The ball screen stuff is just the flavor of the week. I wouldn’t say it’s inherently more efficient in principle
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That concern is really easy to address. It’s simple for Warde to answer questions about why he went back on his criteria. Juwan blew him away in the interview. Every person they talked to in the vetting process raved about him. It would be the most popular hire he could make. Why worry about a negative reaction to that?
Isn’t that easier to explain than why most of the candidates he interviewed didn’t meet his stated criteria? That makes it look like it wasn’t a serious process and he was just yanking around the guys the fans wanted to see in the job. Tough to answer if fans are already unhappy.
Note that he also wanted experience working at a football school. Cooley and Juwan are the only candidates that lack it. He’s going to sing the praises of whoever he introduces as the new coach and they will give a very good account of themselves.
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Flavor of the week of the decade
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I’m not saying I don’t see how Warde can hire someone with no head coaching experience because he would need an excuse to the public for not sticking with his criteria. I am saying that because I am taking him at his word that head coaching experience is one of his top criteria. And if that’s the case, Cooley has a big edge over Howard.
If Howard met all of Warde’s criteria he’d be a slam dunk choice. He does not and Warde might hire someone else. We’d all have the same reservations about Juwan and Yak without Warde saying a word.
But I think it’s a mistake to read too much into Warde’s stated criteria for an ideal coach when every candidate we know he’s interviewing doesn’t meet them all. There are other criteria that he left unsaid, that are less idealistic, but may be as important to him. For example, connections to Michigan, roots in the region, price tag. I’d bet those are considerations for every hire he makes. I wouldn’t underestimate the PR effect either.
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It clogs the key up vs spreading the floor. That’s the main issue with it.
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What a disaster of a search. This list of candidates is laughable; All signs point to Cooley because he is buddies with Warde and the search firm guy. This is worse than Amaker by far. JB built this into a top 10 program and we are hiring like a mid major team.
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We will see how the search process plays out, but I don’t really understand this talking point. The program was Beilein’s it was in the top 10 because he was so successful.
Saying it is a top 10 program or top 10 job in regards to hiring seems to have more to do with the AD, budget, the actual specifics of the position. Beilein was a top 10 coach but that’s because he coached like a top 5 coach for a decade.
Were Michigan’s assistants paid like a top 10 program? Has Michigan ever spent the kind of money that everyone is talking about on a basketball coach?
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Good points. Perhaps it might be more accurate to say that Michigan could act like that if it wanted to but chooses not to.
Either way, if Michigan wanted to hire like a mid-major team there’s still a smart way to do that and a not-so-smart way.
Did Beilein make the job attractive? The self imposed recruiting restrictions are not something many coaches would like and it sure looks like Michigan wants someone to follow his standards. That limits the candidate pool regardless of a willingness to spend.
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I’m saying that Beilein has everything to do with how fans perceive the program’s standing but that is just really because he was a good coach. Not because Michigan has some legendary fanbase or spends outlandishly on basketball or whatever. Yes, the facilities are good, etc. But if anything Beilein makes it harder to take the job because you are following someone who is so successful. I think you mostly agree with that point.
There’s just nothing to suggest that Michigan will go spend 6-7 mil on a basketball coach, for example.
Maybe win % comparable to Pitino, Gillen, and Barnes isn’t so bad?
I’m just trying to find the bright side here - there is no point in throwing a riot if he’s the guy.
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I agree with everyone who has commented that Cooley seems like a nice guy, but i’d rather see Howard get offered the job. Not sure how close Howard was to Coach Beilein but would have been great if he would of endorsed Juwan on the way out. dreaming i know, but would have been awesome. hopefully Juwan kills it on the interview and makes it a no brainer to hire him.
“Saying it is a top 10 program or top 10 job in regards to hiring seems to have more to do with the AD, budget, the actual specifics of the position.”
But that is my point. Those things are within the University’s control. There is ZERO reason that the AD and budget should set their sights so low. Michigan has more money available than just about every school out there. That they are choosing not to act that way is a total slap in the face of the fans and everyone associated with the basketball program.
We will see how they feel when the program fades back into obscurity and fans stay away in droves. They have one shot to keep the momentum going and they are approaching it with a pop gun. That is lunacy.
Just saying that this is how it has been is hardly a comforting or acceptable response.
Do you see Michigan doing what OSU did w/ Holtmann? Pay ~$3M for buyout and ~$3M salary after that? I know that $6M has been floated for Cooley. I cant believe thats an annual salary but could believe if it is the “first year” number to compensate for buyouts.
I tend to assume that number was just made up. No way Michigan is paying Cooley $6 million.
If you have $6million to spend, you have to spend it on someone like Chris Beard.
I don’t agree that they have one shot at it, but it’s very difficult to understand leadership under Manuel. In some of the same ways it was difficult to understand under Brandon, Martin, Goss and others as well, frankly, but, yeah. It’s clear that some coaches have buyouts that make hiring them difficult, and yet ours didn’t. There’s an obvious conclusion to be made there, especially if you are Warde Manuel in the summer of 2018, with the ink drying on that no-buyout contract you just gave your irreplaceable coach. I’d have hoped for a much more thoughtful search than what we currently know about this one implies.
Do you think the figure can possibly be understood as a first year salary+buyout figure? In other words, the total cost to Michigan including buyout and annual salary for that year? I don’t know why it would be reported that way, but seems a possibility.
I think it is more likely just made up but sure it could. 
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