**Official MU Head Coach Search Thread**

[DJ's left nut]

Seems like this deserves its own thread. The news will start coming fast over the next week or two, IMO. Recruiting is a 365-day event and we can't afford to be rudderless for long.

My vote - Cuonzo Martin.

Discuss.

[Reaper16]

Well, I know one thing's for sure now: I do NOT want to see Gary Pinkel get fired while Mike Alden is still the AD.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by kepp

"In related news, other members of the Mizzou basketball team seen jumping off Missouri River bridge on highway 63."

To be fair, Kimmie is just doing this to be evaluated and gauge his draft stock (heh). Since he hasn't signed with an agent, he can come back to MU. Which I fully expect he will.

[chiefsnorth]

This is a good time to remember that basketball is a secondary sport.

Still - it would be nice for them to get rid of that idiot Alden

[siberian khatru]

KenPom from 2004:

Bad Career Move
04.26.04

Frank Haith recently made the jump from associate head coach at Texas to head coach at Miami Florida. However, his chances for success in his first head coaching job are slim. I think it's safe to say that Miami comes into the ACC at the bottom, having won a combined 25 games over the last 2 years. The problem Haith faces is that the ACC is a conference with a glass ceiling. If you're at the bottom, you're not going up.

More here: http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/web...d_career_move/

[Reaper16]

When was the last time that a hire was universally panned like this? Haith has been trending on Twitter for like 11 hours now, and apart from Tiller and English there hasn't been a single positive word, from anyone, anywhere in the country, about this hire.

[OmahaChief]

What a terrible effin hire. I also follow the Canes and not one person is sad to see Haith go. They wanted him gone for part of last year and all of this year and most of them see this as a gift. That says a lot considering most UM fans could care less about Basketball.

Haith coached teams at times appear to have no clue on how to run an offense, watching them this year reminded me of a Quin Synder offense. They refused to feed their big men which is guess is OK for us considering we don't have any.

Pissed off beyond belief at this hire. Alden should be fired immediately.

[siberian khatru]

Alden believes he's found his Rick Barnes.

I bet you that's it.

Barnes had a losing conference record at Providence and an unremarkable postseason record (save a 4th place NIT finish). He got hired by Clemson, which is only a couple of notches above Miami. He had a losing conference record at Clemson and one decent tourney run -- a Sweet 16 in 4 seasons. The other 3 postseasons, he was one and done.

Yet, Texas hired Barnes on the strength of that record, and he has improved them significantly over Penders (although many will say he's underachieved with the talent he's had).

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Chet Steadman

Not quite as bad but still pretty ****ing bad.

I disagree - it's worse.

Could they not get Isiah Thomas? I mean **** me, this was the best you could do?

I was kinda getting excited about the possibility of Doug Wojik, myself. He has some chops, lots of respect in the coaching community and can recruit well (relatively speaking). He's a midwest guy and a mid-major guy that would've considered MU home.

This ****ing schmuck, OTOH, sucks. And on the off chance he actually does well, he's getting the **** out of dodge as soon as he can. He has no ties to Missouri or the midwest. Look for him to angle for every Big East or ACC job he can get a look at if he ever sniffs success here. Fortunately the odds of that are pretty steep.

This hire is a cluster**** of monumental proportions. Mike Alden blows.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

Alden believes he's found his Rick Barnes.

I bet you that's it.

Barnes had a losing conference record at Providence and an unremarkable postseason record (save a 4th place NIT finish). He got hired by Clemson, which is only a couple of notches above Miami. He had a losing conference record at Clemson and one decent tourney run -- a Sweet 16 in 4 seasons. The other 3 postseasons, he was one and done.

Yet, Texas hired Barnes on the strength of that record, and he has improved them significantly over Penders (although many will say he's underachieved with the talent he's had).

Rick Barnes is also a shitty SHITTY basketball coach.

He's an okay recruiter but the man cannot coach a bit.

If Alden's looking for the next Rick ****ing Barnes, I'd say that's reason enough to get rid of his worthless ass.

[Pants]

At least Haith can recruit. You guys will probably start seeing better talent pretty soon here, which is always refreshing.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by jbwm89

Kinda pisses me off that people (on this board, players etc.) act like Mizzou fans don't have a right to be pissed of about this hire. I have a right to bitch when the place I spend twenty grand a year that I don't have does something like this.

It would be one thing if Mizzou fans had any idea who or what Frank Haith is, but they don't. They're reacting on the basis of almost no meaningful knowledge. So what if the guy had a losing record against Duke, NC, etc.? It was only 3 or 4 years ago that the ACC was known as the best basketball conference in the country. It would be a monumental accomplishment to coach Miami to a 7 year winning record in that conference. IMO, it's time to reserve judgment and see how this guy does (a) with a senior-rich team his first season and (b) with a recruiting program armed with a bucketful of scholarships over the next two years.

How many of the people condemning this hire before they know much about it were praising the Quinn Snyder hire when it was announced?

[siberian khatru]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/3...o-end-at-miami

Why the Frank Haith Era Needs to End at Miami
By Charlie S.(Contributor) on February 27, 2010 - Coral Gables

I write this with a tremendous amount of trepidation as I truly like Frank Haith, I think he is a great person, a tremendous recruiter but after years of supporting him as the head coach of the University of Miami Basketball team it is time for a change.

Frank has coached under respected head coaches like Rick Barnes and Dave Odom and there was a lot of hope and promise that after 15 years as an assistant and a reputation as a strong recruiter that it was his time to take the helm.

Now in his 6th year at Miami the job he has done I think can be best summed up as "solid" but in the ACC that doesn't really get you much more than 3 NIT appearances and one shot at the big dance. Look I personally have defended this man countless times saying he came in and had to piece together a team with transfers, deal with talent like Guillermo Diaz leaving for the NBA before he should have and not really having the chance to put all of his recruits on the floor at the same time.

Aside from Jack McClinton his other transfers seem to be a bust. Lance Hurdle who came via the JUCO route was never healthy and was a shooting guard forced into a point guard role after Denis Clemente and Eddie Rios both were kicked off the team. Cyrus McGowan, a big man who never saw PT at Arkansas has been a bust. The telltale of why I believe its time for Haith to go is recent Villanova transfer Malcolm Grant who was going to be the point guard who was finally going to give us a floor general. With highly regarded recruit Durand Scott coming in from Rice HS in NYC after choosing Miami over UConn and Pitt, who lit up other New York teams with his scoring ability and Grant running the show it looked very promising.

Then something changed. Grant was moved early on in the season to shooting guard and Scott to the point. This seems counter intuitive especially having to live the previous two seasons with no true point guard so now he decides to go for the trifecta? The results? Grant has averaged 9.5 points and 3.4 assists a game this year while Durand Scott has averaged 9.0 points and 3.6 assists. Now I ask the question why did Haith move Grant out of the position he was most comfortable with? Perhaps if he hadn't done that and let both Grant and Scott gel at their positions the Canes would have had a few more wins. This leads me to my next point in why Frank must move on. Gameday management.

Nothing gets me going more than watching a coach mis-manage a basketball game, which is exactly what Haith did on numerous occasions this year. The prime example was the second half meltdown against a mediocre Boston College team in late January. After coming out in the 2H strong and with 15:44 left in the in the game Reggie Johnson (who is playing a great game) hauls in a defensive rebound, Grant dishes to Dwayne Collins who dunks the ball home to put the Canes up 17.

BC calls a 30 second TO and Haith subs out Reggie for Julian Gamble. Mistake #1. Reggie is playing the game of his life, why take him out after only 5 mins on the court???

15:04 left in the half, TV timeout after a Collins foul and turnover more substitutions, this time Collins is sent to the bench for Cyrus McGowan. Mistake #2, Collins draws double teams that help free up our shooters while McGowan... well he is just McGowan.

After BC goes on a 10-3 run Haith then decides its time to send DC and RJ back in but 3 minutes have passed at that point and momentum has begun to shift. Instead of having guys on the court in a rhythm they were sent to cool off on the bench.

We then begin to lose composure and a timeout isnt called until the lead is cut to 4 points, nearly 3 minutes after the last TV timeout. From there the Canes move into panic mode and the end result is a home loss 79-75.

There have been other debacles like this too and I don't want to hear we have a "young team" when we have 4 seniors including starters Dews, McGowan and Collins. The year started against a cupcake schedule to allow this team to form a chemistry and it worked as the Canes went 15-1 to start the year and even briefly showed in the top 20. The team looked balanced but still had a high number of turnovers reflecting Haith's overly aggressive offensive style. Then ACC play kicked into gear and that's when the pain began and here we are with 2 games left Miami has 4 ACC wins and is tied for last place. Hardly what anyone would call progress.

After 6 years Haith has had his chance to put his kids on the floor and develop them but yet after a promising first few years the Canes are in reverse. Too many times you see a coaching change made and the next year the same kids look all world and end up dancing, there are so many good coaches that there really is no reason to accept mediocrity.

Haith has failed too at developing his kids, one only has to look at former 5 star recruit Dequan Jones who came to Miami 2 years ago with a ton of promise only to see his development also go in reverse.

Time has come for a change in Coral Gables. The Canes finally have an on campus arena, world class practice facilities and the only ACC school with 4 professional teams in the area and of course fabulous weather. Haith has done a "solid" job but Miami is capable of so much more than that.

[Hays]

Can anyone tell me how Haith coaches? as far what is his D like? man to man? zone?
What kind of Offense does he run?

[OnTheWarpath15]

The BOC still needs to approve a contract, correct?

Any chance they do what they should have done in 2006, right before finalizing the deal for Anderson - fire Alden - and start over?

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by patteeu

It would be one thing if Mizzou fans had any idea who or what Frank Haith is, but they don't. They're reacting on the basis of almost no meaningful knowledge. So what if the guy had a losing record against Duke, NC, etc.? It was only 3 or 4 years ago that the ACC was known as the best basketball conference in the country. It would be a monumental accomplishment to coach Miami to a 7 year winning record in that conference. IMO, it's time to reserve judgment and see how this guy does (a) with a senior-rich team his first season and (b) with a recruiting program armed with a bucketful of scholarships over the next two years.

How many of the people condemning this hire before they know much about it were praising the Quinn Snyder hire when it was announced?

It's all about expectations. When Anderson left, Alden made it sound like he wanted to hire a name coach to take MU to the next level. And indeed, he immediately went out and tried to land Painter. That indicated he would continue casting for big fish.

Instead, he landed some guppy.