OT: BCU fires Donahue

[UCONNfan1]

It will be interesting to see how this plays out...

Here's a thought - Calhoun goes after the job. Once he gets it, he convinces the BCU administration to forgive and forget UCONN suing them and we end up with an invite to the ACC.

However, we are so much in demand that we also get a B1G invite, which we accept and Calhoun promptly quits...

 

[TRest]

Husky, here is SD's body of work at BC:

2010-11: Overall: 21-13 (incl. 1-1 NIT) ACC: 10-8 (With Al Skinner's players)
2011-12: Overall: 9-12. ACC: 4-13.
2012-13: Overall: 16-17. ACC 8-12.
2013-14: Overall 8-24. ACC 4-13.

Other than the first year with Al Skinner's players, this is not a good record. Add in the many embarrassing losses (Bryant, College of Charleston, BU, etc), not sure how anyone can argue that he deserved another year.

It just didn't work out. The record is pretty telling. What other schools would tolerate that kind of performance?

It took him 10 years at Cornell to make the sweet 16 run. Sometime you have to know your level, he didn't.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The problem for Amaker at Harvard is there's a ceiling there, and he's all but hit it. With no athletic scholarships, there's only so many good players he can get.

(a) I don't think they've hit it, especially if they're going to let him keep recruiting the way he has been. I think they're going to make a deep run in the next couple seasons.

(b) Lack of scholarships is not a problem, particularly with Harvard's various new financial aid initiatives. It's a non-issue.

 

[UConnJim]

(a) I don't think they've hit it, especially if they're going to let him keep recruiting the way he has been. I think they're going to make a deep run in the next couple seasons.

(b) Lack of scholarships is not a problem, particularly with Harvard's various new financial aid initiatives. It's a non-issue.

Harvard can attract very good 4 year players which in the one and done era means that you can be very competitive most years with experienced players.

 

[breezy]

Husky, here is SD's body of work at BC: 2010-11: Overall: 21-13 (incl. 1-1 NIT) ACC: 10-8 (With Al Skinner's players) 2011-12: Overall: 9-12. ACC: 4-13. 2012-13: Overall: 16-17. ACC 8-12. 2013-14: Overall 8-24. ACC 4-13. Other than the first year with Al Skinner's players, this is not a good record. Add in the many embarrassing losses (Bryant, College of Charleston, BU, etc), not sure how anyone can argue that he deserved another year. It just didn't work out. The record is pretty telling. What other schools would tolerate that kind of performance?

I think this year was the only year where it was reasonable to be disappointed as a BC fan. His first year with his own recruits (11-12), almost all the minutes went to the freshmen core class of whom a few looked really promising. Ryan Anderson, hometown 7 footer Dennis Clifford and German athlete Patrick heckman especially.

The following year (12-13) saw a 7-win record improvement with addition of two very good guards, joe Rahon and acc ROY Olivier hanlan. Bang all of a sudden Donahue has a core group, but still ALL the minutes are being taken by freshman and sophomores, so expectations were tampered and things look bright for the next season or two.

This past year there was true talk of making a tourney run. Despite a 16-17 record from the previous year, there were several very close losses including a 1-point game to Miami. It seemed with a year of conference play under their belts and a year of Anderson hitting the weights and a healthy Clifford, 13-14 could have a legitimate shot at getting into the tourney if they turn close losses into close wins. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

Dennis Clifford never was. He couldn't get healthy and the only truely talented interior player (reportedly owned nerlens Noel in Boston area summer ball) on the roster never saw the floor. This put a lot of pressure on Anderson to bang with opposing bigs and took away from his inside out game. Patrick heckman, the junior who as a freshman showed flashes of brilliance never panned out to any sort of consistent player, evidence by his 20 point effort in their first round acc tourney loss after being a ghost for segments of the season. Daryl hicks, a combo guard expected to make an immediate contribution as a frosh gets injured in the summer and sits out. Now the team has no front court and a relatively thin back court who's greatest semblance of a leader in Andersen is player bigger than he should be. Ya Donahue could have maybe gotten them to play defense with more fire but that was never his game. He was an inside out three point team at Cornell. That's how they beat Syracuse. I agree this year was a massive disappointment but he recruited some talented players. Some got hurt and some didn't develop as well as hoped but I think he should have gotten to see his first class play as seniors.

 

[SubbaBub]

BC is the elephant grave yard of coaching jobs. It's where careers go to die.

Sounds like a perfect spot for Seth Greenberg.

 

[SubbaBub]

I thought there were rumors Boehiem was retiring very soon?

I think McNamara gets that job when it opens up over Hopkins.

 

[SubbaBub]

It will be interesting to see how this plays out...

Here's a thought - Calhoun goes after the job. Once he gets it, he convinces the BCU administration to forgive and forget UCONN suing them and we end up with an invite to the ACC.

However, we are so much in demand that we also get a B1G invite, which we accept and Calhoun promptly quits...

CR karma, if BC hadn't blocked us, JC might have at least considered it, all else being equal.

 

[BC1978]

Excellent summary Breezy. However, in the end, this is a business. Three horrible years. Very embarrassing losses. A team that cannot play defense. Boring, listless play. Very sparse crowds at Conte (even by BC BB standards!). Nothing to look forward to this upcoming season. IMO, no school would accept that. Time to move on.

 

[61cygni]

Should not have left Cornell. Cornell has been miserable without him.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Sounds like a perfect spot for Seth Greenberg.

Greenberg's not a bad coach. If he were still at V Tech he'd be taking a team with Dorian Finney-Smith and Montrezl Harrell to the tournament.

 

[huskypantz]

The problem for Amaker at Harvard is there's a ceiling there, and he's all but hit it. With no athletic scholarships, there's only so many good players he can get. Sure, Harvard has money to pay him, but BC has a good chunk of change at their disposal as well. He can jump into a low-expectation job at BC and pretty much have carte blanche to rebuild the program. If he takes them to the NIT in the next season or two, that would be considered a rousing success considering where they are at this moment, so he'd be under no pressure to do much of anything for a good 2-3 years.

I don't think BC's ceiling is too different than Harvard's.

 

[Chief00]

I believe Calhoun is being considered. Current BC AD is a friend of Warde's. It is unclear how much the APR/NCAA stuff weighs. Make no mistake this is a job JC would seriously consider and in some sense it would be payback to those at BC who ignored Calhoun when an opening exisred decades ago. He was treated like "Shanty" Irish and he has not forgotten. Personally, it would make things very interestingly - hope it happens.

 

[Jerry1714]

BC and Va Tech are the two worse jobs in the ACC I do not expect them to be able to lure away Amaker.

He is in line for much bigger down the road

 

[djct1999]

I believe Calhoun is being considered. Current BC AD is a friend of Warde's. It is unclear how much the APR/NCAA stuff weighs. Make no mistake this is a job JC would seriously consider and in some sense it would be payback to those at BC who ignored Calhoun when an opening exisred decades ago. He was treated like "Shanty" Irish and he has not forgotten. Personally, it would make things very interestingly - hope it happens.

there is no way calhoun is seriously considering this.

 

[Husky25]

I believe Calhoun is being considered. Current BC AD is a friend of Warde's. It is unclear how much the APR/NCAA stuff weighs. Make no mistake this is a job JC would seriously consider and in some sense it would be payback to those at BC who ignored Calhoun when an opening exisred decades ago. He was treated like "Shanty" Irish and he has not forgotten. Personally, it would make things very interestingly - hope it happens.

I don't think Calhoun will coach on the Div. 1 level again. He is making very good money for doing very little in comparison to what he did on the recruiting trail, running practices, and running the administration of a top national basketball team. If he does anything, I think he will be the assistant at a high school or his grandsons'/daughters CYC or AAU teams. Of course I have no hard evidence, but do any of us?

 

[Jerry1714]

I believe Calhoun is being considered. Current BC AD is a friend of Warde's. It is unclear how much the APR/NCAA stuff weighs. Make no mistake this is a job JC would seriously consider and in some sense it would be payback to those at BC who ignored Calhoun when an opening exisred decades ago. He was treated like "Shanty" Irish and he has not forgotten. Personally, it would make things very interestingly - hope it happens.

I thought I had heard it all, but then there is this

 

[Palatine]

If Calhoun goes anywhere it's South Carolina. Or some very small school in South Carolina.

 

[CTBasketball]

Calhoun's not going anywhere.

 

[seanmc94]

Cooley is not leaving PC and probably never will unless he gets fired or retires. He grew up 2 blocks from DD center and lives in his childhood home I believe today. He also lived in Providence when he coached at BC and would commute to BC. PC is his dream job and has always been his dream job. He was born, raised, lives and wants to build PC into his program.

He wants to be the Calhoun of PC basketball. BC does not interest him. Just like Ollie wants to be at UConn for the long haul.

Cooley does not live in his childhood home. BC knifed Al Skinner in the back. The first person Ed thanked after winning the BE tourney was Al Skinner. No way he leaves PC for BC

 

[Northbound]

Cooley does not live in his childhood home. BC knifed Al Skinner in the back. The first person Ed thanked after winning the BE tourney was Al Skinner. No way he leaves PC for BC

No kidding he doesn't live in his childhood home, my friend grew up with and is friends with Ed and they in no way grew up in the neighborhood where Ed lives now. Cooley MAY leave at some point, but he has a real desire to build and own that program, he doesn't view it as a stepping stone. If Ed leaves PC by his choice someday it's not going to be to go to BC.

 

[UConnJim]

No kidding he doesn't live in his childhood home, my friend grew up with and is friends with Ed and they in no way grew up in the neighborhood where Ed lives now. Cooley MAY leave at some point, but he has a real desire to build and own that program, he doesn't view it as a stepping stone. If Ed leaves PC by his choice someday it's not going to be to go to BC.

I think all former BC basketball coaches were either knifed in the back or couldn't wait to get out of Dodge.

 

[nadav]

One reason a guy like Cooley would leave PC and that would be to make a ton more money (life changing money). He is currently getting paid twice what BC was paying their coach. So that doesn't seem likely

Maybe Cooley isn't thrilled with fighting the school to get kids on the court, but again, BC is not the answer to that problem.

When (if) he leaves PC, it'll be after a couple more trips to the dance and he takes over at a school like Illinois or NC State. IMO

 

[Chin Diesel]

I thought there were rumors Boehiem was retiring very soon?

Not retiring. He just quits coaching around February 1st every year.

 

[progrocks]

If Calhoun wants to coach, he needs to find a national team to coach. I say try to get the Canada gig, they have a bunch of real young quality players on the way up, his kinda roster.

 

[jleves]

I believe Calhoun is being considered. Current BC AD is a friend of Warde's. It is unclear how much the APR/NCAA stuff weighs. Make no mistake this is a job JC would seriously consider and in some sense it would be payback to those at BC who ignored Calhoun when an opening exisred decades ago. He was treated like "Shanty" Irish and he has not forgotten. Personally, it would make things very interestingly - hope it happens.

And when he takes this gig, he will immediately bring in Clyde to coach the bigs!

 

[djct1999]

What about Will Brown from SUNY Albany. Guy deserves to be promoted.

 

[Waquoit]

Sounds like a perfect spot for Seth Greenberg.

I think it bad timing for Seth. He was doing pretty well at USF. If he was still there when they came into the Big East he might still be coaching.

 

[zls44]

The Ivy has really tightened up recruit standards. It's going to be much harder for Amaker to keep getting the same caliber athletes going forward unless they have much higher test scores (though the overhaul of the SAT should raise scores across the board).

If BC offers the job, he should take it in a second. BC could do much worse- Donahue was much worse.

 

[zls44]

As for Jim Calhoun at BC...Google "Brian Clough" or "The Damned United"