Figured the board was slow enough for this to have its own thread.

Interesting situation for Texas. If you were them, do you make Terry the permanent coach? Does winning tonight or Sunday change that?

Winning today may force Texas' hand, and I'd be thrilled with an Elite 8. However I think Texas would be better served bringing in another top coach who can recruit (both in the portal and high school) at the level Beard was.

Terry is making it tough on Texas to not think strongly about retaining him, but he was handed an experienced, loaded team. Next year will be a different animal.

How much of a hand did he have in recruiting the talent?

more times than not moves to hire a coach who is interim doesn't work but there are a few exceptions such as steve fisher of michigan. texas wins tonight i have a hard time believing based on all criteria's in play at this moment in history that he won't be retained.

He's also reportedly a candidate at Penn State and Cal, though I'm sure that's at least partially his agent trying to put pressure on Texas to get a deal done.

I said coming into the tournament that I hoped Texas would do just well enough that they have to keep him.

Maybe he really is a good coach now, but I think I'll take my chances with him running the show there rather than whoever they might hire.

I would usually choose to continue with the status quo I think, unless you have available some inside information that things arent going well off the court with like recruiting or transfers or something like that.

Elevating an assistant means you don't need to start over, you don't have the built in excuse of a year off while everyone leaves and you get new players and are installing new systems and you have a **** year or two **** years. Secondly, elevating an assistant, I think comes implicitly with a cheaper price tag and a higher baseline level of expectations. If the assistant doesn't do well, it doesn't look as bad to move on faster than you would a new hire who you'd be giving a chance to build a program.

A couple caveats. First is that since he's an interim coach, its really not clear how much credit he should get vs how much should go to groundwork laid by the former head coach. And secondly,Terry already has a head coaching track record, so that could swing the decision either way, but I'm not sure it's all that bad, particularly the job he did at Fresno State. I bet Texas would probably prefer, all things considered, to hire someone else, so I think definitely wouldnt expect him back with a loss tonight, and maybe not without a trip to the Final Four, at which point I think their hand is forced.

I think it's interesting to compare/contrast this situation with Mark Adams at Tech. Even though Adams didn't have to take over in an interim capacity, there was the same kind of internal push from players/donors etc to make him the head coach. That one didn't work out, but I can still understand why they did it.

Here you have a similar situation but the added layer of how far they've come this season. Terry isn't an alum like Adams, but he was at Texas for a decade under Barnes and a lot of former players are supporting him.

Beard leaving a wake of tough decisions.

If it was my decision, I'd go with Terry even after a loss tonight, I think, but I don't think that's a move the athletic department at Texas wants to make.

I don't think The Powers That Be in hippieville really want him as HC.

But more wins makes it tougher to not hire him.

I think Del Conte has a bit of an ego, which is one of the main reasons why it hasn't happened yet. I'm sure he thinks he can get a splash/A+ type hire that's a lot more exciting to him than just promoting the interim.

My Texas buddies think it hasn't happened yet because they don't want to distract everyone from the moment, but it's become such a talking point for the local and national media that IMO it's becoming more of a talking point now that they haven't promoted him yet.

Interesting dilemma . If they win it all I think it's gotta be a done deal. I don't know a lot about him but it seems like he's handled things well and they could do a lot worse and their past "splash" hires haven't ultimately worked out well for whatever reasons…. Kinda similar to most of our "splash" football hires seemingly.

I don't think we have enough information to say.

Who else you think, or know, you can get is going to play a big part in the decision.

I'm pretty sure he was part of the recruiting under Barnes, that resulted in KD and others. Obviously the recruiting landscape is a lot different now, but I don't think he's some lackluster recruiter.

I agree with the thought Del Conte wants a more splash hire, but I think Terry is forcing his hand here.

bobinator said:

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Figured the board was slow enough for this to have its own thread.

Interesting situation for Texas. If you were them, do you make Terry the permanent coach? Does winning tonight or Sunday change that?

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He's coaching with Beard's players; so who knows if he can really coach with his own players. With them headed to the SEC, they sure have a lot to think about. What's more interesting is they'll be facing off against Beard in the near future.

Texas is the best job in the state. They can do better than Terry, and I think they will, unless he makes it to Houston.

When Sampson is done at Cougar High his kid will take over.

My dad was a Fresno State grad and a basketball booster for many years, so I followed Terry pretty closely while he was there. He's not a bad coach, but I don't see him being a long term solution for a program like that. If Texas wants to be consistently elite, they're going to need an elite coach and Terry isn't an elite coach.

Know Your Enemy said:

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When Sampson is done at Cougar High his kid will take over.

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I think he means they make the final 4, which is in Houston

JDCAG (NOT Colin) said:

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Know Your Enemy said:

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When Sampson is done at Cougar High his kid will take over.

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I think he means they make the final 4, which is in Houston

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Yeah, that makes more sense.

if they win tonight, you have to hire him

Best job in the state is in the eyes of the beholder. By what measure do you make that pronouncement? If it's program success then that may be true but it's debatable .

Beyond that, top coaches really have no reason to limit their potential employment to within particular state boundaries

I heard he has to get back to running Los Pollos Hermanos

Texags Meltdown said:

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I heard he has to get back to running Los Pollos Hermanos

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POTD

Fairview20 said:

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I think Del Conte has a bit of an ego, which is one of the main reasons why it hasn't happened yet. I'm sure he thinks he can get a splash/A+ type hire that's a lot more exciting to him than just promoting the interim.

My Texas buddies think it hasn't happened yet because they don't want to distract everyone from the moment, but it's become such a talking point for the local and national media that IMO it's becoming more of a talking point now that they haven't promoted him yet.

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Like Smart and Beard?

I'll add: CDC can't keep his job by putting a default choice in if it fails to fill their new event center…but the risk is losing what is working and still failing to fill the new event center…

Texas has the brand, the resources, a new arena and a city that isn't Lubbock, Waco, or College Station.

Based off accomplishment, sure Baylor has a title and a ton of success, and what Scott Drew has done there is nothing short of a miracle but I wouldn't put it ahead of the Texas job.

Houston has some history, and the best city for recruiting local talent, but it's still UoH and small on the national level, and I don't see that changing with their move to the Big12.

Tech is an excellent place for basketball, but Lubbock is probably the toughest place to recruit and like UoH, doesn't have the national branding like Texas, or even Baylor for that matter. There's a reason Beard left Tech for Texas, and it had very little to do with it being his alma mater.

Sure, a coach doesn't specifically look at a state when determining a job, but schools in Texas pay BIG money for college athletics. And for a state that has only produced two titles in its history, it's full of jobs that are highly desirable.

All good responses . I don't disagree it's probably the easiest job to succeed at and yet many good coaches have not succeeded enough to make the powers that be there happy. As you say there are a lot of good jobs & there's room for up to 4-5 very successful programs.

As far as the city , I don't like Austin. It was ok at one time but now I view it as a mess from several angles and getting worse. Several historically good programs have been in smaller towns. Lawrence, Bloomington , Chappell Hill, Fayetteville, etc. I suppose a big city is a plus from having a built in fan base to attend games but I also think the old adage "win and they will come" is also true.

halfastros81 said:

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Best job in the state is in the eyes of the beholder. By what measure do you make that pronouncement? If it's program success then that may be true but it's debatable .

Beyond that, top coaches really have no reason to limit their potential employment to within particular state boundaries

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Texas made the Dance 24 of 27 years under Penders and Barnes. Shaka made it 3/5 (not counting the covid year), and Beard/Terry two in a row. So that's 29 of the last 34 years the tourney has been held Texas has been in the Dance, stretching over five coaches, including an interim coach.

That's pretty good evidence that taking the Texas job guarantees a floor of success for a coach given built in recruiting advantages (vs Texas competitors, not the blue bloods). Add in the athletic facility support, and the ability to pay coaches, I'd say it's up there.

Over those 29 tournament appearances, Texas only has one Final 4, three Elite 8s, and 4 Sweet 16s. So for top pay, you can take a gig that appears to have a built in floor, and only moderate success from the last 5 coaches from that floor.

It looks like a cush gig without blue blood expectations beyond winning a few games in the Dance every few tourneys or so. That's not to say that other schools haven't done more with less and have better programs right now in-state (Baylor, UH).

I've always said every job is basically only as good as the coach that currently has it, but if every school in Texas were looking for a coach at the same time I don't doubt that Texas would be most potential coach's first choice.

On what planet is Austin better than Waco, Lubbock, or College Station?

On what planet is tu more of a storied basketball program than the UH?

12thMan9 said:

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On what planet is Austin better than Waco, Lubbock, or College Station?

On what planet is tu more of a storied basketball program than the UH?

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Earth.

Also the question was which program was a better gig rather than which one was more storied. So Earth and wrong question.

I'm glad Sampson brought UH back to life, but that was a minor miracle by a coach who appeared to be on his way down (fired by OU, Indiana, etc.) like Knight at Tech without the miracle. UH also hired Penders a few years after he was fired at Texas. We'll see if the nepotism/son thing works out better for UH than it did Tech.

UH has to be feeling pretty good about not only having Sampson, but joining KU and the Big 12 next season. Good for the Coogs. It was a long time coming since Phi Slama Jama. I hope they win it all if Texas doesn't (which Texas won't).

- Rodney Terry record at Fresno and UTEP combined - 184-163 (53%). First years at those schools (21-41) skewed that record.
- His Texas bio talks about his recruiting prowess. As an assistant under Rick Barnes a total of 10 McDonald's All-Americans signed with the whorns.
- tu signed the #5 and #16 players in the nation last year and the #6 and #18 in 2023.

rlb28 said:

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- Rodney Terry record at Fresno and UTEP combined - 184-163 (53%). First years at those schools (21-41) skewed that record.
- His Texas bio talks about his recruiting prowess. As an assistant under Rick Barnes a total of 10 McDonald's All-Americans signed with the whorns.
- tu signed the #5 and #16 players in the nation last year and the #6 and #18 in 2023.

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Yeah, that's what worries me. Beard had it rolling between the portal and recruiting.

I'm afraid Terry might be more like Adams when it comes to fans wanting the assistant to be the real power behind the throne. Barnes kept rolling at Tenn. while hardly missing a beat. I suspect Beard will do better than Adams wherever Beard lands.

That being said if Terry gets the Horns to the Final Four this year I'd take another Shaka type run with Terry of a few Dances with no wins before going with another splash hire. And who knows, maybe Terry will prove to be better than Barnes or Beard, I just wouldn't count on it.

That's a good point about the almost blue blood advantages without the blue blood expectations but they have let good coaches go.