Bear Down Wildcats

p.s. once again praise Jebus for Byrne the ninja, who showed how a coaching search is done w/ the RR hire.

Coop Cat wrote:

Isn't Pera the guy who coached Harden in high school and got him to go to ASU?

azcat34 wrote:

Coop Cat wrote:

Isn't Pera the guy who coached Harden in high school and got him to go to ASU?

Yep.

azthrillhouse wrote:I am surprised that Majerle's name has not come up. Not like he has set the world on fire at GCU but it's the type of hire that would draw some eyeballs locally and you might be catching a guy on an upswing - high risk, high reward. Plus Crow can poke GCU in the eye by stealing their guy - he seems to have an axe to grind against them.

I will bust a gut laughing if it's Trent Johnson. Coaching lifer, nice guy with clearly limited ceiling. So, basically, a poor man's Herb Sendek.

Great idea, and frankly the lack of strategy that is missing at a place like ASU. Lol

There seem to be a lot of solid coaches out there that ASU isn't reaching out to and I would be shocked if none of them would be interested in the job.

Guys like:

Leon Rice, Boise State
Steve Prohm, Murray State
Brad Underwood, Stephen F. Austin
Ron Hunter, Georgia State
Russell Turner, UC Irvine
Jim Les, UD Davis

Some here might not be geographic fits, but I think they would all listen.

azcat34 wrote:There seem to be a lot of solid coaches out there that ASU isn't reaching out to and I would be shocked if none of them would be interested in the job.

Guys like:

Ron Hunter, Georgia State

Hopefully not Hunter, I don't want to root against that guy.

Alieberman wrote:Can someone tell me why Sendek got fired?

Been asking this question about Ned Wulk for a long time. They still haven't topped him.

At the time of his 400th victory, he was one of only four then-active coaches to win 400 or more games at one school. He led ASU to 17 winning seasons in his 25 years, including a record of 39-15 against rival University of Arizona.

Under Wulk, Arizona State reached 9 NCAA tournaments, and 3 Elite Eight appearances in 1961, 1963, and 1975. In the 1963 NCAA tournament at Provo, the Sun Devils routed UCLA in a second round game, 93-79. The Bruins were on the brink of back-to-back national titles in ‘64 and ‘65. And in 1981, Wulk’s ASU Sun Devils went to Corvallis on the final day of the regular season and defeated #1 ranked Oregon State by a score of 87-67. Wulk's 1963 team still has the school record for most wins in a season at 26. In the previous season, he set the ASU school record for longest winning streak at 18 games. He led the 1981 ASU Sun Devils of the Pac-10 to the highest national ranking in school history at #3, finishing with a record of 24-4. He was selected as the Pac-10 coach of the year in 1979, when ASU finished 21-6, including 15-3 in conference play. He was fired in 1982 after one mediocre season.

Now a mediocre season gets you a contract extension.

Fun fact: He came to ASU from ... Xavier!

Doug Haller was thinking it was Hurley all along:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /25468759/

Which kinds of makes sense since Capel is such a mediocre coach.

Bring back the cactus

Zero FFs since they dug up the cactus. Pricks!

gumby wrote:Zero FFs since they dug up the cactus. Pricks!

It's the Cactus Curse!

PieceOfMeat wrote:

gumby wrote:Zero FFs since they dug up the cactus. Pricks!

It's the Cactus Curse!

It's a curse that's easily correctable.

Main Event wrote:

Phoenix sports radio is pure comedic gold on this subject. The 2 hosts on 910 AM think Hurley is beneath them, argiung that ASU should be setting its sights higher than to aim for a coach who was being considered by St. John's and DePaul. Hmmm... Where would ASU's bb program rank amongst those 3 to anyone outside of Tempe?

This for a program that prioritized, and was turned down by, Jeff Capel.

To add to the fun... They think the AD needs to break the bank for Pastner, because he would bring energy & relevance to the program and make people enthusiastic about ASU Basketball. They also think they could get Pastner for less than he is making at Memphis, but not less than $2MM per.

A guest from USA Today Sports who claimed to know Josh pretty well indicated he KNOWS that Pastner would come to ASU for the right price, because the situation at UM is getting very comfortable for him. I wanted to dial in and say that I know at least 100 bb fans in the valley, many of them UA alums, who would buy season tix Immediately - because JP is so beloved within the UA fan base, and many are angry he did not get the job 6 years ago. If I though ASU's AD was listening, I would have done it.

Please make this happen... I'd love to celebrate Christmas in April.

If they got Hurley it would be a miracle. I think he's going to be a really solid coach.

Can't believe he would consider bailing at this late stage.

Hurley would be a great hire for asu.

Harvey Specter wrote:

Main Event wrote:

Phoenix sports radio is pure comedic gold on this subject. The 2 hosts on 910 AM think Hurley is beneath them...

A guest from USA Today Sports who claimed to know Josh pretty well indicated he KNOWS that Pastner would come to ASU for the right price, because the situation at UM is getting very comfortable for him. I wanted to dial in and say that I know at least 100 bb fans in the valley, many of them UA alums, who would buy season tix Immediately - because JP is so beloved within the UA fan base, and many are angry he did not get the job 6 years ago. If I though ASU's AD was listening, I would have done it.

Please make this happen... I'd love to celebrate Christmas in April.

One of the hosts is UofA alumni and had a show in tucson for years.

I appreciate what Pastner did for our program when he was here but he is a marginal coach who hasn't done a whole lot at Memphis. I didn't want him as our coach then and don't want him any time soon. that said, I could care less if he went to asu but it would be funny to watch their fans root for a Cat.

If ASU does get Hurley, he will not be there long-term. As soon as an ACC or notable east coast university job opens up, he is gone.

Yeah i have heard them for weeks trying to get Josh. Had guests on all saying it would be great. They haven't once looked at any buyout or how he would take a million less to leave....it's been annoying. Especially this late in the cycle.

Jeezus H. Menzies? Hurley?

Then there's this: Per Twitter, June Jones has removed his name from consideration. "Fool me once..." he was quoted as saying.

I would never want Pastner as our coach but for ASU it's worth a whirl if they could get him.

To me, they either need to go with a flawed guy that will at least bring in talent & excitement (Lavin, Pastner) or go with a relative unknown but that looks to be an up & comer (the guy from Irvine for example).

At this point in the process, and given the realistic options available to them, I cannot for the life of me understand why Dan Majerle's name has not come up.

He might be a high risk, high reward hire - but that is the best they can hope for at this point, the guy is tied to the valley, has name recognition & cache in basketball circles, would generate a lot of excitement in the area, and would probably have as big an impact as anyone on fundraising (which is sorely needed). On - and thay can afford him.

It seems too easy... and would be an infinitely more attractive candidate than Menzies or Trent Johnson. Or Capel, for than matter.

Chicat wrote:

Puerco wrote:Where is all the ASU fan angst? When the coaching search was going down at NCSU it was epic. I want more of that, damnit.

ASU has to have fans before they can have fan angst. That's why they can (and will) hire someone demonstrably worse than Herb and no one will bat an eye.

This reduces the entertainment value of the situation dramatically. Am I the only one who finds that depressing?

azcat34 wrote:There seem to be a lot of solid coaches out there that ASU isn't reaching out to and I would be shocked if none of them would be interested in the job.

Guys like:

Leon Rice, Boise State
Steve Prohm, Murray State
Brad Underwood, Stephen F. Austin
Ron Hunter, Georgia State
Russell Turner, UC Irvine
Jim Les, UD Davis

Some here might not be geographic fits, but I think they would all listen.

Leon Rice led BSU to the First Four. He's WAY out of ASU's league.

BMalo wrote:One of the hosts is UofA alumni and had a show in tucson for years.

I appreciate what Pastner did for our program when he was here but he is a marginal coach who hasn't done a whole lot at Memphis. I didn't want him as our coach then and don't want him any time soon. that said, I could care less if he went to asu but it would be funny to watch their fans root for a Cat.

Was he Oehler even involved in that discussion? Usually he's pretty level headed and if he were to get sucked into that talk would try to spin it into the joke's-on-you-if-you-believe-me.

I miss oehler

CatsbyAZ wrote:
Was he Oehler even involved in that discussion? Usually he's pretty level headed and if he were to get sucked into that talk would try to spin it into the joke's-on-you-if-you-believe-me.

He was involved, however, it didn't seem like he was that sincere. I always felt that Oehler was fair and was the opposite of a homer when it came to UofA sports discussion; up here, there have been times where I felt he has gone out of his way to appease the asu listeners to emphasize his ability to be unbiased. I think this was one of those times. There is no way Oehler believes what he was saying about asu as a program.

Irish27 wrote:Hurley would be a great hire for asu.

Yes.

3goggles wrote:I miss oehler

I never listened to him on radio inTucson, but I assume he must be better listening than he is reading. His attempt as an online journalist was excruciatingly bad - completely sophomoric and tried way to hard to get a laugh. Unsuccessfully.

PieceOfMeat wrote:

gumby wrote:Zero FFs since they dug up the cactus. Pricks!

It's the Cactus Curse!

Yep. Stay off U.S. Airways!

http://airwaysnews.com/blog/2015/04/07/ ... wednesday/

Hmmm. One of the few remaining hires they could've made that was actually good And an upgrade from herb. But he is a major threat to bolt somewhere east as soon as he has one great season at asu (top 2/3 conference finish, 25+ wins, s16 kinda season).

wow! nice going, asu.

ASUHATER! wrote:Hmmm. One of the few remaining hires they could've made that was actually good And an upgrade from herb. But he is a major threat to bolt somewhere east as soon as he has one great season at asu (top 2/3 conference finish, 25+ wins, s16 kinda season).

That is a great point.

ASUHATER! wrote:Hmmm. One of the few remaining hires they could've made that was actually good And an upgrade from herb. But he is a major threat to bolt somewhere east as soon as he has one great season at asu (top 2/3 conference finish, 25+ wins, s16 kinda season).

Agreed on all points. Good hire and will win.......but then bolt east

Coop Cat wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:Hmmm. One of the few remaining hires they could've made that was actually good And an upgrade from herb. But he is a major threat to bolt somewhere east as soon as he has one great season at asu (top 2/3 conference finish, 25+ wins, s16 kinda season).

That is a great point.

Yeah he's from New Jersey, played at duke and had coached at Wagner, Rhode island and buffalo. Outside of a couple years in the nba out west his entire career has happened east of the Appalachians. As soon as he proves he can coach a big school at Asu, whether it's in 2 years or 6 and a top 3/4 big east/acc job opens up..he gone.

according to their scout board, some are OK with that as long as it means "a couple good years of hoops" for asu. strong foundation. /sarcasm

Herb 2.0. No ties to the area and there is nothing in the kitchen. He can try and get some east transfers but I dont see this as the home run they were shooting for. Unless he can coach up what he has, his resume will look bad for the next few years.

Bobby Hurley it is

Confirmed on AZ Central...

BMalo wrote:according to their scout board, some are OK with that as long as it means "a couple good years of hoops" for asu. strong foundation. /sarcasm

Haha asu having Hurley for 3-4 years and maybe going to the the tournament a couple times doesn't set a foundation for anything besides continued mediocrity.

He won't be there in 2019 for better or worse of the asu program

Not terrible. He's a change in that he is an up and comer, plus he has a "name" that the casual fan (i.e., 95% of the Sun Devil fan base) can recognize.

That said, he has zero ties here, and it's hard to imagine this is anything other than a stepping stone to something else for him.

Probably the best option that was available to them. If Hurley fails, nobody is going to hold it against ASU for rolling the dice on him. If he succeeds and bolts, at least he's elevated the program and made it more appealing for the next hire. Agreed that the chances of him succeeding and staying long-term would seem to be nil.

What ties did Sean Miller have out west?

Hurley is a good coach to push the rivalry since many UA fans hate Dookies in general, especially the white boys.

azthrillhouse wrote:Probably the best option that was available to them. If Hurley fails, nobody is going to hold it against ASU for rolling the dice on him. If he succeeds and bolts, at least he's elevated the program and made it more appealing for the next hire. Agreed that the chances of him succeeding and staying long-term would seem to be nil.

If he succeeds, he bolts back east. If he fails, he gets canned and bolts back east.

The good news for Hurley: It's not a complete rebuilding job. The Sun Devils are expected to return four starters from last season's 18-16 team that lost in the second round of the NIT. Sophomore forward Savon Goodman and freshman point guard Tra Holder flashed all-conference ability.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /25529185/

I dont know about that quote.

Also, most of the article stresses his college playing career. Shouldnt most of it focus on who he has recruited, what ties he might have out west, and what is his coaching philosophy (and how it might translate out west)?

if he does well for 2-3 years at asu does he replace rat face?