2020 Coaching Carousel

[Litehouse]

My first thought was Amaker has a good thing going at Harvard but given the Ivy League restrictions on certain eligibility issues, I can see why he'd have a wandering eye. 

How much is Amaker making at Harvard?  It seems like a nice gig for him, but if he's making $1M or less at Harvard and Wake throws an offer of $3M at him, it would be hard to turn down.

[Dawson Rental]

Two names the WF insider said are definitely in the mix at WF, that no one has talked about are: Tommy Amaker and he said the leading candidate right now, might very well be Thad Matta.

Thad no matta

[Goatherder]

How much is Amaker making at Harvard?  It seems like a nice gig for him, but if he's making $1M or less at Harvard and Wake throws an offer of $3M at him, it would be hard to turn down.

Maybe, but his wife is on the faculty at Harvard.  Boston College put on a big press to get him a few years ago, and he turned them down.  It would seem to have been the perfect place for him to go if he wanted to move to a major conference.  Into the ACC and he would not even need to move.  Of course, BC is locked in the cellar of the ACC, so maybe he did not want to take a difficult job like that.  Right now, Wake seems no better and it is not in Boston.  Harvard does have its advantages. If he and his wife are both earning respectable salaries there, a big increase in pay may not seem as attractive.  Moreover, he can likely stay at Harvard until he dies.  Recruiting obviously is different.  That can be good or bad depending on your viewpoint.  Clearly there are kids he cannot recruit to Harvard.  OTOH, there are kids he does not need to recruit to Harvard. 

[MU82]

Maybe, but his wife is on the faculty at Harvard.  Boston College put on a big press to get him a few years ago, and he turned them down.  It would seem to have been the perfect place for him to go if he wanted to move to a major conference.  Into the ACC and he would not even need to move.  Of course, BC is locked in the cellar of the ACC, so maybe he did not want to take a difficult job like that.  Right now, Wake seems no better and it is not in Boston.  Harvard does have its advantages. If he and his wife are both earning respectable salaries there, a big increase in pay may not seem as attractive.  Moreover, he can likely stay at Harvard until he dies.  Recruiting obviously is different.  That can be good or bad depending on your viewpoint.  Clearly there are kids he cannot recruit to Harvard.  OTOH, there are kids he does not need to recruit to Harvard.

Yep. Some people are just happy where they are. Bob McKillop, the very successful coach at Davidson, is another good example. You have more than enough $$, less pressure (still some, of course, but it's mostly what you put on yourself), a shot at conference titles, a chance to have a positive impact on athletes who want to be students and who usually stick around for 4 years,  likely longevity at a place where you're comfortable, etc. It sounds pretty effen good, if you ask me.

[Litehouse]

Getting paid $15M to go away sounds pretty effen good too.

[MU82]

Getting paid $15M to go away sounds pretty effen good too.

The $$$ sounds good ... but if you're true to yourself you know you left as a complete failure.

[keefe]

How many of those have limited athlete admission slots like Wake for those below a certain threshold? BC and....

I'm sure all of Miami's football players are rocking 30's on their ACT's and Syracuse is telling their other coaches "don't even bother" for hoops recruits. It's like Northwestern in the Big Ten and Stanford in the PAC 12; they have much leniency with admission than the rest of their conference peers. For athletics the ACC is loaded, for the most part, with large public schools with low academic standards. But keep arguing for the sake of arguing. Next up you'll resort to defending Wisconsin's academic rigor for athletics.

F#cking hilarious

[WarriorDad]

From 1940-1990, Wake Forest scattered 7 NCAA appearances across the decades. From 1991-2005, they went 12 times in 15 years. Then back to 3 in the last 15.

I'd argue that Wake Forest hasn't been less than Wake Forest for more than a decade, I'd argue they were more than Wake Forest for 15 years and have reverted to what they are.

In the last ten years Wake Forest has eight losing seasons.   The previous twenty years they had zero.  It is one thing to not make a tournament, quite another to not even compile winning records.

[muguru]

Wake Forest will either hire East Tenn St's Steve Forbes or UNCG's Wes Miller as their next Head Coach. Something should leak tomorrow. Thad Matta was also a candidate.

[brewcity77]

Wake Forest will either hire East Tenn St's Steve Forbes or UNCG's Wes Miller as their next Head Coach. Something should leak tomorrow. Thad Matta was also a candidate.

Source?

If so, I think that's a mistake for either of them. Forbes and Miller could both get solid high-major jobs in a normal year. Wake Forest isn't what it once was and it's a lot harder to break through in the ACC than it was when Wake was last relevant.

[muguru]

Source?

If so, I think that's a mistake for either of them. Forbes and Miller could both get solid high-major jobs in a normal year. Wake Forest isn't what it once was and it's a lot harder to break through in the ACC than it was when Wake was last relevant.

Evan Daniels and Les Johns the WF insider are both reporting the same thing

Looks like Steve Forbes will be the next Head coach at WF

[shoothoops]

Not a done deal, but Goodman also reporting Wake Forest deal with Steve Forbes is close. He mentioned the previous relationship between Forbes and Wake Forest AD John Currie.

[brewcity77]

That move probably makes more sense for Forbes than the other candidates. He's 55, so I imagine he wants to capitalize on a bigger job before retirement. If it doesn't go well, he can coach to 60 and think about hanging it up, if it does go well, he can put in 10-15 years.

For Miller, who may have his eye on UNC when Roy goes, I can't imagine going to Wake and losing for 3-4 seasons is the best audition tape to slide up Tobacco Road.

[The Sultan]

Wes Miller has been fine at Greensboro, but hardly spectacular.  1 NCAA bid in 8 years with this year TBD.  My guess is that he only got mention at Wake because of his family's connections.  No way he is the next guy at UNC unless a ton of others turn them down or he starts putting up some monster seasons.

[muguru]

That move probably makes more sense for Forbes than the other candidates. He's 55, so I imagine he wants to capitalize on a bigger job before retirement. If it doesn't go well, he can coach to 60 and think about hanging it up, if it does go well, he can put in 10-15 years.

For Miller, who may have his eye on UNC when Roy goes, I can't imagine going to Wake and losing for 3-4 seasons is the best audition tape to slide up Tobacco Road.

I'm just glad they didn't hire Matta..he was a candidate. Not sure any details beyond that, but he does get his last check from OSU next month. So I wonder if he's ready to get back into Coaching now, or if he's done for good?? I saw someone say that next years coaching carousel is expected to be crazy. How someone would know that already?? Who knows.

[MU82]

I'm just glad they didn't hire Matta..he was a candidate. Not sure any details beyond that, but he does get his last check from OSU next month. So I wonder if he's ready to get back into Coaching now, or if he's done for good?? I saw someone say that next years coaching carousel is expected to be crazy. How someone would know that already?? Who knows.

If Wojo left/got canned, would I like our Warriors to consider Matta? I guess so. He's a proven commodity who had a heck of 10-year run at Ohio State and also won big at both Butler and Xavier.

Still, he did miss the tourney his last two seasons despite having recruited some highly rated players, he finished 10th in the B14 his final season, he had health issues, and there was talk of burnout.

Maybe he's healthy and his next job re-energizes him. Plus, he's in his mid-50s, so maybe he'll see his next job as a landing spot instead of a springboard.

Obviously, worth a long look if we ever get to that place.

[JWags85]

Wes Miller has been fine at Greensboro, but hardly spectacular.  1 NCAA bid in 8 years with this year TBD.  My guess is that he only got mention at Wake because of his family's connections.  No way he is the next guy at UNC unless a ton of others turn them down or he starts putting up some monster seasons.

What family connections would get him mention at Wake?

And UNCG is really a tough place to win. Of the 3 SoCon conference titles and 2 tourney appearances in the schools history, he has 2 and 1, respectively. The only other was under Fran McCaffrey.

I agree that he's not merited UNC looks at this point, but he's definitely worthy of looks from a place like Wake. Most of those 8 seasons at UNCG were as one of the youngest coaches in D1 too

[tower912]

Guru, next year will theoretically be crazier because a lot of frustrated AD's looked at the world this spring and decided the last thing they needed was a coaching search.   So they hunkered down with what they have rather than conduct a search over the phone.

[The Sultan]

What family connections would get him mention at Wake?

And UNCG is really a tough place to win. Of the 3 SoCon conference titles and 2 tourney appearances in the schools history, he has 2 and 1, respectively. The only other was under Fran McCaffrey.

I agree that he's not merited UNC looks at this point, but he's definitely worthy of looks from a place like Wake. Most of those 8 seasons at UNCG were as one of the youngest coaches in D1 too

His dad used to be on Wake's Board of Trustees and he was the primary donor to the basketball practice facility.

https://godeacs.com/sports/2018/7/27/facilities-wake-miller-html.aspx

[muguru]

Guru, next year will theoretically be crazier because a lot of frustrated AD's looked at the world this spring and decided the last thing they needed was a coaching search.   So they hunkered down with what they have rather than conduct a search over the phone.

Good point, I guess there were probably quite a few coaches on the hot seat that only survived because of covid-19

[MU82]

Guru, next year will theoretically be crazier because a lot of frustrated AD's looked at the world this spring and decided the last thing they needed was a coaching search.   So they hunkered down with what they have rather than conduct a search over the phone.

Agree with this 100%.

[The Sultan]

Conversely, athletic departments may be so strapped for cash that they won't be able to afford the buy-outs.

[MU82]

Conversely, athletic departments may be so strapped for cash that they won't be able to afford the buy-outs.

Maybe ... but, as was the case with Wake this year, most seem to be able to find the money when they really want to dump their coach.

[asdfasdf]

Maybe ... but, as was the case with Wake this year, most seem to be able to find the money when they really want to dump their coach.

I think you're right that ADs could find the money if they wanted to, but will need to work to justify the expense. Particularly in situations where the coach isn't failing as hard as Manning did.

For instance, from a financial standpoint, I don't think Marquette could justify firing Wojo anytime soon based on his performance.

[bilsu]

Conversely, athletic departments may be so strapped for cash that they won't be able to afford the buy-outs.

They also will not be paying big salary's for new coaches.