Who's Your BC Coaching Candidate Favorite? and the Big Finish
by Brian Favat on Apr 2, 2010 1:56 PM EDT
in Big Finish
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PrintBrian: The Eagles' coaching search will quiet down over the weekend so we can all enjoy the long, holiday weekend and the Final Four. Let's take a moment to take stock of where BC is with their coaching search. So far, we have (more or less) objectively previewed five head coaching candidates for the vacant Boston College men's basketball head coach position. Four of those candidates have either interviewed or will interview early next week (Coen's interview is scheduled for Monday and Amaker is also rumored to be under consideration).
So far, we've profiled:
Bill Coen
Steve Donahue
Ed Cooley
Chris Mooney
Tommy Amaker
So let's now inject some subjectivity into this coaching search. What’s your gut tell you? Who do you think would be the best head coach of the above 5 candidates?
Jeff: Chris Mooney is the best candidate we have profiled so far. Donohue is a close second but these two coaches will land big time jobs in the next year if that is what they desire. If Coen doesn't get the job he will probably end up at Siena and Cooley will probably stay at Faifield for a little while. Tommy Amaker failed at Michigan and I really don't want Boston College to be his first job back at a major conference program.
Brian: I agree with you. At this point, I like either Mooney or Donahue. Mooney successfully sold a basketball program at Air Force - certainly not an easy task - and Donahue turned around the Cornell program and created buzz for a program that lives in the shadows of the Big Red men's hockey team. If I had to pick one at this point, I'd lean ever so slightly towards Donahue, believe it or not. While the A-10 is a much better conference than the Ivy League for basketball, in my eyes, Donahue has accomplished more by winning the Ivy League in three consecutive seasons than Mooney. But I'd be happy with either candidate. And apparently, so would our readers, with Mooney receiving a 61% approval rating at this time, slightly edging out Donahue and his 60% rating.
This is not to discount the candidacy of either Ed Cooley or Bill Coen. I believe either would be an asset to the BC basketball program going forward. However, when you fire a very successful basketball coach that has been at the school for 13 years over "philosophical differences," this tells me that DeFilippo truly wants to take the program in a different direction. As much as I don't question Coen or Cooley's enthusiasm for the position, I don't think you can justify firing a successful head coach of 13 years and replace him with one of his long-time assistants.
Jeff: In other basketball-related news, I'd like to take this time to acknowledge that Brian gave me a beating in our NCAA Tournament brackets this season. It wasn't the cleanest year for picking tournament games but somehow Brian managed to get a bunch of the right.
Big Finish
Brian: Northeastern coach Bill Coen will interview with BC on Monday. Coen is also considered a candidate for the vacant Siena job. Where will Coen be coaching next year? BC, Siena or Northeastern?
Jeff: Siena, which is good for him to move on from Northeastern.
Jeff: Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball and 2010 recruit Kevin Noreen is watching the coaching search closely before he will comment on his future. Is Noreen BC’s greatest flight risk?
Brian: Well, Heslip is already enrolled. So between Noreen and Ndao, you have to think Noreen is the greater flight risk.
Brian: BC’s Josh Southern was shocked at the firing of Al Skinner. Do you think Skinner’s dismissal will affect the team’s performance next season, especially the senior class?
Jeff: Absolutely it will affect him, but hopefully for the better. Fortunately, they set a low bar for themselves and only need to finish better than .500 to improve.
Jeff: By this time next week, will Southern and the rest of the team know who their new coach is?
Brian: Yes. Well, I certainly hope so. Hopefully this is wrapped up next week so we can enjoy the Frozen Four.
Brian: The NCAA has concluded that the best way to expand the tournament is with 96 teams. Your thoughts?
Jeff: Sounds good to me. After the first round, we get our 64-team tournament again.
Jeff: BC football is the only team in the ACC with no recruiting commitments for 2011. Why is the football team following in the hoops team's footsteps?
Brian: Still plenty of time left for football. The basketball recruiting scene is much more pressing (7 open scholarships?!).
Brian: Last one, the Final Four kicks off this weekend. Who ya got? Who will be playing for the title on Monday night?
Jeff: Duke-Butler Monday night in the final.
Final Four picks? Leave your thoughts below and have a great holiday weekend.
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expansion and southern
Expansion is ridiculous and unfortunately i can’t boycott the tourney so i have to live with it.
I hope our coaching vacancy is filled in the next week, so i can get back to living my life without checking the blogs every 10 mins :)
And Southern, he’s a lost cause. I hope Mooney sees Ravenel as the next option, and moves forward.
Vermont's Coach Mike Lonergan is the optimal choice for BC
Why BC AD DeFilippo doesn’t interview Vermont’s Coach Mike Lonergan is perplexing? At 45 yrs old and 17 yrs head coaching experience with a National Championship under his belt (coaching D-3 Catholic University, Lonergan’s alma mater), coaching at D-1 Colgate and Maryland, then appearing in 3 of the last 5 American East Conf. championships, winning this year and going to the Big Dance, Lonergan is a natural for BC. Running clean programs, as an excellent student-athlete recruiter, Lonergan is the right choice at BC. On top of all that, he’s a husband and father of four, and a leader in Coaches Against Cancer. If DeFilippo cares about his so-called criteria, then Lonergan is a no-brainer choice.
From the Herald article
“The Eagles will be a senior-laden team next season, but Southern said some of the younger players are considering transfers.”
Yikes, I hope not.
Major College experience
Jeff and Brian, You dialogue was a love fest between 2 guys (Donahue and Mooney) that have ZERO experience in Major college basketball, not to mention ACC experience. This is not the Ivy league, nor a 1 year wonder in the A-10. We should be going after guys that understand what it takes to win at this level. Pearl is answer and he said he is not interested because we have not offerred what it takes, $3Mil. Why not us? What will his answer be at $3Mil? If he says no to that, then you go with Cooley or Coen, they know how to recruit ACC/Big East players. Don’t dismiss them just because of a silly statement about being Skinner puppets. They are their own men.
i like cooley & coen
But i think the point jeff and brian are trying to make is that Gene basically said he wants to change the style of basketball, and usually when an assistant coach has spent 10+ years under a coach, they rub off on each other. They will have their individual twists, but i dont think the change GDF was eluding to, is under either of Skinner’s former assistants.
And I know the Ivy and A-10 are not strong conferences, but these guys did step up against power conferences throughout the season.
Now that mooney is out, if we have to go the BC route then i’ll have to back Cooley.
Donahue and Mooney might have ZERO experience, but how are Coen and Cooley head and shoulders above those guys? They have just as little experience running a program as Donahue/Mooney.
Also, I can’t get past this point: why fire Skinner just to hire one of his assistants? GDF has to see the hypocrisy … it doesn’t add up.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
We also have to all get past the promise of Bruce Pearl as HC. UT took a chance on him and he wants to finish the job at Tennessee. Sure, I would have liked to see him coach at BC. But I also admire the fact that he wants to stay at a program that plucked him from the ranks of the mid-majors and gave him his break.
I think the fact that he politely turned down BC and wants to finish the job at UT speaks highly of Pearl and reflects well on our school.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
If you were in control
bceagle-would you write Pearl a check for $3 mil a year plus pay the buyout on his Tennessee contract?
Pearl and things
Pearl is making something like 2.4 mil, of course he is saying how loyal he is to Tennessee. I would too at that price. If we want to compete with Duke and NorthCarolina, then Yes, I would make an offer over 2.4 Mil and see what he would do.
Both Cooley and Coen are 4 years removed from Skinner, It not like we are going to hire Pat Duquette. Cooley and Coen have a lot more experience recruiting ACC/BE type of ball players. Thats the experience edge over Donohue and Mooney. Recruiting at ACC level is a different talent than recuiting Ivy league. To me Donahue is a big risk and not acceptable. Mooney you can make a case for, but not now.
There will likely be another candidate or two added to the mix, so we will have more to talk about.
I don’t think it’s just about $$$ with Pearl. While we like to paint a rosy picture about the BC head coaching position, there are a lot of negatives with the position that we like to gloss over.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
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