Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Travelman6, post: 3109552, member: 7597"] They also offered Coach Cal and he rejected pretty quickly and are going after Tony Bennett of Virginia (he told them to wait until after his team finishes), Eric Musselmen, Luke Walton. Thad Matta spoke with UCLA but latter withdrew his name. Except for Kentucky of course. They went after Cal, he basically told them No, in so many words. Kentucky is paying more. Yah, but then he slowly lost control of the team after that. Remember Nelson in 2012? The guy basically tried to hurt his own players. After 2008 they did not advance past the first weekend until he was fired in 2013 after losing to 11th seeded Minnesota in the first round. Didn't even make the tourney in 2010 or 2012. After initial success the team was in a downward trajectory IMO. Plus transfers were Ollie level, he had something like a dozen kids leave over the course of the last 4 or 5 years of his tenure and there were further rumblings from what I recall for the next year (the year he ended up being fired). It is super crazy to think it is okay to fire a coach after 3 final fours in a row, I would say even impossible. I never thought it would be possible but this is a rare case where I think it had to be done. Hard to imagine Howland climbing out of what he had done from the 2008-09 season to the 2012-13 season and not sure how he could have reversed course after those final fours ... but he somehow did reverse course. Very odd story indeed. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach