What will it take for Shaka to survive this year?

blonthang said:
I'd suggest Tceh, and more to the point, Lubbock, Texas was a refuge for BK.

He was fired from IU in 2000 because of his history and apparent increasing violent outburst tendencies. This after winning national championships coaching Indiana in 1976, 1981, and 1987.

Lubbock provided a number of things that made for a very nice fit for BK.

It took him out of the bright klieg light glare of the big national media, with Chicago less than 250 miles away, but others closer like Indianapolis, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, etc. This as compared to Lubbock with the Avalanche-Journal and then nothing, I mean NOTHING up to about 350 miles over to DFW....in ANY direction.

Tceh had rather low expectations for their basketball program as compared to the rabidity of basketball fans in the IU area; though to be fair, most fans probably still adored him there in spite of his personality failings. Tceh fans probably just pumped their chests with pride that BK would even COACH there, whether he won or not was probably not that big of a deal, BK chose to come to LUBBOCK. Of course he did okay at Tceh, one Sweet 16, mostly a 20+ game winner, but nothing like he did at IU.

BK is an avid hunter; in fact Barnes gave him a deer hunting rifle for congratulations for, I think, his 900th coaching win, knowing that BK would very much appreciate this as a gift to him. In return BK gave Barnes his coaching notecard (he prepared and used for each game) for that 900th victory game as a momento. I guess there's hunting in Indiana, but West Texas probably gave BK more of an opportunity to partake of one his passions outside of basketball.

For Beard, he's been coaching as an assistant or HC at Texas (state and University of), Kansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Arkansas, so he apparently has mostly been around the south and southwest, and outside of the big east and west coast metro areas, so Lubbock isn't much different than previous stops. BUT, his first gig WAS in Austin.
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So the Abilene Reporter News doesn't count as major media?:smokin:

"I guess there's hunting in Indiana." Just an FYI, I'm not a deer guy myself, but I've heard deer hunters say Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana rank up there with Pennsylvania and Western New York State as this country's best deer hunting. Plentiful in numbers and enormous in size.

I agree with some who think Beard may choose to remain the well-appreciated king of his own small(er) domain--like Patterson at TCU.
 
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Meanwhile we are stuck with Shaka. I dont know what Beard thinks about Texas but hes being a good coach by focusing on his team.
 
Tech is mentally and physically tough and are coached to be that way. Texas is not mentally and physically tough and they are coached to be that way. Winning the Jv tourney was nice for what it was, but it doesn’t change what Texas was during the year, especially down the stretch when it counted most.
 
To me, Smart does less with more than most coaches in the country. With a very talented roster this year, a lottery pick and a
nice balance of Bigs, ball handlers and shooters, his team played .500 ball and failed to make the tournament.

I like Smart, just like I liked Strong. Strong showed us nothing in three years, and Smart has underachieved badly in four.

He may turn it around next year but frankly I don’t see how. That is, unless he dramatically changes how he coaches. And that’s the issue. The dude can recruit, but so far at Texas, we haven’t seen that he can coach.
 
Luke Walton is available.

Magic Johnson stepped down as well.

The Lakers, 3rd straight losing season and lack of post season play.

With Magic Johnson in the front office, Luke Walton in the suit on the court, and recent addition of LBJames.

And they couldn't pull off a winning season.
 
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