The Next Hawkeye Assistant Coach Will Be...

RobHowe said:
TBD.

I think Matt Gatens would have a good shot at it if he wanted it. Not sure he would make the move from director of basketball ops at Drake to video coordinator here. He might have a better chance to move up to an on-court coaching position at Drake than he does here.
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Maybe... Fran could sell him on opportunity for advancement due to Sherm and/or Speraw potentially retiring in the next few seasons.
 
JG10Hawk said:
Maybe... Fran could sell him on opportunity for advancement due to Sherm and/or Speraw potentially retiring in the next few seasons.
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If Fran was told by one or both of those guys that they were planning on retiring, that would probably help entice Matt. I have not heard either one of those guys is ready for that, though.
 
RobHowe said:
If Fran was told by one or both of those guys that they were planning on retiring, that would probably help entice Matt. I have not heard either one of those guys is ready for that, though.
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Neither have I, just throwing it out there as a potential recruiting chip. Age 63 and 62 in just about any industry screams potential advancement opportunities for up and comers. Time will tell.

Any indication if Matt would even be interested? DeVries is off to a hot start at Drake, maybe Matt wants to stick around there a few more years to see it play out a bit? I have no clue on what the salary difference would be in Matt's case.

Sounds like it would be a nice bump for Eldridge. Per state records Eldridge is making around $80K a year right now and Francis was around $230K.
 
I think part of the reason Francis left was that he didn't see any upward mobility at Iowa. It was basically a lateral move for him when you look at the experience on the Cal staff.

Speraw and Dillard are at the age where it's tough to get a quality head coaching job and I think they feel there's plenty in the tank to help as assistants. Sherm is in better shape now that I was at 30. Reminds me a little of Reese Morgan when he retired this spring just shy of his 69th birthday.

Things can surely change quickly in the business, but as of now, I think those guys are here to stay for awhile.

Drake salaries are private but I have to think it would be a bump for Gatens. Not sure if it would be enough to be a factor, though. His family is in pretty good shape.
 
#1DieHardHawk said:
This is an excerpt from a story on TOS:

"...One name to potentially keep in mind for the open assistant position could be Billy Taylor. He is currently the head coach at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, NC. Prior to that, Taylor, a Chicago area native, served as Iowa’s director of basketball operations for three seasons. His first job as an assistant coach at Notre Dame with McCaffery. He was hired by McCaffery as one of his assistant coaches in 1999 at UNC-Greensboro and then eventually became the head coach at Lehigh and Ball State until 2013."
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I forget who wrote this, but he nailed it.
 
Tom and I talked about it. Like me, he thought it was Eldridge. I know I wasn’t sure if Taylor would leave his job as head coach at D2 for third assistant here. Didn’t realize it would be that nice of a pay bump.
 
RobHowe said:
Tom and I talked about it. Like me, he thought it was Eldridge. I know I wasn’t sure if Taylor would leave his job as head coach at D2 for third assistant here. Didn’t realize it would be that nice of a pay bump.
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What did his D2 head job pay? Francis left making about $230K, I'm guessing that's about what Billy will be starting at.
 
JG10Hawk said:
Gotcha. I thought per your comment that maybe you knew it was a nice pay bump.
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I think some are just speculating that it likely is a nice bump - otherwise moving from being a D2 HC to be Iowa's 3rd assistant coach doesn't make a ton of sense on paper.
 
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InGoodCo said:
I think some are just speculating that it likely is a nice bump - otherwise moving from being a D2 HC to be Iowa's 3rd assistant coach doesn't make a ton of sense on paper.
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Like JG10Hawk had mentioned previously in reference to Gatens, the advancement potential is there:

"Maybe... Fran could sell him on opportunity for advancement due to Sherm and/or Speraw potentially retiring in the next few seasons."
 
InGoodCo said:
I think some are just speculating that it likely is a nice bump - otherwise moving from being a D2 HC to be Iowa's 3rd assistant coach doesn't make a ton of sense on paper.
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That would be my guess as well and also speculated as much. I Just thought that maybe Rob knew for certain per his initial comment.
 
N8theGr8 said:
Like JG10Hawk had mentioned previously in reference to Gatens, the advancement potential is there:

"Maybe... Fran could sell him on opportunity for advancement due to Sherm and/or Speraw potentially retiring in the next few seasons."
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For those interested. Francis and Dillard were actually paid the same last year at around $230K+ while Speraw was slightly higher at $240K+
 
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