The Xavier and Butler crews are good points. I do think that the standard that Xavier would set for success (routinely make the tournament ) is probably different than what Duke’s will be to replace Coach K (or what UNC’s was to replace Dean Smith).
Coach K’s replacement posting Greg Gard’a resume will be fired, for instance.
Mark Few at Gonzaga
Has Tom Izzo been mentioned?
I feel like the assistant coach hire works more often than one would think, but I don’t know if that means it should be done more or not. I’m sure there are also examples of it working horribly, like any other hire.
Schools like Butler and Xavier have elevated their program above their coaches, which I think makes the internal hire a more possible and smart one. But with Duke, Coach K is Duke. They really can’t be separated because Duke was never good before he showed up. Maybe that means a Coach K assistant is the best man for the job because an outsider would be overshadowed? IDK. I have a hard time imagining Jon Scheyer leading a powerhouse program in his 30s.
I’m still not convinced Greg Gard is a great coach, but he at least seems capable. He had Happ to help him at the start and then his first recruiting class is doing some pretty serious heavy lifting for him right now. We’ll see if he can keep the development going consistently.
Yeah, hadn’t Teske and Simpson set some records for number of wins by a graduating senior? I know that both players had limitations, but memories tend to be short. I’d like to have seen whether they could make a tourney run.
Michigan would be walking on water last year against this schedule. Let’s wait for a few real games before we ding what last year’s team did.
Coaches following a legend have a poor track record. It’s going to be hard on the next coach if he struggles at all. If he’s an outsider, it will be because he doesn’t get what made Duke great. If he’s an assistant or a former assistant, it will be because Duke reached to get an insider.
Last year after 5 or 6 games Michigan had wins vs Gonzaga, UNC, Iowa State and Creighton. Saying we don’t miss Teske/Simpson and last year we were “treading water” is insane and disrespectful to last year’s team/seniors.
My larger point here was not “coaching tree hires don’t work out” but more “restricting yourself to a coaching tree hire seems silly”. We’ve seen plenty of legends retire and an assistant/former assistant come in and fail to keep the program oriented. It’s different when your former assistant hire is Roy Williams (9 B12 titles and 3 FF’s at Kansas) and when it’s, say, parsing between Chris Collins and Wojo.
BIll Foster took Duke to the NCAA Championship game in 1978 with players like Spanarkel, Giminski and Banks two years before Coach K took over the Duke Program. Don’t revise histpry!
If it wasn’t for Cassius Winston, Simpson would’ve spent the last 3 years as every B1G coach’s’ least favorite player to play against, and he’s still dealing with the #disrespek on his own team’s forum smh.
That team had some dog and was tournament tested. They were tough to play against and in the tournament, I think a tough out. Familiarity in the B1G is quite different than tournament play. I’m very hopeful this year’s team can match last years potential. As someone on this board frequently mentions…”you are who you can guard”. GO BLUE!
No such thing as too much Zavier Simpson.
Yeah I have actually been surprised this season how bizarre it is for me to watch a non Simpson team after so long, and how much I miss him and Teske. Of course guys move on as it’s the nature of the game and I’m happy for them, but I don’t think I realized just how much I appreciated their presence on the team both as players and as people.
Simpson on this team would make for BIG champs
For me, I am not concerned about where Michigan finishes in this anomaly of a season. I was glad to turn the page on the Teske/Simpson era. Maybe there will be some longing for those two Michigan greats, but it won’t be from me. Long live the new era
I’m not glad they’re gone, but change happens and we have some wonderful new ways in which the team scores, and that’s fun too. Those two are program legends though. We were lucky to have them.
Great start last year but where were they at the end of the year? They were clearly at their best in the games you mentioned. End of year against Maryland they didn’t look so great. They were a nice team; a little up and down. Didn’t look so great heading into the BIG tournament in my opinion. Strange to me you think treading water is such a huge show of disrescpect
I mean saying that a team moved into the top 5 at one point, was a top 25 team most of the season, and was going to be a 6 seed going into the NCAA tournament was “treading water”, especially considering pre-season there was debate as to whether or not Michigan was a tourney team, seems like blatant disrespect to me.
Obviously they ended the season worse at the end of the year, that would happen to almost anyone playing in the best conference in the country without one of their best players for half the season (but once again, keep in mind they still ended the season as a projected 6 seed and that Maryland game we were ranked in the top 25 when it happened). But maybe wait until this year’s team shows anything more than the fact that it can win the MAC before saying good riddance to X and Teske?
Once again this site is posting things I did not type on my end. Can’t recall ever typing “good riddance” Darn auto correct on receiver end
when you said they were treading water it sounded like you were saying they were at fault for the program treading water. But you did say last year so I guess that’s a fault of interpretation. And even just acting like you’re happy they’re gone is odd. It’s ok to be excited with where the program is now, but saying you’re glad they’re gone makes it sound like they were detrimental.