Sources: Tubby to Minnesota, Crean to Kentucky

[757hoyafan]

not me! I'd love for Coach to stay but the Hoyas has been my only College team(good & bad times)

stpetersburghoya said:

If we lose III, they lose me as a fan. Losing III would be worse than the Eshrick eror and show an utter lack of committment to the program. There was a gut check three years ago when the administration decided that they wanted to make bsaketball relevant again - now we need to put out money where out mouth is and pay to keep him here. Give the guy a new bus, send the team to Europe, give him a plane, give him an arena, whatever the man wants give it to him. NOW.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

757hoyafan said:

not me! I'd love for Coach to stay but the Hoyas has been my only College team(good & bad times)

stpetersburghoya said:

If we lose III, they lose me as a fan. Losing III would be worse than the Eshrick eror and show an utter lack of committment to the program. There was a gut check three years ago when the administration decided that they wanted to make bsaketball relevant again - now we need to put out money where out mouth is and pay to keep him here. Give the guy a new bus, send the team to Europe, give him a plane, give him an arena, whatever the man wants give it to him. NOW.

I was engaging in hyperbole - but it would be terrible if we had the opportunity to lock down a coach and establish a winning program and failed to do so - in my mind that would be worse than the statements that the administration made supporting Esh in his last days.

[lexkyhoya]

I can't imagine KY pusuing III. The main complaint with Tubby has always been his "boring" style of basketball. Everyone around here wants an up tempo "pitino style" coach.

[DanMcQ]

Andy Katz on ESPN radio this AM: UK will make unsuccessful runs at Billy Donovan and Rick Barnes; then focus on Mark Few, Tom Crean, and Jay Wright. Others he mentioned were Izzo, Brey, Calipari, and Billy Gillespie. Michigan - Kevin Stallings and another I can't remember. JTIII not mentioned as a target in any of the searches.

[vamosalaplaya]

Katz also mentioned that Minnesota (?) is paying Tubby Smith $1.7MM a year (!!!!) to coach basketball for seven years. This has been going on for a while now, but it was the Nick Saban signing by Alabama that really jarred me as to how high coach's salaries were getting, and what this would mean for private schools and their basketball programs.

There is no reason to think JT III is in some hurry to leave GU, outside of compensation. Conceptually, I don't see JT III as a target for Kentucky, nor see him interested in Iowa - an Iowa type job opens up every year - but of course Michigan would be interesting given the type of school it is and JT III's style.

There are alot of variables here, and JT III's personal connections to GU and, I assume, his comfort with the school obviously means something. But I cannot see him staying at GU at below market value for more than a season. GU will have to ante up.

Living in the NY area, and seeing the amount of enthusiasm among some of the higher-rolling alumni for the recent success - and image, I assume - of the GU program, I am hoping GU can figure out a way to keep him.

But the numbers are going to get large.

[Filo]

Man, I'd hate to see some of you guys negotiating business deals -- let's start throwing more money at the coach right away because someone somewhere mentioned his name in connection with a potential opening at Kentucky.

I understand where you are coming from in wanting to lock JTIII in with a nice contract for years and years to come, and I am all for that. But the handwringing here is soooo neurotic.

[Deleted]

jerseyhoya34 said:

I don't know that the administration committed to making hoops relevant again as much as they were forced to make a change. Unfortunately, personnel is currently our administration's responsibility, and we haven't seen much effort from Healy since JT3 was hired.

Sure, we can talk about improvements -- good GUHoyas website, more promotions, etc., but that does not cover up the macro-level shortcomings of the administration in terms of coming to terms with the need for new facilities instead of reviews thereof, the need to throw money into coaches' salaries, etc. Instead, we have seen an "everyone for himself" approach, and the administration wanting the programs to be financially self-sufficient.

Whenever our offseason comes, our HoyaTalk community needs to mobilize again with letters, we need the Hoya to get behind it, etc. so these issues are paid more than lip service.

Every time these things come up, there are plenty of posts that read "The administration needs to step up and do X, Y, and Z." What about asking "What can I do?"

Remember this: EVERY dollar donated to the Hoop Club goes into the Athletic Department budget. And guess where Coach's salary comes from?

There are over 2,700 members of this board. I know many are Hoop Club members. But since the Club only has about 1,500 members, there are plenty of people on here who are not. If every person on this board donated just $100, there's nearly $300,000 for Bernard Muir to work with. And while not everyone can do this, there are plenty here (myself included) who can - and do - give well beyond $100.

If you are a fan of the Hoyas, and if you care about this program, this is a reality that you should accept and should want to be a part of. The Hoop Club increased its donation levels this year for season tickets, and there was whining, and complaining about paying more for a weaker schedule of home games, and all sorts of nonsense. Fine - gripe all you want. Just don't complain if/when Coach leaves because we can't pay him enough.

Everyone here can - in some way - have a DIRECT impact on some of these things, yet there's too often a sense that "Georgetown should handle this." Well guess what?

WE are Georgetown.

We say it all the time. But we need to believe it, and take responsibility for it.

[hifigator]

Just a couple of quick questions/comments:

What is JTIII's current salary?

As for Smith and his recruiting or lack thereof, for the most part that has been the big knock on him. He was consistently missing out on the big name recruits even when Kentucky was listed among the student-athlete's final 3 schools. That being said, they were talking about what could have been the potential straw which broke the camel's back in his 2--4 class. Honestly I don't follow Wildcat recruiting and don't remember who all was in that class, but from what the radio guys were saying, in 04 Kentucky put together a top notch class loaded with McDonald's/Parade All-Americans but never developed, while in the very same division of their conference, Donovan molded what was viewed as a light class into National Champions with a shot at another. Personally, I think there is more to it than that. I think the pundits might have overrated their class and underrated ours, but still when it comes right down to it, the blame falls on the coach. I think Tubby saw the writing on the wall. Whether he would have returned next year or not, I don't know. But I think he got out when, at least from his perspecive, the getting was good.

Lastly, for what it is worth, the Calipari name has gotten a lot of mention in the past 24 hours down here.

[DanMcQ]

A vote for Sleaze-apari:

sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=dw-south2007calipari032307&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

[hoyaclap]

Watch for the demoliton of Florida Basketball as they lose 5 starters, their coach, and whoever theyre recruiting for 2008

[HealyHoya]

cam said:

jerseyhoya34 said:

I don't know that the administration committed to making hoops relevant again as much as they were forced to make a change. Unfortunately, personnel is currently our administration's responsibility, and we haven't seen much effort from Healy since JT3 was hired.

Sure, we can talk about improvements -- good GUHoyas website, more promotions, etc., but that does not cover up the macro-level shortcomings of the administration in terms of coming to terms with the need for new facilities instead of reviews thereof, the need to throw money into coaches' salaries, etc. Instead, we have seen an "everyone for himself" approach, and the administration wanting the programs to be financially self-sufficient.

Whenever our offseason comes, our HoyaTalk community needs to mobilize again with letters, we need the Hoya to get behind it, etc. so these issues are paid more than lip service.

Every time these things come up, there are plenty of posts that read "The administration needs to step up and do X, Y, and Z." What about asking "What can I do?"

Remember this: EVERY dollar donated to the Hoop Club goes into the Athletic Department budget. And guess where Coach's salary comes from?

There are over 2,700 members of this board. I know many are Hoop Club members. But since the Club only has about 1,500 members, there are plenty of people on here who are not. If every person on this board donated just $100, there's nearly $300,000 for Bernard Muir to work with. And while not everyone can do this, there are plenty here (myself included) who can - and do - give well beyond $100.

If you are a fan of the Hoyas, and if you care about this program, this is a reality that you should accept and should want to be a part of. The Hoop Club increased its donation levels this year for season tickets, and there was whining, and complaining about paying more for a weaker schedule of home games, and all sorts of nonsense. Fine - gripe all you want. Just don't complain if/when Coach leaves because we can't pay him enough.

Everyone here can - in some way - have a DIRECT impact on some of these things, yet there's too often a sense that "Georgetown should handle this." Well guess what?

WE are Georgetown.

We say it all the time. But we need to believe it, and take responsibility for it.

Great post and I second the sentiment.

One thing that III and the current cast of Hoyas have shown is that a small, private catholic university with rigorous academic standards can compete against schools such as UCLA, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio State, Florida, etc. in D-I basketball -- schools with massive, state-bolstered athletic department budgets.

We're not a red-headed stepchild.

Hand-wringing and whining about III's contracts, concerns about the big, bad "other" schools and whether the GU admin will stop III from leaving make Georgetown seem lees than it is.

We. Are. Georgetown.

Hey, don't know if you've noticed, but for the past three years WE'VE BEEN NOTICEABLY BETTER THAN KENTUCKY!

We have stud recruits coming in, great players returning and in three short years III has GU back on the college basketball map...and the next three years look to be even brighter than the last three.

So, as Cam mentioned, if YOU want that to continue then YOU can do something about it. Give to the HHC, travel to support the team, give to the HHC, buy Hoya gear and then give to the HHC. Give what you can. Then give $5 more.