Wouldn’t mind seeing Matta in this role. Especially if they could get him in an off-court advisory role. Knows the lay of the land in the B1G, etc.
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Hard pass on thad
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There’s literally no downside to Thad taking a role like that. Silly to pass on that. But he probably would not take that I wouldn’t guess. He’s fine for money, doesn’t know Juwan personally, and he’d probably rather not help out a potential rival coach if he ends up somewhere in the Midwest
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I think people forget how dominant Thad’s teams were at Ohio State, but the big issue there is his health. I can’t imagine he would want to be an assistant coach given the rigorous travel required. And I don’t really know why he would want to join Juwan Howard – who he has no connections to – at the rival of his former school (where he still seems to keep in contact) just to play an advisory role.
To my eyes, there’s nothing there that really makes sense.
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He is a tool
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Matta just got a check for $8 million two years ago, is a 50 year old guy with the physical appearance of a 70 year old guy, and seemed extremely ready to stop coaching at the end of his tenure.
I think he is a legitimately great coach, but there is no way he is taking a desk job for a few hundred thousand, a few hundred miles away from his home.
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For a(nother) football example of the “special assistant to the HC” role…ASU just hired recent former NFL HC Marvin Lewis in that role next to Herm Edwards. That feels like a big fish to land in a role like that, and gives me hope we can move the needle here.
That seems like the opposite of what we want though. We don’t want an NBA coach. But that’s very fitting for what Herm has done so far.
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What would moving the needle imply as a special assistant to the HC? As in, what is the net positive result? A really organized operation? A great schedule?
Not saying the role isn’t important, but I think fit is more important for that spot than name recognition.
Hiring an NBA guy who hasn’t been a head coach in college seems like exactly what you wouldn’t want to see.
If you are hiring someone to move the needle, hire them as an assistant coach and get them on the road recruiting.
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What about Phil Martelli? Experienced Head Coach and looking to get back in.
im interested to see if JH goes more towards recruiting reach or coaching prowess.
saddi has great michigan ties recruiting wise and juwan has chicago… do you go for a texas guy? dc?
or do you guy less on area ties and more experiencial… strickland had g league/nba path experience… do we target an aau guy?
im personally hoping for great teachers/developers of the game, but those seem fewer/harder to find and might be my beilein era bias/fear of JH’s (lack of) coaching prowess
New tweet I found earlier this morning which gave me the thought…
Paging Brendan Quinn
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Exactly. Hiring a former HC for an advisory role is primarily to help a new coach avoid mistakes. If he does a good job we may never even notice that he’s there. It wouldn’t be a bad move regardless of who the other assistants are.
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sounds like its a hc job
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Interesting, someone mentioned it a few days ago about Martelli as JH’s assistant.
where is the opening though?
I said he was the one former HC who I’d like to see as an assistant on the bench. I don’t recall hearing his name in any speculation or rumors.
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maybe its a d2 or d3 gig
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