Nice blurb by Barfy today about someone who was associated with UCLA's Ben Howland "laughed" when asked if Howland would be coming to Nebraska.
I completely disagree with the "Nebraska needs to remember who they are" mentality.
When K-State was the worst football program in the country, did they remember who they were when they hired Snyder? Or Baylor when they hired Briles? Did Florida State forget to remember who they are when they won the ACC hoops tournament yesterday?
Yeah, Coach K, Tom Izzo, or even Ben Howland aren't racing to Lincoln. Shaka Smart probably set up shop here either. But that doesn't mean that Nebraska has to settle for Barry Collier 2.0 (the nice guy coaching a mid major to the second round).
If you don't like who you are, then do something to change it.
Briles, Snyder, etc. weren't "splash" hires either.
I agree, good hires that turned out well, and we would be lucky have a similar situation pan out here in men's bb. It seems that when the AD says he is opening the pocketbook, he is talking about someone other than Dana or a mid major unless said mid major is Amazing! I can't wait to see what "opening the pocketbook" account means for T O.
Good take!It probably means paying market rate. That rate depends on the guy. Altman at $1.8M is probably going to demand (if approached and if interested) at least that much.
Groce on the other hand would probably cost around $1.5 maybe?
Smart maybe $2M?
Get down to guys like the Colorado State coach and you might get off cheaper.
Strickland even cheaper yet.
I don't think throwing more money at a particular guy than he's worth is a logical "opening up of the checkbook." I think they just mean that if they lose out on the guys they want that it won't be money that is the deciding factor. If you are shaka smart and NU and Illinois both offer you $2M...where are you going? But if NU's offer was $1.5 v. Illinois' $2M then that would be pretty maddening.
On Unsportsmanlike Conduct today, the hosts had Lee Barfknecht as a guest and they speculated that with Nebraska coming out saying they aren't afraid to pay big money (specifically comments by Marc Boehm) Nebraska may get a lot of "interested" candidates who are doing so only to get pay raises/extensions at their current school (ala Houston Nutt). They noted Ben Howland (UCLA) may fall in this category and I would guess that Mike Davis (UAB) could as well.
I completely disagree with the "Nebraska needs to remember who they are" mentality.
When K-State was the worst football program in the country, did they remember who they were when they hired Snyder? Or Baylor when they hired Briles? Did Florida State forget to remember who they are when they won the ACC hoops tournament yesterday?
Yeah, Coach K, Tom Izzo, or even Ben Howland aren't racing to Lincoln. Shaka Smart probably set up shop here either. But that doesn't mean that Nebraska has to settle for Barry Collier 2.0 (the nice guy coaching a mid major to the second round).
If you don't like who you are, then do something to change it.
I think WE need to remember where we are right now. We are NOT a top 25 team today; so, we shouldn't expect to be competing for a national championship or even a big ten championship next year. We need to patiently build and improve a team. That doesn't mean we shouldn't spend the money to get a top coach; but, we do need to manage our own expectations.
As Bo would say; building this team into a perennial contender will be a process.