Robert Lineburg is the Interim Coach

[Diehard Pony]

SMUMustangs.com is reporting Robert Lineburg to be the Interim Coach. The part that bothers me the most is his bio indicates "he is extremely familar with Mike Dement's system".

No offense to Mike Dement as a person, I truly feel bad for him and wish him well, but I wasn't aware that he had a system. It sure didn't seem so.

Good luch Coach Lineburg as well. Beat UTEP!

[Diehard Pony]

I hate to be raising a question about the interim coach appointment, since I thought it was exactly what was needed. However, if you review the bios on our three assistants Coleman Crawford's is BY FAR the most impressive.

Here it is. Please check the others out....they don't compare. This guy has coached under a whole host of first rate coaches, and has head coaching experience.

COLEMAN CRAWFORD

Coleman Crawford begins his second season as an assistant coach on the Hilltop, having joined the SMU staff in July 2002 after five seasons as an assistant at Florida State.

Crawford has accompanied five teams to the NCAA Tournament and one to the NIT during his coaching career.

At FSU, Crawford served as one of two primary recruiters in addition to his on-court coaching and administrative duties. He was an integral part of attracting the Seminoles’ 2000-01 & 2001-02 recruiting classes, both of which were ranked in the nation’s top 25. FSU’s 2000 class included a McDonald’s All-American and three top-100 prospects.

Prior to his time in Tallahassee, Crawford assisted for two seasons at Tulsa, where he helped the Golden Hurricane to two NCAA Tournament appearances and the 1997 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship.

He was the head coach at the University of Akron from 1990-95. During the 1989-90 season, his first at Akron, the Zips were 16-12 and fell just one win shy of tying the mark for the best record for a first-year Akron basketball coach. Crawford’s teams also put together winning seasons in 1991 and 1992 with 15-13 and 16-12 records, respectively, and the Zips took second in the Mid-Continent Conference standings in 1992.

Prior to his appointment at Akron, Crawford was an assistant coach at Tennessee under Don DeVoe from 1986 through 1989. During his three seasons with the Volunteers, UT earned bids to the 1988 NIT and 1989 NCAA Tournament.

Crawford was an assistant coach at Akron under current Cincinnati head coach Bob Huggins for three years (1984-86) and also held assistant coaching positions at Middle Tennessee State (1982-84) and Delta State (1979-82).

Crawford was a standout player as a collegian. He was a two-time all-conference selection while at North Alabama in 1974 and 1975, and in 1974, he was named the conference Player of the Year.

Crawford earned his bachelor’s degree from North Alabama in history and secondary education in 1975 and earned his master’s degree in administration supervision in 1980 from Delta State.

Crawford and his wife, Elaine, have two sons, William (30) and Adrian (24).

[PonyTales]

Well said, DP. Here's hoping the guys rally around their new coach and shock the WAC with a win over the Miners. I'm not saying they'll make a run through the WAC tournament or anything, but a brief spurt of inspiration is possible.
Go Ponies - beat UTEP.

[Hoop Fan]

Thats a little surprising. I was thinking Crawford, but neither are going to get the job, so not sure it matters.

[SMU71]

Reading all the resumes and comparing it would only be logical that Coleman Crawford would be given the interim job. Since Copeland was making the decision logic would not prevail.

[Pony_Fan]

I thought for sure Crawford would be the one. Tenure doesn't matter to me....I am afraid that LIndburg might just do the same as Dement on offense and defense.

[50's PONY]

Robert Lineburg is a good person and a good coach and deserves this opportunity so give him a chance!

[Diehard Pony]

50's, Mike Dement was (and is) a nice guy, and tenure means very little in today's world....credentials and performance do.

Coleman was the clear choice based on his experience in a wide variety of successful programs and under a number of successful head coaches.

I hope that Lineburg will prove me completely wrong, and I will be there Saturday night to cheer them on, but at this juncture Coleman Crawford should have been the man IMO.

I also share PF's concern that Lineburg will bring the same offense and defense (whatever they were) that Dement layed out there.

The decision is made (another bad one, IMO), but I will cheer on.

[50's PONY]

Diehard, I appreciate your opinion but Lineburg is right for the current situation and I doubt seriously if either Robert or Coleman would have the time to change very much of anything at this point so we will just see how it plays out.