nobody should care about him being a PA guy, but, #1 thing has to be familiarity with recruiting Philadelphia and the DC area. May has spent his entire career in the South and Indiana is probably already trying to buy out Woodson to get him. feel like Rhoades makes more sense if those are the candidates
New basketball coach
- Thread starter cyrizzle
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Note that May spent a few years early in his career at Indiana, and also coached at Eastern Michigan. His rosters at FAU have been a mix of guys from the midwest and guys from Florida. I think he could have a lot of success here, especially if surrounded by some assistants with Philly/DMV/NYC connections, while still working his own connections in Florida.
His run to the Final Four is also raising his profile and could give him a nice boost to come out of the gate quickly wherever he lands as he hits the recruiting trail (plus almost everyone on that squad has eligibility next season and the ability to play immediately at a new destination should a few follow along).
Yeah, and apparently was at IU the same time as Kraft (although I don't think that amounts to much of anything).
He would definitely have success here. The problem is, there is a 100% chance that he would leave any other job to go to IU if they have a vacancy. And who knows how impatient they will get.
And if he leaves here, it will be because he had success...thus again raising our profile for the next hire. That's fine with me.
One thing for sure, if a hire makes sense, it is most unlikely to happen.
Mike Rhoades would be a really good get. He has all the qualities I would want. He is also fairly young. He has done a lot at VCU with a small recruiting base. I am a bit biased since I know his family. They are Pa basketball bluebloods going back a few generations ( e g His uncle Mickey Holland was a great high school coach at Mahanoy Area). He has had his eye on PSU for sometime. He wants to be the guy that turns it around. Hope it happens.
kind of surprised Notre Dame didn't target him before Shrewsberry. feel like we are going to come out of this very lucky. it's an upgrade if it happens
i hope he keeps Fisher
Don’t want someone that will be leave in two or three years. Don’t want us to be seen as just another step on the ladder. That would set a bad tradition making it difficult to hire and to recruit. Or build a solid fan base to support the program.
Why? That's much better than what Penn State basketball has been. If those coaches are coming here as a stepping stone for other jobs it means they can be successful here. We don't need a coach that's going to stay for 15-20 years. Turnover isn't a bad thing if you hire well. And when you make a bad hire you have to move on quickly.
I feel like many here want every coach to be Paterno and stay forever. That's not realistic. Especially with basketball. To do so, you're going to be mediocre at best.
That's all true, but May is a different case. He is at IU after one more season IMO. If everybody knows your coach is 100% leaving very soon it's not going to work out. It will be difficult to convince recruits that he is going to be around (because he won't be). There will be constant speculation that he is eyeing the IU job, and he won't even have to be successful here to get it.
Also I would not put him at #1 for us just for the fact that almost his entire coaching career has been in the South. That's not really all that helpful when it comes to building up Penn State. He's the current shiny object that everyone is looking at. Don't see it as a good fit though.
Does recruiting HS kids matter as much with the portal? Whomever we bring in is definitely relying heavily on the portal. That's how schools like Penn State are going to be successful.
I'm fine with anyone wanting any coach. We all have different reasons for it. I'd take May after a F4 run and see what he can do with the portal. If he leaves after a year or 2 I'd repeat the process. JMO. No right or wrong here. It's not like when people wanted Golden to replace O'Brien.
it matters less with the portal. But it still matters. I still don't think the dynamic with IU makes it a viable option. Would not really be shocked if some crazy IU boosters buy out Woodson next month so they can bring in May now. Notice that ND decided not to wait on him. Or he said no to them.
If you have to hire every other year you are not always going to hire well. Then you have sever bad years. Then it makes it that much more difficult to hire the good coach. Good luck with that.
You will also have a difficult time recruiting and worse, keeping recruits. Who wants to bounce around chasing coaches?
And maybe most important…. how do you develop a good fan base as a stepping stone? You and others often complain about how dead the BJC is. How fans don’t support the program .
Fans support players they like. And for a coach they know and respect. People make a connection with teams and coaches. And once you have that solid and excited fan base recruiting and keeping both players and coaches is far easier.
I don’t expect or want a Paterno type coach that is there for forty years. But keeping a good coach for ten to fifteen years is far preferable to being a two year stop on the coaching gravy train.
But we already often have several bad years, right?
I'm not worried about recruiting because of the portal. Complete game changer.
How do all other schools do it? Don't we root for Penn State not a coach? I disagree with it being about the players and coaches. It's about the uniform.
We just disagree. I'm fine with Penn State basketball being a bridge to better jobs. Many schools are. There's nothing wrong with that. We know where we stand as a basketball program. No delusion here. Can only go up.
I think you're too worried about Indiana and him going home but JMO. Any elite school could take him.
I think he could be basically anywhere and IU would still poach him next year.
Rhoades could move on too, but he'd have to elevate our program to do it. Which as you correctly point out is a win-win.
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If Fisher doesn't get the job, which it looks like he won't, he should try for the George Mason opening. He would easily get it with his ties to Larranaga
I'm not sure it's a foregone conclusion Indiana needs a new coach next year. Unless I missed something
they are disappointed with Woodson. they are fascinated with May. seen this before with IU, forcing out Mike Davis then forcing out Crean, then Miller.
anyway, this is over. PSU currently on their way to Richmond
i guess. but they did it because they wanted Crean, he was the hot name of the day. Davis is the only one besides Knight who has gotten them to the national title game
Right but you can't live on one run. Davis had to go. They might make a move now or after next year but not the lock you're indicating.
yeah he did kind of pull a Jerry Dunn, like FU go ahead and fire me.
i think a lot of it had to do with the fact that he knew he was getting replaced by Crean no matter what he did
ever since the way things ended with Knight, they have kind of been a s***show
don't know if these guys have any actual info, but if it's really 50/50 i feel like we are going to blow it (again). the only good thing is that we are kind of the only big opening right now
that is true
also if this falls through the next names out there are May, maybe the Creighton and Texas coaches
so much better than searches of the past. but psu has historically been very bad at this
edit: May apparently makes $450,000, which i think is less than we paid Jerry Dunn 20 years ago. So i think he would bolt in a minute. probably worth the risk of him leaving for IU if Rhoades says no
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