Boylen fired as Utah men’s basketball coach

[7StraightIsGreat]

It's never a good sign when your fan bases' hope is tied up in a guy hiring a good staff, rather than just being a good hire. But fan bases are consistently wrong, so you have that going for you.

The best anti-argument I've heard against the guy is that he moves around too much....one of those grass is always greener elsewhere types. You could structure the contract so that there would be disincentives for him to do that within the first few years though so hopefully Hill worked that in and addressed that part of it for you guys. The other negative seems to be his perceived lack of willpower to recruit and lack of connections. Those could be legit concerns.

My biggest concern are the whispers that he loathes recruiting, but those are just rumors at this point so I guess we'll see. I certainly hope it's not the case because his NBA connections could help him in regards to landing some guys.

 

[Archie Moses]

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I am not down with this hire.

Dude, anyone is better than ol Jimmy boy right now. Who knows though? I'm not way high on it, but refer back to my first sentence.

 

[prodigy]

This guy couldn't be worse than Giac or Boylen I know that. He bolted to the NBA too fast but he was pretty successfull with Montana. Who's to say he can't have success in the college ranks again. He's got my support.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

Not sure how much I can root for a U of M guy. Kind of why I smile at UNLV's double digit loss seasons in football.

 

[Bronco70]

My main concern is his ability to recruit. We are already hurting in that regard, and we need someone who will be positive and proactive. LK doesn't seem like that guy.

Again, I hope I'm wrong.

 

[gregbroncs]

This guy couldn't be worse than Giac or Boylen I know that. He bolted to the NBA too fast but he was pretty successfull with Montana. Who's to say he can't have success in the college ranks again. He's got my support.

This. He has got to be an upgrade to those 2 clowns.

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

You never know though. Sometimes unproven guys are the best hires. Look at VCU and Butler.

VCU and Butler were successful programs before Smart and Stevens were there.

 

[//r00t 4 Jazz]

I'll give Krysco a chance and I heard they may try to get the ex Ute asst coach (was with Majerus) that is currently at Gonzaga who would help on the recruiting front and be the next in line if he does leave.
Sorry can't remember his name will look around and edit if nobody knows who I'm talking about.

*edit*
I found who I was looking for:
Donny Danniels
https://www.gozags.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/daniels_donny02.html

He was with Majerus and UCLA when they won the Pac 10 two years in a row in 06-07.

 

[//r00t 4 Jazz]

Also for the record when people started complaining about Boylen I always was hoping maybe he could get some better assistants, as has been stated in some cases the assistants make the coach or at the very least can help cover some deficiencies.

 

[7StraightIsGreat]

VCU and Butler were successful programs before Smart and Stevens were there.

Had either school even came close to making runs at the Final 4 before those two?

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

Had either school even came close to making runs at the Final 4 before those two?

So a Final Four alone makes a basketball program successful?

 

[Archie Moses]

VCU and Butler were successful programs before Smart and Stevens were there.

This has nothing to do with my point.

 

[Bronco70]

So a Final Four alone makes a basketball program successful?

This isn't my question to answer, but if it were I'd say that a final four is not the definition of success, but a pretty reasonable barometer of it. If your team is in a final four, it's a safe bet that it is going in the right direction.

 

[Jazz Spazz]

I would say a team that got to the Final Four was slightly closer to a successful program than a team that consistently won for 10 years and never made it to the Final Four.
Isn't the very definition of a successful program one that wins the NCAA Tournament and is consistently in contention? The other levels of success are just steps down from that point, with that as the main goal? Of course there are other smaller goals, and you check your barometer to see how close you are any given year... but you have not "made it" until you have "won it".

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

This has nothing to do with my point.

I suppose you're right. Except in some ways you're implying that these teams are now successful because of these good hires whereas the truth is that they were already successful prior to the hires. Not trying to get into a Kicky/Archie lovefeud. Just the way I sort of took your post.

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

This isn't my question to answer, but if it were I'd say that a final four is not the definition of success, but a pretty reasonable barometer of it. If your team is in a final four, it's a safe bet that it is going in the right direction.

No doubt. My point was just that these two programs were already clearly headed in the right direction (VCU had won two tourney games prior to Smart including a huge win over Duke and Butler was quite successful under Matta) and in fact consist of players who were primarily recruited under their predecessors. They seem to have brought that talent to the next level, yes. However, I'm curious how well they'll recruit and keep this going going forward. mark Few's ship sailed over five years ago and time is the best indicator.

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

I'll just say too that I love Stevens by the way. He reminds me of Coach K in some ways (not in dorkiness but in the way you can see his wheels turning) though a little more deliberate in his choice of words.