Happy for Saddi and his decision. Not every D1 HC job is a great fit. He has a great resume and strong future and we still don’t know where or if JB will land back in D1. Saddi might have the option to go with JB at his next stop and I think Juwan stays at UM longer than JB at his. Wake Forest could be a great fit!
Glad to have him. I feel like the move here is for Martelli to head back closer to home and Saddi to move into the 2 spot.
Yikes. Western paying $215k to promote an assistant to head coach.
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Reading the tea leaves there…sounds like they were all in on Saddi and when he said no they either
- didn’t want to do much of a search in this environment/didn’t have a whole lot of interest or
- just said screw it and we will ride it out with an assistant
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I wasn’t aware he was the number one choice. That’s awesome for us he decided to stay
Yeah, Saddi was definitely the No. 1 choice. The fact that they are paying the new HC 215k though makes me think the money probably wasn’t there.
Another poster had mentioned that WMU’s AD is a bit of a mess financially right now.
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I dug a little deeper into some of the articles and I think it said they were paying Hawkins 370K. So #1 target says no (likely in part to lack of money), combined with the current environment made it real easy to promote a long-time assistant on the cheap.
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WMU is returning all but one of their top twelve in minutes and will have two scholarships to give. Feels like an assistant is a low-risk hire to try and make something work with a group that hasn’t exactly been good but will be led by two seniors.
One extra reason for Sadi not leaving Michigan, is that Juwan might have objected to this, since Sadi was instrumental in recruiting (and possibly the main recruiter for Todd and Christopher). Any change in the personnel might have had a negative effect towards signing for Todd, or committing for Christopher.
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A head coach objecting to an assistant looking for a head job…that wouldn’t be very popular.
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Don’t know if this has been posted here already…
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Yes this makes me feel better about making the statement regarding their finances prior to Saddi dropping out. I do not know or have ANY idea what the offer was to Saddi and I would guess it was more than $215k, but I would assume his offer was closer to the new coaches salary and not the old coach - Hawkins.
That Cotton Bowl berth set them back years.
Beyond his own salary, it must have been clear to Saddi his budget for assistants and support staff was going to be a problem.
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If Martelli leaves I wonder if Michigan would try to pursue the former WMU coach Hawkins as an assistant to sort of replace Martelli’s experience as a HC to help Juwan.
I’m assuming that the phone isn’t ringing off the hook, given COVID19, or else he’d not have to say that to a reporter.
The need for an assistant coach “with experience as a HC” decreases exponentially as Juwan Howard gains experience. If Martelli eventually goes somewhere else, I don’t think there’s as pressing of a need to bring in some sort of veteran.
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Forsure but it’s only been one year, and this year is more his guys and the ones that are from the Beilein era are under his system. Now that he has a product that has been seen, he has to sell that to recruits. I think having a guy who was pretty solid at it for a prolonged period would be good to have. Now would Hawkins even be interested? That’s another good question and it may be moot anyway because he or Michigan may not be interested and this is all hypothetical because Martelli isn’t leaving as of now. I dunno I just think having a guy like that around for another year or two would be really beneficial. Like rookies in the NBA having a sophomore slump of sorts. After a couple years then they are usually fine.
I think it’s unlikely Martelli leaves because I don’t think there’s going to be much turnover this year with all of the uncertainty. Far fewer opportunities will be out there like there would be in a normal year.
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I have the same question re the need for an HC-experienced assistant to help Juwan learn the ropes. Most important in Year 1, obviously, and maybe to some extent important in Year 2? Maybe after that, you assume its no longer really a need? Dunno. Asking.