Another candidate has emerged

[Da Coach]

I disagree. Rice has proven to be good at recruiting Mormon kids, especially from the west. But I don't think there are very strong midwest connections, and none with Chicago that I can see. If we are going to start to include assistants, why not someone with strong Chicago recruiting ties like Taveras Hardy of Northwestern or Bryce Drew of Valpo.

I also don't see someone like Rice as being as likely to keep all the current players here.

[ManMythLegend]

Although the two would be close on my list, Kennedy would be my more immediate choice due to his exPerience. He has done some very nice things at Murray State. Not a statement guy but I don't think you can deny his success at his current stint.

Would that transfer over to the MVC? Who knows?

[Da Coach]

Kirk Wessler has emerged for a long break and posted a new column. But it says nothing new, and is just another one of the "calm down, don't worry fans" type of columns.

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x1234547511/Wessler-Middle-not-bad-place-for-BU-to-be?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[Future Walk-On]

Could we find "The Jimmer" Part Two?


If so, IM IN!!!

I dunno if you watched the DII championship game this afternoon...............but the Chang kid from BYU-Hawaii is DEFINITELY already Jimmer part II!

kid was unreal

[Interested Observer]

Rice has proven to be good at recruiting Mormon kids, especially from the west.

I also don't see someone like Rice as being as likely to keep all the current players here.

You do realize not all students at BYU are Mormon don't you? And that Jimmer was from upstate New York.

But, if you're going to go that route, don't we have a Mormon signed to a LOI at the moment?

Rice does have a brother who is the head coach at the main Catholic school in Vegas, so I don't think the type of religion a kid is would matter.

[Future Walk-On]

maybe im stereotyping...but im thinking he won't be able to keep some of our players here







and Jimmer Fredette is a MORMON from Upstate New York lol not just a kid from NY

[Da Coach]

Sorry, didn't mean to offend anyone. But the fact is that BYU is one of the few, if not the only D1 school that does specifically target
Mormon kids who are headed out on 2-year missions. Most of their players, though not all, are Mormons.
And it is unlikely that Bradley will be recruiting Mormon kids.
But the point is still valid- Dave Rice has no recruiting connections in the midwest, or in the Chicago area. There are hundreds of assistants at mid-majors (like BYU), and even at high-majors that IMO would not have to spend years developing mid-west recruiting contacts.

[Beninator]

Yes because as we know, Kaplan is the be all end all reporter we should really follow

Kennedy wouldn't be awful by any means, but Rice would be higher on my list...that said, take anything Kaplan says like you would take a discussion with a mobster...

Accept the terms, but always look over your shoulder...

To paraphrase a quote from the move The Godfather, so far, Bradley hasn't made an offer they can't refuse."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch8uCOPbH7I

[tornado]

I clicked on both the links in this thread -- both are PJS links, so I hope I don't get a bill in the mail...


In regards to KW's artilce...the very first line is...
"I wouldn’t say the search for a new Bradley men’s basketball coach is dragging."

...well I would, as it's already been going on longer than 90% of the other D-I schools' coaching search, AND by all accounts, at least the first 6 or 7 candidates we have targeted and interviewed have turned BU down.


also ...he labels Dane Fife as.." a candidate with a resume as a successful Division I head coach"

...well if success is defined by a grand total of SIX years of coaching, all at the very bottom end of Division I, and all but one ending within a game of .500 or worse...
His career record of 86-97 all while playing in the horribly weak Summit League and boasting a Strength of Schedule around 300 are not exactly eye-popping.
His 42-58 record outside of the Summit -- even though many (actually MOST) of those non-conference games are still horribly weak opponents like Marygrove, Longwood, Tri-State, Texas Pan American, Rochester, Anderson, NJIT, Manchester, Indiana-East, Madonna College (seriously!), Pursue-North Central, Judson, SIUE, etc....

Fully 35 of those 42 non-conference wins are against cupcakes and non-D-I's that many people have never hard of.


Then since all the coaches he names turned us down, then why does he next say - that logically we should "have confidence that athletics director Michael Cross is on the right track"?


Then ....Kirk says something sure to incite the wrath of all the people who have been angry on the message boards for weeks!!! He says something many have scathed me and blamed me for....
He says..........
"There’s also university president Joanne Glasser’s reputation for
micromanagement. The degree to which that enters into a candidate’s
decision process will vary with the individual. But the perception is out there,
and coaches are talking about it."

OMG -- has he not hurt our chances of getting a good coach?? Come on everyone -- this is exactly what you PRO-PJ STAR-guys were saying just a couple days ago!!


By the way -- Kirk Wessler described Dr. Glasser similarly a couple years ago (May 2008 )...when there was a clash w/ KK

[Samd2]

awsome post Tornado

[BRADLEY FAN 49]

Anyone who has Sweet 16 coaching experience, be it assistant or head coaching certainly can't hurt.

So let me get this straight. Their head coach is Dave Rose, and this assistant is Dave Rice! That's pretty funny, and I almost thought Rose was a candidate!

We had a coach with sweet 16 coaching experience.

[amettrick]

...well if success is defined by a grand total of SIX years of coaching, all at the very bottom end of Division I, and all but one ending within a game of .500 or worse...
His career record of 86-97 all while playing in the horribly weak Summit League and boasting a Strength of Schedule around 300 are not exactly eye-popping.
His 42-58 record outside of the Summit -- even though many (actually MOST) of those non-conference games are still horribly weak opponents like Marygrove, Longwood, Tri-State, Texas Pan American, Rochester, Anderson, NJIT, Manchester, Indiana-East, Madonna College (seriously!), Pursue-North Central, Judson, SIUE, etc....

Fully 35 of those 42 non-conference wins are against cupcakes and non-D-I's that many people have never hard of.

I'm certainly not advocating that BU should hire Fife. I'd prefer they didn't actually. However I think it should be pointed out that 30 years ago Duke hired a head coach with a fairly similar resume to Fife's and it seemed to work out great for them.

Yep, when Duke hired Mike Krzyzewski in 1980, his resume consisted of 1 year as an assistant at Indiana and 5 years as the head coach at Army, where he complied a fairly average record of 73-59 against some pretty weak competition. In his last year there he was just 9-17.

That's remarkably similar to Fife's 2 years as an assitant at Indiana and 6 years as the head coach of IPFW where his record was an admittedly worse 82-97. Of course, its important to remember that Fife was coaching a school that was transitioning to DI which makes it a hell of a lot harder to recruit good players and win.

Now I'm not saying Fife will become anywhere near what Coach K has, that's just not going to happen. My point is simply that it is possible for a great coach to come from a background that doesn't appear to be particularly impressive.

Can you imagine if Bradley hired a coach who went 9-17 in his final year at his previous job?? Everyone would throw a fit!

[BU FAMILY]

Good post amettrick - while I certainly understand the comparisons between the two coaches early in their careers, I would personally be very disappointed if we end up with Fife - not because he doesn't deserve the chance somewhere, it's because I don't believe that he fits the description of "great coach" that MC keeps talking about.

[tornado]

30 years ago Duke hired a head coach with a fairly similar resume to Fife's and it seemed to work out great for them....

ametrick, this would never work out at Bradley, tho....
because first some in the BU fan base would be incensed right form the start if we went for a low level assistant who had virtually no head coaching experience..

then after Coach K had been at the next level for a couple years and had not had real success...he'd have been forced out...

In five years at Army he was..
11-14
20-8
19-9
14-11
9-17

Then in his first 3 at Duke he went...
17-13
10-17
11-17 ...trust me -- at this point Kirk Wessler and Phil Theobald would have been demanding he be fired and we hire a juco head coach out of Missouri...

Can you imagine if Bradley hired a coach who went 9-17 in his final year at his previous job?? Everyone would throw a fit!

The Hoosiers had hired away Krzyzewski's predecessor after Knight went 11-13 at Army in '71

[shaunguth]

also ...he labels Dane Fife as.." a candidate with a resume as a successful Division I head coach"

...well if success is defined by a grand total of SIX years of coaching, all at the very bottom end of Division I, and all but one ending within a game of .500 or worse...
His career record of 86-97 all while playing in the horribly weak Summit League and boasting a Strength of Schedule around 300 are not exactly eye-popping.
His 42-58 record outside of the Summit -- even though many (actually MOST) of those non-conference games are still horribly weak opponents like Marygrove, Longwood, Tri-State, Texas Pan American, Rochester, Anderson, NJIT, Manchester, Indiana-East, Madonna College (seriously!), Pursue-North Central, Judson, SIUE, etc....

Fully 35 of those 42 non-conference wins are against cupcakes and non-D-I's that many people have never hard of.

I'm not sure why the PJS has so much love for Fife, but I believe Dave Reynolds said Fife has a "very impressive" record at IPFW.