Yeah, Alford had some gaudy win numbers at New Mexico, though his three tournament teams never advanced beyond the second round (including a first round exit to 14-seed Harvard as a 3-seed).
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Yes, he seems to be decent with Mountain West teams. Just can’t get the job done with high-major programs.
I will have to admit to being someone that was pretty pro-Prohm. Admittedly I was just wanting someone that I felt like would be competent and could keep the team solid, especially in light of Cooley news. In fairness, he didn’t look so bad at the time. He had 3 KenPom top 20 teams in 3 years, recruited and developed Haliburton. Obviously the two seasons since have been a disaster, including having possibly one of the worst P5 teams in recent memory this year.
Other names I remember being higher on than most anyone: Shaka and Mike White
Those basketballs aren’t gonna roll themselves out.
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It’s official
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I get that NM is probably a pretty mediocre job and isn’t going to have their pick of coaches. But the fact that they were so excited by his availability that they hired him within the same day he was fired for bad performance is just…something. I’m trying to picture walking into my boss’ office and telling him we had a great candidate that we just HAD to hire IMMEDIATELY before we lost him…and then explaining that this candidate was only available because his last company fired him for poor performance just hours earlier.
Then again, this is the same profession that continues to employ blatant cheaters, liars, ego-maniacs, and guys who will scream at players/refs/media as long as it results in wins.
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Oats was born and raised in Wisconsin, went to college there, and has a degree from UW-Madison. I imagine he would seriously consider coaching in Madison if he ever got the offer.
I guess we know that Pitino has another big voice behind him… it’s who you know after all. I had no idea he was an assistant at Florida though
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The good ol’ boy network strikes again!
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I doubt Wisconsin will ever pony up the money for Oats
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If Oats isn’t a good “cultural fit” at Michigan, I doubt he’d be one at Wisconsin right?
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Don’t forget Donovan played for Rick Pitino at Providence. Donovan was also an assistant for Pitino at Kentucky when Richard was just a little kid. Donovan has known the Pitino family for decades so yes its a little bit of who you know but that’s pretty much family.
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It’s still who you know. Pitino Jr. got into the business very very early because of family connections. Then gets fired and immediately gets a job because of those same connections. It’s not wrong necessarily, but it’s not good hiring.
I had forgotten about why he’d have that Donovan connection though. Makes sense.
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Hunter is a 2nd team AP All-American
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In fairness, I’m guessing this is less of a “hired on the same day” situation as it is a “been known behind the scenes for a couple weeks” situation where the normal vetting happened while he was still employed with Minnesota.
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My initial thought on Oats would be that it is scary that he has a connection at Wisconsin because I think they could be really down next year and that would put Gard squarely on the hot seat.
But to your point, I don’t think he is a cultural fit there. Plus his style of basketball is pretty much the polar opposite of the Dick Bennett/Bo Ryan/Gard philosophy.
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if Gard fizzles out, I imagine there might be some desire to do something other than play at an extremely slow pace in Madison
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Didn’t realize he wrote for PistonPowered…
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I think in addition to the “culture fit” we’re all alluding to, would he be able to bring in the players he wants (no matter what his tactics are) at Wisconsin? They’ve built such a unique niche cult-like program in both football and basketball there with a parade of upper-classmen, many of whom are local, most of whom were overlooked by other schools, and run a methodical system that has a high floor and low ceiling. Honestly, Wisconsin would be an ideal program for Beilein to do his thing.
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Pitino Jr.‘s family connection definitely saved him 10-15 years of climbing up the ladders, but his first 6 years’ record at Minnesota is pretty comparable to Tubby Smith’s, who is another former Rick Pitino protege.
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