2twooed wrote:

I’m personally sold on Becker with Williford 2nd.

 Agreed 100%

I think I want Caputo.  Solid credentials and look how far Miami has gotten in the tournament.  That would make a nice PR splash for us and could get some recruits’ attention.

The Elite 8 experience is not a bad selling point for Caputo.
Becker is the best choice for safety's sake, as an experienced HC who clearly knows what he is doing, but any assistant is a riskier head coach.
 Someone on the Miami thread said that Caputo has been running the day to day operations, which is good.
Just hope it doesn't go to the best interviewee, which GW is vulnerable to (twice in recent years) 
    And non-basketball factors (within reason) are not the criteria.

Williford a solid choice as well. If Caputo has been running the day to day operations does anyone want to bring up the fact that the recent record (last three seasons prior to this one) has not been great? Let's not just pick the flavor of the month.

Last edited by GWRising (3/27/2022 2:45 pm)

GWRising wrote:

If these are the choices ... hopefully GW does the right thing ...

1. Becker
2. Williford
3. Pegues
4. Caputo

 

I would be happy with any of those 4 (though of course if we are still a sub 200 team after 3 years I will come to believe we got it wrong). 

If it’s really those 4, I’m just happy the rumors that Inglesby and Manning were under consideration were wrong, or that they’ve been ruled out.

Btw, Samuell Williamson from Louisville entered the portal.  He was a McD all American and really good as a starter last year, but this year he didn’t play as well. He’s 6’7” and a good rebounder.  I don’t know if he still wants to play BCS level or what, but he would be a good target for our next coach (Pegues or someone else).  We clearly need a forward who can rebound, like him.

I dont think any of the 4 would require Martin or Miller $ initialy with Becker and Caputo maybe the closest. But with that said GW needs to be willing to pay that $ with any success from whomever gets the job.

I'd be fine with any of the four "finalists" if the reports are true.

Becker would be #1 for me only if he's not tied in any way to all the reports of players on the Vermont team being accused of sexual misconduct. The last thing the school needs is more bad PR (and continued poor culture within the basketball program), but we can't seem to avoid it.

https://www.rakevt.org/2022/03/12/uvm-basketball-silences-social-media-comments-after-sexual-assualt-allegations/

As for the assistants, for me it would partly come down to how other assistants in the head coach's coaching tree fared at other schools (probably not fair, but it's a benchmark).

I'm surprised we weren't linked to Konkol in any way given the Miami connection because he would have been a great get from Louisiana Tech. He got the Tulsa job last week. I might be biased, but I think GW is a better job than Tulsa. Perhaps the budget suggests otherwise though. We were also tied to Huger from Bowling Green in the prior coaching search (pre JC) since he was also a former Miami assistant but he seems to have flamed out this past season and the Falcons never played defense. Are there any other guys from Larrañaga's tree that have been head coach?

Miami against Kansas in the second half looked a lot like our play against Dayton (a lot of one on five) but for the most part the Hurricanes have played pretty good unselfish basketball (running great backdoor cuts). Watching Waardenburg play made me think a lot of how Caputo could mold Harvey into a legitimate stretch 5 (should he stay of course). I would think 20 years of experience as an assistant would hopefully make him ready for the job even if there's always a concern of no prior head coaching experience. I would put Caputo perhaps #2 right now. He definitely has good ties to the DC area. Miami has dealt with a lot of injuries the past few years so that has to be factored into their mediocre performance prior to this season.

Williford and Pegues are 3 and 4 for me. I am probably alone in not being the biggest Williford fan. Virginia has been solid, but like Villanova I wonder whether it's possible to replicate that system at a lower level. Their offense hasn't been that good when they don't have the shooters to make it work (really since their championship). Going back to the coaching tree thing, Ron Sanchez (Charlotte) and Ritchie McKay (Liberty) are two names that came from Bennett's coaching tree. There may be others, but that's who comes to mind at first. McKay is a bit of an exception because I personally think Liberty has the resources for any coach to do well where they're at, but Sanchez hasn't been too impressive at Charlotte even though they've beat us the past couple years. The 49ers haven't been that much better than us recently.

I feel Pegues is probably the best bet to keep Joe and Brayon if we are factoring that in. I'm going to be honest, had he not gone 1-9 in ACC play I might have put him 1 on the list. It's probably unfair to have him ranked under Caputo for this, but the ACC was not that good even though they've fared well in the tournament. Perhaps in a better situation he could thrive but are we in a position to make that gamble? I don't know.

Inglesby and Langel seem like better fits for the La Salle job given they are from that region. I think Inglesby in particular wouldn't provide a lot of excitement given his sub .500 record in CAA play. I'm not sure why his name kept coming up apart from the Brey connection.

Again, would be fine with any of the four mentioned because the more important thing to me is that we get an assistant with international ties. Hopefully we are better in the rebounding department/more balanced as a team scoring the ball next season.
 

Gwmayhem wrote:

Jason Williford would bring with him a tried and true defensive system and would presumably recruit players to play this system.  The potential problem is whether this system can thrive in the a10.  With many of Tony Bennett's ACC teams having been offensively challenged, this would likely not bode well at GW.  Could a Williford team score consistently enough at GW to have success?  As a side note, get ready for lots of 53-51 games.

Another random thought about Williford is that not only does UVA have good academics (meaning he’d be familiar with that added layer of recruiting),  but I feel like UVA sits in a very similar spot in the ACC as we are in the A10. We’re probably not going to get the highest rated recruits or most athletic recruits. But if we have a system in place that works, we can find the right pieces to have success and be a unique program in the A10.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall in these interviews and hear the different candidates’ vision for how they will market the school to recruits. JC obviously had his whole World’s Most Powerful City, although that actually came from Nima. I think we’ve lacked a strong identity for a while now.

GW0509 wrote:

Gwmayhem wrote:

Jason Williford would bring with him a tried and true defensive system and would presumably recruit players to play this system.  The potential problem is whether this system can thrive in the a10.  With many of Tony Bennett's ACC teams having been offensively challenged, this would likely not bode well at GW.  Could a Williford team score consistently enough at GW to have success?  As a side note, get ready for lots of 53-51 games.

Another random thought about Williford is that not only does UVA have good academics (meaning he’d be familiar with that added layer of recruiting), but I feel like UVA sits in a very similar spot in the ACC as we are in the A10. We’re probably not going to get the highest rated recruits or most athletic recruits. But if we have a system in place that works, we can find the right pieces to have success and be a unique program in the A10.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall in these interviews and hear the different candidates’ vision for how they will market the school to recruits. JC obviously had his whole World’s Most Powerful City, although that actually came from Nima. I think we’ve lacked a strong identity for a while now.

   Good thoughts. 
Like the STEM experiment, GW doesn't sell what it has. 
And indeed, as 0509 says, it would be fascinating (more likely horrific from the GW side) to hear the interviews.
Still, would like to see the best coach candidate, not the best interviewee, which seems to be the last two hires.
(Though Mojo was prob a rigged choice, anyway)
 For example, Becker might be a good coach by performance, but might not be the best interview, lacking the
buzz words, etc.
 Actions on the court speak louder than words.
 

Everyone mentions how supporters can step up and make the program more attractive and competitive. I firmly believe GW needs to show the supporters that the school is willing to invest in the basketball program. If they hire an assistant coach from somewhere else that is on the cheap than they are telling us something. If they spend money I believe they will earn money. Truth is right around the corner. TV’s job and the future of the athletic program are on the line.