Sources: SMU AD Copeland meets with 2 about men's basketball

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

Sources: SMU AD Copeland meets with 2 about men's basketball job

08:56 PM CST on Friday, March 19, 2004


By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News



UNIVERSITY PARK – SMU athletic director Jim Copeland met with Oklahoma State assistant James Dickey and American University coach Jeff Jones about the Mustangs' men's basketball head coaching position, according to university sources.

Copeland is looking to replace Mike Dement, who was fired Feb. 27. Robert Lineburg is the interim coach.

Copeland refused to comment. Dickey and Jones did not return phone calls seeking comment.

A 10-person search committee will meet Monday to go over the list of eight candidates for the position, with the possibility of offering someone the job within the next two weeks, sources said.

Copeland said there is no timetable for a potential hire. He said with certain coaches involved in the NCAA and NIT tournaments, bringing in candidates to the committee would have to be done carefully.

SMU also is considering assistant coaches Frank Haith (Texas), Jimmy Tubbs (Oklahoma), Norm Roberts (Kansas), Doug Wojcik (Michigan State), Eric Reveno (Stanford) and John Treloar (Indiana).

[Pony_Fan]

Lots of vacancies now!

[KnuckleStang]

I think I'd rather see Jones stay at American. He's a capable coach, but he sure did screw up UVA's program. I understand he married that student he had the extra-marital affair with, so maybe he's got it out of his system. Let's hope so.

That said, he's definitely my favorite all time UVA guard. Slow as hell, smart as a whip, shot the lights out, and NEVER turned the ball over.

[BigEasyPony]

Now we know why Sutton dropped out so he could clear the way for Dickey. I don't see SMU hiring Dickey as its next HC, but who knows. It is also obvious that Copeland has an affinity for Jones. Hiring him could present an image problem initially and I don't know if Copeland wants to deal with that. One thing about hiring him is that he would have the most leverage with Copeland about building practice courts and renovating Moody. It will be interesting to see how many candidates they narrow the field to. I guess you bring in 2-3 guys to campus for interviews and make a choice. We'll know fast if one of the finalists is still in the NCAA tournament if they slow the timetable down.

[Pony_Fan]

I do not want Dickey as a HC - that would be ludicrous.

[Stallion]

maybe because James Dickey has been the most successful head coach out of all the candidates mentioned-its funny how we hear how head coaching is the main reason we have sucked for so long and yet nobody seems to support the head coaches who have proven a thing in college Basketball. But was Dickey cleared in the Texas Tech grade/CC/JC/Correspondence Course/administrative oversight scandal they had that brought down his program. Weren't his players earning 21+ hours in summer school classes they never attended-does the venerable Southeastern Assemblies of God ring a bell? The NCAA deemed the violations "Major", found "academic fraud" and direct involvement by the coaching staff in arranging these bogus correspondence courses. In fact, Dickey even paid for some of them out of his own pocket thereby ala Dave Bliss. Again why is Copeland so infatuated with coaching candidate whose success is largely based on a Model which can not be implemented at SMU. Gee these candidates have sterling resumes don't they?

[RedRiverPony]

Now we know why Sutton dropped out so he could clear the way for Dickey. I don't see SMU hiring Dickey as its next HC, but who knows. It is also obvious that Copeland has an affinity for Jones. Hiring him could present an image problem initially and I don't know if Copeland wants to deal with that. One thing about hiring him is that he would have the most leverage with Copeland about building practice courts and renovating Moody. It will be interesting to see how many candidates they narrow the field to. I guess you bring in 2-3 guys to campus for interviews and make a choice. We'll know fast if one of the finalists is still in the NCAA tournament if they slow the timetable down.

Actually, the talk up here is that Sutton dropped out because he wants his dad's job at OSU, whenever Sutton Sr. decides to step aside. Most folks up here seem to think Sean will be his dad's caddy as long as Eddie wants to coach, then step in.

Dickey's never done much for me. He was OK at Tech, but never great. And I don't know his involvement (or if he's been cleared) in the stuff Stallion mentioned there. Without knowing any of the candidates personally, I just can't see Dickey being as charismatic a a recruiter as a Tubbs, Roberts, Haith, Jones, etc. I know he coached in Texas - maybe that would help. But to me, there are a ton of James Dickeys out there.

Count this as another vote for Coach Tubbs.

[Stallion]

well that's not accurate to say he was never great because he had them flirting with the Top 10 and I think may have made it to a final 8 in the Tourney when Jason Sasser was there. That's better than Bobby Knight has done.

[ponyboy]

Stallion: "its funny how we hear how head coaching is the main reason we have sucked for so long"

I don't believe ANYONE has said that. The only point some of us are trying to get through your thick skull is that coaching matters. Perhaps not as much as recruiting, perhaps more than recruiting. That's a serious debate where intelligent minds can reasonably differ. But just because you come down on the recruiting side of the debate doesn't mean that you can ignore the importance of the guy with the clipboard. Have some intellectually honesty and admit this point.

[Stallion]

You have a simple mind-again the words "Coaching Doesn't Matter" have simply never come out of my keyboard-no matter how many times your simple mind thinks I have. I have said the reason SMU has not been competitive is because they don't compete on an even playing field with their traditional and natural rivals. Can your small mind not deal with complex thoughts?

[ponyboy]

I do have a small mind, it is true. Perhaps your large mind can help me out, then.

"We can't compete because we don't have the level playing field." Your mantra; How could I forget. But to my small brain that says recruiting is the issue and not coaching. If we'd recruited better players would they not have quit on Dement? If we'd recruited better players would we have had to endure years of streetball instead of discipline? Help me understand, oh wise one.