Loyal readers, here is your chance to get the discussion going. Let us know what is on your mind. Today is a great day for the Pine!
Pickin' Splinters
Rochester's Independent Sports Source
Pickin' Splinters
Rochester's Independent Sports Source
Wow, Tampa kind of showed Washington the exit door pretty handily.
Andy Katz reported: Maryland announces Gary Williams retiring. Spoke with Gary quite a bit. Story to follow soon.
https://gary-parrish.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/29091989?ttag=gen10_on_all_fb_na_txt_0001
The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Now Gus Johnson is leaving CBS?
https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/richard_deitsch/05/05/gusjohnson.cbs/index.html
Bill –
Agreed! Quite surprising. Needless to say, there’s probably not a hotter team in all of sports than the Lightning. Looks like Washington’s early exit may cost the coach his job too. I’m also delightfully surprised that Boston is up on the Flyers 3-0. But we’ve been here before…it’s too early to celebrate!
Casey –
Who do you think are the leading candidates to replace Williams at Maryland??
Lastly, are the Lakers playing possum again or are they really in big trouble down 2-0 while having to go to Dallas now?? If those that have said this is the best Dallas team since Dirk has been there are correct, it would seem that the Lakers are indeed in big trouble.
Here is an article about Williams: https://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6487292&campaign=rss&source=twitter&ex_cid=Twitter_collhoops_6487292
It sounds like one of the assistants is going to take over on an interim basis.
Dino Gaudio is still available.
Any chance of Bobby Knight showing up there?
A couple of hot ones – Terps Insider:Source: Jay Wright will be high on Maryland’s list to replace Gary Williams.
Source: Sean Miller would be interested in Maryland job if approached.
One could only hope the General would come back.
You’re not talking about that cartoon insurance guy with the penguin sidekick are you?
I don’t know who the frontrunners are, but I am BIG Terps fan if they can “steal” Brey from ND!
A more detailed breakdown of the potential candidates for the Maryland job: https://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/katz_andy/id/6492859/maryland-job-elite-jump
Pete —
Sounds like you want some new coaching blood at ND. Their early exit from the Big Dance pulled the plug on Brey in your eyes, huh?
Hate to disappoint you, Pete, but ESPN reporting that ND is working out a contract extension for Brey presumably to keep him from jumping to the Maryland job. I’m not sure how I feel about this myself. On one hand, continuity has its benefits but on the other, something tells me that Brey has taken this program about as far as he can. And he’s had about 10 years to get to this point. Question is: Is this about as good as ND hoops can hope to get??? I don’t think so. I think they can be better than consistent 2nd round exits in the NCAA tourney, if they even get that far. But its gonna take a special coach to get them to perennial top 10 status. Brey is not that coach…I’m just not sure who is. But I would love to see what Brad Stevens could do under the Dome! 🙂
I was “Brey-has-to-go” back in the days of Chris Thomas. My conviction to that has only grown over the years. Handling Of Harangody was the clincher if I needed one, but this year’s playoff failure certainly added to my feeling. Brey went as far as it is possible for him to go this year and ND basketball is better than that. What this season proved is that Brey can ONLY be successful without a superstar, and without a superstar no team is a true national title contender. Can’t win it all without one, and Brey can’t keep his team together with one. The ND/Brey deal was in the works before the Terps contact, so hopefully Brey will be swayed to return to his home state and nearer the roots of his D2 success at Delaware. Not holding much hope however, but if it happened Brad Stevens would be an awesome coup! Or the guy at Northwestern (they always pop into the picture when we talk about possible coaches at ND).
Pete …
If Brey signs this extension, I’m afraid ND has decided that “pretty good/decent” is “good enough” for this basketball program long term. Sounds like we’re settling for something “less than the best”. And I wonder how hungry Brey is really gonna be if he pens a deal that gets him into this 60s??? Just shakin’ my head over here … maybe Casey can make us feel better with some words of wisdom.
There is a fine line between being asked to offer wisdom in this forum and volunteering to be a pinata.
As you know I am not a Notre Dame alum.
I am a fan of Mike Brey. Pete makes a valid argument about Brey’s handling of stars. Okay, that is a shortcoming (by the way – Delaware is D1. Now, they are in the Colonial Athletic. When Brey coached them the Blue Hens played in the American East. Brey guided Delaware to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Also worth noting – Brey was 99-52 at Delaware. The Blue Hens are 1,063-1,178 in 106 seasons of hoops. Safe to say, Brey might have the best winning % of all-time at Delaware).
From 1991-2000 ND made ZERO appearances in the tournament. Brey has taken the Irish to the Tournament on seven occasions since then.
So he’s no Digger Phelps? From 1980-1990, Digger’s teams won five NCAA tournament games. From 2001-2008 Brey’s teams won five NCAA tournament games.
Digger had a a great run in the 70s. He would probably be the first to tell you, it’s not as easy to compete in D1 men’s basketball.
Throwing this out there – in 33 years of coaching Gary Williams had a record of 668–380 – a winning percentage of .637.
In 16 years of coaching, Brey is 337-172 (these numbers might not take into account this past season) – .662.
Brey is one Final Four run away from respect. By the way, Williams and Phelps have a combined THREE Final Four appearances. Since winning the national title in 2002, Wiliams has won six NCAA tournament games. Brey has won four in the same time.
One thing Brey has NOT done is to disgrace the university. There has not been one allegation about that guy doing anything underhanded. Brey has a lot of respect for ND. Very rarely do I hear him getting any credit for that. The fans of St. Bonaventure know the value of respect. They had a team that was regularly in the hunt for a tourney bid around the end of the century. Administration got a little greedy. Jim Baron was not offered a contract extension. Jan Van Breda Kolff was hired. He brought in an illegal player, and the university came close to losing its program.
And Brey has worked with his guys. Don’t forget about McAlarney’s drug charge. Brey suspended but did not turn his back on the kid. He helped him get through it.
Be careful what you wish for. The 1990s is not that distant of a memory.