[Chris Lang]

That was posted Friday evening.

I'll do my best to report names as I hear them. But as far as stalking out campus all week, that's going to be a tough task for me. I'm the paper's Hillcats writer, too, and with four home games and preview stuff to write, I won't be on campus too much this week.

And believe what you want on Pennell, but I'm hearing from two fairly rock solid sources that he has no interest in the job, at least not right now.

[Hold My Own]

I would be surprised if it's not 1 of the 3 that CL posted

[PAmedic]

I would be surprised if it's not 1 of the 3 that CL posted

Forgive me for thinking that none of the three listed will be coaching for us next year.

this is gonna be good. I can't wait.

[Hold My Own]

As of right now in my opinion Soucie is who the program needs...seal up some of the recruits that are on the fence...great guy and will do things the right way...I just dont see the DL thing happening as much as I'd like that but I like Souice just as much


And I'm not a fan of telling new HC's they have to take an assistant but I would strongly encourage 1 or 2 guys on staff now and Hildo...again that's simply my opinion

[Hold My Own]

I would be surprised if it's not 1 of the 3 that CL posted

Forgive me for thinking that none of the three listed will be coaching for us next year.

this is gonna be good. I can't wait.

You realize the percentages are with him! I mean taking the field is always the safe bet and generally the smart one!

[Sly Fox]

For the record, our AD has been either playing this VERY close to the vest or the candidates mentioned most in this thead appea to be the frontrunners.

[Rooster Cogburn]

I would be surprised if it's not 1 of the 3 that CL posted

Forgive me for thinking that none of the three listed will be coaching for us next year.

this is gonna be good. I can't wait.

Love a good fight hey medic?

[belcherboy]

As of right now in my opinion Soucie is who the program needs...seal up some of the recruits that are on the fence...great guy and will do things the right way...I just dont see the DL thing happening as much as I'd like that but I like Souice just as much


And I'm not a fan of telling new HC's they have to take an assistant but I would strongly encourage 1 or 2 guys on staff now and Hildo...again that's simply my opinion

Good call! That is what I've thought all along. I would love to hit the HOME RUN and get a big name, but at this point, let's just get Soucie and worry about a big name later. I think we would recover faster under him right now. I just don't want to see us drop to the bottom for a few years with a new coach trying to teach a new program and the time it would take to recruit kids that fit that program.

[Ed Dantes]

let's just get Soucie and worry about a big name later. .

Ohhh, that won't cause any problems down the road... ("We have the chance to get a big name, so let's get rid of our current head coach")

Ask Morgan Hout how that worked out.

[Rooster Cogburn]

You know, I have no idea if this could happen or not, but the thought of what I'm about to post appeals to me. So follow along.

LU is a younger school with a younger athletic program. Therefore we do not really have any Head Coach level guys floating around College Basketball right now who are former players. Yea, I know there are some former players who are or have been coaches (Scar, Leary, Hildo, Jason Allison, Julius, etc.), but no one with big time experience ready to step in as the HC.

We all want the program to grow and be more and more successful. We all want to eventually see LU win championships regularly (at whatever level). The way to do that is to hire highly experienced, highly talented coaches and recruiters with connections like Coach McKay. The problem is that right now none of these guys have any kind of family feeling about LU. We all thought RMK did (because he said so) but it turned out that the draw of lifetime friendships is stronger than the draw of 2 years in a Godly environment. So if we can’t keep a guy like Ritchie here with the draw of who we are as a school, then it will be difficult to keep anyone who is not truly an LU Guy.

The other option is to hire someone with less experience and fewer connections who is an LU alum. The problem is that it would take a ton of time to build with this kind of coach, and I don’t think any of us are willing to take that kind of step back.

So, I present my idea. I think Barber should go out fairly quickly and find another big time guy to lead us forward and keep the momentum going. Hopefully this saves some of the recruits and he can bring in some too if needed. We all need to accept the reality up front that this guy may not be here more than 2 or 3 years. This is the reality of being at the level and conference affiliation we currently are. This coach should come in and be able to hire his 2 top assistants as he wills. Then I think it would be good if JB would be able to require this coach to select 1 assistant from a list of LU alum coaches. OK stop throwing rocks and bear with me. Again I don’t know if this can work contractually, but I think it works to build a long term solution to possibly getting a long term coach. The assistant comes in and gets some real experience, and then maybe is ready by the time big time guy is ready to jump to the ACC.

OK Commence rock tossing! I’m Ready!

[Th3rd]

i think the new coach is someone we haven't said yet. my thinking behind this is if JB went to the Final Four to talk it up, then why would he come back and then end up hiring Soucie or Layer, unless he got completely shut down at the Final Four, i somehow think when he comes back there will be a new name that pops up

[olldflame]

I posted something similar about having at least 1 LU alum on staff Rooster. I don't think there are any contractual issues, as long as it is spelled out in the interview process that this would be a condition for hiring. While the standard procedure is for a new coach to have total autonomy in selecting his staff, it is not that unusual to require something like this. More commonly it involves the retention of a long time assistant on the current staff. I agree that LU's unique student environment and where we are positioned in basketball makes having an alum on staff a real asset. Having one or more has been the rule rather than the exception in the course of our program, but the last alum to coach here was Leary, I believe in 05.

[Hold My Own]

It's more important to find a good fit then to find the big name. That's why past records, while matter are not the entire story. If you get the right fit here special things can happen.

JB was going to the F4 no matter what...the timing just couldnt be any better b/c without a doubt JB is meeting with a lot of people for advice and direction.

I would like to ask this question. What is the obsession with LU people and big names? Maybe everybody's fans are the same thinking a big name will solve everything but I have the feeling that other places are a little smarter about finding the right fit rather then the right name. Just never have understood about the big names around here.

You can give me a no name guy who's a great fit and going to do things the right way and we'll be just fine, promise you that.

[Rooster Cogburn]

My point is that a big name WILL leave sooner rather than later. An if the Admin is set on a big name, we should add an LU guy as a assistant to train and be ready to step in and lead for the longer term.

[Th3rd]

HMO, i wasn't saying that a big name would be a great fit, just that i think unless JB gets shut down he will return with at least one big name on his list of possibilities. i would much rather have a no name guy who would be here for 20+ years and build our program, then a big name guy who would be here for 2-3 years and then leave for a better job

[Hold My Own]

I wasnt saying you...I'm still trying to wrap my head around some of the names that have been thrown out there.


but I will say this: I just dont want anyone to ever think that a Brad Soucie or someone like that was a last resort b/c "we got shut down at the F4"....in my opinion he's going to be the man to beat for this job

[Th3rd]

I wasnt saying you...I'm still trying to wrap my head around some of the names that have been thrown out there.


but I will say this: I just dont want anyone to ever think that a Brad Soucie or someone like that was a last resort b/c we got shut down at the F4....in my opinion he's going to be the man to beat for this job

idk, soucie is great no doubt, i am just worried that he gets the job and then McKay gets another 'call' from God (or an AD from a big time school willing to pay more money) and takes that job and Soucie leaves to be the assistant coach at that school

[Hold My Own]

Your 100% correct with that concern. It's possible. He's proven he has no problem to move mean while you have people like DL who always talk about how much they hate moving. There are pro's and their are con's but IMO the biggest pro going for Soucie is securing these recruits....if we dont do that we may slip another 2 years behind

[SuperJon]

Let's look at our AD's track record.

Two years ago, we let go of our basketball coach. There is an ACC assistant on the bench that would've made a great head coach. He didn't promote him. Went outside of the staff.

Baseball coach steps down. Did not promote an assistant or go after a former assistant. Went outside of the staff.

Women's soccer coach steps down. There is a very capable assistant that could easily take over the program for "continuity." He didn't promote him. Went outside of the staff.

I just don't see him promoting an assistant. If he promotes Soucie, we're in this position in three years again because when McKay gets another head coaching job, Soucie is gone.

[Hold My Own]

Your correct about the track record that's for sure. Not to mention the way the stars are aligning then it wouldnt surprise me at all if a splash was made...that wouldnt be best for our program but would serve for other purposes

[Rocketfan]

Your 100% correct with that concern. It's possible. He's proven he has no problem to move mean while you have people like DL who always talk about how much they hate moving. There are pro's and their are con's but IMO the biggest pro going for Soucie is securing these recruits....if we dont do that we may slip another 2 years behind

I disagree, we have seen in the past JUCO kids mixed in brought us a BS championship. Plus if a kid leaves, maybe the new coach can get an actual post. Unless Soucie plans on running the same style as Mckay we are in trouble with these guys anyway.

[Rooster Cogburn]

Let's look at our AD's track record.

Two years ago, we let go of our basketball coach. There is an ACC assistant on the bench that would've made a great head coach. He didn't promote him. Went outside of the staff.

Baseball coach steps down. Did not promote an assistant or go after a former assistant. Went outside of the staff.

Women's soccer coach steps down. There is a very capable assistant that could easily take over the program for "continuity." He didn't promote him. Went outside of the staff.

I just don't see him promoting an assistant. If he promotes Soucie, we're in this position in three years again because when McKay gets another head coaching job, Soucie is gone.

Well Said! I jsut don't see Soucie or Layer myself!

[Fumblerooskies]

He may not have had much of a choice with the W-Soccer position...it was long overdue to get a female HC on staff in at least one sport.

[Th3rd]

i got to say that if current recruits are the only reason we hire, then we need to re-focus our search for a HC. the guys we got coming in are good no doubt, but if they leave because they don't like the guy we hire, o well. if we get a guy who is halfway decent, then i think 90% of our recruits stay

[Hold My Own]

Your 100% correct with that concern. It's possible. He's proven he has no problem to move mean while you have people like DL who always talk about how much they hate moving. There are pro's and their are con's but IMO the biggest pro going for Soucie is securing these recruits....if we dont do that we may slip another 2 years behind

I disagree, we have seen in the past JUCO kids mixed in brought us a BS championship. Plus if a kid leaves, maybe the new coach can get an actual post. Unless Soucie plans on running the same style as Mckay we are in trouble with these guys anyway.

JUCO kids and finding kids that fit here rarely happen. Thats why RMK was so against JUCO kids and you can only find a couple through his career coaching