New Coaching Carousel for 2018-19

[tornado]

We haven't had any high profile coach firings yet...
but here's an interesting one..

Past Bradley assistant AD (under Ken Kavanagh) Virnette House-Browning is a top assistant AD at Cleveland State
BUT - her boss - the senior Athletic Director Mike Thomas just resigned. Thomas said he is resigning for personal reasons. He formerly was the AD at Illinois who hired John Groce.

Perhaps Virnette will get the chance she deserves and be offered the top spot!
https://www.cleveland.com/sports/201...cember-31.html

[Da Coach]

It is being reported widely that UCLA reached agreement with head coach Steve Alford last night on a buyout, and there will be an official announcement this morning that he has been let go. This is Alford's 6th season at UCLA. Here are UCLA's records under Alford-

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/ucla/

UCLA is 7-6 so far this season, but they have lost their last 4 games, including home losses to mid-majors Belmont and Liberty.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/25651854/ucla-bruins-fire-coach-steve-alford-woeful-start-season

So far, there is no word who will be named Interim Head Coach while a coaching search is begun, and probably that will be announced this morning, too.
That is relevant to Bradley, since the Associate Head Coach at UCLA is former Bradley player (under Jim Molinari) and Bradley grad Duane Broussard.
The rumors are that he is not being considered as a permanent replacement for Alford. Names being mentioned unofficially so far are Fred Hoiberg (former head coach of the Chicago Bulls and at Iowa State), Earl Watson (former UCLA player, 13 year NBA player, and former head coach of NBA Phoenix Suns), Eric Musselman (head coach at Nevada), Jamie Dixon (former head coach at Pitt and current head coach at TCU), and Billy Donovan (former star at University of Florida and current head coach for the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder).

[Go_Braves]

From the bits and pieces that I recall - I wonder if Steve Alford was just getting tired. He had his share of controversies, was involved with his 3 players being held in China last year, the Ball family and LaVar Ball telling Alford how to coach his freshman son over the media. Alford was in a pressure cooker at UCLA always being compared to John Wooden and the school and alumni expecting nothing short of a National Championship. (Same type of continuous pressure Brian Kelly faces at Notre Dame for football) Alfords experience and resume puts him in a elite class. He started his Division 1 coaching at Missouri State in 1995 the year Bradley won the conference ('96). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Alford Steve will be fine - and he will pop up somewhere next Spring when other teams are seeking to replace their coach.

[tornado]

UCLA's current roster has seven 4-Star or 5-Star kids - three are 5-Star plus all three of their signed 2019 kids are 4-Star per ESPN...
They should have more talent (on paper) than any other team in the Pac-12...

[Da Coach]

Duane Broussard was probably a little too closely associated with Alford, so UCLA skipped over him and named 1st year assistant coach Murry Bartow as the Interim Head Coach. Bartow has previous head coaching experience at UAB and East Tennessee State, but was just added to the UCLA staff a few months ago.
https://hoopdirt.com/ucla-issues-off...im-head-coach/


Interestingly, the UCLA website still lists Broussard as the Associate Head Coach, and still includes Kory Alford, Steve's son, as Video Coordinator. I'd expect major changes to the staff once a new head coach is hired.
https://uclabruins.com/roster.aspx?r...08&path=mbball

Alford's initial contract that he signed in 2013 ran through the 2019-20 season, and paid him $2.6 million per year, plus it included numerous bonus clauses.

However, UCLA signed him to a 1-year extension a year ago, which now runs through the 2020-21 season.

The contract extension included a buyout clause, reportedly $3.6 million.

He will probably get offers to coach elsewhere by the end of this season.

[tornado]

Ohio basketball is in the midst of a very mediocre year -
they are 11-10 but just 3-6 in conference play...last in the MAC East
..and as would be expected - there's a 17-page thread with some grumbling by fans on their message boards...
...they are talking about firing Saul Phillips and hiring a new coach..
...and guess whose name came up... Geno Ford .... interesting...

[PhiAlphaBoy]

Ohio basketball is in the midst of a very mediocre year -
they are 11-10 but just 3-6 in conference play...last in the MAC East
..and as would be expected - there's a 17-page thread with some grumbling by fans on their message boards...
...they are talking about firing Saul Phillips and hiring a new coach..
...and guess whose name came up... Geno Ford .... interesting...

Ohio would be foolish not to make a run at hiring Geno Ford if they make a change. A prodigal son and alum who had major success as a player and coach in the MAC. I'd love to see Ford get a chance at redemption; he's a good man.

[tornado]

Names starting to appear on the FIRED list....


Kennesaw State - Al Skinner will step down - OPEN
Temple - Fran Dunphy already announced would step down at end of 2018-19 - Aaron McKie will be HIRED
Tennessee Tech - Steve Payne FIRED - OPEN
UCLA - Steve Alford FIRED in December - Murry Bartow is Interim Coach
UMES - has an interim coach, Clifford Reed but they are 5-24 - pending

[tornado]

Interesting column in the Las Vegas Sun this morning that posts readers' & UNLV fans' comments...
....some expressing frustration that UNLV was so mediocre this year and that their coach Marvin Menzies was unable to get them to play well
or achieve many key wins (two different lower half MVC teams, Indiana State & Valpo, beat them)

Here's one comment:
"If you're a UNLV fan, why should you be positive about Menzies returning?
Recruiting has been a miss this year; no big names next year either.
Doesn't seem to get his players to play above their talent level."

OMG - the guy sounds like he wants to fire the head coach and start over!! Amazing....
This is only Menzies' third year and he took over a disastrous program that had virtually every single scholarship player walk out the door! He had what Wardle had to start with - absolutely NOTHING! And yet he won 16 games this year & is above .500 in the Mountain West!

This kind of stuff is depressing - I guess they think he should have turned UNLV into a perennial winner over night. Just shows how uninformed and ignorant media people and some fans can be.
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2019/ma...g-unlv-sports/


speaking of UNLV- you gotta wonder about the future there of former Bradley recruit Ben Coupet, Jr.
..now finishing his 3rd year there, he's barely ever played...

[Da Coach]

Proving that there are always the same predictable "win at all costs" programs, there are UNLV fans calling for the school to hire Rick Pitino.

[tornado]

not Division I
but after a 1-24 season (0-18 in conference), Knox College's head coach Kevin Walden is out

https://prairiefire.knox.edu/news/2019/2/19/walden-resigns-as-head-mens-basketball-coach.aspx

[tornado]

Stetson fires Corey Williams

Kennesaw State - Al Skinner will step down - OPEN
Stetson - Corey Williams fired - OPEN
Temple - Fran Dunphy already announced would step down at end of 2018-19 - Aaron McKie will be HIRED
Tennessee Tech - Steve Payne FIRED - OPEN
UCLA - Steve Alford FIRED in December - Murry Bartow is Interim Coach
UMES - has an interim coach, Clifford Reed but they are 5-24 - pending

[Da Coach]

Fan support for Vanderbilt head coach Bryce Drew (formerly coach at Valparaiso) is dwindling fast. Kevin Stallings averaged 20 wins per season over his 17 years at Vanderbilt before bailing out on them in 2016 to take a big contract offered to him by Pitt. Vanderbilt hired Bryce Drew in 2016, who was coming off 28-win and 30-win seasons with Valpo in the Horizon League. Drew is now in his 3rd season at Vanderbilt..
Here is his record so far in 3 seasons-
2016-17 - 19-16, 10-8 in the SEC
2017-18 - 12-20, 6-12 in the SEC
2018-19 - 9-20, 0-16 in the SEC

Vanderbilt signed Drew to a 6-year, $16.3 million, which put him inside the top 15 paid coaches in the country at that time. I think the chances Vandy fires him this year are low, because of how much money he is still owed. But if things don't start turning around for him, he could get the axe next year or the following.

[egib52]

Fan support for Vanderbilt head coach Bryce Drew (formerly coach at Valparaiso) is dwindling fast. Kevin Stallings averaged 20 wins per season over his 17 years at Vanderbilt before bailing out on them in 2016 to take a big contract offered to him by Pitt. Vanderbilt hired Bryce Drew in 2016, who was coming off 28-win and 30-win seasons with Valpo in the Horizon League. Drew is now in his 3rd season at Vanderbilt..
Here is his record so far in 3 seasons-
2016-17 - 19-16, 10-8 in the SEC
2017-18 - 12-20, 6-12 in the SEC
2018-19 - 9-20, 0-16 in the SEC

Vanderbilt signed Drew to a 6-year, $16.3 million, which put him inside the top 15 paid coaches in the country at that time. I think the chances Vandy fires him this year are low, because of how much money he is still owed. But if things don't start turning around for him, he could get the axe next year or the following.

The crazy thing is he had I believe two 5 stars this year. One unfortunately got hurt for the season early on. The other is likely headed to the NBA.

[tornado]

Cal Poly fires Joe Callero

Cal Poly - Joe Callero fired - OPEN
Kennesaw State - Al Skinner will step down - OPEN
Stetson - Corey Williams fired - OPEN
Temple - Fran Dunphy already announced would step down at end of 2018-19 - Aaron McKie will be HIRED
Tennessee Tech - Steve Payne FIRED - OPEN
UCLA - Steve Alford FIRED in December - Murry Bartow is Interim Coach
UMES - has an interim coach, Clifford Reed but they are 5-24 - pending