Him being a local boy is what intrigues me. We have to keep kids like GG home (if not GG himself). But BJ doesn't have the HC experience yet. How crucial is that? He's been at some good programs as an assistant. Is Paris that much better / advanced at this point? Yes, I know he's already an HC, but that is at a mid major and does that really make or break a coach?
I tend to agree, but as I think about it, NONE of the great Basketball Coaches originally had any "HCing" experience.
Whose to say he doesn't have experience doing those things? The man is working at a P5 school as we speak, he must know how to do something.
So, UNC shouldn't have hired Roy Williams? There are exceptions to every rule. Personally, I think hiring BJ would be a crapshoot, but we have tried everything else. We have tried the experienced coach from a Power 5 and failed. We have gone the Mid-major route and failed. So, trying a different profile by going the career assistant route is not that bad a move considering our history. I think BJ being a local product and graduate would override that lack of experience to a degree.
I was always told to establish ones self working for others before you work for family.
I think there are other reasons. I really don't want to get into some of them because of their highly controversial nature. However, recruiting is an area where I think McKie will help. I, also, think he will help in getting former players involved. Two of his teammates run good high school programs in this state. One won a state championship last year. Another, played for a state championship this year. The one that played in a state championship this year has two players with Power 5 offers but we have barely looked at them. That type of stuff won't happen with McKie here as head coach. I'm pretty confident in saying that. Getting proven coaches have not worked for us. The main reason for that is that they usually come in with no connection to the area and USC is not a strong enough brand to bring in national recruits. That's probably the reason Sean Miller turned us down. So, we probably have to build our program with local and regional recruits. So, I don't see a better way of doing that other than bringing in a coach with local ties even if that coach doesn't have head coaching experience.
Agree. It looks like whoever we hire at this point is going to a gamble. I attended HS with BJ at Irmo and he was an impressive guy on/off the court and had a true passion for the game. He saw a bunch of different styles of play during his professional career and has been moving up the rankings in the coaching circuit. He might not be on many "hot coaches' clickbait lists yet, but there's a good chance it's coming.
Georgetown has already come out and said they are sticking with Ewing at least for next year. If they fired him, that is part of the business, coaches know that.
Of course he’s not on anyone else’s list. If BJ sticks with Forbes and they have success at Wake, then maybe two, three, four years from now he could be in the conversation for a good mid-major head job. It’s nice that Carolina gave him an interview, in the middle of the Miller fiasco, to give him some cred and experience, but hiring him to run your program at this point in his career would be instantly. Especially when you have Matt McMahon, Lamont Paris, Chris Mack, Bob Ritchie, Pat Kelsey, Mark Turgeon, Mark Pope, etc., etc., still available and interested at the right number.
McMahon just got booted out of the tournament by a coach with a .529 overall record that has only been coaching four years and has never won a regular season conference championship in the MAAC. Lamont Paris has no local ties. What makes him different than the coach we just fired. Richey has never won the SoCon and just lost to Paris for the regular season and tournament titles. Pat Kelsey just finished 6th in the Colonial Conference. Chris Mack just had a player mutiny before being fired at Louisville. Out of your list, there are no real standouts besides Mark Turgeon and he just quit on a program that has a far richer history than ours. I think just exploring the proven coach route doesn't recognize where we are as a program. We have low interest amongst alumni, low interest from the local commuity. I think those issues need to be solved before we even think about winning.
Who do you see in that group of current candidates that's a significantly less risky option than BJ? I get what you're saying from a PR standpoint, but walk down that current list. Environment matters a great deal. Pulling McMahon out of the Ohio Valley into the SEC looks very similar to a Darrin Horn hire. He could turn out great but if you're placing bets on future success, he's as much of a crapshoot as the others. Lamont Paris has an overall record of .575 at Chattanooga. He's had a good two years but would you rank him considerably ahead of McKie in terms of odds of future success in the SEC? You're also going to pay millions more, have a greater buyout and likely a longer contract.
That's exactly the same with me, and you, Adcoop and Paleo have argued for BJ eloquently above. I don't get excited about any of the other candidates. Not one bit. And as Adcoop said, we have already tried everything else: young up and coming mid-major coach, re-tread of a successful ACC coach, re-tread of a Big 12 coach. Before Martin, who seemed to catch lightning in a bottle for one magical Final Four run, we had a run with Fogler, but that fizzled out too. Why not give one of our own the opportunity? At least with BJ you know he will bleed garnet and black with us every game. One of our biggest failures is keeping SC talent at home. How much more effective is it to hear a pitch to stay home from someone who did so himself.
If the team wins, people are going to get excited about the program. People aren’t going to back a loser, even if BJ is the coach. Guy gets two or three years to learn on the job and is either getting extended or fired.
Not at all. I'd be far more concerned with a 300lb angry Cuban in my face each game calling me everything under the sun.
This is the argument to go with the proven coach and historically it's never worked and we end up doing the same thing 5-6 years later. The only reason it took 10 years with Martin is the Four Run that gave him a little more runway. However, I live in this community. Frequent the Barber Shops. Nobody cares and nobody believes in us. They think USC always does the same old thing and always ends up losing. Matt McMahon is Darrin Horn all over again. I do have confidence that he would scout the local talent better, but he changes none of our dynamics. I don't think you can win consistently without top-notch talent in the SEC. Kentucky is top-shelf brand that gets what they want of the top recruits. Auburn is going to do what is necessary to get top recruits especially in the Atlanta area with Bruce Pearl. Florida is national brand that have won national championships. Musselman is recruiting really well at Arkansas. Texas is coming into the conference with a top-notch coach and fertile recruiting territory. What can South Carolina do to make itself a special place. Getting some coach with a .600 record and a NCAA tournament victory or two will not make us stand out amongst the environment that we are in. We go this proven coach route and we will mostly hover at this 6-12 to 10-8 in the conference, constantly miss the dance and repeat the same process down the road. I am willing to fail miserably than constantly play it safe and stay mediocre.
Common theme. Ray botching a coaching search or hire or unnecessary extension. Never held accountable.
Reminds me of a young Brad Underwood. Granted Underwood spent a few seasons at Stephen F. Austin before going to Okie State for a year. But Underwood wasn't on anyone's radar either.
You won't know that for 3-4 years. Y'all would have completely freaked out if we had hired Golden from San Francisco...who record there was not very impressive.
I am speaking to the process. What an utter embarrassment this has been. So were our football hirings. Add to this that all of his hires have largely flopped, particularly in baseball. He left it the #1 program in the country not long ago. Look where it is now?
How has it been an embarrassment? Out athletic department has made no public statement about the search or who they were looking at. Most of it was speculation by reporters and bloggers. No shame in losing Miller to Xavier, a much, much better program and one he is very familiar with. That's the ONLY one we are relatively sure about. This is nothing like Tennessee's searches have been....nothing.
