New Coach

[Kevin Reilly]

Coaching Candidates... I like Mark Schmidt The St Bonaventure Coach. He was a assistant with Prosser for 7 years and head recruiter. He brought in Torraye Braggs, Lionel Chalmers' James Posey/ Romain Sato and David West. He is 54 and has a 248 and 234 record.He also coached at Robert Morris for 6 years. I would like to see Miller come back but I doubt it. His teams played hard and played Defense. They will probably hire Steele and he might work out but I would like to see somebody new. Matta might be worth another chance but he seems burned out. I would love it if Mack returns but I am tired of his looking elsewhere every year. Mack was a good recruiter but his teams lacked any defensive identity. Time after time opposing guards would drive right to the basket with little or no resistance. The ball handling has been awful for years. Guys jump in the air and throw one handed passes all the time and half or more are turnovers. The ACC is full of high end programs. Duke , North Carolina, Virginia all play good fundamental basketball. Like Villanova. We all know how that worked out. Never mind Florida State,Clemson,Miami, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Virginia Tech. Mack has taken us to all time heights but his teams try to out score everyone. That being said I would to see him back but hire a defensive assistant and maybe we will make the final four.

[X-Expert]

I would like Miller but don't see X taking him back under that solid black cloud. I really believe Steele is going with Mack for many reasons. I hope Kelsey isn't the guy but that seems to be more of a possibility. With Hurley off the market, i really have no clue who it would be. Hopefully Mack stays but just don't see it.

[edgecliff hall]

Loyola Coach.

[longliveskip]

I would like Miller but don't see X taking him back under that solid black cloud. I really believe Steele is going with Mack for many reasons. I hope Kelsey isn't the guy but that seems to be more of a possibility. With Hurley off the market, i really have no clue who it would be. Hopefully Mack stays but just don't see it.

i've heard Steele will go with Mack if he leaves for U of L. can make 7 figures as U of L top asst.

if Steele is gone, i really don't want Kelsey. i've seen his teams and if you guys think you're getting a defensive guru in Kelsey, you're wrong. they can't defend. his teams have just been able to outscore the others in his league more often, but they don't defend well.

i'm not sure who they go with if Steele leaves with Mack.

it's not going to be Miller or Matta, that's for sure, no matter what people on this board think.

either way, X is a GREAT PROGRAM, and will continue to be great, as it has been in the past when coaches have left, mainly because the institution knows how to pick the right guy to keep it going in the direction it has been, and even get a little better.

Mack got this program to where it is now. Just need to pick the right coach to keep it where it is, and maybe sprinkle in a FF sometime.

[skyhops]

Can we find someone who’s favorite band is not Kid Rock?

[longliveskip]

Can we find someone who’s favorite band is not Kid Rock?

it should be the first question in an interview.

[xu9697]

Personally, I think this will be the worst lost coach yet. Yes we are in a better conference and as a program are at least just a few steps below the 10-15 truly Elite Programs/Programs that will pay ridiculous amounts. However, even if we feel like we are "big time", it's going to be used against us in recruiting battles that we lost an XU grad who just won the reg season BE title and got a #1 seed. I think this might be the toughest lost coach to recover from- I desperately hope I am wrong.

With that being said, if he is healthy (big if), I think the best coach to get is Thad Matta (or Sean Miller...but I don't see that likely especially with "scandal" hanging over his head). Thad has got the big $$ already, is only 50 years old and has had great success. I know OSU suffered some at the end of his time there, but I also feel that Matta would have had a similar season this year with the team that OSU put out there. His "demise" there is highly overstated and overrated. Bates-Diop was hurt last year and Kaleb Wesson, a Thad recruit, was not on campus. Matta is not the kind of coach that would have found and played a guy Dakich, so maybe the level of success would have been 2 less wins than Holtmann had.

Matta is a big name with great success, and his returning to X would be "permanent". We would have our next coach for 10+ years. Again- if the health is truly bad, he is out. But rumors out there that I have seen are he is in much better shape.

If not Matta, and unless someone else big comes up (can't even think of a name), then I say go in house and keep Steele. But that will feel like a loss to me.

[edgecliff hall]

Like Schmidt or Matta.

[Shadow]

Can we find someone who’s favorite band is not Kid Rock?

it should be the first question in an interview.

I think Mac is under pressure from a Doo-wop group. "The Temptations"

[Thor in 204]

If Chris Mack leaves, and Travis Steele does not take over, I wonder if the coach at Buffalo could be recruited. I was very impressed with how that team played in the NCAA against Arizona and Kentucky, and how he coached them in those games.