Rumor mill

[SoCal_Pony]

But if you look at the Morris and Lashlee hires, you are taking top assistants from major programs. If you roll back Lanier before his Georgia State time, that is exactly what you have - Assistant head coach at a Tennessee program on the rise, and prior o that Texas and Florida when they were good. It tracks with that pattern, but with more actual head coaching experience than either RL or CM had at the time. So I should probably be more excited than I am.

I disagree with your analogy.

You are ignoring the fact that Lanier was a HC at Sienna for 4 years before being fired.

Overall losing record there including 20-40 his last 2 years.

He’s in his mid 50’s.

Now if you say Lashlee got gig as a Missouri Valley HC, posted a losing record, got fired, went back to being an assistant at Arkansas before being hired as a Sun Belt HC who just came off a bowl victory, then i would agree with you.

[redpony]

If this hire is true then it is obvious that the BMDs and our admin have no commitment to moving up to a better conference. Actually not surprising as RGT has been happy with mediocrity and very 'uncomfortable' when we had a top level winning program. IMO he in no way wants our school to be in the limelight of sports successes.

[mustangxc]

Very well put SoCal. Our leadership is so stupid that Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, etc. could have hired this guy for $800,000 max and we will be paying him $2 million. If you are going to gamble like this, you might as well give K.T. Turner a chance. It would have been smarter to keep Jankovich for another 4-5 years. Clearly SMU has no commitment to championship basketball. If so, then why the re-seat? Hart is a moron and our BMDs are not very smart or not very committed.

xc, please tell me that $2M is only a guess on your part, that would be insane to pay him that type of $$$. Lanier is currently making $600k.

And that is a good perspective that adds to my frustration. Lanier looks like a Rice Tulane or Tulsa hire at $800k-$1M max. Huge bump in pay and a better conference.

That is conjecture on my part based on what I have read that since SMU was paying over $2 million, that is what all coaches would demand coming to SMU. I hope if we went the cheap route, we indeed pay bottom dollar but I doubt it.

[MDJenkins]

No other big name/successful coach would want to coach in a diluted AAC that has become similar to the Sunbelt Conference. We will fade to oblivion due to a weak league. Thanks for nothing Lil Ricky for making SMU irrelevant in the college sports world. It is very sad that we could not lure McCasland away from UNT. How does he keep his job?

[ponyswim]

I basically agree with what Jason said. He got Siena to the NCAA tournament. He was 30-35 at that time. Since then he has been around some great college coaches - Donovan and Barnes. He has successfully recruited more NBA draftee/players than probably every SMU coach put together. This is his chance to be a head coach with a lot more resources than he has ever had to work with. If he can keep KD and attract 2-4 solid portal guys (at least 2 the that 6'7 or more), I think we may be pretty happy with this hire. He seems like a really good guy that has paid his dues and is ready for this opportunity. I hope so.

[tristatecoog]

Vols fans likes him
https://mobile.twitter.com/Vol_Hoops/st ... frame.html

Buffalo news article after first season at GSU
https://buffalonews.com/sports/college/ ... 3.amp.html

[mustangxc]

I basically agree with what Jason said. He got Siena to the NCAA tournament. He was 30-35 at that time. Since then he has been around some great college coaches - Donovan and Barnes. He has successfully recruited more NBA draftee/players than probably every SMU coach put together. This is his chance to be a head coach with a lot more resources than he has ever had to work with. If he can keep KD and attract 2-4 solid portal guys (at least 2 the that 6'7 or more), I think we may be pretty happy with this hire. He seems like a really good guy that has paid his dues and is ready for this opportunity. I hope so.

If you are going to give him credit for every player that signed with the school he was at while he was there then you have to give Jankovich credit for Shake, Semi, Sterling, Ben, etc. This talk about his recruiting prowess is so disingenuous.

[Charleston Pony]

I basically agree with what Jason said. He got Siena to the NCAA tournament. He was 30-35 at that time. Since then he has been around some great college coaches - Donovan and Barnes. He has successfully recruited more NBA draftee/players than probably every SMU coach put together. This is his chance to be a head coach with a lot more resources than he has ever had to work with. If he can keep KD and attract 2-4 solid portal guys (at least 2 the that 6'7 or more), I think we may be pretty happy with this hire. He seems like a really good guy that has paid his dues and is ready for this opportunity. I hope so.

If you are going to give him credit for every player that signed with the school he was at while he was there then you have to give Jankovich credit for Shake, Semi, Sterling, Ben, etc. This talk about his recruiting prowess is so disingenuous.

No doubt. It's just a little bit easier to recruit to Virginia, Texas and Tennessee than little ole SMU so if Lanier is in fact the guy, I sure hope he is able to bring in some top flight assistants who are well connected in the DFW area. Phelps and Anamekwe are a start but we really need to sell more of Dallas' top talent on staying home and playing in front of friends and family.

[mustangxc]

Shawn Williams, Shake Milton, Ben Emelogu, Semi Ojeleye all endorsed K.T. Turner. That wouldn't be my first choice but if you are going to take a chance, why not at least listen to your most prominent players who know the coach?

[Charleston Pony]

Shawn Williams, Shake Milton, Ben Emelogu, Semi Ojeleye all endorsed K.T. Turner. That wouldn't be my first choice but if you are going to take a chance, why not at least listen to your most prominent players who know the coach?

Speaking of Shawn Wiiliams, is he still coaching H.S. ball in the area? Wonder if the new coach might reach out to local H.S. coaches who might want to get into the college game as an assistant? If it would help recruiting, I'm all for making that kind of move. Successor planning is never a bad idea.

[DallasMustang11]

I basically agree with what Jason said. He got Siena to the NCAA tournament. He was 30-35 at that time. Since then he has been around some great college coaches - Donovan and Barnes. He has successfully recruited more NBA draftee/players than probably every SMU coach put together. This is his chance to be a head coach with a lot more resources than he has ever had to work with. If he can keep KD and attract 2-4 solid portal guys (at least 2 the that 6'7 or more), I think we may be pretty happy with this hire. He seems like a really good guy that has paid his dues and is ready for this opportunity. I hope so.

Agreed but do see some validity in the concerns ppl have been mentioning. If he is the hire I plan to wait until after his first presser before I make a decision on whether I think this was a good hire. IMO we need to at least hear a guys plan for the program before we make that determination.

[DallasMustang11]

Also, KTSM is reporting that UTEP’s Joe Golding is the top target of the firm SMU hired. Curious to hear the opinions on this option.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ktsm.c ... lding/amp/

[Doesntmatter]

Very well put SoCal. Our leadership is so stupid that Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, etc. could have hired this guy for $800,000 max and we will be paying him $2 million. If you are going to gamble like this, you might as well give K.T. Turner a chance. It would have been smarter to keep Jankovich for another 4-5 years. Clearly SMU has no commitment to championship basketball. If so, then why the re-seat? Hart is a moron and our BMDs are not very smart or not very committed.

xc, please tell me that $2M is only a guess on your part, that would be insane to pay him that type of $$$. Lanier is currently making $600k.

And that is a good perspective that adds to my frustration. Lanier looks like a Rice Tulane or Tulsa hire at $800k-$1M max. Huge bump in pay and a better conference.

That is conjecture on my part based on what I have read that since SMU was paying over $2 million, that is what all coaches would demand coming to SMU. I hope if we went the cheap route, we indeed pay bottom dollar but I doubt it.

Pay $800K, put the other $1.2M annually in basketball NIL and you have a winner.

[SoCal_Pony]

Pay $800K, put the other $1.2M annually in basketball NIL and you have a winner.

Personally I think that’s a great idea, I was thinking the same thing.

You pay him $1M and pocket the $1 savings towards NIL.

After 4 years, that NIL fund is $4M.

Assuming you earn 7.5%, that’s $300k annually, enough to pay your Top 6 players $50k per year. Most importantly, even if the coach goes the fund stays.

I didn’t post this because that takes creative thinking, something our current leadership sorely lacks.

[SoCal_Pony]

I thought this for FB as well.

That was a very generous gift of $50M by Garry Weber.

Once again, using the 7.5% return rate, i wonder if Coach Lashlee would rather have the expansion or $3,750,000 each year in NIL disbursements.

That’s paying your top 40 players some $100k per year.

Which would make SMU more competitive???

I wonder if our AD even had this discussion.