A Sea Of Red

According to FlamesNation, RMK is actively seeking the job vacated when Blaine Taylor was fired.

http://www.libertyflamesnation.com/

I guess he has learned all the humility he needs and is ready to step into the spotlight again.

That would be terrible for Liberty. He'd be recruiting the same places and he's much better at it.

I wonder if he'd be interested in the Liberty coaching position once Layer is let go. Y'know since LU WAS the place God called him to be at.

LUconn wrote:That would be terrible for Liberty. He'd be recruiting the same places and he's much better at it.

Nah, shouldn´t make a bit of difference. Don´t you know LU hasn´t been trying to recruit Virginia anyway?

NG33 wrote:I wonder if he'd be interested in the Liberty coaching position once Layer is let go. Y'know since LU WAS the place God called him to be at.

I don't think I'd want it to happen, but if it did, it'd be super ironic and even more interesting.

Kevin Keatts will get strong consideration. He build a powerhouse prep program in VA and is now an assistant at Louisville under Pitino. I can tell you from 1st hand experience having been with him at the final 4 on a couple of occasions that he is HIGHLY REGARDED in the coaching business by other coaches. Ritchie is held in very high esteem too from what I have observed at the final 4 as well but I would have to give the nod to Keatts if he really goes after it.

Keatts took a very good Hargrave program and made it one of the elite teams in the country as PG basketball programs go so I would not be surprised to see his name popping up. He is a very good evaluator of talent but also he is able to extract the very best out of players as well

Hmmm.... and what is this Keatts character's opinion of Jesus?

Not sure myself but he did star at Heritage High School in Lynchburg according to his bio

You guys are such haters...get over the McKay thing already. Hes a great coach..would love to have him back any day.

never been a McKay hater bballfan...cant speak for the others though. Keatts I think would be a very good fit here not only for his coaching success but his local ties as well

bballfan84 wrote:You guys are such haters...get over the McKay thing already. Hes a great coach..would love to have him back any day.

I have never said one cross word about Ritchie so I know that wasn't directed at me. But I wish him well. I would love if he got the ODU job to be truthful. I hope someone I know personally gets it. It would be nice to have all-access to that program. It is a really good job to get in my opinion.

Keatts is a good guy Luconn. I know where you were going with your question (not that you were trying to hide it) but I don't think he would be interested.

I took a bit of a jab at Richie in the OP over the fact that when he left he said he no longer felt the need to be the man in charge and believed he would be continuing his career behind the scenes as an assistant from here on. Like I said, maybe he is a quick learner.

ODU fans have every right to be hesitant in hiring Richie. he's a good coach no denying that but he has a history of jumping everywhere he goes and he played the God card at two schools here and at New Mexico.

Doubt he gets a serious look and im not a hater either.

Somebody recently mentioned to me that trying to get BeTray back was the right move. I loved him when he was here and I loved what he was doing here, but it was just a sour ending. It truly was abandoning. How could you turn the keys back over to a guy who did that? How could he even recruit people to a school that he's already ditched once?

I would really like to know someday what that resignation was like. How did Barber take it and what did he say? Did Ritchie call or did he do it face to face? Maybe one of them will write a memoir one day.

Any program should be hesitant to hire Richie...I was a little bit at first and then I bought the whole God card thing hook, line and sinker.

He is a great recruiter and an average coach. That is good enough for him to land another head coaching gig somewhere, but he has ADD.

thepostman wrote:I bought the whole God card thing hook, line and sinker.

.

That's rule #1. Never fall for that. You have only yourself to blame.

Normally I don't buy crap like that, but for some reason I believed it. Then when he got Seth Curry to come to Liberty I REALLY believed it....haha

It will never happen again that is for sure!!

I wouldn´t call the things Richie said about being called to LU and it being the perfect fit for him, etc., etc., etc. crap per se. I believe he was completely sincere when he said it and just as sincere in his rationalization for leaving.

I think some people who are truly seeking the will of God get too cought up in new opportunities and don´t give enough consideration to existing responsibilities. They feel that if there is an ¨open door¨ it must be God who put it there, when in fact that is not always the case.

I hate how he left, but if he wanted to come back (really big if IMHO) and I were JB, I would listen to what he had to say. I believe RMK is one of the few coaches around who has the combination of credability and charisma to convince elite christian players to come to a place like LU when they have the option to go to a program in a major conference.

If you have coached here before and left, I'm pretty sure I'm not interested in having you return as a coach.

LU MBB does have a history of coaches with more than one coaching stint...just saying'....

Somewhere, Billy Martin is smiling

SCAR wrote:

bballfan84 wrote:You guys are such haters...get over the McKay thing already. Hes a great coach..would love to have him back any day.

I have never said one cross word about Ritchie so I know that wasn't directed at me. But I wish him well. I would love if he got the ODU job to be truthful. I hope someone I know personally gets it. It would be nice to have all-access to that program. It is a really good job to get in my opinion.

Keatts is a good guy Luconn. I know where you were going with your question (not that you were trying to hide it) but I don't think he would be interested.

Naa not you SCAR..still some bitter people on here though. Too blind to see the fact that hes a good coach and Seth Curry leaving was bad for our program. Anyways I hope he gets the job. Thats a great job, despite their record that team has a lot of talent.

Here's an interesting case study someone asked me to share that has a parallel:

Larry Shyatt at Wyoming in 1997 signs a 5 year contract and then has a 19-9 season in his first year earning a trip to the NIT. Takes the job at Clemson the very next year. Only coached 1 of those 5 years. Shyatt files a lawsuit after leaving trying to get his buyout revoked. They eventually settle out of court and he has to pay the school some money. He bombs at Clemson. Gets an assistant job at Florida and in 2011 Wyoming gets him back as their HC and is 36-14 since.

So it's not exactly the same. The main difference is probably the 14 years to get over it instead of 4, but it's an interesting similarity.

Havent there been some issues with Keatts in the past? I would think ODU would want a squeaky clean start. One leg up McKay might have is that the ODU AD is a UVA Alum. Thats gotta work out well for Ritche.

None that I can tell...he ran a tight ship at Hargrave (course its a military school so EVERYTHING is a tight ship) and I dont recall any problems coming up.