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with all the talk about coaches, Utep's Billy Gillespie is a good barometer. He was the lead assistant for Bill Self at Illinois. He recruited Texas and the Southwest hard over the years at Tulsa and Illinois. He is considered bright and energetic, DUI incident aside. Utep wasn't all that attractive of a situation. SMU would probably be looking at a coach like Gillespie if Dement is not extended. Thats not Rick Pitino, but its not all bad either if do your homework and pick wisely.

Speaking of picking wisely, one of the people Copeland interviewed for the SMU job the last time was then Duke Assistant Tommy Amaker. I don't recall what happened-if Amaker pulled his name, demanded too much money or just wasn't hired. Amaker went on to take the job at Seton Hall. Amaker did a pretty good job and left Seton Hall a year ago to coach Michigan.

I'd like to have such problems.

Really? Amaker was interviewed? He was very young then, but that would have been a great pick. Can we hire Wojo? I doubt it, but you never know.

Originally posted by Hoop Fan:
Really? Amaker was interviewed? He was very young then, but that would have been a great pick. Can we hire Wojo? I doubt it, but you never know.

I was doing a google search trying to figure out who was hired first-Copeland or Turner (I still don't remember), and I found an article on the Copeland's search for a basketball coach from a Virginia paper. He interviewed Dement, Amaker, Fraschilla, Boston University's (not College) Dennis Wolfe and a UVA assistant (big surprise).

Dooby, Turner and Copeland both came here in 1995...unfortunately I can't tell which one came first in that year. My guess would be that Turner came first and then hired Copeland...not sure who would have hired Copeland otherwise since we were without a President for a short while prior to Turner being hired, if my memory serves me right.

Mr. Copeland was hired first -- by Bill Lively and Interim President Jim Kirby. President Turner came later.

Actually, Copeland was hired in January of 1995, so he may have come before Turner. I remember distinctly because the first 2 SMU basketball games Copeland saw were the 2 horrific blowouts in Moody, 40 points to Kansas, and 44 to Texas. Those 2 games pretty much sealed Shumates fate, you could say he failed to make a good first impression on his new boss. I think Turner wasnt hired until that summer, but I cant say that for certain.

I didnt see 50's Pony's post while I was typing mine, but I think he's right. Copeland came first.

That is what I vaguely remembered, but I didn't trust my memory because it makes little sense to hire the AD before the President.

I've always wondered if Turner would want his own guy as AD at some point. I know some people say they are joined at the hip, but to this casual observer, it seems like Turner is pushing for changes more than Copeland.

But I digress, the issue is "the basketball coach". I was on the board with the Dement hire and his early recruiting sure seemed to pay off, but it looks like a change is needed.

Billy Gillespie would be perfect-3/4th of his players are JUCOs which would fit in well with the 50% of the JUCOs who signed with Kansas St when Phil Bennett was there. That makes a lot of sense for SMU.

Gillespie has recruited plenty of high school players such as Deron Williams and Warren Carter. I guess you are familiar with them since you say Dallas is a bball hotbed of late. Illinois RARELY uses Jucos either. So yea, Billy Gillespie might have been a damn good fit. Just because he recruits Jucos at Utep because he can, does not mean thats all he can do. Regardless, he has a job, it was only an illustration of what type of guy you are likely to be looking at IF Dements time is up, rightly or wrongly.

What is a lead assistant? When did Gillespie leave Illinois? Self took his associate head coach from last year at Ill with him to KU.

Why do I bother, so somebody can bust my balls about what a lead assistant is? Its fairly obvious isn't it? Lead Assistant=First Assistant=Head Assistant=Associate Head Coach=Whatever the Hell Somebody Wants to Call It. Billy Gillespie left Illinois BEFORE Bill Self's departure. After Gillespie left, I believe Norm Roberts was promoted by Self, before he took basically the whole staff to Kansas, but I take it you knew that.