Wish List - Our Next Coach

[Dallas Brave]

Monday March 7 Update:

I have combed the various threads discussing future coaches at BU. Here is an unscientific list that totals the number of posts recommending various candidates. There is probably some dupliction since some posters mention the same guy in different posts (I am too lazy to cross reference the poster with the recommendation, sue me!)...

Note: I didn't enter -1's for any candidate someone thought absolutely shouldn't be considered/selected.

Todd Lickliter.............. 8
Tommy Ammaker......... 6
Mark Montgomery........ 5
Jerrace Howard........... 4
Wayne McClain........... 4
Dan Muller................. 2
Greg Gard.................. 2
Jerry Sloan................ 2
Larry Brown............... 2
Matthew Graves......... 2
Pat Knight................. 2
Paul Lusk.................. 2
Ray Giocoletti............ 2
Anthony Solomon....... 1
Barry Hinton.............. 1
Bill Carmody.............. 1
Billy Gillispie.............. 1
Butch Pierre............. 1
Cliff Warren.............. 1
Dino Gaudio.............. 1
Eric Spoelstra........... 1
Gary Close............... 1
Kim Anderson........... 1
Matt Zimmerman....... 1
Melvin Watkins......... 1
Pat Flannery............ 1
Rob Judson.............. 1
Rodney Terry........... 1
Shaka Smart............ 1
Sydney Johnson....... 1
Tony Benford........... 1

Doesn't mean all of these are available/interested/affordable, just hoped for.

Will keep updating during the week. Friday pm cut off.

Would be interesting to see which mid major/Div II coaches had the most non con/post season/tourney success vs Valley Teams in the past 5 years. Anyone want to take that research project on?

Another angle, look at teams in Mid Major Conferences which ended up with higher RPI's than the MVC did and look for coaches with best combined conference records at these schools over the past three seasons.

Add Bob Ortegal for me please. Mark Cuban just fired him as the Mavs color man. Not only did Bob play for Bradley, he has D1 coaching experience at Drake. Just joking about Bob being a candidate since he is pushing 70. He is a class act though. Cuban fired him and most of the local sports media were outraged. Bob had nothing but gracious comments for the Mavericks and said he had no hard feelings. He is really a stand up guy and a true gentleman.

[real fan]

Some very good candidates on this list AZ. I don't know how Wayne McClain keeps getting votes, but otherwise anyone of the top 4 and even Hinson would be good choices. I know Hinson got run out of town at MSU because he "couldn't win the big games", supposedly, which we all know is a bunch of bunk since he got shafted out of the Big Dance twice. But he kept his teams in the running for championships most years and couldn't do any worse than many think he could.

Still way too early to pin down who Bradley will be leaning towards, if the future coach is even on this list. But it should be fun trying to keep the hope up that this will be a good hire.

Hinson was a great person, Lickliter lost at Iowa to UNI and Drake, you do not fire Les for either one of these guys because they would not be an improvement.
Wayne McClain has lost any appeal he would of had 9 years ago after winning several state championships, too much time has now gone by and he has lost any recognition that could have helped him in recruiting.
Come on posters, we need to do better research then what I see as far as votes.

[Braveman]

Hey, Braveman, Kevin O'Neill is the head coach at USC.

I know, I was trying to point out how easy it is to find a list of "hot assistant coaches" and post it.. That list is from 2007 or 08 I believe...

Nobody knows who will apply, be asked to consider the position, etc...

I am just tired of it all....

[jeffsu]

However, after watching 50+ games he has coached over the past 3 years, I am steadfastly against hiring him, and believe there are better candidates out there. I think any Iowa fans on this board (jeffsu, care to weigh in?) would agree.

I have .

I was definitely ready for Lick to get out at Iowa... No doubt. But I think that job has proven difficult and Lick may have been in over his head at the b10 level. He may not fare so poorly back here...

Sorry I didn't catch that question earlier, on vacation and trying to catch up at a pub with wifi, haha.

[runninfiend]

I was definitely ready for Lick to get out at Iowa... No doubt. But I think that job has proven difficult and Lick may have been in over his head at the b10 level. He may not fare so poorly back here...

Sorry I didn't catch that question earlier, on vacation and trying to catch up at a pub with wifi, haha.

I agree, Lickliter would be an awesome choice. Does he want to "step back down the ladder" to a mid-major at this point? I've said this before, but Butler would be a good aspirant program for Bradley to model themselves on going forward. Lickliter or Graves make intriguing candidates because they've done it on this level and sustained success.

[real fan]

Judson has been nowhere but the Midwest, was 74-101 at NIU, but did manage a 1st and 4th place finish, and if you add his assistant coaching experiences, at Illinois, Bradley, NIU and Illinois State, he is either head coach or top assistant with a record of 383-188...

Also add in that he himself was an academic All-American, is from the state and well-versed in the Valley and Illinois, the respect of his colleagues, His recruiting acumen, and his integrity, and yes, I would say he would be a good choice...

74-101 , you must be joking if you want someone with that record as a head coach in a lesser conference, had his chance and failed.

[CubbieBear]

I (for one) really hope it's not Lic...although he seems to be a good guy, he flopped at Iowa, couldn't recruit there, wasn't popular, and played a very boring brand of basketball IMO...I think we can do better.

[real fan]

I agree, Lickliter would be an awesome choice. Does he want to "step back down the ladder" to a mid-major at this point? I've said this before, but Butler would be a good aspirant program for Bradley to model themselves on going forward. Lickliter or Graves make intriguing candidates because they've done it on this level and sustained success.

Butler got better after he left, Iowa got worse plus he is another coach that plays games in the 50"s, we can do better.

[SaintLouBrave22]

I (for one) really hope it's not Lic...although he seems to be a good guy, he flopped at Iowa, couldn't recruit there, wasn't popular, and played a very boring brand of basketball IMO...I think we can do better.

I agree!

Up tempo physical rebounding pressing depth

5 words that I would like to be a big part of our next coach's vocabulary


Now who is this guy?

[SaintLouBrave22]

Our motto should be lighting up suckers, knocking out chumps, smoking fools, and talking noise about it...

As I stated weeks ago, I want to bruise, batter, and annihilate opponents...


I want them to always hate coming to Carver and remember for weeks the nights they played Bradley!

[BU SNu]

This guy unfortunately doesn't exist. Although we would all like for our team to be up-tempo, physical, rebound, press, and have depth it is nearly impossible to play this way. I think every coach in america would love to have a team like this. Typically up-tempo teams are comprised of smaller and less physical players, resulting in less rebounds etc.. Also, given our recruiting history, it is hard to find depth of physical athletic players. The fact is a team that plays up-tempo, pressing style, that is also physical and rebounds can't sustain that type of energy for a full game without depth. The guys who have the ability to build a team this way are already taken by the likes of the Big East, ACC, etc.

With all this in mind, I would like a younger, up and coming coach as opposed to coaches with a track record of not being able to build a team in this manner. The downside of course is that an up and coming coach, that can prove he is a winner, likely will move on to the big boys!

[TylerDurden]

For perspective, here's what Lickliter did at Butler (and Stevens first three years for player carry over):

2001-02 26 6 .813 Todd Lickliter
2002-03 27 6 .818 Todd Lickliter - Sweet 16
2003-04 16 14 .533 Todd Lickliter
2004-05 13 15 .464 Todd Lickliter
2005-06 20 13 .606 Todd Lickliter
2006-07 29 7 .806 Todd Lickliter - Sweet 16 - lost to Florida (Nat'l champion)
2007-08 30 4 .882 Brad Stevens - 2nd round
2008-09 26 6 .813 Brad Stevens - 1st round
2009-10 33 5 .868 Brad Stevens - FF

It's hard to say how much "better" Butler got after he left.

Matta was there for one year between Barry Collier (Butler's AD now) and Lickliter.

I think you can say he benefited some from player carry over, got his own guys in and repeated that success before he left for Iowa.

[SaintLouBrave22]

2003-06 really scares me!

Especially when you consider how much better Stevens did with his talent after he was gone...

Just about anyone who watched Butler play Bradley after Stevens was there noticed a BIG difference...


Also, it is apparent that Stevens is a much better recruiter...that being the case though, does that make Lick a better coach because he did a whole lot with only Graves and Green.


Those are the things I would need to be answered for me to even inquire about him...plus like I said, I don't really appreciate the style he plays as it's similar to the guy we fired before the previous coach...

[Boiler]

74-101 , you must be joking if you want someone with that record as a head coach in a lesser conference, had his chance and failed.

Yes, hiring Judson would be a complete joke! The guy is a career assistant who failed at a lower level.

Also, forget Pat Knight and his massive ego and no talent.

[TylerDurden]

How about Phil Jackson?