The head coach sets the tone and the direction, but was John Beilein calling up Frank Martin at USC to find a date and time? Of course not. Someone in the AD does that and it’s fair to assume that someone in the AD knows a bit about college basketball scheduling. All I’m saying is you can get away with not having a former head coach on staff (though, again, it would be nice) if you assume that the institutions are staffed with modestly competent people.
My ideal —— “stop wasting tens of millions of dollars on unnecessary facilities renovations that make no real difference and penny-pinching on assistant coaches” —— staff would have been…
An outstanding offensive x’s and o’s coach. Howard’s a defensive guy. He could use a ‘Yaklich to his Beilein’ on the court.
Mike Miller (or someone very similar). Recruiting is 90% of this, at least.
Another Mike Miller type.
A Harbaugh-NFL-NBA-like support staff. Recruit Scouting staff (including international scouts). Opponent Scouting Staff. A modern Analytics staff. Actual Recruiting staff. Academic/Player Support staff. Sanderson&Friends. An actual ‘General Manager’ to run the ‘Front Office’. And, of course, a Senior Assistant or two (ex HC’s he trusts) to lean on for this or that… including compliance issues.
I just am really not sure that you would gain that much by hiring as many staffers as some people are throwing out there.
I’m not sure what “actual recruiting staff” means, but you are talking about hiring like a whole front office where I feel like you would just create a lot of bloat for no good reason.
For example, all the scouting positions you mention would only be able to watch film.
Opponent scouting is usually done primarily by one assistant coach for each game. You will always hear that “coach X has the scout”.
So basically a recruiting coordinator instead of a special assistant to the HC. That’s still an extra position on the staff, FIWW. Not sure what that role has entailed at other schools that hired one but I would guess mostly managing lists, organizing visits, etc.
There would also obviously be a video coordinator as well.
The staff list is a bit misleading. That AD staff list is literally EVERYONE that works in athletics, though, not just men’s basketball. They definitely have help in compliance and academic success, but the whole AD definitely isn’t at the beck and call of Juwan because, a, there’s so many sports at Michigan, and, b, the vast majority of people don’t specialize in men’s basketball.
The bloated analysts and stuff that football programs have is just because the AD has money spilling out of its pocket and they need something to spend it on besides players. I really don’t think they add much, and that’s to a football team which is a much larger group and harder to manage. For basketball, there’s no reason to have several “analysts” or there would be nothing for the coach to do.
Obviously we want to spend money efficiently, but Big Ten programs have money coming out of their ears. Hopefully we can find the right balance and spend when and where it adds value (but not above and beyond that). Also, if Michigan isn’t going to cross lines in recruiting, it should use the advantages it does have in order to maximize the program, and $ is certainly one of those.
Having too many staff involved in recruiting can create problems too. Too many voices and opinions on players can split opinions and cause rifts between staff if some like guys and some don’t and Howard has to make choices. Or it can lead to an increase in potential politics behind the scenes or other issues. So I’m not super into Howard getting a huge staff. Getting one more additional member to focus on one or two things to help take a little off Howard would be fine but I don’t think much more than that.
Maybe a good use of all this cash – and I don’t know if it would be enough – but could be one of those superdeluxe players-only dorms that Kentucky and Kansas have. I’ve heard talk of how those really sell recruits.
I disagree. Miller sounds great to me. Reigning NBA G-League COY? The GLeague is a developmental league, which would be a good fit. Assistant at KState and several years as a head coach. Seems like that would be a tough pull though. A G-League head coach is usually on an NBA head coaching track