Thomas wrote:

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

Caputo has impressive resume, at least on Miami's home page.   This sounds exactly like the type of coach we should be looking for.  
https://miamihurricanes.com/coach/chris-caputo/

I agree with this, it looks as if Caputo played a big role in recruiting guys to Miami who are now in the NBA. Miami's staff has also done a good job recruiting big-name local players(Chris Lykes, Earl Timberlake) in recent years. They also signed 2 top 100 local WCAC players in Favour Aire from McNamara(he may be named Washington Post Player of the Year and Christian Watson from St.John's as part of their 2022 incoming freshman class.
 

Lykes is at Arkansas
Timberlake at Memphis
 

So much drama on this board

My guess is Caputo might be heir apparent at Miami and that's been keeping him from moving to open jobs. 

GW18 wrote:

Lykes graduated from Miami and only is playing at Arkansas because of the extra year. Timberlake was hurt early on last year and it just never worked out for him Miami (and frankly not at Memphis either). 

Right!! Lykes was also 1st Team All-ACC as a sophomore, I believe he got hurt during his JR year which caused his numbers to dip and then he transferred. Timberlake fell out of the rotation at Memphis, Penny Hardaway brought in several other highly touted newcomers so there was a thin margin of error for Timberlake at Memphis, he probably wasn't expecting that to happen. I'm thinking that Caputo may be able to bring Timberlake to GW if he takes the job. The fact that Caputo is part of a staff that has recruited big-time local talent and NBA players to Miami is a huge positive. We'll see how he does as an X's and O's coach if he takes the job. 

GW0509,  being able to coach in the D.C. area which he seems to be very familiar with is why I think he would take the GW job as opposed to others. 

GWRising wrote:

I am just going to type what another D1 coach texted me yesterday ... food for thought

"It is easier for GW to sell hope to their donors and fan base than to spend money while digging in and working with what they have to develop a winning program. As we have seen they wind up in the same spot in a few years only to do the same thing all over again. The donors and fan base just don't realize they are being played."

While word PLAYED can be parsed and debated all conscious fans know post-NIT on court GW has been largely directionless/unwatchable and that university has been in a disrupted state. Whoever takes the job better have some miracle worker in them.

Ben Standig, who I thought did good work covering GW Basketball during the Mojo years, suggests we hire Jimmy Patsos as our next coach.  No, seriously.

@BenStandig
With Miami headed to the Sweet 16, I'll randomly mention that Jim Larranaga assistant, Chris Caputo, has been in the GW coaching search mix previously. I'd take a legit look at Jimmy Patsos myself. For those talking themselves into JT3 there, I'd find a new hobby.

Why Patsos you ask?  
@Ben Standig
Caputo has never been a head coach. Patsos is an insanely popular figure among the local press, which is a big deal for a program nobody watches. He also had four 20-win seasons.

Yes, GW should hire Patsos because he's popular amongst the press. Disregard his barely over-.500 record and allegations of verbal and physical abuse and withholding per diem funds. 

Last edited by GW0509 (3/21/2022 5:56 am)

Am not sure why there would need to be anything more to the story than what's already been presented.  We know GWRising defended JC quite a bit here.  We were all stunned to see JC get released with two full seasons remaining on his contract.  Sure, there could be something personal about Caputo that rubs GWRising the wrong way but it's not like he has come on here and advocated for any other candidate.  I suspect he feels very strongly that GW pulled the trigger a bit too fast on this one, that this was unfair to JC, and  that this move will set the program back even further than it had already been pushed over the past 6 years.

The Patsos angle is borderline insane, borderline irresponsible.  The school won't acknowledge anything having to do with Mike Lonergan so...let's hire his best friend?  I think not.

What Front Row Center posted is technically correct (Caputo is the heir apparent in Miami) but what's changed is that Laranaga just extended his contract two more years, through 2026.  Let's face it..if he wants to coach there past 2026, he will likely be able to.  While nobody can predict the future with absolute certainty, it's still reasonable to make educated guesses.  In hiring Caputo, my educated guess is that if Larranaga does retire in 4 years, Caputo may very well return to Miami (with some head coaching experience under his belt).  Should he do a credible job at GW in four years, how would you feel about his possible return to Miami?  Would you feel somewhat used, disrespected, frustrated that we are again in the market for a new head coach after just 4 years?  Or, would you feel grateful for his positive contributions and realize that losing him in 4 years was a distinct possibility when he was first hired, and therefore would not have any regret for the hiring?

Lets be real.  GW is rarely, if ever, a final destination for any coach.   It is a step on the way up, or at least in the case of Penders, on the way out.    The only possible exception was ML, where GW was probably his second dream job, next to Maryland.    Coaches want to win at the highest level and/or earn at the highest level, and that is not happening at GW.  We have to expect that Caputo or any possible rising star will not stay beyond the time that it takes to pad the resume.  Yeah, it sucks, but this is the real world.   

Patsos would be an improvement over the last couple of years lol. Allegations definitely mean they did it right? We know that one from experience

Free Quebec wrote:

GW0509 wrote:

Ben Standig, who I thought did good work covering GW Basketball during the Mojo years, suggests we hire Jimmy Patsos as our next coach.  No, seriously.

@BenStandig
With Miami headed to the Sweet 16, I'll randomly mention that Jim Larranaga assistant, Chris Caputo, has been in the GW coaching search mix previously. I'd take a legit look at Jimmy Patsos myself. For those talking themselves into JT3 there, I'd find a new hobby.

Why Patsos you ask?  
@Ben Standig
Caputo has never been a head coach. Patsos is an insanely popular figure among the local press, which is a big deal for a program nobody watches. He also had four 20-win seasons.

Yes, GW should hire Patsos because he's popular amongst the press. Disregard his barely over-.500 record and allegations of verbal and physical abuse and withholding per diem funds. 

Oh, Ben. What a terrible suggestion.

Goes to show you how much of this stuff for insiders, media, etc, is driven by personal relationships.

To that end, I’d love to know the real story of why self-described insider, GW Rising, who never says a bad word about a coach (except Grasso) has been so consistently negative about Caputo. There’s clearly more story to it than he will share, perhaps simply angry at whoever pushed his friend, JC, out, but perhaps more. Will also be interested to see whether, if Caputo is hired, Rising returns to his role of sucking up to the coaching staff and defending at all costs.

To be fair, it would have less to do with Caputo's abilities as a coach than how he would have obtained the job. Let's just say if that were to happen it would very likely be due to one guy (JC) being in effect sabotaged (I will provide the reasons if necessary later) with time left on his contract (and after only 80+ games) so that someone else's buddy gets the job. If we want to be about that at GW, I will take my 30+ year support of the program elsewhere. Hopefully, that will not be the case and my faith in GW can be restored. I was a GW guy long before JC was in college and while I am very disappointed that he was not given at least one more year, I understand the business. He will land on his feet. However, what I can't stand is the thought that this decision may have been influenced for other reasons. So I am in the camp that anybody but Caputo will at least demonstrate that while I might still be disappointed that JC was not given one more year, GW did not make this decision simply to install Caputo as HC. I truly hope the "search process" is not just a smokescreen. I am willing to wait to see what happens but I promise if it's Caputo, I'm out (and I will tell you there are several others who feel exactly as I do).