Propose a Coach...

[Hoop Fan]

OP, the debate has gone down several different roads now. I was not suggesting anything about what Bill Self would do with SMUs talent. I was only suggesting no matter what he does, he has the buy in from the players to do it. You said that Bill Self was a slow the ball down type of guy based on the Eddie Sutton influence. With no relevence to SMU, I don't agree with you on that at all and think his Tulsa teams were good examples that he prefers up tempo. I agree with most of what you said about SMU, and I too think Dement will could very well go someplace else and do pretty well, and I have said so many times. I also think that Jimmy Tubbs has alot of upside as a head coach at SMU that was not evident recruiting as an assistant.

[StangEsq]

I know it's ridiculous, but what if we acually were to offer Byron Scott a multiyear, $2 mil a year package to coach here? Wouldn't it be an attractive opportunity to coach in a big city with a tremendous untapped talent pool and no pace to go but up -- an opportunity to build a program to a perennial top-25 level...

Sorry, I guess we can keep dreaming.

[Waz]

There is a huge difference from coaching in the pros to coaching in college. I can't think of a successful college coach that came from a head or perhaps even an assistants position in the pros. There have been some college coaches that have made the transition to pro and then gone back to college. The relationships, the type of work required and the budget are all vastly different. That nasty little feature about college coaching called recruiting is a killer. The time spent and the effort extended, don't necessarily fit in with the job description that an ex pro looks for. A guy like Byron Scott may look good in the papers for a while, but the end result wouuld be throwing good money after bad.

[Dooby]

Larry Brown was a pro coach first. He started coaching immediately after retiring as a pro in 1973 with the ABA Carolina Cougars. After coaching the Denver Nuggets for 2 years in 1976-78, Brown went and coached UCLA and took them to the NCAA championship game in 1979. Brown then went and coached the NJ Nets for 2 seasons and then coached the Kansas Jayhawks for 6 years and won a national championship in 1988.

That is one example off the top of my head.

[Waz]

Good pick! That's going back aways.

[EastStang]

AI had great grades in High school. Iverson was a smart kid with qualifing scores. Ewing went to prep school to get his grades up. To get the facts straight AI had a small problem in that his gang decided to start a riot at a bowling alley (after he had signed his Letter of Intent with Georgetown). He was apparently hauled in with the rest of them. He was charged with inciting a riot. He was convicted of misdemeanor assault ("I'll beat your face in mf"). I think John Thompson regretted taking Iverson and Iverson had a lot to do with why Thompson resigned from coaching. AI was more than even Thompson could handle and JT decided that he was just getting too old for this stuff. But yes, AI and Ewing would have been accepted at SMU. We're forgive and forget Christians and we have had several ex-cons attend classes at our fine campus and come to think of it some soon to be cons.

[OldPony]

Did Andy Fastow play football?

[StangEsq]

Scott could recruit any kid in dallas... We would be in on every one of them from day one.

I don't care how well he adapts to the college game... if you recruit the top 3 kids from this area every year you're going to win a ton of games even if they coach themselves.