2021 Coaching Candidate Thread (this time for reals)

[eagle33]

I’d like to say it’s been fun you fucking hoops weirdos but yeah pretty much.
See y’all again in 6-7 years when we are looking for the next head Coach. Can’t even imagine the state of this dumpster fire by then.

We will be looking for a new men's basketball coach in 4 years, 5 years tops.

I say that because of your prediction of 6-7 years.

will we have a hoops facility by then.

[HJS]

Huge issues in BC hoops world. Bigger problems remain and revealed by Smart and Boynton having zero interest. As in negative. Gates was a weird one and had legs. The situation with wifey was problematic. Leon Rice had a little pulse and Schmidt did too. In the end, BC could not go the route of the old white guy dealio.

This is a yawn of a hire and BCAD will not get the same check I sent when GET IN was hired.

12 years of no dancing and on the heels of Christian and Donohue and we get Earl Grant? As an Eagle, I wish for the best...but BC is guilty of garbage until proven innocent...and I wish it were the other way around.

Shaka Smart and Mike Boynton??? Ok... that's more unrealistic than Celtics Coach for Life.

I think PK threw up test balloons with guys like Beilein and Matta. I think he quickly found out what we all knew (that this is the worst job in sports). He then just pivoted to who he wanted to hire at Temple.

I'll say this... the easiest, emptiest suit move he could have done was hire Howard Eisley. It checks every box, engenders alum goodwill and gives a big opportunity to someone who loves the program. Personally, I would have been excited by such a popular move. I give Kraft credit for going younger and thinner resume. However, just as I mentioned with Gates, the only way you make this hire is if you believe the guy has star potential. For better or worse, we have an AD who went out and hired the coach he wanted... not who the 6 fans wanted, not who local bloggers wanted, not who Eddie Fogler wanted and not who the BOT wanted.

I question the choice. I can't say (from an internet search) that Grant is the next Chris Beard. But, I guess that comes with a non-established resume. He seems to be a guy who wants to build a culture for his BB team. On the court, he seems like someone who focuses primarily on D. In the evolving world of college BB (with the loss of one-and-done and the competition from G-League), I don't think focusing on either is a mistake. Ultimately, I think his assistants will be key. He needs recruiters, recruiters and more recruiters. Recruiting at this level will make or break him (noting that players that fit his system is as important as star ranking).

I hope he does well. He has been given a massive opportunity that some with BC connections would have killed to have. I will reiterate what I've said from the start... we aren't risking anything here but time. There is no digging this hole deeper. Good luck to him. It will be interesting to see how quickly he jumps after bringing BC to the NIT on the backs of a 7-9 conference record.

[eagle33]

and not who blauds wanted.

[durkcal]

The biggest negatives that i can see about Grant is that: a) College of Charleston is a relatively "easy" program to have success with. He had a strong basketball support system, and he still underachieved there, and b) His team this year looks like they've gone off the rails on basketball discipline. They average an assist on just 15% of possessions. (that's 312th in the country!) Defensive efficiency is 251st in the country. That's seven years in. Scary.

Ideally he has learned from what he was doing wrong. He lost and replaced two assistants in the last three years. (One became HC at Presbyterian, and one became an assistant at Pitt - Milan Brown. Maybe Brown was doing a lot of good work?) Maybe Grant can raid the coaching staff at Furman (a well coached team) for some of their assistants?

Winning at BC will be a lot harder than winning at C of C.

[HJS]

Benbow's article ends: "Grant will be the second Black men's basketball coach in BC history. All three finalists were people of color."
Care to guess who the other two were? I'd assume Gates and Eisley. But, BlogBoy claims that neither were candidates.

[eagle33]

wonder who jarmond would have gone after.

[hawaiirob]

Eisley was not a finalist. The overview on him was that he needed more developing.

Grant, Gates were two. The other person of color that Benbow mentions was likely Boynton. Boynton was late, but listened and had no interest despite his NYC roots.

Boynton would have had me drinking champagne right now and writing a check, which is what I thought BC wanted from me - and many others.

[eepstein0]

Eisley was not a finalist. The overview on him was that he needed more developing.

Grant, Gates were two. The other person of color that Benbow mentions was likely Boynton. Boynton was late, but listened and had no interest despite his NYC roots.

Boynton would have had me drinking champagne right now and writing a check, which is what I thought BC wanted from me - and many others.

Why on earth would Boynton want to come here?

[eepstein0]

Huge issues in BC hoops world. Bigger problems remain and revealed by Smart and Boynton having zero interest. As in negative. Gates was a weird one and had legs. The situation with wifey was problematic. Leon Rice had a little pulse and Schmidt did too. In the end, BC could not go the route of the old white guy dealio.

This is a yawn of a hire and BCAD will not get the same check I sent when GET IN was hired.

12 years of no dancing and on the heels of Christian and Donohue and we get Earl Grant? As an Eagle, I wish for the best...but BC is guilty of garbage until proven innocent...and I wish it were the other way around.

Shaka Smart and Mike Boynton??? Ok... that's more unrealistic than Celtics Coach for Life.

I think PK threw up test balloons with guys like Beilein and Matta. I think he quickly found out what we all knew (that this is the worst job in sports). He then just pivoted to who he wanted to hire at Temple.

I'll say this... the easiest, emptiest suit move he could have done was hire Howard Eisley. It checks every box, engenders alum goodwill and gives a big opportunity to someone who loves the program. Personally, I would have been excited by such a popular move. I give Kraft credit for going younger and thinner resume. However, just as I mentioned with Gates, the only way you make this hire is if you believe the guy has star potential. For better or worse, we have an AD who went out and hired the coach he wanted... not who the 6 fans wanted, not who local bloggers wanted, not who Eddie Fogler wanted and not who the BOT wanted.

I question the choice. I can't say (from an internet search) that Grant is the next Chris Beard. But, I guess that comes with a non-established resume. He seems to be a guy who wants to build a culture for his BB team. On the court, he seems like someone who focuses primarily on D. In the evolving world of college BB (with the loss of one-and-done and the competition from G-League), I don't think focusing on either is a mistake. Ultimately, I think his assistants will be key. He needs recruiters, recruiters and more recruiters. Recruiting at this level will make or break him (noting that players that fit his system is as important as star ranking).

I hope he does well. He has been given a massive opportunity that some with BC connections would have killed to have. I will reiterate what I've said from the start... we aren't risking anything here but time. There is no digging this hole deeper. Good luck to him. It will be interesting to see how quickly he jumps after bringing BC to the NIT on the backs of a 7-9 conference record.

I think we all owe it to the guy to give him a chance. I agree the recruiting and specifically depth of roster is the most important. Previous staff took way too many dart throws on players that had no business in the ACC (we have a few still that got serious run down the stretch this year). JC tried to supplement with 5th years that also had no business in the ACC because said dart throws are not good.

New coach also needs to coach defense. The D under the last two guys was embarrassing.

You’ll be able to tell how this will work based on his staff and early work in the transfer market/recruiting trail. The CAA All-stars is not going to work. With that said, I’d happily take their PG that’s in the portal.

[hawaiirob]

Boynton is a NYC guy and went to Catholic HS and played at South Carolina. He knows the east and ACC region and understands the Catholic kool-aid stuff. To be clear, he had no interest. But he had a late conversation and was identified as a candidate by the search committee.

[Dick Rosenthal]

I could not be more excited about our hiring African-American Jim Christian. Got to give Brad Kraft, uh Pat Bates, whatever credit for this awesome selection. I look forward to residing in the ACC basement for years to come. Oh well, guess I can tell the poor lass from the development office who squeezed some money out of me in honor of Jeff Hafley that there will be no further donations at this time.

And here is you daily reminder that Leahy fucked up Marquette’s basketball program so badly through his hostility/indifference to athletics that they landed for a while in Conference USA. The number of mocking emails I received from Marquette and Bonnie grads was intolerable.

[ATLeagle]

Eisley was not a finalist. The overview on him was that he needed more developing.

Grant, Gates were two. The other person of color that Benbow mentions was likely Boynton. Boynton was late, but listened and had no interest despite his NYC roots.

Boynton would have had me drinking champagne right now and writing a check, which is what I thought BC wanted from me - and many others.

Gates was never a candidate. Ever. Not on any list. Jocelyn was in agreement.

[ATLeagle]

The Oracle of Fort Worth would like you all to know that Gates is destined to be our coach, that ATL is wrong (and has always been wrong) and that TRE you are a *checks notes* ORCAPIG.

Does he have a stupid nickname for Grant yet?

[TobaccoRoadEagle]

The Oracle of Fort Worth would like you all to know that Gates is destined to be our coach, that ATL is wrong (and has always been wrong) and that TRE you are a *checks notes* ORCAPIG.

Does he have a stupid nickname for Grant yet?

why would he have a stupid nickname for grant when it's a lead-pipe-lock that gates will be the coach?

[hawaiirob]

Eisley was not a finalist. The overview on him was that he needed more developing.

Grant, Gates were two. The other person of color that Benbow mentions was likely Boynton. Boynton was late, but listened and had no interest despite his NYC roots.

Boynton would have had me drinking champagne right now and writing a check, which is what I thought BC wanted from me - and many others.

Gates was never a candidate. Ever. Not on any list. Jocelyn was in agreement.

ATL - I love anybody who loves BC as much as you do. But Gates was a candidate.

[Bender]

I was listening to local sports radio today and they weren't mentioning the hiring even as a footnote during the updates every 20 minutes, that's a pretty great accomplishment.

[HJS]

I could not be more excited about our hiring African-American Jim Christian.

So you admit he is better than Jim Christian.

There is a lot to question about the hire. It feels like we put names of black head coaches on a list and randomly called around until we got a yes. That said, Earl Grant’s resume is nothing like JC’s. You could argue it’s worse. But, in fairness, this hire has no similarities with others before it... other than the 6 folks who follow BC BB hate the result.

With regard to Rob, if we hired Boynton, it would have shocked all of college basketball.

[twballgame9]

I was listening to local sports radio today and they weren't mentioning the hiring even as a footnote during the updates every 20 minutes, that's a pretty great accomplishment.

In fairness, there was a lot of unusual shit going on around here today. The Celtics blew out the Rockets last night and that wasn't making the updates. Hot Seat Stevens probably saved his job, but football is king.

[ATLeagle]

I could not be more excited about our hiring African-American Jim Christian.

So you admit he is better than Jim Christian.

There is a lot to question about the hire. It feels like we put names of black head coaches on a list and randomly called around until we got a yes. That said, Earl Grant’s resume is nothing like JC’s. You could argue it’s worse. But, in fairness, this hire has no similarities with others before it... other than the 6 folks who follow BC BB hate the result.

With regard to Rob, if we hired Boynton, it would have shocked all of college basketball.

Boynton is really underpaid. That was BC's only play with him other than leaving Oklahoma. But I expect Boynton will now be in the mix for a big job like Indiana.

[twballgame9]

Boynton had a NIT bid with another guy's roster, had two bad seasons, and then hired the brother of the top recruit in the country. Jury is out after 4 years as to whether he can coach. His assistant resume is a smorgasbord of perennial 15 seeds.

[twballgame9]

That said, he was never taking this shitty job.

[2001Eagle]

Eisley was not a finalist. The overview on him was that he needed more developing.

Grant, Gates were two. The other person of color that Benbow mentions was likely Boynton. Boynton was late, but listened and had no interest despite his NYC roots.

Boynton would have had me drinking champagne right now and writing a check, which is what I thought BC wanted from me - and many others.

Gates was never a candidate. Ever. Not on any list. Jocelyn was in agreement.

ATL - I love anybody who loves BC as much as you do. But Gates was a candidate.

I was told Gates was a candidate as well.

[ATLeagle]

Eisley was not a finalist. The overview on him was that he needed more developing.

Grant, Gates were two. The other person of color that Benbow mentions was likely Boynton. Boynton was late, but listened and had no interest despite his NYC roots.

Boynton would have had me drinking champagne right now and writing a check, which is what I thought BC wanted from me - and many others.

Gates was never a candidate. Ever. Not on any list. Jocelyn was in agreement.

ATL - I love anybody who loves BC as much as you do. But Gates was a candidate.

I was told Gates was a candidate as well.

Other than Jocelyn and Pat Kraft coming out tomorrow and saying it and providing their notes on the process (which they won't do obviously) all I can say is that he wasn't ever on the list. It was pure speculation and was not going to happen. Ever.

[HJS]

With regard to Gates, while I don’t think you refuse to hire him because of his wife’s role at BC, I do not think you can truly consider him and choose someone like Grant. That would make shit more awkward than anything that folks think would be the case if they worked together. Basically, I am saying, either he is a program savior and you hire him or you don’t really consider him. And... you sure as hell don’t make him a finalist who is passed-over for the College of Charleston coach coming off a losing season.

[Dick Rosenthal]

Eisley was not a finalist. The overview on him was that he needed more developing.

Grant, Gates were two. The other person of color that Benbow mentions was likely Boynton. Boynton was late, but listened and had no interest despite his NYC roots.

Boynton would have had me drinking champagne right now and writing a check, which is what I thought BC wanted from me - and many others.

Gates was never a candidate. Ever. Not on any list. Jocelyn was in agreement.

ATL - I love anybody who loves BC as much as you do. But Gates was a candidate.

I was told Gates was a candidate as well.

Gates was minimally more interesting than Grant. If you watched fifteen minutes of the Horizon League tournament it was abundantly clear that Grant is lacking in x and o chops. As for Grant, it is discouraging that he has not won a lot in a far shittier conference then the conference that John Kresse and Bobby Cremins won in. To someone’s earlier point, getting talent to CoC vis a vis the rest of the CAA should not be difficult. Charleston is a fantastic city, CoC is in a great neighborhood adjacent to an good entertainment area and TD Arena is better than most of the barns in the CAA and Bill Murray shows up drunk for many of the games. One NCAA appearance is seven seasons is ridiculous for the advantages the school enjoys. As for his Assistant Coach resume, I am told that the crazy angry guy who got fired at Wichita State did not use staff for anything other than helping coach positions and executing the practice plan crazy angry guy put together. As for his stint at Clemson, Clemson basketball sucks. It is almost impossible to argue that CoC has a historically better program than Clemson in terms of post season success.

Bates Part 2 Electic Bugaloo should have hired Eisley. At least I would be rooting for a guy who was at BC when I was there and always seemed like a decent human being. A lot of people like me would have been interested in seeing him succeed. When Grant fails here—and he will fail just as surely and predictably as Christian failed, we will be stuck with seven years of it because to cut Grant loose earlier would be “racist”. What a fucking joke. It’s time to get the Fire Pat Kraft Bandwagon rolling now. Who could have predicted that a meathead Big 10 football walk-on would know nothing about hiring a basketball coach. He is like a less talented version of Buttcut.

[hawaiirob]

Maybe Gates wants a different gig?

[HJS]

Maybe Gates wants a different gig?

So, you are basically saying that Earl Grant is the only black head coach who reciprocated interest. Shaka laughed, Boynton was a firm no once he looked at the program, and Gates was a polite thanks but no thanks. I guess this is what you get fishing in the shallowest of pools with no bait.

While this hire has no real connection to previous BB hires, there are a few parallels to Addazio. Former promising riser for whom the bloom is off the rose with recent disappointments. Grant also inherits a similar mess.

There are notable difference. Grant is not enough a known quantity to engender Daz’s immediate outrage. Further, the market hadn’t been conditioned to believe a major hire would happen (we all know the bb gig sucks and BC will Ever to Disappoint). Daz had connections to the area and had worked on elite staffs. Grant is much younger in his maturation and doesn’t appear to be an asshole.

Addazio wasn’t all bad. He did a decent job rebuilding and stabilizing the program.

[Eagle1999]

The problem here is our AD. Kraft can go fuck himself after this hire. I am sick and tired of low level mid-major assholes hiring their dream mid-major wish list candidates at BC. Bates gave us Daz who was him dream football coach. Had the concrete ceiling at 7 wins. Jarmond (Power 5 pedigree) comes in and wants more. He gets us Hafley. While the jury is out long term, at least there is some juice around the program. People (the 5 of us) are excited and there is energy there. The commitment of our ambassador of Kwan last week further supports the trend that we are going in the right direction. Now Kraft hires us his guy, who like Christian, most of us had to look up. This guy wasn’t good where he was, but was a dream candidate for Temple. This shit needs to stop.

[angrychicken]

I think that Earl Grant will be a very successful head coach at Boston College University and I wish him well.

[hansen]

The Oracle of Fort Worth would like you all to know that Gates is destined to be our coach, that ATL is wrong (and has always been wrong) and that TRE you are a *checks notes* ORCAPIG.

Does he have a stupid nickname for Grant yet?

No “Porky”, he hasn’t