I think it's an article with legit points. It's a matter of does now LSU want to have a basketball powerhouse--that hasn't been their recent behavior. It's no longer an excuse, well "we're a football school." I think however, that the article does probably put Brady in a little bit of less favorable light. He has been inconsistent in some years (notably this last one), I'll give you that, but for the most part he's comparable to Mark Gottfried, Kevin Stallings, and other "second-tier" SEC coaches--was he a Billy D or Tubby level coach though? Certainly not. But LSU has to up the ante to get that level of coach. Let's see what he does next year with a team of upperclassmen and some reasonably good recruits. :geauxtige :bball: :champs: LSU IS A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. BE A FAN.
I know you went to a state school, but its not that difficult to understand. I'm sure Florida is glad that its won a NC but it would gladly exchange these last two NCs in basketball for one in football. Florida is a football school, and basketball will always be a afterthought. In Kentucky, if Donovan won two consecutive NCs, he'd be a living god down there.
I guess I'd disagree. I'd gladly take two NCs in basketball (maybe even one) over one in football right now. For a college to win NCs in more than one sport shows the true success of that college's AD. It's assinine to say that Billy D isn't already a god in Gainesville. At Kentucky, he'd be paid more, he'd be part of the "Blue Nation" blah blah, but he'd also be part of what three other coaches that had won the NC? He's king in Gator Lore now. There's a reason why a smart guy like him decided to stay in Gainesville and try to continue to build his dynasty.
If you win a NC but nobody really cares, does it really matter as much? Kentucky is one of the biggest stages in college basketball. Its like in NBA, and winning a championship in NYC or Chicago or LA vs. winning in a small market like Utah. Or, in baseball, winning it in a major market like NYC or Boston vs. a small market like Montreal. Certain players are in the HOF vs. others who put similar number numbers because the former played in a big market, with plenty of media attention, while the latter played in small markets and were easily forgotten.
The musical chairs continues... As you know, Arkansas, after getting rejected twice, then getting left abruptly at the altar, and then hiring a search firm, landed a young guy who has an interesting, but not necessarily stellar, career at South Alabama. John Pelphrey is an "SEC" guy with some good pedigree, but time will tell whether he's ready to live with the pressure and expectations... http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/6950722.html Now, there are mixed reports coming out of Texas A&M, it was announced that Wichita State head coach Mark Turgeon was the man, but maybe it was premature? What we know is this. Brady has to coach against two new coaches next year. We'll see how he does.
So, it's official. A&M hires Mark Turgeon, as announced. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2832406 A couple of provoking items here to consider, in light of our current situation. Consider that Texas A&M, a school that hadn't even been to the Sweet 16 before Billy G got here, was willing to pay Gillipsie 1.75M before he bolted to UK. Their arena (which will be revamped/rebuilt) seats something like 8k, and they are admittedly a football school. They land a guy from Wichita State (mid-major by all accounts, although some would consider a "basketball school"), whose actual Wichita State coaching record included only ONE post-season (Sweet 16). I don't know what A&M's paying him, but assume that it's somewhere in the range of what Gillipsie was making before the higher offer. I will say that Turgeon, played ball at Kansas, served as an assistant with Larry Brown and Roy Williams, and then was an assistant in the NBA, so he does have some pedigree. With Arkansas, and now A&M, settling for pedigreed, but not necessarily proven, mid-major coaches (in Pelphry, you've got a real young coach), the question will be, when you can't get a "premier" coach, do you gamble on the young, mid-major coach (if given a choice--Arkansas had a choice, A&M didn't)? So, is CJB objectively better or worse than these guys (with a Sweet 16 and Final Four to his credit)(obviously, the outright Brady haters, need not respond :lol: )? On paper, Stan Heath (one elite 8 appearance and assistant to Tom Izzo) was arguably a better coach on paper than both Pelphrey and Turgeon... :geauxtige :bball: :champs: LSU IS A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. BE A FAN.
Brady, IMO, has proven that he can coach with the big boys if he has the talent. Consitenly getting and keeping the talent has been the problem. Hopefully the group of recrutits coming in will provide the consistency we long for but I have about given up on him.
I would love to see him at LSU but I wont mind seeing him coach there because he is my favorite NBA player. I catch alot of flack for it but you have to respect the Stockton/Malone combo in their day. They left it all on the floor.
Speaking of NBA folks potentially getting into coaching, I'm still watching with hope that Randy Livingston will someday have some ties back to LSU in coaching of some sort. Apparently, he's still playing (now with Seattle), but was offered some sort of coaching jobs in the NBDL... http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=860216
