If I were LaVall Jordan, I would be shooting my résumé to Valpo as soon as Drew was announced gone... It's almost here... #unwrittenrules
it's really too bad. He loves valpo and valpo loves him. But they don't have the money to make it even competitive. Money equal, I don't think there's any way he'd leave valpo for almost anywhere. But 2 million versus 300k just isn't close. You can't really justify it.
If GT ever actually made a serious run at him, I think he made the right decision. He'll have a much easier time making the tournament coming out of the SEC. On a side note, now we have another guy with Indiana ties coaching at a big program. I'm sure he'll be sniffing around our backyard.
I think GT is the better job by a good bit. Middle of the pack ACC teams make it to the tournament, while in the SEC you need to be in the top three, maybe four. Plus Georgia Tech has better facilities - McCamish Pavilion is pretty sweet after its recent major renovation - and a natural recruiting base that is far better than Vanderbilt's. Vandy has more to spend on the basketball coach's salary, thanks to that SEC football money, but it's a tough place to build a strong program. Having the Vandy coach sniffing around Indiana is pretty much a wash. Stallings had Indiana ties and recruited the Midwest as well. The difference is really Stallings at Pitt trying to lure Midwestern kids there.
Best case scenario at Vandy: Finish 2nd or 3rd every year in the conference and receive a 2-6 seed in the tournament. Best case scenario at GA Tech: Finish 5th-10th every year and ride the bubble. I don't think it's close. Because of the power dynamics in the two leagues, I think Vandy is a much, much better job. He can turn Vandy into an SEC power. Georgia Tech will never, ever be consistently better than Duke, UNC, Louisville, and for the foreseeable future, UVA. Not to mention that Notre Dame and Pitt are better programs, VA Tech is on the rise, and Miami is in great hands. The SEC has Kentucky. That's really it. GA Tech, relative to most high majors, is a terrible job.
Third place in the SEC gets you on the bubble. Just ask 24 win South Carolina how fun that is. And Rick Barnes will have Tennessee contending with South Carolina, A&M, and LSU for that No. 2 spot behind Kentucky in short order. ACC teams 5 and 6 will be locks most years and you don't hit the bubble until you get past them. The league is also on the cusp of a major changeover in power. Virginia is primed to be at the top for a long time, but Duke, UNC, Syracuse and Louisville are all looking at the likely retirement of their Hall of Fame coaches in the next 5 years - several much sooner. I expect at least one, if not all of those programs to slip a good bit when the coaching change occurs. Louisville and Syracuse in particular, but despite all the money UNC and Duke will throw at basketball there is a real risk when that time comes. You're undervaluing the advantage of recruiting in the Atlanta metro area. Bobby Cremmins built a great program on kids from the metro, and that can be done again. Georgia Tech could easily be a Pitt/Notre Dame level program in the ACC, which means going to the tourney most years. All that said, I think an awful lot of Drew and have every expectation he'll do well at Vanderbilt.
Wright State lured Scott Nagy away from South Dakota State. Have to admit I didn't think they'd be able to upgrade that well. I'm also surprised Nagy didn't have a better prospect.
Though I agree more with Hinkle here, I certainly don't think GT is a terrible job and can see it's relative merits. Notably, Vanderbilt has the advantage of playing in a fairly depleted SEC, though I do think Florida, Tennessee, and maybe Mississippi St. will be competing for top spots in a few short years. The ACC is still a meat grinder and even with the expected coaching turnover I'm not sure GT is positioned to nab a spot as one of the conference's elite programs. Bryce can win now in Nashville and make more money or play the long game in Atlanta. Again, I think he made the right choice.
I don't think Bryce made a bad choice, by any means, especially if Vandy is throwing crazy money at him. It's not like I think Vandy doesn't have some serious positives. It does. I just think GT is a bit better for the reasons I've said above. It'll be interesting to see if the SEC's overall quality comes up considerably with all teams throwing their football money at big names - Auburn, Tennessee, A&M & Mississippi State - in recent years and with a few other upgrades, such as Drew over Stallings.
There's nothing wrong with Georgia Tech, but Vanderbilt has the distinction of allowing Drew to bring a faith-based approach to his coaching, which he wouldn't be able to do at a public institution. Plus his brother Scott is obviously comfortable at Baylor, which is another private school in a football league. Not to mention the SEC is an easier conference to win in, and Vandy does have the rep for being very patient with its coaches.
And there's Nashville...which I know that I'm biased, but it's sure as hell a lot nicer than Atlanta.
Quote Originally Posted by Irishdawg View Post There's nothing wrong with Georgia Tech, but Vanderbilt has the distinction of allowing Drew to bring a faith-based approach to his coaching, which he wouldn't be able to do at a public institution. Plus his brother Scott is obviously comfortable at Baylor, which is another private school in a football league. Not to mention the SEC is an easier conference to win in, and Vandy does have the rep for being very patient with its coaches. Stallings was there for 17 YEARS and his record was 332-219. He was /is in a group of 13 coaches who were or still are at a school for 17 years or more--how do you define patience? A lack of patience may exist in their other sports, but no in this one.
