Web of expectations.......

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://www.lincolncourier.com/story.asp?SID=5385&SEC=10

[MarquetteVol]

This guy hit the nail on the head. Tom Crean has a deal at Marquette that will pay him for a decade. If he goes to UK and doesn't get to the Final Four, he could find himself coaching in the MAC in a heartbeat. I don't care what kind of prestige is involved in coaching there, it sounds like a miserable fan base to deal with on a daily basis. It's like working for a top, top law firm. They'll pay you great, work you to death and when you can't bill 80 hours a week anymore or show a sign of weakness, they'll kick you to the curb. I guess that's good for some people. Plus, I would think a coach like Crean believes that he can win a national championship at Marquette and that would have to mean more to him than doing so at a place like Kentucky. Plus, TC seemed pretty stressed at the end of the year. That stress pales in comparison to the stress he'd feel each and every day in Lexington.

The only current college coach that would get the benefit of the doubt there is Billy Donovan. He's so proven as a coach that the UK fanbase wouldn't burn him in effigy if they don't make the Final Four immediately. Anyone else could be shown the door quickly if things didn't work out.

[ChicosBailBonds]

He could be right, I was mostly interested in the examination of Wooden and Coach K and others....successful coaches that wouldn't pass muster here with their records early on.

Stability is key.

[NYWarrior]

If he goes to UK and doesn't get to the Final Four, he could find himself coaching in the MAC in a heartbeat.

Or making $1.8M a year at a Big Ten school like its former coach.  Even Eddie Sutton did fine after his UK fiasco.

[bma725]

If he goes to UK and doesn't get to the Final Four, he could find himself coaching in the MAC in a heartbeat.

Or making $1.8M a year at a Big Ten school like its former coach.  Even Eddie Sutton did fine after his UK fiasco.

Difference both of those guys were much more accomplished than Crean would be in that situation.  Tubby won a National Championship and took two other schools to the Sweet Sixteen.  Sutton had already taken Arkansas to the Final Four and Creighton to the NCAA Tournament when he left Kentucky.  Crean wouldn't exactly be on the same level if he went to UK and didn't succeed.