Techwood Relict
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Georgia Tech Head Coach Hot List
- Thread starter dtm1997
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Nah, it’s cool. It just looks like
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Jetdrive3
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Schemes in any sport are just tools. Talented players can overcome bad schemes. Recruiting ATL is a start. Tech recruits it students from all over. And basketball seems oblivious. Gonzaga has feelers all over. What does Gonzaga have that Tech doesn’t?
tbglover
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Mark Few
Jetdrive3
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Who can recruit Europe… who would motivate people to pass around the plate?
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I don't think he is, but I'm a big fan. Was an assistant to Shaka at VCU, became head coach at Rice and won games there, went back to VCU when Wade left in short order and has done well at VCU, including winning both regular season & conference tournament championship this year.
Dude is known for being super tough.
YOU SHOULD SEE THE OTHER GUY
We’ve already told you that VCU Associate Head Coach Mike Rhoades likes to practice with the team, and that he, quite frankly, more than holds his own. But if you thought that Rhoades was jus…
aroundthehorns.wordpress.com
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A "FEW" things...
Techwood Relict
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I was wondering whether Shaka himself might be an interesting candidate. His run at TX wasn't bad, just seemed to be a fit issue for team and coach. He's been at Marquette for a short time now.I don't think he is, but I'm a big fan. Was an assistant to Shaka at VCU, became head coach at Rice and won games there, went back to VCU when Wade left in short order and has done well at VCU, including winning both regular season & conference tournament championship this year.
Dude is known for being super tough.
YOU SHOULD SEE THE OTHER GUY
We’ve already told you that VCU Associate Head Coach Mike Rhoades likes to practice with the team, and that he, quite frankly, more than holds his own. But if you thought that Rhoades was jus…
leatherneckjacket
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Not talent, but height and guards who can break down defenses. You need talent on the wings to shoot and especially at the position through which you run the offense.
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Shaka was an interesting candidate, but we hired Brian Gregory.
Shaka is in a good place that's all in on hoops, probably earning more than we can start at, with a really good team in his home state. I think he's set.
D-man44
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He’d recruit for sure.
majorQ9
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Shaka just won the Big East at Marquette. Why would he come to GT?
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I like this one a lot, to be honest.
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I'll answer the latter part below. As for talented players overcoming bad schemes and schemes just being tools, Shaka Smart's recent experience contradicts that. He was recruiting top-flight talent at Texas and underachieving. Now, he's recruiting players who fit his system and they're playing better. It's not hard to find teams that underachieve compared to their perceived talent, which also argues that talented players often don't overcome their schemes--whether they're good schemes or whether they just don't fit into them.
It's really hard to find anything insightful on why Gonzaga has such a strong team. Most of what I see is "it's a fantastic school and they have a great coach". But, there are better schools with great coaches, so that's not the thing that differentiates them.
Dan Fitzgerald spent a lot of effort in the 1990's building them as a team, and got them to one NCAA tournament as a WCC team. Dan Monson did it again in the late 1990's, making the elite 8 before going to coach at Minnesota.
After Mark Few took over for Dan Monson, Gonzaga went from usually not going to a post season tournament to being the Western Conference representative every year. So, if you're a basketball recruit, you know that if you go there you're playing in the tournament. Not even Duke and North Carolina have that kind of guarantee.
They were a smaller school, and all-in on basketball. They still are all-in on basketball.
They have good optics--they're both a basketball powerhouse and still considered a Cinderella school by some viewers, so they get the benefit of both.
Gonzaga is a Nike school, and has gotten great support from them. That may be one of the reasons that they've had such success recruiting.
They were one of the first teams to emphasize recruiting European players. Now, many schools do that, but Gonzaga was a trailblazer, and has some of the strongest recruiting there.
Lastly, there's the advantage of compound interest. Mark Few has been coaching at Gonzaga since 1999--that's nearly 25 years. He started pretty young, but he's about 60 now. He's been really consistent, and he hasn't gotten distracted by other activities. Every year since 1999 has reinforced their recruiting and their support structure.
If Hewitt had been less distractable by other priorities and we had kept up the quality of his assistant coaching pool, imagine how we might be after 25 years of consistent coaching. Look at what that did for Duke. It's hard to find a coach that doesn't turn their attention to other things. Think of what Memphis might be like if Calipari had stayed there. 25 years of consistent coaching and institutional support can be amazing.
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This is a big shift from "Furman coach locked in" to "Damon Stoudamire off the top rope with a piledriver" (sorry to mix a wresting ref in)
lv20gt
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Not sure what ties to Atlanta ties Stoudamire so if someone could feel me in. And I know Pacific is seen as a very hard job but it'd be hard for me to get excited by someone who's college win% as head coach is 48% and conference win percentage is 42% regardless, especially since everything about him screams west coast guy. It was reported he was a leading candidate for the Arizona job so sounds like he's highly thought of though so there's that.
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His son went to HS in ATL. He's Kyle's godfather.