I'm disenchanted by the whole thing I guess.

 
ccm420 said:
"nebraska is about integrity"

get a grip. get a name that can recruit.
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Well, I think Nebraska has certainly strived to embody the principles of integrity, and I think the university has achieved some success in pursuing that goal.

This whole concept of getting someone who is good at recruiting is little too philosophical for me, though. That's really outside the box thinking, Stonehenge. :lol:

 
Nexus said:
matthew_m_g said:
Sorry, but Altman isn't going to get us success in the Big 10--the MVC and Pac-12 are much more insignificant beasts compared to the Big 10 in basketball. I understand that Altman won't treat DoNU like a stepping stone and that he's a native son and all...but there's some major reconstruction that needs to take place at Nebraska.

Now, if it comes out that Altman is signing on with, say, two of the best assistants in college basketball who will be under contract for a sizable amount of time and money (a la Erstad and our assistant coaches for baseball), then I would think the Altman hire could be sold to the masses.

But just Altman himself? That's going to be met with a resounding *thud* in the general public--not the kind of PR this program needs.
Click to expand...
Certainly the Altman experiment could fail. Acknowledged. But it could equally fail with the current "hot" commodity like Gregg Marshall or Shaka Smart too. Trying to predict which coach will have success at a school with absolutely no tradition borders on silly. We have to start somewhere and whoever is at the helm will be given the necessary resources to try and make it work. However, no matter how much $$ we throw at them, the end results might not be any better than the previous coaches we've had. Don't interpret that as me saying we shouldn't throw a lot of $$ at the right coach, but don't get your hopes up that a "splash" hire will be the cure-all that we're looking for either.

I know this response is equivalent to preaching to the choir, and for that I apologize. :P
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No apology necessary, and I agree with your comments.

I just don't want our AD to **** this up, but I don't exactly have a lot of confidence right now, especially with Bohem still gainfully employed.

 
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