When I look at the candidates out there, nobody really stands out. Which isn't surprising. Schools like UT (and other non bluebloods) hire mid major coaches and hope they turn out well.
IMO, the number of NCAA appearances for a coach is well overblown. How many coaches have been fired over the years because they made an NCAA tourney, won a couple games and then flamed out at their new school? Make a list of traits of what a successful coach would look like at UT and hire based on whether a coach meets those traits. I think a successful coach at UT has to:
1- Recruit
2- Be a good bench coach
3- Learn the ropes from a non blueblood.
For #3, I have nothing against the Dukes, UNCs, UKs, KUs of the world but UT needs a guy who can deal with walking into a living room and a kid and his family knows little about your program. They need to be able to sell things creatively and not say, "Well, it's X/Y/Z. Why wouldn't you come here?".
We're likely going to have to win with inferior talent for a few years so you have to be able to create strengths based on a probable unconventional lineup, which leads to the #2 point. We probably can't just play a conventional man to man and run basic sets. Our coach needs to give us advantages over the opposing bench.
Hart needs not be seduced by a lucky run or turned off by a tough beat in a conference tourney. View the program and the progress based on the current coach and not what success the previous coach set up the current coach for.
When I look around (and I'm not going to claim to be an expert on any or all mid major coaches), I really like what I see in Will Wade. And people that I trust to know this stuff think he's going to be an absolute star in the business. Whoever we go after we have to have some luck on our side. Might as well go with a guy that people in the business think will succeed big.
IMO, the number of NCAA appearances for a coach is well overblown. How many coaches have been fired over the years because they made an NCAA tourney, won a couple games and then flamed out at their new school? Make a list of traits of what a successful coach would look like at UT and hire based on whether a coach meets those traits. I think a successful coach at UT has to:
1- Recruit
2- Be a good bench coach
3- Learn the ropes from a non blueblood.
For #3, I have nothing against the Dukes, UNCs, UKs, KUs of the world but UT needs a guy who can deal with walking into a living room and a kid and his family knows little about your program. They need to be able to sell things creatively and not say, "Well, it's X/Y/Z. Why wouldn't you come here?".
We're likely going to have to win with inferior talent for a few years so you have to be able to create strengths based on a probable unconventional lineup, which leads to the #2 point. We probably can't just play a conventional man to man and run basic sets. Our coach needs to give us advantages over the opposing bench.
Hart needs not be seduced by a lucky run or turned off by a tough beat in a conference tourney. View the program and the progress based on the current coach and not what success the previous coach set up the current coach for.
When I look around (and I'm not going to claim to be an expert on any or all mid major coaches), I really like what I see in Will Wade. And people that I trust to know this stuff think he's going to be an absolute star in the business. Whoever we go after we have to have some luck on our side. Might as well go with a guy that people in the business think will succeed big.
