Actual offers?

[MU Avenue]

I know many people, from fans to sportswriters to the painfully ubiquitous sports commentators, like to include Tom Crean's name in the list of candidates whenever a higher-level coaching opening occurs. But has Crean ever actually been offered one of these jobs?

Over the past three years, some of the bigger or biggest coaching jobs in Division I basketball have come open. In almost every case, I have read that Crean is in the running, including for the Kansas and the Kentucky jobs. Is all of this theory and supposition, or has Crean really been a serious and likely contender for such positions?

I like and respect Crean. Based on what I have seen over the years, however, I have trouble seeing him as guy whom other schools would be all that eager to hire. Others and I have already documented our reasons for liking Crean while also having concerns about him and his recruiting, development of players, game preparation and coaching methods, especially in the heat of battle.

That all said, I am enough of a homer and "blue and golder" to wonder why people think that the head coaching job at Marquette is not a topshelf, big-time opportunity for almost any coach. I have to believe that Crean and his family know this and understand that he -- they -- could not be in a better place at a better time.

If Crean is really a contender and a candidate for all of these coaching jobs, good for him. But if other schools really have him on their lists, I would like to know which, if any, has offered him a job.

I think Crean is still learning key parts of his trade. I also think he is extremely fortunate to be honing his coaching skills at Marquette.

As a confessed homer and "blue and golder," I would  be surprised and disappointed if Crean is sending the message that he "might be interested" in other coaching positions. His leaving MU could be a mistake that Crean might regret for the rest of his long career.

[mu_hilltopper]

Indeed, a list of rumor jobs should be on the wiki!   http://wiki.muscoop.com/doku.php/men_s_basketball/tom_crean

To my memory, the only offer that was ever "real" was last week's Arkansas job, that the JS said he was offered ($2.5m) and rejected.

Besides that, (again, to my memory) every other April goes like this:
1. A coach leaves

2. ESPN rumormongers suggest Crean

3. Internet rumors explode

4. No statements are heard from MU concerning if other schools have asked to speak to Crean. 

5. No statements from Crean during this period, either.  Since Tom could end it with one phone call to any one of 22 different journalist friends "I'm not interested" it means his name is out there because, for whatever reason, he wants it out there.  (Possible reasons include contract leverage, name fame, or actual interest.).  (The corollary argument is "a coach can't respond to every rumor!")

6. Internet users debate program X and whether it's better than MU and wait and wait and flame and bitch and moan and wait and wait for #7. (Myself included, of course.)

7. After X days, Crean releases a statement that says "I love my job.  These rumors are bunk.  I'm getting ready for next year, baby."  This is followed shortly by #8.

8. The job is filled with another coach.

#7 and #8 occur very close together, maximizing #5.


.. Did I miss anything?

[Avenue Commons]

Part of the reason Crean is able to say "I was never offered" or "I was never even contacted" is because of the way the search process works. It is increasingly common for a university searching for a new head coach to hire an executive recruiter (if that doesn't say it all about college sports as a business, I don't know what does, but I digress). What happens is the executive recruiter who is hired by the university (technically not a part of university and "independent") contacts the candidate coach's agent. The executive recruiter makes an overture to the agent, the agent relays it to the candidate coach, and the agent then relays back to the executive recruiter the candidate coach's position. If things don't work out both the university searching for a coach and the candidate coach can say that they never actually spoke and an "offer" was never made. The parties only say an "offer" was made if an actual written contract is presented. Otherwise they are just "feeling each other out." Also, the agent may be able to tell certain schools right off the bat that the candidate coach is not interested in certain positions. While not necessarily sincere, it is the literal truth for the candidate coach to say "an offer was never made" or "I was never contacted." It allows the candidate coach to say that he isn't putting himself on the auction block and allows the university searching for a new coach to not look desperate. (See: Arkansas, University of). It's all part of the modern game, love it or hate it.

[tower912]

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that a couple of things that have been written over the last couple of weeks is true.   Let us assume that Crean was on the list at Kentucky, but wanted too much control over the program, and that what the AD at Illinois insinuated was true, that TC  wanted too much.   Where does that leave us?   It means that TC would only go to a "better" job if he was given the same level of control he has at MU.
If Arkansas offered 2.5, which I believe is very possible, but did not offer the kind of control he wants, as well as already having run off another Izzo acolyte who took them into the dance, why on earth would TC accept it?    If UK offered, which, for the record, I don't think they ever got that close to, but did not also offer him the kind of control he wanted, in addition to having some of the most insane fans in the country, making even PRN look like a docile puppy, so much that Joani wouldn't feel comfortable or safe, why would he go?
  To further review, 1. He is making big coin  2.  He has complete control over a program he has built up.   3.   He is in the BE.   4.  His father-in-law has a gravy gig here, too.  5.   He has a 10 year deal.   6.  He has his top 6 scorers coming back (assuming DJ stays) and a nice class coming in.  7.  He doesn't have stalker fans tracking flights and car rentals on the internet.  8.  He is the BMOC, with no football.
When you combine the idea that he would want the kind of control he has here someplace else, with what  he has going for him here, I can believe he danced with Illinois, OSU, Virginia, UCLA, Indiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, but ultimately could not get a deal he thought was better elsewhere,  everything considered.   

[Pakuni]

Avenue is exactly correct. The whole process is done largely through intermediaries.
Schools rarely make offers unless they know it's going to be accepted. That way, they can save face and say "We never offered Coach X, Coach Y was our man all along." This is how, for example, Ron Guenther can go around telling people he never spoke to Tom Crean regarding the Illinois job. That's probably true. But you can bet his people talked to Crean's people.
Likewise, coaches won't enter into direct communications until a deal is close because they, for several reasons (i.e. recruiting, keeping fans and donors happy, etc.) want to be able to deny they ever expressed interest in any other job.

[BigSky]

Pure speculation here....but I hold the opinion that nationally Marquette is not always a high profile school anymore in hoops(as much as MU fans think it is and recruiting is tough) and and his name out there increases his profile and the school's when he doesn't go to the other schools.  It is still a tough challenge to recruit against the big boys.  I like the steady progress in recruiting levels of talent.  The role players could be more even in recruiting at this point.  Crean can assure potential recruits he is staying but show that he is in demand. 

Look at the UK job....UK waits for Donovan...Gillispie spurns Arkansas and waits for UK, never signing his extension and stringing A&M along because he obviously thought he had a chance at that job.  It took exactly one night for him to become the next UK coach.  Crean was a backburner choice and knew it, so he never says I am staying or have no interest....just says he will stick to his usual of not commenting and I like it here etc...because what if for some strange reason it fell to him.....? 

You can never say never....Crean has a good job...and is content...I don't think he leaves for anything short of one oif the top jobs out there. 

What exactly has Gillispie accomplished?  Turned around UTEP to make them competitive, Turned around A&M(with Melvin Watkins recruits)....so how much more qualified is he than Crean if at all, up and coming coaches etc...

Crean now has this stigma around him that he hasn't won NCAA tourney games without Wade, whether that is fair or unfair.  He knows that, and knows for him to move up on people's lists, his teams need to get better later in the season and post-season. 

If you compare Crean's success, as never having been a head coach, to other coaches out there who take on similar level programs after never being a head coach....I'll take Crean's results to this point over most.  He is fortunate that MU now has a huge hoops budget and facilities etc...so expectations will increase for him going forward.  MU has been establishing itself as an almost annual NCAA team going forward, a big step for the program.  And in the future, he will be expected to have more hits than misses or projects in recruiting, and to make some post-season noise in some years.