HearstMining said:

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I hope you're correct, Redless, but Stanford has a lot of alumni who are competitive, successful, and as we all know, feel entitled. I think they'll find some way around their moral qualms over NIL and maybe even undergrad portal transfers to be a real player for top talent. And now, they may have the coach who knows what to do with it.

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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Spot On HM. The other factor moving forward is how long the ACC actually lasts. There is no certainty that even as little as five years from now it will still be in existence. I guess we should just enjoy the ride.

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bearister said:

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Anyone have any inside info on Kyle's Furd annual? Article says WSU was paying him $1.5M and was going to raise him to $2.5M and that a mid range salary in the ACC is $3M….so Furd paying $3.5M may be within the realm of possibility.
https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/article/washington-state-made-serious-run-at-retaining-kyle-smith-229356767/amp/

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wifeisafurd said:

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Woah, I see nothing that guarantees either Furd or Cal become a dominate ACC basketball power. Both now have promising coaches. But for those of you who have not looked at basketball recruiting lately, the ACC is full of basketball programs with multi-million dollar payrolls. Furd looks to potentially never get into the NIL game, and getting transfers from the Portal is next impossible. Smith at least takes over a mediocre program assuming he can figure out continuity. He probably needs a new center, who undoubtedly will be a grad transfer and be paid severn figures by a good program, possibly even a ACC competitor. Smith also faces severe recruiting limitations on who he can recruit, that he has not faced for decades since he stared out at Columbia, and he not recruitng against the Ivy League this time around. Maden at least faces a less burdensome recruiting limitations and aversion to NIL. But he also took over a program that had bottomed-out,

A word of caution about Smith. His extensive record as a head coach belies also mixed success. This is the first season he even made NCAA post-season. He head coach career is marked by slow rebuilds, a final good season (where his best players graduate: for example this year his leading scorer and rebounder, and his second leading rebounder and best defensive player) and moving on the greener pastures. If and once he achieves initial success at Furd, history suggests he moves on to a bigger program, perhaps at a ACC competitor, where he can recruit anyone and rely on a deep NIL funded payroll.

With all that said, Smith clearly is a significant upgrade over Haase.

In his much shorter head coaching career, Madsen (Mark is 6 years younger than Smith) already has won a couple of league championships, something Smith has not done once. When I look at Mark's extensive playing career and assistant coaching positions, and compare personalities, I pick Madsen over Smith. I just see much more upside. But that, by itself, doesn't mean Mark will reach the upper esclon of the ACC. The competition gets way more more challenging than the Pac last year. I also expect that it will take Mark a few years of good recruiting and development to take Cal to the next level in the ACC.

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calumnus said:

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People who defended Knowlton hiring Fox saying Kyle wouldn't have taken the Cal job had no idea. It was a huge lie. He and his wife love the East Bay. Her best friends from her college days at St. Mary's still live in the East Bay. Ask Kyle about Top Dog. He loves Berkeley. Food in Palo Alto is just not as good as San Francisco and the East Bay.
...

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HearstMining said:

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My favorite Palo Alto restaurant was actually in East Palo Alto - Day & Night Barbecue. This was 40+ years ago, back when East PA was pretty rough. We generally picked up our takeout while there was still some daylight. Good (if occasionally scary) times. I worked in Mountain View/Palo Alto when I was single and footloose and if I wanted interesting food, I always went up to The City.

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bearister said:

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What was the place by Stanford that was a beer garden in the back with a ton of BBQ tables and benches?
In 1978 I went there with my rugby playing buddies that played for Hastings. After a match we were drinking there with about 10 sitting on the benches and 10 on top of the table.

I heard a creaking and yelled for everyone to clear out. The table collapsed to the ground from the weight. Anyone sitting at the benches with legs under that table would have lost them. Whew! One of my many close calls in life.

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CALiforniALUM said:

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With all these comparisons between coaches, how practical is it to look at their history in building programs when the recruiting landscape has changed so much. We are looking at a complete flip of our roster. "Building" a roster doesn't seem to be the same game as it was a few short years ago. Unless you are paying players to ride the bench until you need them on the court it appears a coach's history should have a large asterisk next to it and having insights into their NIL situation is probably more important these days.

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CALiforniALUM said:

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With all these comparisons between coaches, how practical is it to look at their history in building programs when the recruiting landscape has changed so much. We are looking at a complete flip of our roster. "Building" a roster doesn't seem to be the same game as it was a few short years ago. Unless you are paying players to ride the bench until you need them on the court it appears a coach's history should have a large asterisk next to it and having insights into their NIL situation is probably more important these days.

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