The 2 coaches that would get MU to next level

[Aircraftcarrier]

One would never leave the NBA and that is Doc Rivers and the other one the University would never hire is Rick Pitino.How satisfied is the President and AD along with the board of trustees in where the Mens basketball program is?That is the question.Do they want to win at a high level or be competitive and have a very clean program?

[Pakuni]

They'd rather be competitive with a clean program than associated with Rick Pitino.
So would I, tbh.

[SERocks]

I don't really get how many threads we need that are basically the same topic.  MU seems perfectly happy with what we have now.  I don't see this changing anytime soon and people that are much more in the know that I am (very outside) post the same thing.  What you see now is what you get for MU basketball until Wojo decides to leave is my bet.

[NickelDimer]

I really wanted Wojo fired after the epic collapse last year and I really wanted us to pursue Nate Oats. Oh well.

[Dawson Rental]

One would never leave the NBA and that is Doc Rivers and the other one the University would never hire is Rick Pitino.How satisfied is the President and AD along with the board of trustees in where the Mens basketball program is?That is the question.Do they want to win at a high level or be competitive and have a very clean program?

Everyone knows what the BOT wants.  Are you saying that you want a program that cheats?  that seems to be your implication.

[Pakuni]

I really wanted Wojo fires after the epic collapse last year and I really wanted us to pursue Nate Oates. Oh well.

Nate's not exactly killing it at Alabama. 8-7 overall, 1-2 in conference (where they're giving up 90 ppg). And it's not like he has nothing to work with ... two of the top three scorers from last year returned - and four of the top seven - and he inherited two RSCI top 100 freshman from Avery Johnson's recruiting class (actually three, but one is injured).
His 2020 recruiting class currently ranks 83rd in the nation and 12th in the SEC. Pretty sure that wouldn't be acceptable around here.

None of this is to say Oats is a bad coach (he's not), but nothing he's done at Bama says Marquette missed the boat on him.

[NickelDimer]

Nate's not exactly killing it at Alabama. 8-7 overall, 1-2 in conference (where they're giving up 90 ppg). And it's not like he had nothing to work with ... two of the top three scorers from last year returned - and four of the top seven - and he inherited two RSCI top 100 freshman from Avery Johnson (actually three, but one is injured).
His 2020 recruiting class currently ranks 83rd in the nation and 12th in the SEC. Pretty sure that wouldn't be acceptable around here.

None of this is to say Oats is a bad coach (he's not), but nothing he's done at Bama says Marquette missed the boat on him.

Yep. Time will tell.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Nate's not exactly killing it at Alabama. 8-7 overall, 1-2 in conference (where they're giving up 90 ppg). And it's not like he has nothing to work with ... two of the top three scorers from last year returned - and four of the top seven - and he inherited two RSCI top 100 freshman from Avery Johnson's recruiting class (actually three, but one is injured).
His 2020 recruiting class currently ranks 83rd in the nation and 12th in the SEC. Pretty sure that wouldn't be acceptable around here.

None of this is to say Oats is a bad coach (he's not), but nothing he's done at Bama says Marquette missed the boat on him.

Fairly disingenuous.

Preseason Alabama kenpom rank (so how they should do "on paper"): 70
Current Alabama kenpom rank: 53

Preseason MU kenpom rank (how we should do "on paper"): 18
Current MU kenpom rank: 39

Oats would have been a great MU hire. Played his college ball in WI, plays Buzz style ball, energetic guy that would recruit well with our history & resources and get fans engaged.

[brewcity77]

Oats would have been a great MU hire. Played his college ball in WI, plays Buzz style ball, energetic guy that would recruit well with our history & resources and get fans engaged.

Would've been a great hire when? In 2014 when he was a first year assistant at Buffalo coming off a 10-year stint as a high school coach?

I like Oats, but at no point of his life was he a viable name for an open Marquette job, nor should he have been.

[Pakuni]

Fairly disingenuous.

Preseason Alabama kenpom rank (so how they should do "on paper"): 70
Current Alabama kenpom rank: 53

Preseason MU kenpom rank (how we should do "on paper"): 18
Current MU kenpom rank: 39

Oats would have been a great MU hire. Played his college ball in WI, plays Buzz style ball, energetic guy that would recruit well with our history & resources and get fans engaged.

Nothing I said was wrong or disingenuous.
And why not comment on that 83rd ranked recruiting class?

[WarriorPride68]

One would never leave the NBA and that is Doc Rivers and the other one the University would never hire is Rick Pitino.How satisfied is the President and AD along with the board of trustees in where the Mens basketball program is?That is the question.Do they want to win at a high level or be competitive and have a very clean program?

How about we just hire his perennially underachieving son as an we owe you one to Minnesota?

[vogue65]

One would never leave the NBA and that is Doc Rivers and the other one the University would never hire is Rick Pitino.How satisfied is the President and AD along with the board of trustees in where the Mens basketball program is?That is the question.Do they want to win at a high level or be competitive and have a very clean program?

They want to be Princeton or Northwestern.  They did not like the feel of big time sports.   They liked recruiting in the Wisconsin boondocks, it made for goood press.  Image isn't everything, it's the only thing.

[Silent Verbal]

Rick Pitino, at 67, is getting a little long in the tooth.  It'd be fun to see him take a job at a mid major and turn them around, but between his age and the scandals, his days of coaching high major ball are over.

[MU82]

Would've been a great hire when? In 2014 when he was a first year assistant at Buffalo coming off a 10-year stint as a high school coach?

I like Oats, but at no point of his life was he a viable name for an open Marquette job, nor should he have been.

This. Lotsa revisionist history in ScoopLand.

Oats was no more of a realistic hire when we actually had a viable opening than Beard was. Scoop would have been collectively outraged had either been hired for the position in 2014.

We heard of 4 viable candidates in 2014, and there is no evidence to support any contention that any of the other 3 would have done any better at MU than Wojo has. Also no reason to believe that any would have done worse. One rejected the job because his wife didn't like Milwaukee, and he has vastly underperformed all expectations where he ended up; the other two were desperate retreads who have done no better elsewhere.

The biggest surprise about this thread's OP is that he seems to think only 2 guys would be superior to Wojo as MU coach.

I can think of a bunch who almost surely would be better; whether any of them would be available is another story. There also are a bunch who would be worse, or who would be question marks; a lot more of them would be available.

[The Sultan]

They want to be Princeton or Northwestern.  They did not like the feel of big time sports.   They liked recruiting in the Wisconsin boondocks, it made for goood press.  Image isn't everything, it's the only thing.

Yeah none of this is really true.

[The Lens]

John Beilein might be available.   He's coached at two Jesuit Universities already.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Would've been a great hire when? In 2014 when he was a first year assistant at Buffalo coming off a 10-year stint as a high school coach?

I like Oats, but at no point of his life was he a viable name for an open Marquette job, nor should he have been.

Last year, when there was Wojo to UNLV/VA Tech rumors.

2018 UB preseason Kenpom rank: 151
2018 end of year Kenpom rank: 62

2019 UB preseason Kenpom rank: 72
2019 UB end of year Kenpom rank: 19

He's an overachiever, and he plays a style I like. With MU type resources and several years of head coaching experience under his belt, he would have been a home run hire here last year. I believe Alabama got a good one.

[Silkk the Shaka]

This. Lotsa revisionist history in ScoopLand.

Oats was no more of a realistic hire when we actually had a viable opening than Beard was. Scoop would have been collectively outraged had either been hired for the position in 2014.

We heard of 4 viable candidates in 2014, and there is no evidence to support any contention that any of the other 3 would have done any better at MU than Wojo has. Also no reason to believe that any would have done worse. One rejected the job because his wife didn't like Milwaukee, and he has vastly underperformed all expectations where he ended up; the other two were desperate retreads who have done no better elsewhere.

The biggest surprise about this thread's OP is that he seems to think only 2 guys would be superior to Wojo as MU coach.

I can think of a bunch who almost surely would be better; whether any of them would be available is another story. There also are a bunch who would be worse, or who would be question marks; a lot more of them would be available.

I was not talking about 2014.

[brewcity77]

Last year, when there was Wojo to UNLV/VA Tech rumors.

2018 UB preseason Kenpom rank: 151
2018 end of year Kenpom rank: 62

2019 UB preseason Kenpom rank: 72
2019 UB end of year Kenpom rank: 19

He's an overachiever, and he plays a style I like. With MU type resources and several years of head coaching experience under his belt, he would have been a home run hire here last year. I believe Alabama got a good one.

So when we didn't have an open job. Nothing against Oats, but it's fairly disingenuous to say he would've been a great hire for an opening that didn't exist.

[NickelDimer]

So when we didn't have an open job. Nothing against Oats, but it's fairly disingenuous to say he would've been a great hire for an opening that didn't exist.

Well obviously this is a hypothetical although a strong case could be made MU should've had a job opening. Between an historically epic collapse and total dysfunction behind the scenes, a Wojo dismissal was justified.

[tower912]

Available coaches that might be tolerable to MU BOT as well as scoopers...    damn, that is a small subset.   

[Silkk the Shaka]

So when we didn't have an open job. Nothing against Oats, but it's fairly disingenuous to say he would've been a great hire for an opening that didn't exist.

Correct, I meant last year in a hypothetical scenario. I am not anti-Wojo. I would classify myself as a so-so/Basic Pr hybrid. I hope he succeeds. I just thought Oats would have been a great fit when there was discussion of Wojo potentially leaving for another opening last year and if we need to hire in the next few years (for whatever reason), I hope there is extreme mutual interest between us & him.

[tower912]

If Wojo were to leave for more lucrative pastures (he isn't getting fired this year), I am curious as to the health status of the former Buckeye head coach.   I would love to see the different variations of 'free throws no Matta' if the ft shooting percentage fluctuated.   

[Cheeks]

I really wanted Wojo fires after the epic collapse last year and I really wanted us to pursue Nate Oates. Oh well.

We should do a poll on that....

[NickelDimer]

We should do a poll on that....

I'm glad you quoted this so I could see all my typos. Brutal.