Texas. Shaka has been on a hot seat for a while. Thought was winning the conference tournament this year may have saved his job. But then came the loss to Abilene Christian. The talk among boosters and fans is that Shaka embarrassed the school losing to little instate Abilene. In addition, in six years under Shaka, UT made 3 NCAAs and have yet to win a tournament game. Highest finish in Big12 has been 3rd. He has had two 20 win seasons barely with 21 being the highest number of games won in a season.
The wolves are out. Fans are talking on chat boards about boosters wanting Shaka out and who the boosters want. Top of the list is Chris Beard. And then there are two other names. Baylor coach and guess who.
Texas pays football coach $5.5m. So they think they can get a top basketball coach for $4m to $5m. Then there is a lot of side money to be made at Texas if a coach is successful.
They ran off Rick Barnes, so Shaka’s expiration date could be right around the corner.
Beard, Drew and Muss might be on the list, but I think it will be extremely tough to pry a successful high major coach away from their current school. Those three all are making plenty of money (and are in line for a raise) and have programs that don’t need fixing.
They probably will call Nate Oats’ agent, and they might do the same for Enfield at USC, both of whom might be more receptive to taking a big cash grab. Brad Underwood at Illinois might be another guy who would listen, and he has coached in Texas before.
It’s also possible that Texas will have to do just like last time(hiring Shaka from VCU) and pay a lot of money to lure a successful mid-major coach to Austin.
Oats just signed a deal for about $3.3M a year at Bama so Texass would have to give him a big raise from that. But Enfield is only making $1 million at SoCal. Drew is making $2.8 at Bayluh. Beard is making $6M at TT. Muss is about to get a big raise from HY; EOE would have to see that and raise big-time.
Expect Beard to return to ut since that is his alma mater. ut has the $ but they are apparently backing away from basketball since they are downsizing to a new much smaller 10k seat BB stadium.
With Barnes in hot water at Tenn, expect him to be departing in Apr '22 when his buyout becomes manageable. That assumes he does not save his job by significantly improving the BB program before then.
Some of these schools just make me laugh. Tennessee get rid of Barnes? He resurrected their program. Made it relevant. They think they are a basketball school? Women’s hoops…yes…though they have not recovered from pat’s passing, sadly.
I hope Texass does fire Shaka…only because I like to see Texass suffer. Shaka can coach. Actually I take that back. Shaka seems like a good dude. He doesn’t deserve the ax. But Texas and their coaches…what an sense of entitlement their boosters have. Its breathtaking.
Just found out that EOE cut a deal with a private group to build the new arena without costing the school any money. The Oak View Group is paying for the building and will recoup the cost with a cut of tickets and concessions from concerts and other non-UT sports events, and then have a profit sharing deal after the arena is paid off. EOE owns the land and the building and controls 60 days a year for athletic events, but Oak View does the rest.
However, the Moody Foundation, which is a big deal in Galveston where I lived for 10 years, has given EOE $130 million and the arena will be named the Moody Center. I graduated from EOE-Galveston in the Moody Gardens Convention Center, for instance, and my son went to daycare at Moody Methodist Church. Current estimated cost of the arena is approaching $400 million so Oak View is still putting up a lot of money. If you’re familiar with American National Insurance, the Moody family controls that and that’s where the foundation gets its money.
Supposedly the Moody Center will be expandable to 15,000 seats for big concerts and important basketball games, such as NCAA regionals.
I have always liked Barnes. Seems to be a class fellow and has been very successful in multiple stops (and clean as far as I know). I agree Tennessee would be foolish to dump him.
Shaka’s results in conference play and NCAAs are worse than Anderson’s at Arkansas as I said in the OP.
Barnes has 3 NCAA appearances, same as Anderson, three tournament wins including a Sweet 16, in conference play one tie for first and a tie for 2nd. Anderson was 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Slightly better than Anderson,
I assume you are not laughing at Arkansas because you think we are a basketball school and other two are not, right?
I can’t imagine the AD firing him unless it’s big boosters forcing it. Without a doubt, TN did underachieve based on their pre-season top 10 ranking and their talent. They looked like a top 5 team for about 10 games. From that point on, they certainly did not live up to their fans expectations.
Lots of teams, especially blue bloods, did not live up to expectations in this crazy 2020 season. Surely they won’t jump the gun over one disappointing year. If TN fires Barnes, then they deserve all the problems that will probably follow.
Huh? You lost me man. Arkansas has not been really good in hoops for a long time…but Arkansas has a basketball loving fanbase and facilities that every SEC school envies…with the obvious exception of Kentucky. So, yes, due to those factors, one could say Arkansas is more of a basketball school that Tenner.
My point is, Barnes in particular has, in my opinion anyway, done a terrific job at Tennessee. I would hate it for him…but it would certainly benefit us if Tenner fires Barnes. As for Texas…they are the carousel of coaches man. Lure 'em in…kick 'em out…lure 'em in…kick 'em out. Its laughable.
First, I’m one of Mike’s biggest fans and hope he does amazing things at St Johns. But, I don’t think his numbers are a good comparison with Barnes’ situation at TN.
What Mike accomplished was in 8 years (relaly 6 yrs, after a rebuild in his first 2 years). What Barnes accomplished was in his last 4 seasons (after a 2 year rebuild, similar to Mike’s first 2 years), and with only 3 years of NCAA tournament games. If you compare Mike’s last 4 years to that, he went to the NCAA tournament twice and won 1 tournament game (in 4 years of tournaments). You can’t really compare that to Barnes’ 3 wins, including one sweet sixteen, in just 3 years of NCAA tournaments. It’s apples and oranges.
Before firing coaches, ADs should be looking at how the team is trending.
Thought it would be obvious. Shaka has performed worse than Anderson and Rick slightly better. Anderson got fired for not going deeper in the tournament. But you will laugh at Texas and Tennessee if they fire their coaches,
Thompson Boling seats 21,678. When my oldest daughter was a student there 97-01 they filled it up regularly for the Lady Vols. The men’s team didn’t have good attendance at all. We saw the Hogs play there (I think Nolans last year) and it was maybe 25% filled. Been a few more times to see the Hogs (men) play and it was quite full. Good venue.
I am not sure the alma mater thing works with Beard, given the stability and success he has in Lubbock, and the additional pressure of coaching in Austin. He also is making serious money in Lubbock which Texas would have to better.
My main point about Texas is their never ending carousel with coaches. Whether its they fire a good one, or hire a bad one, it never ends with them. And they should have the BEST coaches if resources and location (Austin being an terrific city).
My main point is with Barnes. He went 31-6 in his 4th year, and to the Sweet 16. I think he has done a good job there.
But if they get rid of him, it probably makes life easier for us.
I am not advocating getting rid of Barnes. My point was we thought with Anderson, we were stuck in the first weekend of NCAAs and want to do better. So, Tennessee and Texas have every right to think they want to go deeper in the NCAAs too. In case of Texas, beyond 1st round and in case of the Vols, getting back to at least Sweet 16 and really further than that.