You know what's funny is that Isaiah Thomas tried to get in on the Arizona job. Put aside the sexual harassment and potential suicide attempts (err... accidental sleeping pill OD) and I could see that.

I'd rather have Avery Johnson though, and he'd be a great fit in Memphis.

Xavier University men’s basketball coach Sean Miller has accepted the head coaching j
 

Xavier University men’s basketball coach Sean Miller has accepted the head coaching job at the University of Arizona, according to a report in Yahoo! Sports.

According to the story, Miller first turned down the job, then reconsidered and told Xavier Athletic Director Mike Bobinski that’s he’s leaving the Cincinnati school. Xavier did not comment for the story.

Over his five seasons at Xavier, Miller led the team of the Catholic liberal arts college to a 120-47 record. In the NCAA men’s tournament this year, the team made it to the “Elite Eight”before falling to the University of Pittsburgh, 60-55.

The Arizona Wildcats have played in 25 consecutive NCAA tournaments, according to the story. The team also made the Elite Eight this year, where it lost to the University of Louisville, 103-64.

Longtime Arizona coach Lute Olson retired in October, and the team has been led by interim coach Russ Pennell.

What was the source stating Memphis and Avery Johnson were in serious talks? I find that hard to believe. But I guess anything is possible?

Now everyone's saying Pastner.

Of course, that may just be because Megan Calipari's Facebook said it was going to be Pastner, so...

It's Josh!

Yeah!

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...story/11600010

Memphis promotes assistant Pastner to coach, replacing Calipari
April 6, 2009
By Gary Parrish
CBSSports.com Senior Writer

DETROIT -- Josh Pastner will be introduced as the next Memphis coach, a source close to the program told CBSSports.com on Monday.

An news conference is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday.

Pastner is known as an elite recruiter from his time at Arizona, where he played for and assisted Lute Olson before joining John Calipari's staff last offseason. This is his first head coaching job.

Don't you guys go firing Miller anytime soon, okay?

Unless Miller goes to Pitt some day, I have a hard time seeing Pastner back at Arizona. He'll be 100% Memphis Tiger from this day forward. He's a hell of a great guy. I'll be interested to see if he can keep/land any of those big recruits without the Lute/Cal name behind him.

I'll be root for you guys now!

(see how it all works out well in the end.)

:D

I really hope we can at least keep Robic to be his top assistant. I have no questions about Pastner's recruiting ability, or really even his coaching chops. The guy is just ridiculously super-competent.

This isn't a "wow" outside of Tucson and Memphis, maybe, but I really like the hire.

I'm perfectly happy with this decision, once they struck out with a few of the big names. The only other guy that had interested me who was left was Gillispie, because of a successful track record. I'm hoping Pastner is more Roy Williams than Quinn Snyder.

Not the "wow" hire that everyone was expecting, but Pastner seems to have been the best "playing it safe" choice possible.

Apparently Pastner wants to hire Carl Henry for the obv. package deal of getting Xavier and keeping C.J.

I hope this gets figured out fast. I wan't to know who is going where. Do we get X, or Lance or Wall?

Mad props to Megan Calipari.

http://i44.tinypic.com/2z6wkdv.jpg

Is he even old enough to be a head coach?

He's actually older (32) than Calipari was (29) when he took over at UMass.

And besides that, he looks like Superman.

Billy Donovan was 31 when Florida hired him.....

LBBIQ.

But that ain't new.

Pastner is a great hire for two reasons:

He's a recruiting mofo, and if he doesn't turn out so well on the X's and O's part, he's sure to load the cupboard for the next guy.

I think you hit the jackpot.

So I hear he's hiring Henry's dad as DBO. True?

Seems that way. Talk about a sigh of relief.

A pretty credible guy in the Memphis basketball scene is saying that Penny might be on the staff in some capacity.

i heard kansas is firing chalmers' dad and offering henry the same position.



























:evil::D

We're going to hire Milt Wagner back from UTEP and fire him, just to show how serious we are about this!

Hell yeah. Orlando Magic 4 life.

I smiled when the Grizzlies signed Nick Anderson for a fleeting moment.

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Word is Jim Rosborough, Lute's top assistant for 25 years will be joining Josh as his AHC.

I don't think it's a "playing it safe" hire, because Pastner has never recruited without a HOF coach to package, and he's never been an in-game coach since AAU days (in high school).

He's a super-star potential, but he could be Steve Lavin @ UCLA.

As our search got desperate fans and former players started pushing Paster to be named head coach at Arizona.

I was against that in favor of the bottom 2nd tier and top 3rd tier names out there because of the risk factor (and I didn't think he could deliver his top prospects out to Arizona).

He's a much safer fit for Memphis though, because these guys were already planning to attend Memphis.

I'm rooting for him, though!

He's a total prodigy, no joke. He was giving a coaching scholarship at Arizona. A roster spot taken from a basketball player and given to a kid who sucked ass as a player, simply because he was a coaching savant.

He developed a scoring system his freshman season that helped players to compete against each other to perfect their "little things" during practice in those (ie, correct positioning for rebounds, boxing out, shot selection, etc.) .

He worked with Mike Bibby so often that Bibby asked him to quit school as a Sophomore and become his personal coach when he was drafted.

He graduated college in 2.5 years and got his first masters degree in 3.5 years. All which coaching and traveling as a player.

Kid is a freak. Memphis is the perfect spot for him to gain experience (and risk destroying your program if he can't run a team).

No shit?!

Steve Lavin got UCLA to 5 SS's and one EE. So if Pastner turnout to be "a Lavin", that ain't bad. (Although I wasn't sure if you were being serious).

Good call.

Who is Jim Roseborough/Sean Miller/Josh Pastner/

Here's my AH imitation: Who is Penny Hardaway?

Apparently, Penny was interested in being an assistant a while back, but he and Calipari didn't really mesh well as people so it never happened.

Quite serious. Lavin recruited all world talent. #1 class after #1 class. Started almost every year in the Top 5 or 10 based on talent alone.

But was very inconsistent throughout the season. He managed to pull it together for a couple wins against vastly less talented teams, in the tourney, but his teams too often played to the talent level and lost to bad teams.

He was a really good guy, who recruited like hell at UCLA, but wasn't the sort of teacher who could bring them together. He was fired after a disasterous year.

I'd be interested to see what he could do with a 2nd shot in a different environment. People grow, he has the potential to be a great coach.

So it that a done deal, or just speculation at this point?

Speculation, but from a pretty solid source.

Very well-sourced from a variety of places, but nothing official just yet.

And agreed on Lavin. UCLA should be the easiest job in the world, and that's how Howland is making it look. Lavin is a complete moron, which is why I think Pastner should fare much better.