Ohio State got things started by siding with Jake Diebler. Unlike the Rodney Terry situation, this was a team that looked *appalling* that instantly improved the second Diebler took over. They've jumped over twenty spots in KenPom in a little over a month-- hard to do this time of year. Very good low-risk in-house hire. I like it.

DePaul then hires Chris Holtmann. Look, the Ohio State tenure ended disastrously, there's no question... but DePaul hasn't hired a coach with this much prior success in a quarter century. It's DePaul, after all. It's also the lowest risk scenario imaginable, because if Holtmann can consistently make them, like, a 5 or 6 win team in conference? It'd be seen as a huge success, lol. So I'm more than fine with this hire.

Michigan hilariously steals Dusty May from Louisville. Apparently May's agent had told Louisville early that afternoon he was coming... and then Michigan signed him later that day, lmao. On one hand, May's had four mediocre seasons, one terrific season, and one underwhelming-but-still-good season, and that's not exactly a *dynamite* resume given what he's getting paid... but on the other hand, FAU has, like, zero resources. It's been called one of the hardest jobs at its conference level... and he built them up and took them to the Final Four. It's hard answering the question "is he good without this particular crew?"... but then again, you could've said the same for Otz before he left South Dakota State, and at Iowa State, he's proven to be one of the best coaches in the country. Some risk here, but tremendous upside.

Stanford hires Kyle Smith from Washington State. Tremendous hire. Maybe the best of the cycle so far. He'd have made my short list for coach of the year this year-- it's *impossible* to win at Washington State unless you're a savant. He won at Columbia, he won at San Francisco, he won at Washington State. Stanford can be a tricky place to win consistently to some extent, but Haase had no trouble attracting talent-- he just couldn't coach. Smith can coach. A+ move.

Washington brings in Danny Sprinkle from Utah State. Another savant-- won at Montana State, immediately won at Utah State. Major upgrade over Hopkins. Will be tough moving to the Big Ten, but if you're going to enter a new conference, do so with a guy who's won at multiple places. Not quite the slam dunk that Smith is imo-- but if this ends up working out even better than Smith, I wouldn't be surprised.

Vanderbilt just hired Mark Byington on the heels of James Madison getting smoked yesterday. Still, another guy who won at two different spots in very real ways. Vanderbilt is a tough gig-- always feels like they just can't get talent to go there-- but if anyone can do the most with the least, Byington's gotta be on that list. Maybe not the "sexiest" hire of the cycle, but feels like a good one all the same.

Finally, West Virginia hires Darian DeVries from Drake. Look, getting Drake to hire than a 12 seed twice is pretty wild, so the guy can clearly coach. I find the fit interesting given that he's an Iowa-area guy through and through. It's also still a program with Bob Huggins's shadow looming over it. Less immediately optimistic about this hire solely due to fit... but hey, hard to deny what he did at Drake. It could definitely still work out.

Big jobs still open: Louisville is the big domino, then Oklahoma State. SMU also could be a really big one, given that they're apparently looking to spend major money entering the ACC and have been approaching some surprisingly big names to try to take this job. Other jobs that could still open up: places like UCF, Arizona State, USC. Rumors have swirled around Iowa. Maybe even somewhere like Villanova could choose to move on? Maybe a couple big retirements could happen? We'll see!

>DePaul then hires Chris Holtmann. Look, the Ohio State tenure
>ended disastrously, there's no question... but DePaul hasn't
>hired a coach with this much prior success in a quarter
>century. It's DePaul, after all. It's also the lowest risk
>scenario imaginable, because if Holtmann can consistently make
>them, like, a 5 or 6 win team in conference? It'd be seen as a
>huge success, lol. So I'm more than fine with this hire.

I did not know DePaul went 0-20 in the Big East this season. and Georgetown went 2-18! how do you have two conference teams go 2-38?!

>Michigan hilariously steals Dusty May from Louisville.
>Apparently May's agent had told Louisville early that
>afternoon he was coming... and then Michigan signed him later
>that day, lmao.

I don't think its a huge financial commitment, most of the top 40 salaries are $3-4 million if I saw correctly. FAU played in a high school gym and May has an adaptable offensive strategy that will probably be entertaining. fortunately for him, Howard was so bad the last two years that he has some runway to get better.

>Vanderbilt just hired Mark Byington on the heels of James
>Madison getting smoked yesterday. Still, another guy who won
>at two different spots in very real ways. Vanderbilt is a
>tough gig-- always feels like they just can't get talent to go
>there-- but if anyone can do the most with the least,
>Byington's gotta be on that list. Maybe not the "sexiest" hire
>of the cycle, but feels like a good one all the same.

the 2018-19 and 2019-2020 teams had five NBA players and they won a combined 3 SEC games over two seasons :/

I think the portal and NIL is killing Vandy more now, you saw half the team dip after Stackhouse had a nice run to end 2022-2023

>I did not know DePaul went 0-20 in the Big East this season. and Georgetown went 2-18! how do you have two conference teams go 2-38?!

All the crazier that they didn't get more than 3 teams in the Dance. Having the bad teams really, really suck is usually a recipe for more bids-- it's exactly what happened to the MWC!

>I don't think it's a huge financial commitment, most of the top 40 salaries are $3-4 million if I saw correctly. FAU played in a high school gym and May has an adaptable offensive strategy that will probably be entertaining. fortunately for him, Howard was so bad the last two years that he has some runway to get better.

More than anything, I just wonder what they said to make him instantly agree to go to Michigan after telling Louisville he was heading there. They were setting up chairs for the press conference and everything, lmao.

>the 2018-19 and 2019-2020 teams had five NBA players and they won a combined 3 SEC games over two seasons :/ I think the portal and NIL is killing Vandy more now, you saw half the team dip after Stackhouse had a nice run to end 2022-2023

Fuuuuuck, I forgot Garland was a Vandy guy, lmao. Honestly wonder how that would've changed things for Bryce Drew. He's done a great job at Grand Canyon.

You're right that it's clearly not *actually* a talent problem-- maybe it's just a talent retention problem? But even then, Nesmith was there two years, Saben Lee for three, Pippen for three. How is it that the only guy who's consistently won there in my lifetime... was Kevin Fucking Stallings? lmao

Hella happy with this hire.

Also, chuckling at WSU's plight at losing their coach who has turned their program around in a big way. There was some rumblings that UW might shoot at Smith, but Sprinkle has kinda been the guy for some time now.

Won't be shocked if a couple WSU guys transfer to UW too.

WSU down bad, once again.

They missed (supposedly) on Scott Drew and Dusty May. This seems like a solid consolation, but who the hell knows.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39820816/sources-louisville-targeting-pat-kelsey-basketball-coach

So they dodged a bullet if you believe the rumor they offered it to him.

It's just so hard to figure out what the hell is happening. I also heard a rumor they offered Billy Donovan (who said no very obviously lol). Were these Drew and big name offers real... or were they just leaked to reporters to make it look like the AD was trying when he, in fact, had no interest in shelling out the sort of money it'd take to get them? They're currently paying buyouts for two basketball coaches and a football coach.

Them losing May was pretty funny, although it might work out, given that I'd imagine May bolts for the Indiana job as soon as he can (I hope for Michigan's sake that the buyout is massive). Kelsey's a Cincinnati guy, familiar with the area, and he's a really good coach-- although Charleston has always been shit against high-major talent. Is that simply a byproduct of coaching at a school that draws inferior talent, or is it an indication that Kelsey's a better mid-major coach than high-major one? Time will tell!

>given that I'd imagine May bolts for the Indiana job as soon
>as he can

partly because Michigan did all their work on May last year when the Lakers were sniffing around Howard, so this is not a hasty union. also why Louisville never actually had a chance if Michigan wanted him.

secondly, given the current financial climate, moving from a football power to Indiana may not be prudent for any coach.

finally this seems to be a destination job for him. reports are hes already hollering at his old friends from his EMU days and reconnecting with high school coaches, and i read somewhere that he might have more of an affinity for the guys he worked for than he does for the school itself.

its been 35 years since a FB/BB coach left for another college job of his own volition, and i dont anticipate the next one happening anytime soon.

Office swaps

Kinda

I can't recall the last time the mentor took over the mentee's old mid-major job when the mentee got promoted.

i think he's not really rocking with this NIL era. we've seen his struggles at Kentucky even when he's getting high school all americans every year.

i don't think anyone could say Cal is altruistic...but at this point he has all the money and most of the accolades...i think the NIL has soured him and he may actually want to be somewhere where it's more likely that the talent will stick around and where can attract older transfers and actually coach guys up a bit.

i'd need to hear from some Kentucky insiders or something.

>i think he's not really rocking with this NIL era. we've seen
>his struggles at Kentucky even when he's getting high school
>all americans every year.

I don't think Cal has ever had a problem with NIL, and he had an offensive super team this season so it's not affecting the talent level. it's shameful that he couldn't beat Oakland with the shooters he had this year.

>the NIL has soured him and he may actually want to be
>somewhere where it's more likely that the talent will stick
>around and where can attract older transfers and actually
>coach guys up a bit.

he tried that for two seasons (2021, 2022) and he couldn't get to the Sweet 16 either season. those teams were upperclassmen-led, by good upperclassmen (Tshiebwe was POY, Reeves, Toppin) and became Saint Peter's memes.

and his coaching is really bad now! good teams run the same plays against him constantly and he won't adjust, he used to coach defense but he gave up on that too, his rotations are ass (benching the best players to try his 12th different Frankenstein lineup) and his accountability is out the window (walks out or skips post-game interviews consistently).

ironically, Musselman was basically following the Cal blueprint at Arkansas by getting a lot of one-and-done talent and hoping they matured into their roles by March.

So I was way off....or maybe hoping he'd change, lol.

Kentucky, surprisingly, had less NIL the last couple years than people might think. They obviously are still one of the top programs around in terms of opportunity and budget... but when Cal first almost left a year or so ago, it was because Kentucky was reluctant to spend on players the way others were. Kentucky whiffed on a not-insubstantial number of transfers the last year or two, and the rumors have always been that Cal was asking for the boosters to spend and the boosters were saying no.

Whether that was a chess move by UK to try to force Calipari to leave is certainly up for discussion... but I think there's also a world in which UK is, like, closer to top 10-12 in actual NIL expenditure than top 4. By choice, not by resource. I'm sure how they spend this offseason will depend on which coach they hire and what promises they make this new guy. Most of the coaches' new contracts have guaranteed NIL budgets attached. Gotta think that'll be the case here too.

(Outside of that, I'll agree with Will on basically everything he said. A coach who wants to play an antiquated style of basketball free of criticism and the most vocally assholish fanbase in college basketball is a bad combo and ultimately became untenable. I lowkey think Cal will thrive in Arkansas, though-- he loves being loved, and Arkansas was one of the top schools in America in terms of transfer NIL budget under Musselman, so undoubtedly that'll rise even higher with Cal.)

he’s a home town kid who went to my HS.

We all wondered why he hit the portal so fast after talking with Cal but now it makes sense.

Coo Coo Cal was VERY interested in the Buckeye HC job but after we beat Purdue and Michigan State's ass, Diebler won the fan base/ alumni/ boosters / past players

https://imgur.com/a/PAYedmW

>( i liked cal at memphis and umass, when he was actually COACHING that dribble drive offense and not just rolling the ball out and letting his 5 stars do whatever)

this is the best move for all parties...I just thought Calipari would end up in Florida (Miami job when it opens up) or California (USC), not fayetteville Arkansas

he must really like being the only show in these shithole good ole boy towns

edit, hes already told informed his 2024/25 recruits to follow him to arkansas...going to an in conference "rival" per se is shady biz

>Ohio State got things started by siding with Jake Diebler.
>Unlike the Rodney Terry situation, this was a team that looked
>*appalling* that instantly improved the second Diebler took
>over. They've jumped over twenty spots in KenPom in a little
>over a month-- hard to do this time of year. Very good
>low-risk in-house hire. I like it.

reminded me alot of Thad Matta upsetting Deron Williams and undefeated Illinois in his first year

btw he outcoached Brad Underwood, and Tom Izzo and stole a win the the Kohl Center. IMMEDIATELY. Beat the shit out of michigan and refused to call them michigan. He GETS it.

the Dieblier hire is a grand slam **theoretically

Going into the season, EVERY single Ohio State wanted Holtmann and his entire staff GONE, so when they hired Diebler full time I was initially skeptical but after thinking about it , it checks EVERY single box .

TOSU basketball was persona non grata among the boosters for the last 3 years under Holtmann, they felt he wasnt retaining enough in state talent, making inroads with coaches, or *GROWING* the program. As a result, they kinda tightened up with the NIL

Diebler is the son of a HS coaching legend, played at Valpo, brother of the All time Ohio high school scoring leader who was also a Buckeye legend, and like I said in the other post...Diebler has held EVERY single position you can have in a collegiate basketball program besides folding towels and handing out cups of gatorade.

video coordinator grad assistant to position coach to associate to head coach, hes done it all.


he will recruit the fuck out of the Ohio High School Basketball Scene - the next few HS classes in Ohio are LOADED w D1 talent and its he is friendly with OHSAA coaches from toledo to cincinatti to cleveland and all the towns in between. He recruited all the 1st round picks we've had (Lidell, Branham, Sensabaugh and Darius Garland to Vanderbilt when he caoches there)

he coaches an exciting aggressive uptempo style that players love, and isnt afraid to let them shoot a ton of 3s, running up and down the floor instead of plodding sets ..fast aggressive intense with tenacity. YES plz.

hes 37 years young. This is his DREAM job. If he's good, we're set for DECADES. if he sucks, we can let him go for cheap.


I'm excited. Cant wait until we are dominating this league in BOTH sports, like we did from 2007 to 2014

Dusty is gonna turn this shit around quick though.

I just assumed it was him and not a sibling

*but it was unrealistic bc there is no way we would pay that buyout for the latter two...Dusty May was contacted but after Diebler started tearing off wins and finished 7-2, those talks ended with the endorsement of almost every former player

>I just assumed it was him and not a sibling

I hope he doesnt hire him, we dont need any family operation mom and pop nepotimism bullshit. clean house, bring in your own staff and get it cracckin

a true center, athletic FREAK,

Diebler also brings back ALL SEC scorer Meechie Johnson

AND

Diebler also secure the commitment of 5* PG Marcus Johnson, the top prospect in the state and most likely Mr Ohio in basketball next year (who had offers from EVERYONE including UCONN and Purdue and Kentucky)


WE ARE BACK.


>>Ohio State got things started by siding with Jake Diebler.
>>Unlike the Rodney Terry situation, this was a team that
>looked
>>*appalling* that instantly improved the second Diebler took
>>over. They've jumped over twenty spots in KenPom in a little
>>over a month-- hard to do this time of year. Very good
>>low-risk in-house hire. I like it.
>
>reminded me alot of Thad Matta upsetting Deron Williams and
>undefeated Illinois in his first year
>
>btw he outcoached Brad Underwood, and Tom Izzo and stole a win
>the the Kohl Center. IMMEDIATELY. Beat the shit out of
>michigan and refused to call them michigan. He GETS it.
>
>the Dieblier hire is a grand slam **theoretically
>
>Going into the season, EVERY single Ohio State wanted Holtmann
>and his entire staff GONE, so when they hired Diebler full
>time I was initially skeptical but after thinking about it ,
>it checks EVERY single box .
>
>TOSU basketball was persona non grata among the boosters for
>the last 3 years under Holtmann, they felt he wasnt retaining
>enough in state talent, making inroads with coaches, or
>*GROWING* the program. As a result, they kinda tightened up
>with the NIL
>
>Diebler is the son of a HS coaching legend, played at Valpo,
>brother of the All time Ohio high school scoring leader who
>was also a Buckeye legend, and like I said in the other
>post...Diebler has held EVERY single position you can have in
>a collegiate basketball program besides folding towels and
>handing out cups of gatorade.
>
>video coordinator grad assistant to position coach to
>associate to head coach, hes done it all.
>
>
>he will recruit the fuck out of the Ohio High School
>Basketball Scene - the next few HS classes in Ohio are LOADED
>w D1 talent and its he is friendly with OHSAA coaches from
>toledo to cincinatti to cleveland and all the towns in
>between. He recruited all the 1st round picks we've had
>(Lidell, Branham, Sensabaugh and Darius Garland to Vanderbilt
>when he caoches there)
>
>he coaches an exciting aggressive uptempo style that players
>love, and isnt afraid to let them shoot a ton of 3s, running
>up and down the floor instead of plodding sets ..fast
>aggressive intense with tenacity. YES plz.
>
>hes 37 years young. This is his DREAM job. If he's good,
>we're set for DECADES. if he sucks, we can let him go for
>cheap.
>
>
>I'm excited. Cant wait until we are dominating this league in
>BOTH sports, like we did from 2007 to 2014
>

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39924986/mark-pope-nearing-5-year-deal-kentucky-head-coach


I will never criticize a school that hires a former player / alumni as their coach but on paper , this is a very underwhelming hire (IMO)

Seems like an odd move to hire a guy who's never notched a single NCAA tourney game victory, conference regular season title, or conference tournament title in nine seasons as a head coach at either of the two schools he's been at

Cause that dude got ZERO clout to make some shit shake on his own

but I dont understand why ...they have every right to be upset with Cals recent lack of success in the tournament, theyre Kentucky Wildcat fans. I bet the majority of them only even check the NBA box scores to see how former Wildcats are doing.

Nate Oats, Dan Hurley, Scott Drew ALL said no. Either they're pussy , or Lexington is really a pressure cooker that no coach wants a part of, even at 8 9 10 million a year and all the resources in the world but with the guillotine swinging over your head

Calipari got away with it bc of the amount of NBA players he was bringing in, remember the short ass leash they had for Billy Gillespie?

Pope will get some time bc hes alumni, but he will prob have to reach sweet 16 within two years before the wolves start baying

>Cause that dude got ZERO clout to make some shit shake on his
>own


You are severely underrating the inroads hes made into all The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints basketball community.

30 year old hate, lol.

>30 year old hate, lol.

>>30 year old hate, lol.
>

Davis. Seems like he’s getting a lot more hate.

He’s not going to kill it, but he might pleasantly surprise.

It also might be my unconscious bias having come across way too many overly competent Mormons. I need to go to Utah, just to meet some mediocre ones to reset. (Competence /= moral or likable)

Like, anyone who's watched BYU knows that his offense is absolutely ridiculous. Guards and wings will be pushing each other over to collect an NIL check and be featured in an offense like this. I know Cal's the consummate salesman, but Pope absolutely *washes* Cal at Xs and Os at this point in their careers. No contest. Pope will honestly be somewhere around the top 3 or 4 Xs and Os coaches in the SEC-- and considering how BBN clamored for Cal to stop rolling the ball out and *do* something, you'd think they'd be excited for what he can when he actually has a modicum of NBA talent on a roster.

Three of his five seasons at BYU, he had BYU in the top 20 of KenPom. Everyone said BYU would fall to the bottom of the Big 12 in their first year. What does he do? Finishes Top 5 in the conference, earns a 6 seed in the dance. (And when you look at that roster, there's *no reason* for them to have done so well this year.)

It's also hard as *shit* to win in the tournament if you're at BYU. In the last thirty years, they have three wins in the dance, all thanks to Jimmer. So while I know BBN is salty about the lack of a tourney win, the circumstances matter. (Especially given that 2020 was their best team and the tournament was cancelled.)

On *top* of all that, he's a UK legend? And a super nice guy who completely gets the culture and what it means to be at a blue blood like that? Yeah, man. I think UK fell ass backwards into a really good thing, and the fans bitching about it are dumbasses. Once it was clear the top three coaches (Hurley, Drew, Donovan) weren't going anywhere, you have two choices-- approach the Sean Millers of the world, or go with an alum who's shown tremendous promise and hope he's your guy for the next two decades. I think the latter's the obvious pick.

And yeah, maybe Duke and UNC fanbases, as delusional as they can get, just aren't even a fraction as delusional as BBN. Scheyer and Davis had *no resumes,* but we ultimately understood that there's real benefit to seeing what the homegrown mystery box can do. And Pope isn't a mystery at all. He's a damn good coach. And BBN melted down for 24-48 hours about it. (Guaranteed they'll be on some "actually, he's the perfect guy for the job" once they calm down. Then they'll melt down again when he loses his first big game, they'll be right back loving him when he wins his first big game, etc.)

>Davis.

thats not saying much considering neither of them had ever been head coaches.

Seems like he’s getting a lot more hate.
>
>He’s not going to kill it, but he might pleasantly
>surprise.


Im skeptical of coaches who emphasize a ton of 3 pointers

>
>It also might be my unconscious bias having come across way
>too many overly competent Mormons. I need to go to Utah, just
>to meet some mediocre ones to reset. (Competence /= moral or
>likable)


lol theyre interesting to say the least, i dont think pope is mormon though. just employed by them and lived amongst

that finding a slam dunk hire is about being lucky, because the right candidates and opportunity don't always coalesce

I mean, it was time for Cal to go, but just because you're Kentucky or Kansas or UNC doesn't mean you won't get stuck in the wilderness -- it can happen to anybody if the timing is not right

there are *seven* active head coaches with a title: Pitino, Izzo, Cal, Self, Scott Drew, Bennett and Hurley

obviously Hurley, Izzo and Self are going nowhere; Drew likes his Baylor bubble; Bennett has sort of waved the "mission accomplished" flag since 2019; Slick Rick is 71 and is done coaching blue bloods for a variety of reasons...then there's Cal, the guy Kentucky was dying to replace

Kentucky had 15k people show up for his introductory press conference -- toxic or not, I'm not sure of another basketball program that could do that

evoking the 1996 team is one of the best plays possible, and valid, as a member

plus the needling of Cal's criticisms are really pulling the fanbase on his side: "we're here to win every game" (Cal seemingly focused on NBA development), "we're here to hang banners, even in Nashville" (Cal not caring about the SEC tournament), "who wants to go to Maui" (Cal not wanting to play in Hawaii anymore)

>plus the needling of Cal's criticisms are really pulling the
>fanbase on his side: "we're here to win every game" (Cal
>seemingly focused on NBA development), "we're here to hang
>banners, even in Nashville" (Cal not caring about the SEC
>tournament), "who wants to go to Maui" (Cal not wanting to
>play in Hawaii anymore)
>


It almost feels as if he was right there on twitter and IG and reddit and whatever else using a burner and critizing Cal with all the other fans bc he hit on every single gripe that Kentucky fans have had for the last 9 years