LaVall’s Last Season

As long as money continues to be an issue for Butler (whether it’s self’s inflicted or not,) there’s probably no point in looking at “rising star” coaches from small/mid schools unless we’re able to at least match the salaries of the schools they’re walking away from.

I’ll go ahead and say this - If I could have any coach I wanted right now to rebuild this program, I would take Todd Golden from San Francisco, but I’ll continue to endorse going after coaches that have former ties to Butler, particularly the ones that work in the NBA. If none of that is appealing, then it’ll likely have to be someone who’s coming off a bad stint with a power 5 school and looking to rebound with us.

 

Whomever we hire is going to have to bring players with him or can succeed in the Transfer portal. Way too late to recruit HS players. A mid major coach probably can’t bring top players from wherever they are now. We fortunately are not losing much to graduation but then again we don’t have a lot coming back. We are going to have a lot of holes to fill.

 

Todd Golden will likely get a large state school offer, meaning much more money.

 

Has there been a shift in how the university supports or views the program from Fong to Danko?

Sent from my SM-G977U using Butler Hoops mobile app

 

Problem is we collectively can see it, but Barry refuses to. So...get used to being the big east's toilet bowl.

 

Up thread I gave a list of coaches I'd be interested in if there is a change. Now that we're past the halfway point of the season, I am really interested in Dennis Gates at Cleveland State. He's almost certainly getting a high major job next year if he wants one and I think he'd be a great fit at Butler.

There are a lot of things I like about LJ, but the results just aren't there and next year looks to be a huge cliff. I thought with a bunch of super seniors they'd at least be competitive this year. Clearly they aren't.

 

LaVall should be embarrassed that Travis Steele is three years younger, graduated from same school, coach similar schools, same conference, and Steele was his student manager and Steele is a way better coach and recruiter.

We have one player for next year a dude ranked 303 in the country and the guys this year are all 3 stars, that is mid major recruiting.

Are they even trying?

Steele has 3 top 75 for next year. You need at least one 4 star a year and I don’t think we have one 4 star player on the entire roster.

 

Wasn’t Christian David a four star?

 

I agree but it seems every highly ranked recruit we get never works out… battle.. Tucker


Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app

 

I'd be okay with giving Lavall one more year, but he needs major coaching turnover (kind of like Notre Dame football in 2017). I'd keep Ragland but get rid of everyone else.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Butler Hoops mobile app

 

We need a reset badly. We are bad at both ends of the court. Unless there is a miraculous turnaround the remainder of this season a wholesale cleaning out needs to happen. We have the same team as last year but are worse. Which raises basic questions like

Why are we worse?
What did they do in the off-season?
No one has improved since last season. Why?
Did no one practice shooting in the off-season?
Why isn’t there any toughness ?
Why did the super seniors come back? Why do they stay?

 

The first call should be to Brad. The job is his if he wants it, but if he doesn’t then call Pitino. The guy is a total scumbag, but if the ultimate goal is to be nationally relevant and compete for titles he checks both boxes.

 

I would pee my pants if Pitino was hired. I don’t care what some people would say, he’s an absolute winner and would be an electric hire for the program


Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app

 

Agree the first call would have to be Brad, but I can't imagine any scenario where he would say yes.

As for Pitino, I would rather suck for a decade than have him as our coach. However, his former Louisville assistant (had also been an assistant for Denny Crumb) was Scott Davenport. He took over the head coach gig for a terrible Bellarmine DII team about 10 years ago. Since then, Bellarmine has gone to 4 DII final fours, won a national championship and last year moved up to DI. Last year they surprised everyone by finishing in 2nd place in conference (first year as a DI team) and had a super efficient offense that practically doesn't dribble...on offense the ball literally hits the floor less often than it is passed. This year they are 9-8 overall (losses to Purdue, Gonzaga, etc) but undefeated in conference and will probably win the ASUN conference. I'm not sure how old Davenport is...probably mid-late 50s, and no idea if he could recruit...but with our budget, this is the kind of coach I'd want to pursue.

There are a lot of good possibilities out there if we don't have to hire someone in the middle of the summer like we have done with the last 4 coaching searches though. Also, if we don't stay in the family, I think we should look at former Wisconsin assistants (although I don't know who that would be).

 

I think you along with everyone else knows that Stevens is not coming back. He likes Boston, he likes the NBA, and he likes the challenge it offers.

As far as Pitino, I don’t think I could live with rooting for a team that takes after him. I’m not saying that your opinion isn’t valid…But winning at all costs is not what Butler means to me personally - Are you saying that winning is all that matters to you?

 

It looks like Crean might be out soon at Georgia… I like the guy as a person but yeah I’m not sure that’s an improvement over LJ, especially defense


Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops

 

I hated this guy with everything in me but what if Chris Mack gets canned?…


Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app

 

I'd say no to Chris Mack I think. Wonder if Dane Fife would want the job. I'm sure he's been promised the IU job down the road. Not sure he's who we need, but would immediately be able to recruit locally.

Personally, I'd take a flyer on Nored if he would want the job, but I think he'll be an NBA head coach soon enough that I don't think he'd say yes either.

 

It’s really too bad that Shrews went to PSU. I think he would have been a great HC here


Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops

 

I'm thinking Michael Lewis gets a shot