UL Basketball Coach ... NEXT

[ManAboutTown]

_ foo, that is the problem. There will still be people not happy with the final decision. You can't make everyone happy, but the bottomline is the new coach will have to meet the same criteria for APR and Graduation rates. Everyone will have their favorites, but there will be only one HC hire. _

Trust me, I'm not going to get nit-picky about this situation. It's no secret that my favorite name on the board is Kennedy, but I wouldn't be upset if we land some other names that have been mentioned. With Floyd, its a bit different. I, like Jay, wasn't exactly boasting with Pride when Evans coached here. IMO, Floyd is that kind of coach. A 'get it done at all cost' kind of guy, but at what cost? Who's to say more things won't come out of this investigation (in which case he would not be considered anyway, but I mean even further down the road). Don't get me wrong, I want to win, just like you guys; but could we really absorb being blindsided again by sanctions or worse? I just don't think the risk is worth it. Not when you have candidates that are just as qualified, if not more so out there, who are interested..

[MetryCajun]

_ Trust me, I'm not going to get nit-picky about this situation. It's no secret that my favorite name on the board is Kennedy, but I wouldn't be upset if we land some other names that have been mentioned. With Floyd, its a bit different. I, like Jay, wasn't exactly boasting with Pride when Evans coached here. IMO, Floyd is that kind of coach. A 'get it done at all cost' kind of guy, but at what cost? Who's to say more things won't come out of this investigation (in which case he would not be considered anyway, but I mean even further down the road). Don't get me wrong, I want to win, just like you guys; but could we really absorb being blindsided again by sanctions or worse? I just don't think the risk is worth it. Not when you have candidates that are just as qualified, if not more so out there, who are interested.. _

I am asking this out of curiousity. Did Floyd run dirty programs at UNO and Iowa St?
What I remember about Floyd is that his teams were disciplined and won even when they did not have the more talented team. The OJ Mayo thing is a serious red flag, but some here are insinuating he is a pretty bad guy. What are his other infractions?

[ManAboutTown]

_ I am asking this out of curiousity. Did Floyd run dirty programs at UNO and Iowa St?
What I remember about Floyd is that his teams were disciplined and won even when they did not have the more talented team. The OJ Mayo thing is a serious red flag, but some here are insinuating he is a pretty bad guy. What are his other infractions? _

I'm going somewhere with this, I promise.
When I say OJ Simpson, what do you think of?

Be honest..

[lcitsh]

_ Floyd would be a great hire. I think the ones that are saying no think it is impossible and they might be right. Who else is on the list with big time college and pro experience? _

I am not saying no because I don't think we can get him. On the contrary, I think he is interested in coming here and we have a chance to get him. I simply do not want him here and I believe we can get better than him.

[MetryCajun]

_ I'm going somewhere with this, I promise.
When I say OJ Simpson, what do you think of?

Be honest.. _

If it doesn't fit, you must acquit!

Please don't tell me you are going to compare a double murder with a $1,000.

[ManAboutTown]

_ If it doesn't fit, you must acquit! _

lmao.
Right.. You think of the murder, not his sparkling career.

When I think of Tim Floyd, I think of giving money to players.
Thats a character flaw, not a mistake. Fundemental difference in right and wrong.

I'd just rather another guy.

[MetryCajun]

_ lmao.
Right.. You think of the murder, not his sparkling career.

When I think of Tim Floyd, I think of giving money to players.
Thats a character flaw, not a mistake. Fundemental difference in right and wrong.

I'd just rather another guy. _

I guess i'm not there. I think very good college coach.

[cajun4life]

_ If it doesn't fit, you must acquit!

Please don't tell me you are going to compare a double murder with a $1,000. _

Bingo! I was not a Tim Floyd guy myself until just recently. But there are only 2 rumored names that will make a big time splash if we were to hire them. They are Billy Kennedy and Tim Floyd. Both of those guys would get us national media attention and that is something we need in a seriously bad way. UL "WAS" a basketball school just like Duke, UNC and UCLA before the death penalty and we were damn good after the death penalty. But there is no reason why we can't be like Gonzaga with our tradition and facilities. We need a name that can get people excited and Tim Floyd will do that.

[ManAboutTown]

_ I guess i'm not there. I think very good college coach. _

Maybe Bill Clinton would have been a better example, but you get the point. I'm not comparing murder to $1000. No matter how you look at it, they broke rules. It's the principal of the matter. They had no regard for others involved. It's just how I feel about the issue.

[MetryCajun]

_ Bingo! I was not a Tim Floyd guy myself until just recently. But there are only 2 rumored names that will make a big time splash if we were to hire them. They are Billy Kennedy and Tim Floyd. Both of those guys would get us national media attention and that is something we need in a seriously bad way. UL "WAS" a basketball school just like Duke, UNC and UCLA before the death penalty and we were damn good after the death penalty. But there is no reason why we can't be like Gonzaga with our tradition and facilities. We need a name that can get people excited and Tim Floyd will do that. _

Of the names thrown around, these are the two that get me really excited. Both of these guys are a huge step up from our previous three coaches.

[rhineaux]

Personally, if I were going to hire a coach that I knew had baggage, I'd pick Gillespie over Floyd. If Gillispie grabs another DUI, then it will give UL a black eye, but that's it. If Floyd does something shady, then UL will get that black eye and perhaps much more, negating whatever good he did for the program. Secondly, even if Floyd didn't really do anything wrong, other than use bad judgement, he's still been in the middle of this significant investigation with the NCAA, and I would imagine that they're going to keep a close eye on him. With what this school has recently gone through (APR, T-shirt "scandal", etc), I don't know if that makes for a good marriage.

As for Gillispie, Coach Hall recently said that the guy is a ball coach. He's also known as a grinder and has had success in multiple places. I don't even hold the UK stuff against him...I don't think he was what some of the UK Boosters really wanted and there was conflict from the beginning. As for his drinking, he did spend some time getting treatment, so one would hope that he's been able to overcome his issues.

He and Kennedy would be my first choices. Dennis Felton and Mark Gottfried would also have to be up there somewhere near the top. IF Floyd isn't planning to hold out for the Hornets job after this season, and is interested, I wouldn't hate the hire, but I would always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. If either Butch Pierre or Danny Kaspar are hired, I would hope they're several spots down on the list, and only after the first choices declined UL's offers for Major Coaching jobs. I don't think either one of those guys creates the "buzz" that the Athletic Dept says they want.

[Turbine]

In his third year, he inherited both academic and NCAA issues that resulted in scholarship losses for the program. Lee’s commitment to the program, both on and off the court, allowed the program to overcome these issues.

I thought Robert Lee was thrown under the bus on the NCAA issues. I will assume the reference is to Orien Greene's summer studies. Well, with the duplicate NCAA interpretation of summer school studies at the time this farce should have been fought vigorously. UL should have never offered up sanctions on a silver platter like they did. Since then I have seen schools with blatant violations offering no more and sometimes less than UL did. You can go to the paper of record on microfiche and find that UL was transparent in what Orien was doing over the summer to get eligible. UL had nothing to hide; Robert should still have his wins.

As far as inheriting academic issues I suspect the press release is referring to the dismal APR year that was so bad even when coupled with 3 close to perfect years the average remained below par. Well those were not inherited and if he is going to get credit for turning things around it should be stated he was responsible for the problem in the first place. In his 6 years as HC he had 17 players leave the program prematurely and 12 were one-and-done, and this doesn't count players who became ineligible sat out and came back. The only inherited player to leave the program early and cause APR problems was Tiras Wade. The other 16 were brought in by Lee and let go for whatever reason by Coach Lee.

Now let's find a new coach. Every one out there will be APR ready.