Ok lets see what I can hear



  • @BeddieKU23 Also would Jay leave Villanova? I’m not sure he would.



  • I think Bennett has all the intangibles that the coaching position at KU requires, as others have mentioned. The only thing he lacks is final fours. If he had, let’s say two or three final fours, would anyone doubt that he is the right guy? I wouldn’t. With Hunter out, who knows how they will fare, especially in a loaded region.



  • BShark said:

    @BeddieKU23 Also would Jay leave Villanova? I’m not sure he would.

    Maybe not now that he’s got Nova on another level.

    If Self retired after this year he would be my first and only call until we got him though.

    He’s only making 2.5 million and KU can offer him a lot more then that to leave. At 56 you can get 10+ years from him until another big-time coach comes around or has established himself.

    A coach I think could be a possibility would be Chris Holtmann from Ohio St. Recruiting well at OSU so far, good defensive coach and from what I’ve seen checks some of the boxes. Need to see a lot more but I have him on the very short list of guys who even check a box.



  • @BeddieKU23 Could Nova up his contract? No idea about their financials.

    Holtmann is definitely up and coming. Not super young but not old either. Has done well at every stop so far.

    @Blown I believe thinks Self is only around 3 more years. Idk about that, I think him taking the Team USA youth position kind of reconfirms his commitment not only to basketball but to this level. We will see. I hope we have Self around for another 10+ years.



  • @BShark

    They probably could up his contract. I’m surprised he’s not payed more given the NC and the success he’s having every year now. I doubt however they could compete with say $4 million a year though and that would still give KU room even matching Self’s current pay. All hypothetical of course.

    Holtmann, yeah 46 but has done well at every stop. Big turnaround in year 1 at Ohio St. We’ll see how they do in round 1. Bates-Diop became a different animal under him this year which you like to see. A former Top 30 prospect who flourishes with the right coach



  • In what order do you see these three coaches retiring? Coach K, Self, and Roy.

    If Self is 3rd amongst those three, the other two schools will get first pick at the upcoming coach options and i bet Bennett gets snagged up before the KU opening is available.



  • @RockkChalkk

    Coach K and Williams have ongoing health issues and Coach K is one surgery away from retirement but he will probably stick around to torture college basketball and until he find a suitable replacement from among Duke alumni and I don’t see anyone stepping up any time soon; Jeff Capel is just not it and I see Jon Scheyer as a better option but still a few years away. Roy Williams would have been gone if the grades investigation went a different way but his health is a serious issue and I see him also actively trying to find a suitable replacement. I don’t believe either coach will be around in 5 years.

    Coach Self realistically can go for another 10 years and seems happy at KU and I don’t see him leaving until the streaks is broken. He seem heavier than i remember and could lose a few pounds; maybe he can get Hudy to set up a exercise/diet regime for him.



  • JayHawkFanToo said:

    @RockkChalkk

    Coach K and Williams have ongoing health issues and Coach K is one surgery away from retirement but he will probably stick around to torture college basketball and until he find a suitable replacement from among Duke alumni and I don’t see anyone stepping up any time soon; Jeff Capel is juts not it and I see Jon Scheyer as a better option but still a few years away. Roy Williams would have been gone if the grades investigation went a different way but his health is a serious issue and I see him also actively trying to find a suitable replacement. Idon’t believe either coach will be around in 5 years.

    Coach Self realistically can go for another 10 years and seems happy at KU and I don’t see him leaving until the streaks is broken. He seem heavier than i remember and could lose a few pounds; maybe he can get Hudy to set up a exercise/diet regime for him.

    Great point about the streak. I highly doubt he leaves within the next five years if the streak is still intact.



  • I saw Deandre Hunter on campus here at UVA yesterday; he and I are playing the same amount of basketball today 😞 . May he recover soon.

    Tony Bennett is pretty beloved around these parts, I have not doubt if he were the coach at KU that he would be embraced, if for no other fact than he would be the coach at KU and we tend to treat our own quite nicely. Dear lord if Tony had KU recruits to run his defense we would see UVA getting 4-5 stops in a row, instead of 2-3. It’s exciting watching the other team deflate and start to implode.



  • From a talent perspective, I’d take Bennett in a heartbeat, but if I were Zenger I’d want answers to these 2 questions to determine fit (by asking Bennett directly, and some investigation and soul searching):

    1. When you come to Kansas, will you be willing to recruit OAD type talent? Meaning, time and effort recruiting, and the outcomes from having OAD type players.
    2. When you come to Kansas, will you be willing to embrace the 3 ball (UVA 267th in 3pt attempts, 29th in 3pt % this year)?

    I’m not saying that these answers are knockout questions if the answer is no. But I’d like to consider extensively where he stands on these two things.



  • @BeddieKU23 Would we ever think about taking a former player - bringing back here? - I don’t know just asking. - Say Danny - - or Turgeon? - would we ever consider taking that risk? - - - I think Danny might be able to do ok here - -not sure about Mark strong KU ties - -just asking - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY



  • @approxinfinity So basically you’d want Tony Bennett to abandon what got him to the position he’s in today?



  • SkinnyKansasDude said:

    @Gunman got a good reason why? I’m sure their fans have enjoyed the final 4s. The last time we played in a final 4 we lost to arguably the best college team of all time… A team recruited and coached by the mystery man we are speaking of.

    Not really a mystery man… more like “He whose name shall not be spoken.”

    Voldemort.



  • SkinnyKansasDude said:

    @Gunman that’s a nock that doesn’t have any concrete proof. The schools he cheated at were lower teir and he needed an edge for recruiting over much higher quality programs. At Kentucky he doesn’t have that problem and has a track record of successful pros to prove his system works and is effective year in and year out.

    Did Coach Self use those tactics when he first started coaching?



  • @Texas-Hawk-10 Those are two of the more pivotal questions I believe. I did not say I want him to abandon his approach; I don’t, but I think the answers to those two questions need to be heavily considered, and I think that he needs to be flexible, as Self has been flexible.

    For the sake of discussion, how successful do you think Self would have been if he didn’t recruit OADs at Kansas, and didn’t embrace the 3 ball?



  • @jayballer73 I do not think either of those have accomplished enough to make them a candidate. And I don’t give a rip about whether someone is an alum or not. Self’s ties were one year as a grad assistant under LB. Roy had no direct connection…only the indirect through Smith. Get the best guy and don’t give any additional weight to an alum. JMO.



  • I would run hard from Tony Bennett … like the other way. And I wouldn’t even consider hiring him. The slug it out style of play seems to have a lower ceiling most of the time. So once we get past that –

    Can a guy recruit elite talent, #1. Not a slew of OADs, but elite, top 75 talent, year in, year out.

    #2 is he a leader?

    #3, can he coach … as in, does he make the sum of the parts better?

    #4, is he someone we can be proud of?

    The fact is, our next hire will be speculative. We won’t get the stars to align on anyone. Even a guy like Brad Stevens has never really recruited elite talent.

    I know this is a bit out there, but I really like Chris Beard at TT. Very impressive.



  • Sure hope we do not have to worry about this for 10+ years.



  • What?

    No Archie Miller advocacy?

    Archie could bring Stumpy in to recruit. 🤥



  • @approxinfinity I would argue that Self’s most successful teams were ones that largely played through the post and utilized the high-low on a very regular basis and weren’t dependent upon the 3 ball to win games.

    I would also say that Tony Bennett’s style likely wouldn’t attract many OAD types because his style of play isn’t attractive to OAD caliber players.



  • @HighEliteMajor

    If Beard continues what he’s doing he’s got a chance for a big job down the road. I think he’s waiting for the Texas job to open up though personally.

    I mentioned Chris Holtmann from Ohio St. Took over the job at Butler and parlayed that into the Ohio St job. Gets two Top 100 prospects in his first year (1 stayed committed, 1 he signed late), two more Top 100 prospects in 2018. He signed kids from California, Jersey & Texas which is also important to look at with recruiting, can someone recruit nationally. Defensive minded coach who turned around a bad Ohio St team in 1 year.

    The person that fits the criteria you laid out was Jay Wright in my opinion. Makes a living recruiting outside the OAD range. Brunson was a 5 star recruit and could be named POY. Bridges was a Top 100 kid and could be a lottery pick in this years draft. He recruits kids with no ego and maximizes talent as well as anyone. Not only that he flat out out-coached Self the last time they faced in a pretty important game…



  • @approxinfinity

    Let’s hope Zenger is not the one in charge of selecting the next basketball coach.



  • jayballer73 said:

    @BeddieKU23 Would we ever think about taking a former player - bringing back here? - I don’t know just asking. - Say Danny - - or Turgeon? - would we ever consider taking that risk? - - - I think Danny might be able to do ok here - -not sure about Mark strong KU ties - -just asking - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

    Ask UConn how it worked out for them…



  • I think it will be someone not even mentioned here, in about 10 years.



  • Nice thread. I think there’s an assistant out there who would fill in nicely, just like Roy did. Got to find him though first. I have no clue who.



  • jayballer73 said:

    @BeddieKU23 Would we ever think about taking a former player - bringing back here? - I don’t know just asking. - Say Danny - - or Turgeon? - would we ever consider taking that risk? - - - I think Danny might be able to do ok here - -not sure about Mark strong KU ties - -just asking - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

    Danny is really struggling at Wake. He can get talent but he’s really struggled everywhere else. Turgeon has had some good years. I would say neither has done enough. Haase had a tough year at Stanford but will have a team full of his kids next season.

    One name we really haven’t thought of is our own assistants. Howard is young, recruiting very well recently and the players seem to really like and relate to him. Just a thought…



  • mayjay said:

    I think it will be someone not even mentioned here, in about 10 years.

    10 or more yep, that’s what I hope too.


Log in to reply