It’s so much fun living rent free on this board
I didn’t realize that Frazier or Powell (two Illini in the 00s when I was a big Illini fan growing up) were in coaching, that’s interesting. Would be intriguing candidates.
To Fate’s point I agree that the odds we attract Becker are extremely slim (why would want to leave a state flagship with no FBS football and a new arena on the way for a faded mid-major standout that hasn’t done much of anything to support hoops for a generation, and he’s a New England native), but he’d be a great get. As mentioned the odds are pretty high that we end up going the power program assistant route again (if we go after a successful low-major head coach odds are it’d be the caliber of Cooper and not someone great), here are some other ideas though some are probably out of reach:
Kellen Sampson: Houston assistant, if he doesn’t do sketchy crap like his dad did at IU
Ronald Coleman: Kentucky assistant (before this past season was at Illinois for a few seasons)
Saddi Washington: Michigan assistant (WMU alum as well)
Dean Oliver: Wisconsin assistant (previously at Illinois State before they sucked)
Bryan Hodgson: Alabama assistant (was also with Nate Oats at UB)
who the hell is Drew Hanlen
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Would be a super outside the box option, but I actually don’t hate it. Was a star player at Belmont in the early 2010s and has gone on to be a private coach for a bunch of top NBA players. Has a big social media following.
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Would be a VERY interesting hire. I wouldn’t hate it.
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Private coach for Bradley Beal, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Zach Lavine, among others…
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Still room on the bandwagon!
I feel like the Cooper and Owens sold Bates and Sayler, respectively, on their ability to out-recruit the MAC. Recruiting is big deal, no doubt, but time and time again it is proven that Xs and Os win in the mid majors and, frankly, college basketball as a whole. I hope Sayler has learned his lesson and his first two questions to any potential candidate are:
“How will you make us the best defensive team in the MAC?” and
“How will you make us the best rebounding team in the MAC?”
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Whatever happens, I bet there’s more interest in the job than some would think. 40 minutes from Cincy and 30 from Dayton is a desirable market to be in. State of Ohio had like 14 D1 programs so easy to rebuild some rivals and interest with a winning team.
Has Hanlen even coached a team at any level? Part of being a HC is running an organization with good assistant coach hires, etc. seems he needs a little seasoning first as high school HC and assistant college coach …
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So I’m curious about what everyone thinks might be the right kind of guy;
- A high profile coach that recently got his walking papers
- An assistant coach from a power 5 program or the NBA that has never been a head coach
- An up and coming head coach from a smaller college that has recently been very successful
Miami University might be a tough sell for Hanlen’s lady. Unless she’s Kelly Kapoor.
What about Donlon who has D1 coaching background and a winning record overall? He was let go at Wright State after 6 years of pretty decent records most years but don’t know the reasons why…now at UMKC which is a newbie D1 school I believe. Again, not advocating but throwing it out there for comment as there are only so many possibilities of a guy w D1 HC experience we can afford.
Make the run for Frank Martin! 
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Go get Henderson
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We seem to have this conversation during every coaching hire and I think the wrong way to judge a candidate is by his most recent job. There are going to be really good candidates from all of those categories and there are going to be disasters from all of those categories. Remember that both Mike Haywood and Don Treadwell fit the criteria of “P5 coordinator” (counting ND as P5 for this categorization), but they were not equally equipped to be the head coach of Miami University football.
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If he could be persuaded it would sure seem like a Steele hire could give the program some instant credibility and show a willingness to turn this program around…again, unless a big donor approached Sayler to put this in motion would be tough to get a guy from a very high level D1 program used to making over a mil a year. Would he settle for less to stay put in Cincy-land for a few years?? Who knows?