Heartiest congratulations to Vic and his team! Beating UCONN, ending their historic streak, and earning a shot at the national championship constitute a trifecta of magnificent accomplishments, and all were accomplished the same night.

Coach Vic has made his own way at MSU, combining hard work with coaching brilliance. I absolutely can not see him walking away from what he has built there to return to Aggieland.

Grammar edit.

He will come home when we come calling. Blair will leave a program that was in much better shape than MSU, and we will have better resources. Blair can't coach much longer and Vic could build a huge legacy here in his alma mater. Plus we can pay more. Why would he not come home?

I think his daughter has one more year. After that I don't see why he would not consider a call from the Ags.

Also, how amazing would it be as a dad to coach your daughter in a national championship game in basketball or any sport. What an amazing opportunity. Wish he was doing it here.

Anyone know how the son is doing? I think he is the twin of the daughter who plays and had a close brush with death and a brain injury (I think it was at a church camp?) while Vic was here?

You don't think that's a better program? He made it better.

Isn't our next class rated in TOP TEN ?

jja79 said:

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You don't think that's a better program? He made it better.

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My point is that pulling Vic back to A&M likely isn't as hard as pulling guys away from blue bloods such as Kansas or Indiana. Mississippi State is not on the level of those two programs. Not the same comparison

I do think Vic deserved to be a head coach but as I said way back when Blair should have made him head coach-designate and then bowed out after an appropriate period. But I think, and Blair has said, he's enjoying himself too much to hang it up then - or now. Certainly no one deserves it more - as long as it doesn't adversely impact the future of the program.

That said, when he does, I'd hope Vic would be number 1 on the list, that as an Aggie he'd want to come home, and the athletic department would resource him and the program commensurately with his proven ability.

bball73 said:

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I do think Vic deserved to be a head coach but as I said way back when Blair should have made him head coach-designate and then bowed out after an appropriate period. But I think, and Blair has said, he's enjoying himself too much to hang it up then - or now. Certainly no one deserves it more - as long as it doesn't adversely impact the future of the program.

That said, when he does, I'd hope Vic would be number 1 on the list, that as an Aggie he'd want to come home, and the athletic department would resource him and the program commensurately with his proven ability.

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When I saw this thread had been bumped, I halfway expected it to be a "Fire Vic" post for not playing Morgan William in the 4th quarter.

The problem with the coach-designate thing is that a commitment from Gary to make Vic HC in waiting would be meaningless. Others in the AD, the university, and probably the Regents would have to sign onto it, and I'm not sure when you were thinking this should have happened: before or after the 2011 NC?

I think before would have been viewed as presumptuous. It being an Aggie sport with a board on TexAgs, there were potbangers who were already down on the staff after the early exits prior to the 2011 NC. I guessed at how far back to look on TexAgs and ran stuff like this thread and this one, for example. After the 2008 Elite 8, we had not made it past the S16 despite having 2 seeds in 2009 and 2010. There were even some who said that Vic was overrated - citing the fact that he hadn't landed a HC job as evidence!

After, we were in a time of unstable leadership in the University and the Athletic Dept, given that Byrne wasn't fully on board with the move to the SEC and retired early. I had already forgotten that when he stepped down, there was even conflict between him and Loftin about the how the decision was made.

So when Vic left it was only one season after the NC just before Byrne left.

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When Vic left and took Johnnie Harris, MaryAnne Baker and Skylar Collins with him, we were happy for him.

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Don't forget Aqua Franklin

Rudybryan said:

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When Vic left and took Johnnie Harris, MaryAnne Baker and Skylar Collins with him, we were happy for him.

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Don't forget Aqua Franklin

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Vic swiped her from Kansas, not from here. She went back to KU as Associate HC when Brandon Schneider, who was Aqua's boss at SFA, took the Jayhawks job in 2015.

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He's building his own legacy. A move on our end is overdue.

Oklahoma State hasn't gotten Bill Self to come home. Ohio State never got Bobby Knight to go home. Oklahoma never got Darrell K. Royal to go home. Tech never got Gary Blair to go home.

Maybe it will happen but I wouldn't consider it a given.

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had to laugh at your choices there. yeah its shocking someone wouldnt leave those dumpster fire programs like kansas and indiana.

The NCAA very carefully restricted the use of the Head Coach in Waiting concept in football. It's probably a bad idea regardless.

Vic proved he deserved a chance earlier but in all honesty it's very tough that there are no female basketball head coaches in the NCAA (or NBA) while there are men HCs in women's basketball at both levels. There must be the presumption that the women who were hired over Vic were considered to be better fits for the schools that offered them.

Has any coach that's been named HCIW actually ever taken over that program.

BQ_90 said:

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Has any coach that's been named HCIW actually ever taken over that program.

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http://newsok.com/article/5336961

The story mentions football examples:
Jimbo Fisher at FSU
Chip Kelly at Oregon
Bret Bielema at Wisconsin
Joker Phillips at Kentucky
Danny Hope at Purdue
Dana Holgerson at West Virginia

Remember that this HCIW stuff has dropped off after the NCAA put extra recruiting restrictions on them.

And note how few of these are still at the places they took over.

virginia tech's d coordinator also, right?

AnalogyAg said:

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virginia tech's d coordinator also, right?

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No, Foster is still the D coordinator for Justin Fuente

ahh, thanks

So when Pat Knight took over at Tech and Sean Sutton at OSU was it just some sort of informal understanding?

lab123 said:

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So when Pat Knight took over at Tech and Sean Sutton at OSU was it just some sort of informal understanding?

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Interesting question. Via Googling, Pat Knight

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"[Texas Tech athletic director] Gerald Myers called me in and said they didn't want me to leave, they wanted me to be the next coach," Pat Knight said Saturday night, shortly after the school had officially announced he would succeed his father whenever Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight retires.

"I signed the contract a few weeks ago and we were just waiting for the Board of Regents to pass it," said Pat Knight, 35. Knight said he signed a five-year contract, which would start whenever he takes over as head coach. "I've known since the spring that this was going to be done.

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The article says Sutton was the model. Sutton timeline

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May 26, 2004: Harry Birdwell, then OSU athletic director, asks regents for approval to negotiate a contract ensuring that Sutton will succeed his father.

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So, in both cases, they got the AD and the Regents to put it in writing.

And it didn't work out so well in either case.

Oklahoma State and Ohio State have some history as well. I hope he comes back but first we need an opening. The longer that takes the more entrenched he is at Mississippi State.