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Payne Vs Cronin

shadow force

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Jun 8, 2010
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I have no clue who the next coach will be but it seems that Cronin and, of course, Payne might be at or near the top of the list for potential UofL coaches. Of course it might be neither guy.

If you HAD to choose between these two who would you go with?
 
Kenny Payne, no question, higher ceiling. I don't care what Butch Bear's agenda is. Admittedly it is a boom or bust kind of hire.

Mick is getting a lot of talk b/c of the impressive Final Four run but that is an outlier and the data shows he'll take you to the NCAAT most years with a 6-12 seed, losing the first weekend. To use a baseball analogy, a player can get on a hot hitting streak but sooner or later the back of their baseball card tells you who they are. We know what Cronin is and I don't think it will fly in Louisville.
 
After watching the UCLA game the other night and it went into 3 OTs, well UCLA looked disjointed as can be in the last OT. Not sure about Mick. But he’s done a good job at UCLA in a short time.
Initially he was my top choice, may still end up being that once I hear who all the candidates are.
 
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After watching the UCLA game the other night and it went into 3 OTs, well UCLA looked disjointed as can be in the last OT. Not sure about Mick. But he’s done a good job at UCLA in a short time.
Initially he was my top choice, may still end up being that once I hear who all the candidates are.

Its crazy how a run in the tourney can shape perception. If we beat Duke in the ACC tourney or don’t lose to Miami in the regular season, we get into the tourney and UCLA is the last team out. Instead we crapped the bed and UCLA squeaks in the tourney.
 
If this is what it comes down to, it’s pretty strange. You almost got 2 guys from different extremes. 1 guy has a good deal of HC experience and another guy with none. With Mick, we sort of know what we are getting, hard nose defense, understands what it means to coach at U of L, doesn’t take shit. Can he recruit?
Payne - we don’t know what offense (dribble drive), what defense he plays. Knows what it means to be a Cardinal, not sure if he is a players coach or discipline guy. Assume he can recruit. Like I said two coaches from different extremes. We need to decide who we want to be.
 
Its crazy how a run in the tourney can shape perception. If we beat Duke in the ACC tourney or don’t lose to Miami in the regular season, we get into the tourney and UCLA is the last team out. Instead we crapped the bed and UCLA squeaks in the tourney.
No kidding it’s crazy
 
Best situation is that a Search Firm has been hired. I’ll be honest I’m very open to looking at many candidates. Hopefully they find someone who coaches Louisville style ball
 
I watched UCLA against Arizona about 3-5 nights ago, offensively they just don’t seem to run much. The little UCLA point guard does a ton of dribbling the air out of the ball. I’ve seen enough of that here in the last few years, hard pass for me with Cronin.

Payne? If we hire him so be it, but I think we are better served with a proven winner. Of those that I think are truly attainable my first choice would be Drew from Baylor.

I also like Kelvin Sampson. He’s got a ton of experience and as far as I know only one brush with the NCAA. He paid his dues for that transgression @ IU, becoming an NBA assistant for a few years. He is 66 years old, so how much fuel is in the tank? The other possible issue with Sampson? He may be slowly working to set his son up to succeed him at Houston.

One more thought on Payne. Among the ex-players (especially Junior Bridgeman) and coaches (especially Wade Houston) I have a few thoughts. My message to those two is basically buck up with some financial support for KP to hire the best assistants out there at the highest salaries in college basketball. We all know both can afford to help and if that’s who they want? I hope they’ll support their choice with some financial assistance.

I’d bring in John Beilein for X&O help and the hottest recruiters currently in the game. Pay ‘em top dollar, that’s what the SEC does in football and it seems to work out pretty well for them. It’s worked for Dabo at Clemson too. In other words, if we want to go with KP let’s make sure the support is there in a big way to help him succeed.
 
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i'd think enfield probably better coach than both
Andy Enfield, 52, a proven winner as a player, assistant coach and head coach, was named the USC men’s basketball head coach on April 1, 2013 and has quickly brought success to the Trojans’ basketball program. Results came immediately with the Trojans setting the school single-season win record and the most wins in program history over a two-year, three-year, four-year, five-year and now six-year period. USC has won 134 games over the last six seasons which is the third-most wins in the Pac-12 and the 15th-most wins in the nation among power conferences during that time. USC has had the second-best overall record in the Pac-12 three of the last four seasons (24-12 in 2018, 22-9 in 2020 & 25-8 in 2021). USC’s 47 wins the past two seasons trail only Baylor (53) and Kansas (49) among the six basketball power conferences.

Over the last four seasons, USC has had five players selected in the NBA Draft, tied for the fifth-most by any program in the country, with Evan Mobley being selected No. 3 overall in the 2021 NCAA Draft a year after Onyeka Okongwu was selected No. 6 in the 2020 NBA Draft. USC and Florida State are the only two college basketball programs to have a player selected in the top 10 in each of the last two drafts and only USC, FSU, Kentucky and North Carolina have had a first-round selection in each of last three NBA Drafts.


Enfield has an 157-110 record in his first eight seasons as the USC head coach and is 198-138 in 10 seasons as a head coach. The 2020-21 Trojans went 25-8 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, winning the most conference games and games overall in the regular season among Pac-12 teams. The 2019-20 Trojans went 22-9, finished tied for 3rd in the Pac-12 and were getting better as the season was cancelled due to COVID-19. USC won three straight and five of its last seven to closeout the season. The Trojans led Pac-12 teams in defensive field goal percentage and points per game allowed in Conference play.

Enfield guided the 2017-18 Trojans to a 24-12 record and to a second place finish in the Pac-12, its highest outright conference finish since 1992. USC’s 12 Pac-12 wins were its most since also going 12-6 in 2002. The Trojans reached the Pac-12 Tournament finals for the first time since winning the title in 2009. USC fell 75-61 to regular season conference champion Arizona in the title game, after defeating Oregon (74-54) and Oregon State (61-48) in the first two rounds. Guards Jordan McLaughlin and Jonah Mathews were named to the All-Tournament team. McLaughlin and Chimezie Metu were named first-team All-Pac-12 and McLaughlin was named to the All-Defensive team and Metu was named honorable mention on that team. USC won the Diamond Head Classic in Hawai’i by defeating Akron, Middle Tennessee State and NCAA-Tournament bound New Mexico State. USC set school records with 296 three-pointers made, 1022 FG made and 569 assists. The Trojans also scored the second-most points by a USC team in history (2,798). The Trojans accomplished all of this and achieved a No. 10 ranking in the preseason, its highest since the 1974-75 season, despite 40 percent of its projected starting lineup missing much of the season.

USC went 26-10 in the 2016-17 season to set the school record for wins in a season, was in the top 25 rankings for five weeks with a high of No. 22 and won two NCAA Tournament games. The Trojans won their first 14 games which was tied for the fourth-longest winning streak in school history and was the best USC start since the 1971 season. The 13-0 mark in nonconference regular season action was just the sixth time in school history USC had gone undefeated in the nonconference slate. USC’s 47 combined wins during the 2016 and 2017 seasons were the most by the Trojans in a two-season stretch, breaking the mark of 46 total wins in consecutive seasons done in 2001-02 and 2007-08. USC defeated Providence in the First Four game for its first NCAA Tournament win since the 2009 season, then defeated No. 11 SMU before falling 82-78 to No. 12 Baylor, one win away from a Sweet 16 berth. USC won consecutive NCAA Tournament games for the first time since also winning two straight in the 2007 Tourney. USC continued to play its up-tempo style and set the school record for assists (550), three-pointers made (283) and shots blocked (190), while recording its most steals as a team (252) since the 2003 season. USC also averaged 4.25 dunks per game (153 total) and had seven players average at least 7.0 points. Chimezie Metu was named the Pac-12’s Most Improved Player and to the Pac-12 All-Conference second team, while Jordan McLaughlin was named honorable mention All-Pac-12 and De’Anthony Melton was named honorable mention on the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.

After bringing in his recruits and establishing his system during the first two seasons, his Trojans took a big leap forward in the 2015-16 season. USC went 21-13 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011. The Trojans had an 8.0 game improvement from the 2014-15 season which was tops among the Power 5 conference teams. USC played an exciting brand of basketball, averaging over 80 points per game and ranking among the nation’s top 20 in offensive output. They matched a school record with four 100-point games in a season, after not having broken the century mark since 2002. The Trojans set the then school record with 266 three-pointers made and were in the top 25 in the country in three-point percentage. The high-flying athletic style was also in effect in the 2015-16 season as the Trojans averaged over 3.5 dunks per game and set the then USC season record with 182 blocks, ranking in the top 15 in the country in this category. USC’s two freshmen in 2015-16 - Bennie Boatwright and Metu - made an immediate impact as Boatwright averaged 11.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, while Metu posted the second-most blocks ever by a Trojan freshman.

Enfield and staff brought in the No. 12-ranked freshman class in 2014-15 and they became key members of the team. McLaughlin was named to the 2015 Pac-12 All-Freshman team and went on to become one of three Pac-12 players all-time to record 700 or more assists and 1,600 or more career points scored. Elijah Stewart would leave USC as the school’s career record-holder for three-point baskets made. USC went 12-20 during the 2014-15 campaign, including a Pac-12 Tournament first-round upset win over Arizona State.

USC went 11-21 in his first season, but Enfield developed freshmen Nikola Jovanovic and Julian Jacobs into impact Pac-12 players, In 2016, Jacobs would lead the Pac-12 in assists and was named to the All-Conference team.

Enfield captivated the nation in 2013 as the head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University as he guided the first No. 15 seed into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen with impressive wins over No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 7 seed San Diego State and introduced the world to “Dunk City,” the nickname for FGCU’s high-flying and high-speed offense which often ended with thunderous dunks.

Over Enfield’s two-year run at FGCU, the Eagles won 41 games, advanced to the A-Sun Championship game both seasons and became the first No. 15 seed in NCAA Tournament history to make the Sweet Sixteen. His two seasons were the program’s first as Division I postseason eligible.

Enfield was 41-28 in his two seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13) at FGCU, with the 41 victories equaling the program’s combined total in the four years before he arrived. His squads played an up-tempo offense that featured spectacular dunks and alley-oops (they were nicknamed “Dunk City”) and a defense that thrived on takeaways, as they ranked 16th nationally in steals (8.9 per game). He produced the 2013 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year (Sherwood Brown) and Defensive Player of the Year (Bernard Thompson).

In his second year at Florida Gulf Coast, Enfield led the Eagles to a school-record 26 wins in 2013, including a victory over No. 5 Miami. The Eagles won the Atlantic Sun Tournament with a resounding 88-75 victory over Mercer. In just the school’s second season of NCAA Division I post-season eligibility, FGCU became the first team since Florida in 1987 to win the first two NCAA Tournament games it ever played. As the NCAA tourney’s No. 15 seed, the Eagles shocked second-seeded Georgetown and then seventh-seed San Diego State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. In 2012 in his first year at FGCU, he led the team to the Atlantic Sun Tournament championship game.

Prior to going to FGCU, Enfield spent the previous five years (2006-07 through 2010-11) as an assistant coach at Florida State, helping the Seminoles to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments (2009-11), including the Sweet 16 in 2011.

Enfield helped the Seminoles’ staff sign three straight Top 25 classes, with the 2008 class ranked in the Top 10. The 2011 FSU roster featured 11 top 100 recruits and a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans. In 2009, Basketball Times named him the nation’s “Most Visible Assistant Coach” for the summer recruiting period, while ESPN The Magazine selected him as one of “Five Super Assistant Coaches in College Basketball” during the 2009 campaign.

Enfield began his coaching career in the NBA, serving as the shooting coach for the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons (1994-95 and 1995-96). He then was an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics for two seasons (1998-99 and 1999-2000).
Through his company All Net Basketball, he was a player development consultant for NBA teams and players, focusing on improving shooting technique and offensive skills.
 
If UL, and quite frankly the city of Louisville, were not both in the bizarre circumstances in which they find themselves ….. I would be inclined to follow the traditional selection process that would open up a larger number of potential candidates.

Our current Board of Trustees is composed of members not necessarily appointed out of affection for this University, and the current vacuum within the Presidency and AD positions make it impossible to rely on anyone other than Wade, Alice and Junior at this time.

Aside from the political influences; the lack of leadership inside UL demands the aforementioned to step in and assert their own control of this basketball program.

Kenny Payne is clearly their choice, and while he was never on my list …… I endorse Payne 100%, and agree that his staff should be funded sufficiently to attract the most experienced and stabile folks available.
 
Cronin is who he is. Leopard doesn't change his spots. Dude's coached 19 seasons and his reputation is that of a rude, unlikeable, brash, hot tempered little man who will get your program right in that sweet spot of mediocrity. He'll get you 20-25 wins but he'll also lose 10-12 games and lose the first weekend. The program will be stuck in that purgatory of having a coach not really do bad enough to fire but also not doing well enough to keep. Its also clear to me that a lot of people on this board have never watched a Mick Cronin coached team on offense.

I would rather take the risk on Kenny Payne. Much better to fall flat on your face trying to be great and trying to push the program forward than play it safe and hire someone like Cronin. Payne may go down in flames or he might bring about an era of superb talent, booster support and national relevance we haven't seen in years. Now that NIL is here to stay - having a booster supported coach is more important than ever. I can't imagine Mick Cronin would be very good at shmoozing and buddying up with boosters.
 
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i'd think enfield probably better coach than both
Andy Enfield, 52, a proven winner as a player, assistant coach and head coach, was named the USC men’s basketball head coach on April 1, 2013 and has quickly brought success to the Trojans’ basketball program. Results came immediately with the Trojans setting the school single-season win record and the most wins in program history over a two-year, three-year, four-year, five-year and now six-year period. USC has won 134 games over the last six seasons which is the third-most wins in the Pac-12 and the 15th-most wins in the nation among power conferences during that time. USC has had the second-best overall record in the Pac-12 three of the last four seasons (24-12 in 2018, 22-9 in 2020 & 25-8 in 2021). USC’s 47 wins the past two seasons trail only Baylor (53) and Kansas (49) among the six basketball power conferences.

Over the last four seasons, USC has had five players selected in the NBA Draft, tied for the fifth-most by any program in the country, with Evan Mobley being selected No. 3 overall in the 2021 NCAA Draft a year after Onyeka Okongwu was selected No. 6 in the 2020 NBA Draft. USC and Florida State are the only two college basketball programs to have a player selected in the top 10 in each of the last two drafts and only USC, FSU, Kentucky and North Carolina have had a first-round selection in each of last three NBA Drafts.


Enfield has an 157-110 record in his first eight seasons as the USC head coach and is 198-138 in 10 seasons as a head coach. The 2020-21 Trojans went 25-8 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, winning the most conference games and games overall in the regular season among Pac-12 teams. The 2019-20 Trojans went 22-9, finished tied for 3rd in the Pac-12 and were getting better as the season was cancelled due to COVID-19. USC won three straight and five of its last seven to closeout the season. The Trojans led Pac-12 teams in defensive field goal percentage and points per game allowed in Conference play.

Enfield guided the 2017-18 Trojans to a 24-12 record and to a second place finish in the Pac-12, its highest outright conference finish since 1992. USC’s 12 Pac-12 wins were its most since also going 12-6 in 2002. The Trojans reached the Pac-12 Tournament finals for the first time since winning the title in 2009. USC fell 75-61 to regular season conference champion Arizona in the title game, after defeating Oregon (74-54) and Oregon State (61-48) in the first two rounds. Guards Jordan McLaughlin and Jonah Mathews were named to the All-Tournament team. McLaughlin and Chimezie Metu were named first-team All-Pac-12 and McLaughlin was named to the All-Defensive team and Metu was named honorable mention on that team. USC won the Diamond Head Classic in Hawai’i by defeating Akron, Middle Tennessee State and NCAA-Tournament bound New Mexico State. USC set school records with 296 three-pointers made, 1022 FG made and 569 assists. The Trojans also scored the second-most points by a USC team in history (2,798). The Trojans accomplished all of this and achieved a No. 10 ranking in the preseason, its highest since the 1974-75 season, despite 40 percent of its projected starting lineup missing much of the season.

USC went 26-10 in the 2016-17 season to set the school record for wins in a season, was in the top 25 rankings for five weeks with a high of No. 22 and won two NCAA Tournament games. The Trojans won their first 14 games which was tied for the fourth-longest winning streak in school history and was the best USC start since the 1971 season. The 13-0 mark in nonconference regular season action was just the sixth time in school history USC had gone undefeated in the nonconference slate. USC’s 47 combined wins during the 2016 and 2017 seasons were the most by the Trojans in a two-season stretch, breaking the mark of 46 total wins in consecutive seasons done in 2001-02 and 2007-08. USC defeated Providence in the First Four game for its first NCAA Tournament win since the 2009 season, then defeated No. 11 SMU before falling 82-78 to No. 12 Baylor, one win away from a Sweet 16 berth. USC won consecutive NCAA Tournament games for the first time since also winning two straight in the 2007 Tourney. USC continued to play its up-tempo style and set the school record for assists (550), three-pointers made (283) and shots blocked (190), while recording its most steals as a team (252) since the 2003 season. USC also averaged 4.25 dunks per game (153 total) and had seven players average at least 7.0 points. Chimezie Metu was named the Pac-12’s Most Improved Player and to the Pac-12 All-Conference second team, while Jordan McLaughlin was named honorable mention All-Pac-12 and De’Anthony Melton was named honorable mention on the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.

After bringing in his recruits and establishing his system during the first two seasons, his Trojans took a big leap forward in the 2015-16 season. USC went 21-13 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011. The Trojans had an 8.0 game improvement from the 2014-15 season which was tops among the Power 5 conference teams. USC played an exciting brand of basketball, averaging over 80 points per game and ranking among the nation’s top 20 in offensive output. They matched a school record with four 100-point games in a season, after not having broken the century mark since 2002. The Trojans set the then school record with 266 three-pointers made and were in the top 25 in the country in three-point percentage. The high-flying athletic style was also in effect in the 2015-16 season as the Trojans averaged over 3.5 dunks per game and set the then USC season record with 182 blocks, ranking in the top 15 in the country in this category. USC’s two freshmen in 2015-16 - Bennie Boatwright and Metu - made an immediate impact as Boatwright averaged 11.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, while Metu posted the second-most blocks ever by a Trojan freshman.

Enfield and staff brought in the No. 12-ranked freshman class in 2014-15 and they became key members of the team. McLaughlin was named to the 2015 Pac-12 All-Freshman team and went on to become one of three Pac-12 players all-time to record 700 or more assists and 1,600 or more career points scored. Elijah Stewart would leave USC as the school’s career record-holder for three-point baskets made. USC went 12-20 during the 2014-15 campaign, including a Pac-12 Tournament first-round upset win over Arizona State.

USC went 11-21 in his first season, but Enfield developed freshmen Nikola Jovanovic and Julian Jacobs into impact Pac-12 players, In 2016, Jacobs would lead the Pac-12 in assists and was named to the All-Conference team.

Enfield captivated the nation in 2013 as the head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University as he guided the first No. 15 seed into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen with impressive wins over No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 7 seed San Diego State and introduced the world to “Dunk City,” the nickname for FGCU’s high-flying and high-speed offense which often ended with thunderous dunks.

Over Enfield’s two-year run at FGCU, the Eagles won 41 games, advanced to the A-Sun Championship game both seasons and became the first No. 15 seed in NCAA Tournament history to make the Sweet Sixteen. His two seasons were the program’s first as Division I postseason eligible.

Enfield was 41-28 in his two seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13) at FGCU, with the 41 victories equaling the program’s combined total in the four years before he arrived. His squads played an up-tempo offense that featured spectacular dunks and alley-oops (they were nicknamed “Dunk City”) and a defense that thrived on takeaways, as they ranked 16th nationally in steals (8.9 per game). He produced the 2013 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year (Sherwood Brown) and Defensive Player of the Year (Bernard Thompson).

In his second year at Florida Gulf Coast, Enfield led the Eagles to a school-record 26 wins in 2013, including a victory over No. 5 Miami. The Eagles won the Atlantic Sun Tournament with a resounding 88-75 victory over Mercer. In just the school’s second season of NCAA Division I post-season eligibility, FGCU became the first team since Florida in 1987 to win the first two NCAA Tournament games it ever played. As the NCAA tourney’s No. 15 seed, the Eagles shocked second-seeded Georgetown and then seventh-seed San Diego State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. In 2012 in his first year at FGCU, he led the team to the Atlantic Sun Tournament championship game.

Prior to going to FGCU, Enfield spent the previous five years (2006-07 through 2010-11) as an assistant coach at Florida State, helping the Seminoles to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments (2009-11), including the Sweet 16 in 2011.

Enfield helped the Seminoles’ staff sign three straight Top 25 classes, with the 2008 class ranked in the Top 10. The 2011 FSU roster featured 11 top 100 recruits and a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans. In 2009, Basketball Times named him the nation’s “Most Visible Assistant Coach” for the summer recruiting period, while ESPN The Magazine selected him as one of “Five Super Assistant Coaches in College Basketball” during the 2009 campaign.

Enfield began his coaching career in the NBA, serving as the shooting coach for the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons (1994-95 and 1995-96). He then was an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics for two seasons (1998-99 and 1999-2000).
Through his company All Net Basketball, he was a player development consultant for NBA teams and players, focusing on improving shooting technique and offensive skills.
Most importantly, Enfield’s got a hot wife.
 
Most importantly, Enfield’s got a hot wife.

image.jpg
 
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Cronin is who he is. Leopard doesn't change his spots. Dude's coached 19 seasons and his reputation is that of a rude, unlikeable, brash, hot tempered little man who will get your program right in that sweet spot of mediocrity. He'll get you 20-25 wins but he'll also lose 10-12 games and lose the first weekend. The program will be stuck in that purgatory of having a coach not really do bad enough to fire but also not doing well enough to keep. Its also clear to me that a lot of people on this board have never watched a Mick Cronin coached team on offense.

I would rather take the risk on Kenny Payne. Much better to fall flat on your face trying to be great and trying to push the program forward than play it safe and hire someone like Cronin. Payne may go down in flames or he might bring about an era of superb talent, booster support and national relevance we haven't seen in years. Now that NIL is here to stay - having a booster supported coach is more important than ever. I can't imagine Mick Cronin would be very good at shmoozing and buddying up with boosters.
You seriously want your coach to be good at schmoozing and buddying up with boosters… You want Calimari?
 
You seriously want your coach to be good at schmoozing and buddying up with boosters… You want Calimari?
You're kidding yourself if you don't want your coach to be able to do this in modern college athletics. NIL deals are completely changing college athletics....you need boosters to set this up. You want angry leprechaun Mick Cronin trying to convince Bridgeman to sponsor a $500,000 NIL deal for a top ranked kid or you want Kenny Payne?
 
I just reread some of Cronin’s coaching history. One thing I thought was interesting was how similar our situation is to how Cronin took over at UC. I remembered there was bad blood when Huggins left. They replaced him with an interim coach, Kennedy but Huggins had stopped recruiting and left the program in a mess. After replacing Kennedy, Cronin was tasked with building the program up, even recruiting football players! In his first five years, he improved his record every year.

Another tidbit was he was he was credited with a pretty good recruiting class while he was an asst to Pitino in 2002-2003? I would be interested in who he recruited for us.
 
I just reread some of Cronin’s coaching history. One thing I thought was interesting was how similar our situation is to how Cronin took over at UC.

Cronin is a very good but not elite coach IMO. With him, I think we'd go to the NCAAT most years, making it to the 2nd weekend periodically. Probably not much more than that. We could do worse certainly and if he is the guy I'll support him and be hopefully - but he's down my list a good ways.

Serious comment - didn't he have a aneurism from the stress of coaching UC? He is wound pretty tight, the pressure of Louisville might literally kill him.
 
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Cronin is out, imo. he makes $4 million a year and he is in a good situation.

Kenny Payne is interesting. he's an elite recruiter and well recommended by former Cards. I need more info on his coaching style.

big name coaches are a waste. some of the best coaches are under 40 years old now. look at the Superbowl. both coaches are very young for coaching standards. analytics and technology are the new ways to win.
 
Kenny Payne is interesting. he's an elite recruiter and well recommended by former Cards. I need more info on his coaching style.
I'm not saying you're wrong about Paynes recruiting prowess, and if he is the new Cards coach I will support him fully, but how are people so sure about it?

If you believe the NCAA cloud has affected recruiting like many do, then it makes it even harder for Payne at least early on. Also the whole UofL not being a Nike school where Paynes bread and butter recruiting seemed to rely on would make it more difficult.
 
The biggest concern with any coach is do they have to charism, ego and or personality to handle this job. No one is ever happy so the coach has to ignore the noise. Can’t be thin skinned at Louisville.

Cronin is used to some level of scrutiny but Payne has never had to deal with it as a head coach. Impossible to predict how he will react to a smart sometimes crazy fanbase.
 
For one Cronin probably has his taxes paid for him by UCLA . Why would he stop sitting on his deck looking at the beach to come here and deal with this mess. They would probably have to pay him 6 to 8 million to leave.
 
I’m not saying Cronin is a legitimate candidate at this point. Maybe when we hired Mack but not now in my opinion. That’s my whole confusion, how can it be just between Payne and Cronin, unless Mick’s name is just out there to appease people from saying it’s already decided, you know, politically correct pressure.
 
The biggest concern with any coach is do they have to charism, ego and or personality to handle this job. No one is ever happy so the coach has to ignore the noise. Can’t be thin skinned at Louisville.

Cronin is used to some level of scrutiny but Payne has never had to deal with it as a head coach. Impossible to predict how he will react to a smart sometimes crazy fanbase.
Again - he’s not my first choice but in the interest of fairness - HC or not, Payne had a 10 year ringside seat for the craziest and most irrational fan base in the history of sports. Louisville would be a walk in the park in comparison.
 
Again - he’s not my first choice but in the interest of fairness - HC or not, Payne had a 10 year ringside seat for the craziest and most irrational fan base in the history of sports. Louisville would be a walk in the park in comparison.
He wasn’t in the crosshairs though. He could hide behind Cal’s ego.
 
so hypothetically, say payne is hired and say he's connected to nike camps and nike elite teams, does we consider dropping adidas for nike, and has being with adidas cost us opportunities at getting the top players? imho, if i'm a kid who worships jordan or lebron, i wouldn't rep adidias gear and thus wouldn't go to adidas school. there is some % where that affiliation does cost us
 
so hypothetically, say payne is hired and say he's connected to nike camps and nike elite teams, does we consider dropping adidas for nike, and has being with adidas cost us opportunities at getting the top players? imho, if i'm a kid who worships jordan or lebron, i wouldn't rep adidias gear and thus wouldn't go to adidas school. there is some % where that affiliation does cost us
No they have to make it work with Adidas. No way Nike supports with $$.

The key is building a NIL program. That is the future. The shoe company influence will be lessened with NIL.
 
He wasn’t in the crosshairs though. He could hide behind Cal’s ego.
If you’re on that staff, you’re in the crosshairs. You may not be the main target but, that doesn’t mean they aren’t also aiming at you.

This a group that tried to ruin a man and take his livelihood because they blamed him for calling fouls on kids they had only been aware of for six months.

Again - a walk in the muthereffing park comparatively speaking.
 
If you’re on that staff, you’re in the crosshairs. You may not be the main target but, that doesn’t mean they aren’t also aiming at you.

This a group that tried to ruin a man and take his livelihood because they blamed him for calling fouls on kids they had only been aware of for six months.

Again - a walk in the muthereffing park comparatively speaking.
I agree they are insane.
 
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