I remember Brad Stevens saying he preferred assistants who strived to be head coaches and not lifelong assistants. I'd think the program gains of having successful assistants get HC jobs would outweigh temporary discomfort of turnover. Would love to have him on staff, and I don't particularly care about any IU drama. Agree about keeping Coach Rags.
Yea say what you want about rumors and blah blah blah, Fife is an absolute monster on defensive scheming and a monster in the Midwest recruiting circuit, like others I'm trusting Thad who is one hell of a good guy and judgement of character and was around him last year. Thad wouldn't hire him if there was an ounce of conflict or doubt, Just Thad and Fife alone together would be the best staff we've ever had, and yes Holt's was strong
He was my favorite player at IU when I use to watch them. I have know doubt he'll bring the recruiting chops and player development with him, just as long as he doesn't bring an attitude that could divide the team. He doesn't have to "imbody" the Butler Way, just have some respect for the culture. I'm thinking he'll be fine.
Is it fair to say Dane Fife is likely the coach in waiting when the MSU job opens up? I don't see Izzo wanting to slow down, he's 8 years younger than Coach K, but he and Fife have had this bond for a long time and I feel like Fife would want that job down the road.
Brad? Brad was hired first as a volunteer assistant lol. If you’re gonna make points, at least get the basis for those points correct. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops
I think his point was successful coaches come from a multitude of disciplines. He wasn't making a direct comparison.
Oh sure. But having someone start as an assistant coach is a risk that Butler should not be in the business of taking right now. Those spots are too valuable to not know what you’re going to get. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops
Given some of the changes that have occurred and are rumored to occur, what do you all think our recruiting philosophy and strategy should be going forward? Our historic reputation lies in recruiting good guards and short, but stout, big men. We've killed in the past by finding local, under-the-radar kids that the big programs overlooked or were too late in targeting. While I feel like this philosophy can still work, we should be able to start bringing in a top-100 player ever couple of years and not dip below the top 200 very often. We should also be able to consistently land recruits from other geographic locations, especially in the Northeast since that's where we play most of our games nowadays. Maybe a strategy of potentially having 3 coaches with strong Indiana/Midwest ties (Matta, Ragland, and Fife) can help us beat out IU and Purdue, but it seems like a dangerous game if that's the one we're going to play. I hope these coaches (or other/different ones we bring on) can help us expand our boarders.
I believe we were talking about hiring someone without collegiate coaching experience to an assistant coach position, were we not? Head coaching is slightly different. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops
butler needs top 100 guys every year and some top 20-50 guys at least every other year. That is an minimum expectation for top Big East and other top 25 teams. Five stars will always be a difficult pull to Butler, but 4 stars need to be consistently added to the roster with 3 stars being the rarity.
