OaktownBear said:

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Yogi Bear said:

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joe amos yaks said:

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Mike Anderson, xCoach at uArk, name has been put forward for consideration for next BB coach.

edit.

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I don't know who put his name forth, but I'd hired him in about 5 seconds if he said he was interested. And no, I don't care what tsubamoto is going to say about him.

P.S. Ironically, his buyout at Arkansas was the exact same as the buyout for Wyking Jones if you still imagine that Cal AD's know how to negotiate good contracts.

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I don't know Yogi. You said we should have dumped Braun after 8 years. His 8 year record at Arkansas is virtually identical to Braun's first 8 years at Cal and Braun did better in post season. I wouldn't reject him out of hand, but I certainly wouldn't hire him in 5 seconds. It may be the best we could do, but I'd be a little disappointed if so. Personally, for Cal I prefer to go with a little risk for more upside.

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Braun won at about a 58% clip at Eastern Michigan and Cal (I won't hold his Rice stats against him, though he thorougly earned them). Anderson just at Arkansas alone won at a 62% clip. At his other two stops, it was better than that. And he made the Elite 8 once at Missouri.

I seriously doubt Cal can do better than that and he probably wouldn't even be that expensive.

tsubamoto2001 said:

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I'm glad you don't care what I think, but tell me why you'd go for Mike Anderson? He's had some success, true, but Arkansas was a tailor-made job for him (former assistant of Nolan Richardson) and he couldn't prevent his firing. What went wrong? Why not go after Ben Howland if we're looking at retreads? He's at least a West Coast guy.

I just prefer someone that has some upside left, not an older guy that failed in a favorable situation.

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Most everybody gets fired sometime. This is the first time for him. He wins about 65% of his games playing in a much tougher basketball conference than Cal does, he's black (which I think helps you recruit unless you're one of the very elite coaches), and he plays an appealing up-tempo style. Two Sweet 16's, one Elite 8.

And he probably wouldn't cost that much. He was making $2.5M per year at Arkansas (and yet his buyout is only $3M, I wonder how that could be. I guess some AD's know how to negotiate a contract).

Find me a guy that we can get that's better than that and I'm for it.

I'm not totally opposed to Howland, but he's a couple of years older and his style of basketball is less appealing to me. Too much like early 90's pro ball.

Big C said:

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Kyle Smith used to be at Columbia? Hey, Grant Mullins, be honest now, how's Kyle Smith as a coach? Please elaborate...

(That's a conversation that could've/should've happened last month, too. Does Knowlton even know who Grant is?)

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Huh, I just reported what BI said.

Edit: one reason he may not be considered is he apparently is taking the WSU job.

Works for me.

To be fair, the PAC-12 has been down, but it won't last forever, so the conference comparisons don't mean a ton, especially since the SEC has had down years recently.

Mike Anderson is not a bad coach by any means. Probably average and will likely do decent at his next job in a smaller conference. But it's like when we hired Cuonzosolid coach, but for mainly geography reasonsnot a fit.

Yogi Bear said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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I'm glad you don't care what I think, but tell me why you'd go for Mike Anderson? He's had some success, true, but Arkansas was a tailor-made job for him (former assistant of Nolan Richardson) and he couldn't prevent his firing. What went wrong? Why not go after Ben Howland if we're looking at retreads? He's at least a West Coast guy.

I just prefer someone that has some upside left, not an older guy that failed in a favorable situation.

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Most everybody gets fired sometime. This is the first time for him. He wins about 65% of his games playing in a much tougher basketball conference than Cal does, he's black (which I think helps you recruit unless you're one of the very elite coaches), and he plays an appealing up-tempo style. Two Sweet 16's, one Elite 8.

And he probably wouldn't cost that much. He was making $2.5M per year at Arkansas (and yet his buyout is only $3M, I wonder how that could be. I guess some AD's know how to negotiate a contract).

Find me a guy that we can get that's better than that and I'm for it.

I'm not totally opposed to Howland, but he's a couple of years older and his style of basketball is less appealing to me. Too much like early 90's pro ball.

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SFCityBear said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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Big C said:

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Heck, since Knowlton has had this issue on his radar for months, he probably already has.

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You are absolutely correct. He looked at alternatives to Jones, and obviously narrowed the choices down. In fact, to six guys per a BI article.

I know that there some who don't like the way JK implemented the change, but now is the time to focus on picking a new coach. JK seems like a deliberative guy, and I expect whoever he selects will be vetted thoroughly with all stakeholders.

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Right or wrong, he seemed deliberative up to the point in making his original decision, which was to support Jones. Then all it took was a conference phone call with 3 Dads to change his mind, and fire Jones. Right or wrong, that did seem impulsive, and not deliberative. I hope it is now a lesson learned, and he will cover all the bases with his first hire as AD.

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I'm not going to relitigate that - already taken my lumps from Yogi. That said, excluding the end of the Jones process, he has been very deliberative.

We'll see how he does there. Only a couple of coaches in recent memory have done well at that job: Sampson and Bennett. If you can do good there, you are a great coach.

socaliganbear said:

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Works for me.

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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I'm glad you don't care what I think, but tell me why you'd go for Mike Anderson? He's had some success, true, but Arkansas was a tailor-made job for him (former assistant of Nolan Richardson) and he couldn't prevent his firing. What went wrong? Why not go after Ben Howland if we're looking at retreads? He's at least a West Coast guy.

I just prefer someone that has some upside left, not an older guy that failed in a favorable situation.

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+1

Heck, if you really want to look at a coach who just got fired, wait a week or so and see if Texas fires Shaka Smart.

BearSD said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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I'm glad you don't care what I think, but tell me why you'd go for Mike Anderson? He's had some success, true, but Arkansas was a tailor-made job for him (former assistant of Nolan Richardson) and he couldn't prevent his firing. What went wrong? Why not go after Ben Howland if we're looking at retreads? He's at least a West Coast guy.

I just prefer someone that has some upside left, not an older guy that failed in a favorable situation.

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+1

Heck, if you really want to look at a coach who just got fired, wait a week or so and see if Texas fires Shaka Smart.

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Wonder why Smart has such a tough time at Texas? Guy looked like a great coach.

wifeisafurd said:

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BearSD said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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I'm glad you don't care what I think, but tell me why you'd go for Mike Anderson? He's had some success, true, but Arkansas was a tailor-made job for him (former assistant of Nolan Richardson) and he couldn't prevent his firing. What went wrong? Why not go after Ben Howland if we're looking at retreads? He's at least a West Coast guy.

I just prefer someone that has some upside left, not an older guy that failed in a favorable situation.

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+1

Heck, if you really want to look at a coach who just got fired, wait a week or so and see if Texas fires Shaka Smart.

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Wonder why Smart has such a tough time at Texas? Guy looked like a great coach.

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It would certainly be worth investigating.

It's befuddling. He's playing a complete different style at Texas than he did at VCU. 3 of his 4 teams at Texas have ranked in the 300's in tempo, whereas 4 of his 6 VCU teams were in the top 100.

That said, Texas was the highest rated team on KenPom (#31) not to make the NCAA's this season, so at least the metrics say they aren't that bad.

If he's available, I think he's worth looking into.

wifeisafurd said:

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BearSD said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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I'm glad you don't care what I think, but tell me why you'd go for Mike Anderson? He's had some success, true, but Arkansas was a tailor-made job for him (former assistant of Nolan Richardson) and he couldn't prevent his firing. What went wrong? Why not go after Ben Howland if we're looking at retreads? He's at least a West Coast guy.

I just prefer someone that has some upside left, not an older guy that failed in a favorable situation.

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+1

Heck, if you really want to look at a coach who just got fired, wait a week or so and see if Texas fires Shaka Smart.

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Wonder why Smart has such a tough time at Texas? Guy looked like a great coach.

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bearister said:

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calumnus said:

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Big C said:

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Kyle Smith was the flavor-of-the-month for two months running: November and December, 2018.

I will say, though, when the Dons whupped us in Haas last season, one team looked well-coached and the other did not. We should take a closer look. Heck, since Knowlton has had this issue on his radar for months, he probably already has.

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Kyle Smith is a good, smart, coach, he took my other alma mater, Columbia, from having been horrible forever to one of the best in the Ivy League, beating Russell Turner's Irvine in the CBI to win that tournament.

He'd be a solid hire, just not an exciting hire. He'd excel at coaching the currrent group. A much better fit than Turner. Probably a good plan b or c.

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I'm too gun shy to suggest anyone as the new HC but I did spend a weekend many years ago with Randy Bennett and Kyle Smith and I was far more impressed with Kyle. I think the key to Bennett's success is his Australian recruiting pipeline. He always has 6 or 7 Aussies on the Gaels at the same time that have been playing fundamentally sound basketball with each other since they were little boys. We cannot really Judge Randy until you sever his Aussie pipeline and make him recruit in the same pool as everyone else.

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I've wondered in the past if Bennett is so in touch with recruiting Aussies, what he thought about Anticevich, and did he recruit him?

Glad to see to see Tsubamoto back on the BI. I wonder if he knows?

Seems that SMC did not recruit Grant. I recall offers from Ga Tech, Davidson, and Cal.

SFCityBear said:

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bearister said:

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calumnus said:

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Big C said:

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Kyle Smith was the flavor-of-the-month for two months running: November and December, 2018.

I will say, though, when the Dons whupped us in Haas last season, one team looked well-coached and the other did not. We should take a closer look. Heck, since Knowlton has had this issue on his radar for months, he probably already has.

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Kyle Smith is a good, smart, coach, he took my other alma mater, Columbia, from having been horrible forever to one of the best in the Ivy League, beating Russell Turner's Irvine in the CBI to win that tournament.

He'd be a solid hire, just not an exciting hire. He'd excel at coaching the currrent group. A much better fit than Turner. Probably a good plan b or c.

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I'm too gun shy to suggest anyone as the new HC but I did spend a weekend many years ago with Randy Bennett and Kyle Smith and I was far more impressed with Kyle. I think the key to Bennett's success is his Australian recruiting pipeline. He always has 6 or 7 Aussies on the Gaels at the same time that have been playing fundamentally sound basketball with each other since they were little boys. We cannot really Judge Randy until you sever his Aussie pipeline and make him recruit in the same pool as everyone else.

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I've wondered in the past if Bennett is so in touch with recruiting Aussies, what he thought about Anticevich, and did he recruit him?

Glad to see to see Tsubamoto back on the BI. I wonder if he knows?

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IMHO, Randy overlooked one in Grant.

Klay endorsed Kyle for Cougs' HC.

https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/Washington-State-basketball-Kyle-Smith-Klay-Thompson-Cougars-Cougs-Wazzu-WSU-130564668/

wifeisafurd said:

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Big C said:

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Kyle Smith used to be at Columbia? Hey, Grant Mullins, be honest now, how's Kyle Smith as a coach? Please elaborate...

(That's a conversation that could've/should've happened last month, too. Does Knowlton even know who Grant is?)

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Huh, I just reported what BI said.

Edit: one reason he may not be considered is he apparently is taking the WSU job.

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That's a perfect match. Smith is used to coaching with one hand tied behind his back, which you have to do at WSU.

BearSD said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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I'm glad you don't care what I think, but tell me why you'd go for Mike Anderson? He's had some success, true, but Arkansas was a tailor-made job for him (former assistant of Nolan Richardson) and he couldn't prevent his firing. What went wrong? Why not go after Ben Howland if we're looking at retreads? He's at least a West Coast guy.

I just prefer someone that has some upside left, not an older guy that failed in a favorable situation.

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+1

Heck, if you really want to look at a coach who just got fired, wait a week or so and see if Texas fires Shaka Smart.

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I got no issue with that

I'd be fine with smart as well.

But maybe someone who has more knowledge of Texas basketball can explain why he's had so much trouble there

tsubamoto2001 said:

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Seems that SMC did not recruit Grant. I recall offers from Ga Tech, Davidson, and Cal.

SFCityBear said:

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bearister said:

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calumnus said:

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Big C said:

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Kyle Smith was the flavor-of-the-month for two months running: November and December, 2018.

I will say, though, when the Dons whupped us in Haas last season, one team looked well-coached and the other did not. We should take a closer look. Heck, since Knowlton has had this issue on his radar for months, he probably already has.

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Kyle Smith is a good, smart, coach, he took my other alma mater, Columbia, from having been horrible forever to one of the best in the Ivy League, beating Russell Turner's Irvine in the CBI to win that tournament.

He'd be a solid hire, just not an exciting hire. He'd excel at coaching the currrent group. A much better fit than Turner. Probably a good plan b or c.

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I'm too gun shy to suggest anyone as the new HC but I did spend a weekend many years ago with Randy Bennett and Kyle Smith and I was far more impressed with Kyle. I think the key to Bennett's success is his Australian recruiting pipeline. He always has 6 or 7 Aussies on the Gaels at the same time that have been playing fundamentally sound basketball with each other since they were little boys. We cannot really Judge Randy until you sever his Aussie pipeline and make him recruit in the same pool as everyone else.

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I've wondered in the past if Bennett is so in touch with recruiting Aussies, what he thought about Anticevich, and did he recruit him?

Glad to see to see Tsubamoto back on the BI. I wonder if he knows?

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Thanks for this. Interesting, and good to know.

so----kyle Smith is good enough for wazzu???our hire better be superior to Smith. smith has been a winner at every level. Did we contact him???I repeat---our hire better be superior or someone has some explain ing to do.

helltopay1 said:

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so----kyle Smith is good enough for wazzu???our hire better be superior to Smith. smith has been a winner at every level. Did we contact him???I repeat---our hire better be superior or someone has some explain ing to do.

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How do you define "winner at every level"? His record is not good. It won't be hard to have a superior hire.

OaktownBear said:

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helltopay1 said:

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so----kyle Smith is good enough for wazzu???our hire better be superior to Smith. smith has been a winner at every level. Did we contact him???I repeat---our hire better be superior or someone has some explain ing to do.

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How do you define "winner at every level"? His record is not good. It won't be hard to have a superior hire.

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But he is used to coaching with one hand tied behind his back, so he will be used to what it's like to be WSU in men's basketball.

Cal8285 makes the most sound points I've read on the best guess as to what happened. Until you know you have support and the dollars to do something better, you have to act like nothing is going to happen. Everyone should read through this post.

helltopay1 said:

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so----kyle Smith is good enough for wazzu???our hire better be superior to Smith. smith has been a winner at every level. Did we contact him???I repeat---our hire better be superior or someone has some explain ing to do.

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Yup, Wasu sounds about right as Smith's ceiling. I'm glad they got him. It means they'll likely never contend for the top third of the conference.

helltopay1 said:

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so----kyle Smith is good enough for wazzu???our hire better be superior to Smith. smith has been a winner at every level. Did we contact him???I repeat---our hire better be superior or someone has some explain ing to do.

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Winner at every level? Depends on how you define that. Overall winning record, but never took a team to NCAA or NIT in 9 years, and never won his league, never finished higher than 3rd or 4th in any league he's been in. And this year, after starting 17-3, he bombed, failing to even qualify for the NIT.

Solid, mediocre coach. Glad he's not on coming to Berkeley.

Alkiadt said:

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helltopay1 said:

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so----kyle Smith is good enough for wazzu???our hire better be superior to Smith. smith has been a winner at every level. Did we contact him???I repeat---our hire better be superior or someone has some explain ing to do.

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Winner at every level? Depends on how you define that. Overall winning record, but never took a team to NCAA or NIT in 9 years, and never won his league, never finished higher than 3rd or 4th in any league he's been in. And this year, after starting 17-3, he bombed, failing to even qualify for the NIT.

Solid, mediocre coach. Glad he's not on coming to Berkeley.

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Yeah, I think the only reason he appears to be a good coach to some Cal fans is because they saw him outclass Jones so badly at Haas. I wonder if those are the same Cal fans that wanted to retain Jones?

It is good to see there are guys here that know more about how to evaluate Kyle than Klay Thompson does.

bearister said:

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It is good to see there are guys here that know more about how to evaluate Kyle than Klay Thompson does.

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Yes, because 1 NBA player being on his side settles the argument.

Klay can have what he wants for WSU. As far as I'm concerned, if Klay influenced the decision that lead to Smith being out of the running for the Cal job, thanks Klay.

And by the way, when it came to Tom Holmoe, a large # of Cal fans knew more about how to evaluate Holmoe than Bill Walsh did (who he coached for).

bearister said:

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It is good to see there are guys here that know more about how to evaluate Kyle than Klay Thompson does.

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I didn't evaluate.
I provided his coaching tenure results.
(Klay Thompson helped make Luke Walton look very good.
Lebron makes him look terrible. Obviously, more to both those stories.)

How does a coach who has never won his league or never take a team to the NCAA or NIT in 9 years look like somebody that will help Cal? I wish him luck in the Palouse.

If Kyle can get a couple of guys to supplement Elleby, Cougs will be a tough out as Don MacLean is likes to say.

Sounds like Smith got 6 years at $1.4M per.

TheSouseFamily said:

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Sounds like Smith got 6 years at $1.4M per.

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Sounds like his agent probably went to Columbia too. Good deal.

Civil Bear said:

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Alkiadt said:

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helltopay1 said:

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so----kyle Smith is good enough for wazzu???our hire better be superior to Smith. smith has been a winner at every level. Did we contact him???I repeat---our hire better be superior or someone has some explain ing to do.

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Winner at every level? Depends on how you define that. Overall winning record, but never took a team to NCAA or NIT in 9 years, and never won his league, never finished higher than 3rd or 4th in any league he's been in. And this year, after starting 17-3, he bombed, failing to even qualify for the NIT.

Solid, mediocre coach. Glad he's not on coming to Berkeley.

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Yeah, I think the only reason he appears to be a good coach to some Cal fans is because they saw him outclass Jones so badly at Haas. I wonder if those are the same Cal fans that wanted to retain Jones?

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Smith is a great Xs and Os coach, really cerebral. He gives his players an advantage so they can beat more talented teams. The issue I have with him is his recruiting, he prefers to recruit players that fit "his style" so he is a better fit at a mid-major or at WSU.
https://www.apnews.com/0d6f260c31814b01b0322d4ec35e3433

The thing I like most about DeCuire is his willingness to change his strategy based on the skills of his players. I think that is ideal for Cal, since our recruiting can be so variable: we can land 5 stars, but can't count on landing 5 stars. We need to win as many games as possible in either case. Thus I prefer a coach that leans toward going after the best players available and then develops a strategy for the roster he ends up with, rather than settling for a coach who is going to settle for just trying to win with 3 stars.

Off the he table, coug coach

Wow, now I am envious of WSU's hire.