Wildcatscoop.com article on coaching candidates to replace Lute

[Russ Smith]

Ok first off I never read this site it was linked from a UCLA site so I have no idea how credible Thomas Preston is but here's his top 5 candidates to replace Lute.

1) Tim Floyd
2) Steve Lavin
3) Rick Pitino
4) Paul Westphal
5) Josh Pastner

I don't even know what to say. He calls Floyd's relationship with USC strained at best, which I guess is a polite way of saying if they go on probation he's fired, if the NCAA looks the other way, they will continue to let Floyd break rules. He does mention the shady recruiting practices but says UA would not skip a beat with Floyd at the helm.

He felt Lavin had a good track record at UCLA and took too much criticism, I guess this is the old UCLA fans expect a title every year argument, you'll note those same fans LOVE Ben Howland who has yet to win a title. If UA hires Lavin he'll set the program back several years unless they surround him with highly qualified assistants to do the job for him. If you do that, you might as well not hire Lavin. In over his head the first time, and lazy.

Pitino is obviously a tremendous college coach and a great recruiter but why would he leave Louisville when they will let him recruit guys like Caracter and Tyler because their alumni want to win at any cost?

Westphal, great player, obviously well known in arizona, was a complete failure as a college coach, I think he's an assistant with the Mavs right now. Great player, seems to be a good guy but there's no reason to believe he's ready to be a coach at a top program.

Josh Pastner. If you think like I do that Pastner was a big reason for the slipping at UA in recent years, then hiring him as a head coach seems like a reach. My personal opinion is as Lute got older and had some health issues he delegated a lot more to his assistants, and trusted them to do their jobs. one of them was Pastner who had a lot of responsibility for recruiting, who do we go after, who do we get. Josh signed some elite recruits, the problem is he did a horrible job of selecting kids that would fit together into a cohesive team, some of that was coaching but a lot of it was simply selecting the wrong kids. I don't see any indication that Pastner understood the difference between great HS player and a guy who will fit into a college TEAM.

I think the list is just in this guys' head because if that's a real list of top candidates, UA needs to go back to the drawing board.

 

[Mr. Boldin]

That was terrible

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

This writer has zero cerdibility. Lavin, Pastner, and Westphal would already have been hired if they were realistic candidates.

 

[Skkorpion]

Mao, any names being leaked around UA by people who might actually know? Lefty? Is your AD up to the task? If I recall, Mao, you weren't an admirer of his.

 

[Mr. Boldin]

Ive heard some names, mostly some of the bigger ones being thrown around here. If Livengood doesnt make a very good hire this program is going to be down for a while. A good coach can bring in the talent we will need in the next few classes. If you look at our roster as is for the next 2 years, we are in deep trouble. The kind of trouble bottom half of the Pac-10 teams face.

 

[Russ Smith]

Ive heard some names, mostly some of the bigger ones being thrown around here. If Livengood doesnt make a very good hire this program is going to be down for a while. A good coach can bring in the talent we will need in the next few classes. If you look at our roster as is for the next 2 years, we are in deep trouble. The kind of trouble bottom half of the Pac-10 teams face.

Yep there's a report from the intrasquad game that's pretty bad sounding. Game was called with 5 minutes left because several players were cramping, something like 46-46. Budinger had 17, Jordan Hill had 9 turnovers, Fogg had 7 etc. Pennell said the team was way too careless.

Given the circumstances of course you can't be surprised, Wise didn't play so there is no true PG out there on either side. It's going to be a up and down year for UA there is still some talent but it's going to be a challenge mentally for a lot of the kids.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Mao, any names being leaked around UA by people who might actually know? Lefty? Is your AD up to the task? If I recall, Mao, you weren't an admirer of his.

From what I understand the coaching selection will be a committee decision and UA's President will have a large hand in it instead of Livengood. And money and facilities should not be an issue as it was with our football hires so there's not really an excuse.

I don't know Jim Livengood or Robert Shelton, but it's widely assumed and reported that UA's first choices will be Calipari, Dixon, and Few in some order. Whether or not they can get them remains to be seen, no coach working right now is going to express interest right now with the 2009 signing day only a couple weeks away. I do know that UA could give the latter two a hefty raise and Calipari would be at a program would considerably more upside.

Nothing will happen until March/April, so speculating now is somewhat moot.