I'm in the Shaka camp....

[The Sultan of Silly]

Howland would be great but Shaka would be ideal.

Shaka now knows he has to move programs with Buzz now at VT and Bennett now having UVA on a roll also. He knows it will be harder than ever to be the midmajor alternative in a state now with two players at the super major ACC.

Shaka will move this offseason but the question is will it be Marquette or not?

You can't underestimate that most of the great college players are minorities and having a minority coach can be a recruiting advantage. I can almost guarantee if Smart is named coach it will become an issue of does he keep Buzz's recruits who all want to stay at MU or does he take his 3 top 100 VCU recruits with him to MU who all want to play for him (of course he has to keep the MU kids but if any of them want out he has options to replace them with). 

I'm told he doesn't want to coach at a blue blood and hence why he has turned down some programs in the past. I was also told he might move to MU last summer if the job became available. He didn't want the ill job as recruiting Chicago alone can be slimey, he didn't like their AD and no coach wants to live in Champaign which is gross and three hours from anything.

I think people underestimate how good our freshman class with fish, Wilson, Burton, Dawson and JJJ will be if they all stay. They are deers athletically and need to run and Shaka's style of play would be best suited for them. Fish looks like he can run some too but when the defense gets back he can be our Devante for half-court sets.

I have to imagine Howland is being pushed by Cords as he likes no non-sense coaches with a track record. However I have to imagine Doc might be pushing for Shaka knowing the conference won't recruit for itself anymore as much and Howland won't have palm trees on campus to sell recruits and can't totally rely on his pitch that I was Russel Westbrook's college coach.

Two great choices either way....will be interesting to see what happens and then find out what happened behind the scenes. 

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Most logical post of your scoop career. Dont see Shaka leaving but crazier things have happened. Shacka is 1a but Howland is a great 1b.

[Tugg Speedman]

Is Shaka in our camp?  I think you're arguing something that is never going to happen.

[LAZER]

I have a hard time believeing Shaka is a serious candidate at this point.

[Niv Berkowitz]

Nice post and rationale. But...I'm of the opinion that we may have to get a no non-sense, "safer" pick due to the catastrophic set-up of our current part-time/temp front office administration.

Howland's a phenomenal "safe" choice and he - like Buzz - might actually fall in our lap.

[T-Bone]

If it's not MU or Wake, Shaka's not going anywhere.  There's no better jobs than VCU at the moment.  And for him, and the support he gets, those may not be better for him.

[KenoshaWarrior]

No way are we getting Shaka Smart. 
Would be way to good to be true.   

[🏀]

Most logical post of your scoop career. Dont see Shaka leaving but crazier things have happened. Shacka is 1a but Howland is a great 1b.

Howland is 3 or 4 on MU's list.

[NavinRJohnson]

I have a hard time believeing Shaka is a serious candidate at this point.

And history supports it...Heck, if we're going to get in the camp of guys who aren't interested, I'm in the Pitino camp.

[Skatastrophy]

And history supports it...Heck, if we're going to get in the camp of guys who aren't interested, I'm in the Pitino camp.

You can have him. I'm hoping for Izzo.

[NersEllenson]

If we can get Shaka....and I don't think it is out of the realm of possibility...or another very high level candidate - as we'd have moved on Howland already if we knew we were out of the running for Shaka, Marshall, etc...

There definitely is another very attractive candidate or two in play at this point.  My ultimate hope is that MU pulls a Shaka and closes the deal.  Think he would do incredibly well at MU...and all recruits stay and he can take the recruiting arc up a notch from Buzz (which I felt was the biggest loss aspect of losing Buzz - his coaching was decent..not great...but recruiting...was really, really good).

[Coleman]

MU should go hard after Mike Krzyzewski

[NavinRJohnson]

Howland is 3 or 4 on MU's list.

So who's 1 or 2 (or 3)?

[NickelDimer]

Howland is 3 or 4 on MU's list.

That's incredible.  Very intrigued by who 1, 2, and possibly 3 would be

[🏀]

So who's 1 or 2 (or 3)?

Everyone knows who 1 is. I'm not sure who 2 is.

[LastWarrior]

Howland is 3 or 4 on MU's list.

PTM... I know you usually have good info but I have an extremely hard time believing that he would be below 3 (Shaka & Marshall?) and if he is, I question people that put that ranking together.

[Eldon]

New Sultan,

Great post.

However, I have to point out that Howland coached at Pittsburgh.  He did well there.  Pittsburgh, like Milwaukee, is cold.  Palm trees didn't get Howland 3 Final Fours.

[mufansince72]

He spurned interest from a couple programs a year ago, and he and his family love it in Wichita. What's not to love? He's well-compensated, is the big dog and has a program that is in position to sustain success. However, the key will be whether anyone comes calling that would truly pique his interest. Sources told ESPN that Marquette doesn't appear to have interest -- as Marshall isn't the ideal fit for everyone. Wake Forest may make a run at him, but there's just nothing currently open that would appear to offer enough for him to make a move.

[john31]

I think Shaka would be great at MU. Seems like a great coach and would appear to be a good fit for MU. One question I have is about the dynamic of recruiting a new coach. Does Cords go about this with input from who, Fr. Wild, BOT? It just seems like a weird dynamic as there is an interim AD and President at MU. I think this would be disconcerting to a potential hire unless the potential hire gets a lot of input  as far as a permanent AD goes and that seems crazy silly to me.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

I think Shaka would be great at MU. Seems like a great coach and would appear to be a good fit for MU. One question I have is about the dynamic of recruiting a new coach. Does Cords go about this with input from who, Fr. Wild, BOT? It just seems like a weird dynamic as there is an interim AD and President at MU. I think this would be disconcerting to a potential hire unless the potential hire gets a lot of input  as far as a permanent AD goes and that seems crazy silly to me.

I trust Wild with basketball decisions. Thats the same guy who was standing next to me during the St. Johns game yelling trying to distract the players from St. Johns during their free throws.

[connie]

Would love to see Fr. Wild donning the full battle gear hunting down our new coach.

[TJ]

If we can get Shaka....and I don't think it is out of the realm of possibility...or another very high level candidate - as we'd have moved on Howland already if we knew we were out of the running for Shaka, Marshall, etc...

You do realize that since the announcement there has been exactly 2 hours of weekday business hours, correct?  I'm not saying the MU AD wasn't working all weekend, but how often are new coaches introduced on a Sunday afternoon?

[mufansince72]

Jerry Meyer ‏@jerrymeyer247  14m
Getting 2 streams of information on Marquette. One stream is saying Ben Howland. The other stream is saying Shaka Smart.

Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello  9m
Been hearing the same re: Marquette. I think Howland gets it at the end of the day, but they are willing to throw tons of money at Shaka.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Jerry Meyer ‏@jerrymeyer247  14m
Getting 2 streams of information on Marquette. One stream is saying Ben Howland. The other stream is saying Shaka Smart.

Jeff Borzello ‏@jeffborzello  9m
Been hearing the same re: Marquette. I think Howland gets it at the end of the day, but they are willing to throw tons of money at Shaka.

Who knows, at the end of the day someone will be Marquettes next head coach.

[drewm88]

Who knows, at the end of the day someone will be Marquettes next head coach.

I don't think Borzello was using "end of the day" in a literal sense.