Collins close to deal with Northwestern

I may be totally wrong here and its kind of off topic but I think Fitz elevating the success of the football program was a downfall for Carmody.

The AD is probably thinking that if Fitz can get the football team to compete and make bowl games consistently then why cant the basketball team make the NCAA tourney?

I would imagine the football program has the same admission hurdles as the basketball team.
 
JonnyGuido said:
No way they hand the reins of Duke basketball over to Wojo the floor slapping clown monkey. Duke will get the Shaka Smart or Brad Stevens of the day when that time comes. UNC didnt hand it over to an unproven assistant. Kansas didnt either. When is the last time a big time (i mean big time) program handed it to an unproven asst? I can't think of one. And if they did, how did that go?
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Lord, here we go again....

First off, I was under the mistaken impression that Bill Guthridge got the job after Dean Smith....pretty sure that qualifies as "unproven assistant".

2nd off, Roy Williams left Kansas....so why would they select a "hand picked successor" from a guy who left them?

Coach K isn't going to another school, he's going to retire. And Duke was made by Coach K, so they'll hire whomever Coach K tells them to hire. And it's already been decided that it's Wojo. Yes, he's a floor smacking d0ucher, but then again, so is Coach K.
 
How did that Guthridge hire go for UNC? And I recall he was just a temp for that job. Just curious, but are there any other examples from big time programs being "handed" to an unproven assistant? And if so, are there ANY success stories with that model?
 
Actually Dean Smith was an unknown after taking over for Frank McGuire, at Kentucky Joe Hall took over after Rupp retired, and in fact Roy Williams was an unknown after taking over for Larry Brown after he had led Kansas to a national championship.

If you want a recent one John Pastner was an assistant before taking over Memphis and he has been doing pretty good.
 
touche my good man. But the most recent was ol Roy? I just dont believe you hand over a Ferrari to a first time driver....but it could happen
 
JonnyGuido said:
How did that Guthridge hire go for UNC? And I recall he was just a temp for that job. Just curious, but are there any other examples from big time programs being "handed" to an unproven assistant? And if so, are there ANY success stories with that model?
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Went to the final four right away, but Bill was like 70 and did absolutely no recruiting so the talent level fell considerably during his time there.

Just looked up his record. I forgot about his final four run as an 8 seed. So from a high level view, two final fours in three years is pretty solid, but really the program was falling off under him.
 
JonnyGuido said:
touche my good man. But the most recent was ol Roy? I just dont believe you hand over a Ferrari to a first time driver....but it could happen
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I just edited the post to include John Pastner at Memphis, he was an assistant at Arizona before taking over for Calipari. So far he has done well.
 
SpiderRico said:
Lord, here we go again....

First off, I was under the mistaken impression that Bill Guthridge got the job after Dean Smith....pretty sure that qualifies as "unproven assistant".

2nd off, Roy Williams left Kansas....so why would they select a "hand picked successor" from a guy who left them?

Coach K isn't going to another school, he's going to retire. And Duke was made by Coach K, so they'll hire whomever Coach K tells them to hire. And it's already been decided that it's Wojo. Yes, he's a floor smacking d0ucher, but then again, so is Coach K.
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I don't think this is true.
 
CarolinaHawkeye said:
this is going to turn out to be one of the best coaching hires of the year. I wish he would have been on Iowa's list back when Fran was hired.. not saying i dont like Fran. just saying wish he would have been considered. The guy can and probably will land some of Chicago's top talent and make NU a tournament team
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Most of Chicago's top talent won't get into Northwestern.
 
I think the next coach at NW will consistently finish at or near the bottom of the Big Ten. I'm not pinning this on Collins or any other coach. I'm putting this on NW, their facilities, admission requirements, etc.

Unlike many others I hope I'm wrong. I hope Collins (or someone else) comes in and makes NW competitive. I'm not afraid to play a good team with a good coach. I want to play in the best conference with the best teams, players and coaches from top to bottom...not looking to finish high in the standings because others fail but rather because the Hawks soar!
 
JonnyGuido said:
I can't wait to see Northwestern's team under Chris Collins' control. He will bring Wojo along as an assistant and then proceed to recruit completely over-rated white guys who like to fist pump and slap the ground while playing defense. The only problem will be is that there will not be any Grant Hills or Elton Brands to piggy back them to victories. I love this hire for Iowa- my only concern is that I believe Northwestern will be relaxing their academic standards to get him. Collins would be an idiot to leave Coach K's womb unless NU promised to let him bring in less stellar students and upgrade facilities.
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Would be very surprised to see NW relax admission standards.
 
I see this as a great hire, Northwestern doesn't make knee jerk reactions like other programs. Bill Carmody coached at Northwestern for 13 years, How?? His best season in 13 years in the Big Ten was 8-8, I mean really he got 13 years, seriously that is amazing!

Time will tell and I would suspect he will be allotted the time.
 
Section136 said:
I may be totally wrong here and its kind of off topic but I think Fitz elevating the success of the football program was a downfall for Carmody.

The AD is probably thinking that if Fitz can get the football team to compete and make bowl games consistently then why cant the basketball team make the NCAA tourney?

I would imagine the football program has the same admission hurdles as the basketball team.
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Gary Barnett changed the culture of NW football..........As someone has already mentioned Carmody had been there for 13 years and the program had become stale, change was probably needed.
 
HawkPrdatr40 said:
I see this as a great hire, Northwestern doesn't make knee jerk reactions like other programs. Bill Carmody coached at Northwestern for 13 years, How?? His best season in 13 years in the Big Ten was 8-8, I mean really he got 13 years, seriously that is amazing!

Time will tell and I would suspect he will be allotted the time.
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Coach K got 5 years and was nearly fired before he got it going at Duke.........I will go waaaay out on a limb and say Collins won't get 5 years.
 
This could be a great hire, or it may not be. Only time will tell. I'm not going to say "Great hire! Great hire!" just because Collins is a Duke assistant, or because he recruited a couple of their recent stars. This is DUKE we're talking about, where you probably don't have to be that brilliant of a recruiter to get good players to come and play for you. Let's see how it translates to a school like NW that has zero tradition, few resources, and tough academic standards.

That doesn't mean I'm saying Collins will fail, either. Every great coach has to start somewhere - Collins has paid his dues and is getting a shot. We'll see how he does. I'll say this, if Collins can make NW a winner, I will be impressed. That is an insanely difficult place to win. Especially for a first-time head coach.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
This could be a great hire, or it may not be. Only time will tell. I'm not going to say "Great hire! Great hire!" just because Collins is a Duke assistant, or because he recruited a couple of their recent stars. This is DUKE we're talking about, where you probably don't have to be that brilliant of a recruiter to get good players to come and play for you. Let's see how it translates to a school like NW that has zero tradition, few resources, and tough academic standards.

That doesn't mean I'm saying Collins will fail, either. Every great coach has to start somewhere - Collins has paid his dues and is getting a shot. We'll see how he does. I'll say this, if Collins can make NW a winner, I will be impressed. That is an insanely difficult place to win. Especially for a first-time head coach.
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The chance that he makes NU a "winner" on a consistent basis is pretty slim. I do, however, believe they have a good chance to be better than they were under Carmody, on average.

Expectations at NU have to be realistic. They will not become UCLA, but maybe they could get to the level of making the tournament at some point.
 
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