Post by DFW HOYA on May 22, 2013 14:14:17 GMT -5
I think Mr. Magoo is looking forward to coaching against Louisville, Duke and NC..... If and when he retire the Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens of the world will come running.
Why, exactly? Did the world come running when Jim Calhoun left? Or Gary Williams? Or John Thompson? The challenge Syracuse faces post-Boeheim is whether the sucesses were a reflection of the coach or the program at large.
Different scenarios are in the mix.
1. The "There's Nothing There Anymore" Argument: A program built on a coach will be good only as long as that coach or his progeny is there. Is Syracuse basketball simply Boeheim's creation? Yes, there was a Syracuse tradition with Roy Danforth and coaches before him, but does it morph into LSU post Dale Brown, or Arkansas after Nolan Richardson, where the successor cannot match the star power under any circumstances?
2. The "Too Much Power" Argument: A program built on a coach exercising decades of control is, by nature, curtailed in his successor. Kevin Ollie does not get the slack that Jim Calhoun got at UConn, and the next coach at Duke might not get the blank check Mike Krzyzewski earned. Does Syracuse want to reign in the program with a change?
3. The "Set A New Example" Argument: Syracuse has been whistling past the graveyard of NCAA enformcent for years. If the sins of the past catch up with this program, how much rebuilding will be forced upon it? That Bill O'Brien has been able to keep Penn State football from turning into a I-AA program is nothing short of remarkable, but football has more of a built-in program longevity.
4. The "Perpetual Success" Argument: It could be argued by some that Syracuse is at a level with UNC, Duke, Louisville, etc.: success is expected to such a degree so that any drop-off would be brief and no stone will be left unturned to get it back. But can Syracuse be perpetually good when there are three other ACC schools with larger budgets ahead of them similarly committed to this?
5. The "Who Drives The Bus" Argument: Until 1980, Syracuse was a football school. If Syracuse puts its eggs into the ACC football basket, does it relegate basketball to second chair, as Georgia Tech and BC have done?
The job is for Mike Hopkins. After that, who knows.