Coaching Carousel & Hot Seat 2017

[Bill Marsh]

Don't mess with happy. If he has a down year or two at X, he's fine. He doesn't get to the FF at Indiana and people will want him gone. Why put yourself through that when you've got a sweet gig at a great place that you love? And X is doing better than IU on the court anyway.

Is that really the case? Who would be considered to have more job security than JT III? He could not only match Mack's Elite 8, but he had a Final Four and 8 tournament appearances, the most recent one just 2 years ago. Not only that, but he rebuilt a program that was in a shambles when he took over. But he couldn't survive back-to-back bad seasons.

Once a coach is successful, expectations rise. Even if he's the one who created those high expectations, patience will wear thin if he doesn't continue to meet them.

JT III peaked with his first group of players (Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green) who were actually recruited by the previous coach. After that, he gained a reputation for having a solid regular season and then flaming out early in the NCAA tournament to teams like Davidson, Ohio, VCU and Florida Gulf Coast. The new Big East has seen another downturn, with the Hoyas finishing 7th, 8th and 9th in the standings three of the four years. And he only had 8 scholarship players for next year. I used to think his job was safe but am glad the administration decided to move in a new direction.

Right. That was my point.

[Dave]

Wow, Miller to IU! Lets see how Dayton does with it's next hire and if they can stay on top of the A-10.

Dayton should consider Baker Dunleavy from Jay's staff. Baker is ready for the HC job and may someday be Jay's successor at Nova. He has the coaching pedigree from his dad, and both played and coached under Jay. Baker gets some credit in helping Jay turn around the program after Nova's bad stretch 5-6 years ago.

Dayton lurkers - Baker should be on your list.

[DanofXav76]

Xavier fans - Do you think Chris Mack stays at X for a long time?

His name will come up for just about every job.

Don't mess with happy. If he has a down year or two at X, he's fine. He doesn't get to the FF at Indiana and people will want him gone. Why put yourself through that when you've got a sweet gig at a great place that you love? And X is doing better than IU on the court anyway.

Is that really the case? Who would be considered to have more job security than JT III? He could not only match Mack's Elite 8, but he had a Final Four and 8 tournament appearances, the most recent one just 2 years ago. Not only that, but he rebuilt a program that was in a shambles when he took over. But he couldn't survive back-to-back bad seasons.

Once a coach is successful, expectations rise. Even if he's the one who created those high expectations, patience will wear thin if he doesn't continue to meet them.

Excellent point Bill. For the record the last time Xavier fired or let a coach go was 1979 when Tay Baker "retired". While there is no such thing as a lifetime contract in college basketball I don't see CM & X parting ways any time soon. BTW barring any unforeseen circumstances, Coach Mack is on track to pass your high school classmate Pete Gillen next season as Xavier's all time winningest coach.

[GoldenWarrior11]

UConn associate head coach, Glen Miller, has left the program. He was a big Calhoun guy, and has a very strong Northeast presence. Do any of our East coast programs need an assistant coach? Perhaps, whenever a new coach at Georgetown is hired, he could be an associate coach there? He brings a ton of experience.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Previously posted:

Where exactly would Mack or Holtmann go? Indiana just hired Archie Miller.

You can take it to the bank that one or both declined the interest.

The sequence of events (listed below) strongly suggest that Indiana University never contacted Chris Mack, Chris Holtmann, nor their representatives. If you’re an athletic director who wants to hire a new head basketball coach, you wait until the coach’s present team is eliminated from the NCAA Tournament before making first contact. To do otherwise would be a sign of disrespect for the coach that you want to hire - not a smart move.

To elaborate: last week Chris Mack and Chris Holtmann were busy preparing themselves and their respective teams for their upcoming Sweet 16 games. The last thing in the world they would want at such a time is the major distraction of a lucrative job offer from a blueblood basketball school. Athletic directors know this, and as a sign of respect to a coach they want to hire, they don’t contact the coach while he is concentrating on winning a very important game – they wait until his team is out of the NCAA Tournament.
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10:00 PM, Thursday March 23rd - Xavier tipped off against Arizona in a Sweet 16 game.

Behind the scenes on Archie Miller’s road to Indiana - Tom Archdeacon, Dayton Daily News - Saturday evening, March 25, 2017

While many in the Dayton community were shocked by the news, Archie’s father John Miller said he was too at first.

Saturday afternoon he went through the sequence of events with me in a phone conversation from his son Sean’s home in Tucson, Ariz.

“I’m sitting here with Sean right now talking basketball,” he said. John said he had no idea the IU deal was in the works when Archie arrived in San Jose, Calif., from Dayton to watch Sean’s No. 2 Arizona team get upset by No. 11 seed Xavier, 73-71, in a Sweet 16 game at the SAP Center.

“I’d had two or three of my (UD) buddies text me out here and say ‘What do you think about Archie?’” John said. “I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. He ain’t going anywhere.’”

Unbeknownst to John, before Archie got to San Jose, he flew into Atlanta, where he first met with Indiana representatives [on Thursday, March 23rd]. He did so again in San Jose [on Thursday, March 23rd].

“When we lost to Xavier, we got back to the hotel and I was sort of in shock,” John said. “And all of a sudden Arch goes, ‘Guess what, Dad? I got a shot here (at the Indiana job). Whaddya think?’

“He listened to Sean and Cal – John Calipari is real close to us family-wise – and I spoke up a bit, too.

“I’ll tell you I was almost in tears, just like when my other guy left (Sean from Xavier to Arizona). Oh man I hated that. I loved Xavier. And now here it is eight years later and I’m in the same exact boat.

“I know in his heart Arch hates to get out of (Dayton), but that’s how it was with Sean leavin’ Xavier too. He turned Arizona down the first time, and I remember Calipari calling him up and saying, ‘Are you outta your mind? You gotta take that Arizona job!’”

John said he’d always told Archie: “Dayton’s a great place. Just keep working. You’re not taking any old job that comes down the line (he said he was offered six or seven). One day you’ll get a great situation and you’ll know.”

Late Thursday night March 23rd or Friday March 24th – Archie Miller decided to accept Indiana University’s offer of a seven-year, $28 million contract.

7:00 PM, Friday March 24th - Butler tipped off against North Carolina in a Sweet 16 game.

Late Friday night or early Saturday morning March 25th – Archie Miller informed IU of his acceptance of their offer and informed UD of his resignation.

Official Announcement: Archie Miller Resigns - University of Dayton - 12:30 PM, Saturday March 25, 2017

Archie Miller Named Indiana University Men’s Basketball Coach – Indiana University – 12:43 PM, Saturday March 25, 2017

6:10 PM, Saturday March 25th – Xavier tipped off against Gonzaga in an Elite Eight game.

If Indiana wanted Chris Holtmann, their first contact with him would not have come before Saturday morning, March 25th.

If Indiana wanted Chris Mack, their first contact with him would not have come before Sunday morning, March 26th.

[BEwannabe]

Wow, Miller to IU! Lets see how Dayton does with it's next hire and if they can stay on top of the A-10.

Dayton should consider Baker Dunleavy from Jay's staff. Baker is ready for the HC job and may someday be Jay's successor at Nova. He has the coaching pedigree from his dad, and both played and coached under Jay. Baker gets some credit in helping Jay turn around the program after Nova's bad stretch 5-6 years ago.

Dayton lurkers - Baker should be on your list.

I'm sure he'll be in the mix. The Flyers AD is sharp and I'm sure had a hot list and I'm sure your assistant would be high on the list. It's going to be a very competitive situation including outsiders having to beat out Dayton guys, Anthony Grant who would bring along Dan Hipsher. Others in the conversation are UD's current assistants Kevin Kuwik and Tom Ostrum who of course would have ties with our large incoming class and a couple of other head coaches and then there's always the possibility of a relative unknown behind door #3 like Archie was 6 years ago. But your guy at Nova knowing what I do about our AD will be in the mix because of the success you've experienced with that staff. Winning is done day to day so obviously he knows what he's doing.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Dayton should consider Baker Dunleavy from Jay's staff.

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status ... %2Fpage-11

Jon Rothstein‏: Quinnipiac will hire Villanova's Baker Dunleavy as its next head basketball coach, per multiple sources.

[DudeAnon]

Not sure how Dayton is going to fare this coaching hire. Does Chris Mack have a little brother they can hire?

[BEwannabe]

Not sure how Dayton is going to fare this coaching hire. Does Chris Mack have a little brother they can hire?

haha and some of your X brothers think you're a Flyer is disguise.

[xusandy]

Pat Kelsey was Mack's #1 assistant at X a couple of years ago, before he left to take the head job at Winthrop, where he rebuilt a moribund program pretty quickly. Last weekend, he was announced as the new head coach at UMass -- a big step up from Winthrop -- but then he withdrew just two hours later and said he's staying put "for family reasons." So what's that all about? Did UMass give him a monster secret after he signed the contract (double whammy death penalty NCAA investigation coming up, a rapidly expanding sex scandal involving at least 9 scholarship players, half a dozen faculty members, and three nuns from a local church, etc.?) Did Dayton suddenly come calling 5 minutes after he said yes to UMass? Is there a true health issue for Pat or a true family emergency? He always struck me as a good guy and a fine coach who capitalized on a big chance when he left X. Anyone got info?