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Texas A&M Basketball

Rick Stansbury hired as final basketball assistant

May 7, 2014
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Rick Stansbury — the former head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs — visited Billy Kennedy in College Station on Friday last week to interview for the final assistant coaching spot on the Texas A&M basketball staff.

On Wednesday, it became official: Stansbury will be hired to fill the position. 

Stansbury, who decided to retire from coaching in 2012, has remained prominent around the college basketball world and kept track of everything that has occurred throughout the past two seasons. While he chose to end his career to enter 'the next stage of his life,' he hasn't forgotten everything he knows about college basketball since that time.

During his years leading the program from 1998 to 2012, Mississippi State won more games than any SEC program not named Kentucky of Florida. In fact, during his tenure as head coach of the Bulldogs, Stansbury went 293-166.

But that's just conference play jargon. What about the postseason?

Stansbury won a number of conference games, but he also made it a habit to extend his team's play into Spring Break. In 14 years as head coach, Stansbury's teams made trips to the postseason 11 times — six NCAA Tournament appearances and five visits to the NIT. Included among those are the four SEC tournament final games he led the Bulldogs to, two of which he won.
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Rick Stansbury hired as final basketball assistant

20,767 Views | 113 Replies | Last: 10 yr ago by rainag78
Logan Lee
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3:37p, 5/7/14
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Rick Stansbury hired as final basketball assistant
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THE LOVER
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3:44p, 5/7/14
Strange for both parties. Is a better coach then Kennedy.
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viva torrente
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3:47p, 5/7/14
I think he will make a decent interim when we finally **** can BK during the season.
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THE LOVER
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3:49p, 5/7/14
Good point^. Guy had pretty uneven teams but is better then Kennedy.
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Pumpkinhead
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3:52p, 5/7/14
AG
Interesting. Did not see this coming. Was assuming Cole.

I'd put this in the 'good' off-season news bin, to go along with Trocha getting in and the scheduling being better.

There is now a .638 head coach on the staff of the .5whateverthedecimalsare coach.

[This message has been edited by Pumpkinhead (edited 5/7/2014 2:56p).]
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THE LOVER
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3:53p, 5/7/14
Will be interesting to see how much it took.
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Tango Mike
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3:53p, 5/7/14
wacarnolds
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3:56p, 5/7/14
AG
Has somewhat of a dirty rep around the SEC, but I've not seen any specific claims. I personally do not mind our coaches pushing the boundaries (due to the hypocritical nature of the NCAA) but I know a lot of people here boast about "doing things the right way" so this makes it an interesting hire.

He had quite a bit of success at Mississippi State, but by the end of his run, people were using statements like “the NCAA’s most dysfunctional program”, “the most unorganized, dysfunctional good team in America” and “heartless” to describe his team.
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Houstonag
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4:00p, 5/7/14
AG
I like his record. Cannot argue with the numbers.
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Pumpkinhead
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4:01p, 5/7/14
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quote:
but by the end of his run, people were using statements like “the NCAA’s most dysfunctional program”, “the most unorganized, dysfunctional good team in America” and “heartless” to describe his team.


Bunch of posters here seemed to love the idea of hiring Howland, and the last few years of his UCLA tenure were portrayed pretty badly.

We got an assistant coach on our staff who has coached more teams to the NCAA during his career than Mark Turgeon has. This is way better than I thought for filling out the open assistant coaching spot.

So, now the coaching staff changes are:

Reese -> Rahim
Cyprien -> Stansbury

Losing Jamal Jones yesterday though still completely sucks. Otherwise, I could maybe get a bit more intrigued by this today, but hard to forget right now about the Jamal loss.


[This message has been edited by Pumpkinhead (edited 5/7/2014 3:04p).]
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viva torrente
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4:01p, 5/7/14
quote:
people were using statements like “the NCAA’s most dysfunctional program”, “the most unorganized, dysfunctional good team in America” and “heartless” to describe his team.


He'll fit right in with BK.
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Pumpkinhead
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4:07p, 5/7/14
AG
quote:
but by the end of his run, people were using statements like “the NCAA’s most dysfunctional program”, “the most unorganized, dysfunctional good team in America” and “heartless” to describe his team.


He still coached that disfunctional program his last year to 21 wins and the NIT, more than Kennedy has done here.

And Stansbury is actually still just a relatively young 54 years old. While Cyprien was most known as being an ace recruiter, Stansbury brings more to the table in terms of game prep and the bench IMO.

This definitely seems a way better deal than had we just permanently promoted Cole.

[This message has been edited by Pumpkinhead (edited 5/7/2014 3:11p).]
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THE LOVER
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4:12p, 5/7/14
I think it will be a strange fit. Way more fire on the sidelines than Kennedy and knows how to use time-outs to try and stop bleeding. I think Kennedy will drive him nuts.
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wacarnolds
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4:12p, 5/7/14
AG
quote:
This definitely seems a way better deal than had we just permanently promoted Cole.

Agree completely.
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agfan92
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4:13p, 5/7/14
AG
Good or bad, this staff and team will definitely have a different look next season. Not exactly the changes most of us expected (or even hoped for).

Good luck to the guy, though. At least he won't have to buy a bunch of new ties.
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viva torrente
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4:14p, 5/7/14
Unless BK lets him run the practices and in-game coaching, I do not see much difference between him and Cole.

He is definitely a better coach than BK. The best bet for success would be to have BK realize it is not going to happen and give up or the AD realizing that and firing him. Then we could let Stansbury run the team in the interim.

As long as BK is actually running the show, there will be no improvement (remember there could still be more transfers).

[This message has been edited by viva torrente (edited 5/7/2014 3:15p).]
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Pumpkinhead
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4:16p, 5/7/14
AG
This is such a good hire in terms of an assistant coach, given Stansbury's background and experience...I'm actually suspicious that this is not some sort of 'succession' plan deliberately being put into place.

Stansbury actually has a better overall resume over his career than our current coach or even Turgeon or BCG. Dude has numerous NCAA and NIT skins on the wall. And lots of skins on the wall specifically winning in the SEC. And he is still relatively young at 54...

Pretty dang interesting hire.


[This message has been edited by Pumpkinhead (edited 5/7/2014 3:18p).]
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ebag02
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4:20p, 5/7/14
AG
Maybe Kennedy is just going to sit back and relax. Stansbury can probably coach this team to the NIT. Any interference by Kennedy increases his chances of getting fired, although as long as Kennedy continues to lose the right way his job is safe.
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mikesyracuse1
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4:32p, 5/7/14
quote:
I'm actually suspicious that this is not some sort of 'succession' plan deliberately being put into place.


you should be.

mikesyracuse1
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twenty two ags
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4:33p, 5/7/14
good hire
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viva torrente
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4:45p, 5/7/14
quote:
I'm actually suspicious that this is not some sort of 'succession' plan deliberately being put into place.


We can only hope. BK doesn't have the pull to get a real succession plan in place but I could see Stansbury being part of one for this coming season. I would be totally fine with that.

My dream is that BK medically retires before the season starts and that Stansbury takes over. He either takes this team to the postseason or a new coach comes aboard.

I would much rather roll the dice on Stansbury this up coming season than see another year of BK ball.
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Deputy Travis Junior
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4:50p, 5/7/14
This is a bit of a bizarre hire. His HC resume is much better than Kennedy's and he's a little bit older than Kennedy too. That seems like it's a recipe for butting heads.

I definitely like the experience that he brings to the table, though. I feel like he's a guy that can actually do some legit player development.
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Tango Mike
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4:55p, 5/7/14
I wonder if he can re-recruit Jamal Jones to stay
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viva torrente
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4:56p, 5/7/14
I wonder if what mikesyracuse says is true and this is some sort of succession plan.

I wonder if this is totally BK's idea too. He has an assistant that is so far superior to him it isn't even funny.

Especially the timing after BK lost another player (our leading scorer last season). Maybe someone had enough.
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Pumpkinhead
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5:03p, 5/7/14
AG
quote:
Especially the timing after BK lost another player (our leading scorer last season). Maybe someone had enough.


My guess is that this has been in the works for quite some time, and was part of the calculus for making the decision on Cyprien.

Rahim filled Reese's spot. This is the guy who was probably targeted to replace Cyp all along, and he is a better 'Head coach in waiting' candidate than Cyp was...if you are inclined to speculate on such things.

I doubt they wanted Jamal Jones to be lost as part of this move but unfortunately it played out that way.

[This message has been edited by Pumpkinhead (edited 5/7/2014 4:06p).]
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Pumpkinhead
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5:08p, 5/7/14
AG
quote:
I wonder if he can re-recruit Jamal Jones to stay


Logan said that Jamal's situation first popped up about a week ago and the staff tried to talk him out of it. I can absolutely guarantee that Jamal knew about Stansbury, but apparently it did not change his feelings or motivations for making the decision that he did.
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viva torrente
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5:09p, 5/7/14
Oh I don't think anyone wanted Jones gone. I could see yet another player departure (and a big one) being the catalyst for the AD/BMAs/etc. to tell BK to bring in a very good assistant candidate (not Cole). He did and brought in a guy who is much more qualified to be HC than he is at this point.

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twenty two ags
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5:11p, 5/7/14
if that were true ph, then it wouldnt have been a month+ btwn CYP leaving and Stansbury getting hired. MUCH more likely that it was a fortunate coincidence than a successfully executed plan.
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Know Your Enemy
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5:15p, 5/7/14
AG
Does it even matter?
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viva torrente
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5:16p, 5/7/14
I doubt Stansbury has been the plan for more than a couple of weeks.

I think Stansbury takes the job for the same reason I thought Roman Banks would. Our coaching situation is precarious, with a good chance for the need of an interim HC this season.

Stansbury is probably confident enough in his abilities to think he has a good chance to gain the permanent job.

quote:
Does it even matter?


It doesn't if BK still runs the show but if we wise up and can him midseason, having a guy like Stansbury take over could be a big deal.

[This message has been edited by viva torrente (edited 5/7/2014 4:18p).]
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Pumpkinhead
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5:17p, 5/7/14
AG
quote:
if that were true ph, then it wouldnt have been a month+ btwn CYP leaving and Stansbury getting hired.


Like Junk says, I guess it does not really matter. But I'm basically looking at this as Stansbury replacing Cyp and Rahim replacing Reese...which frankly does not seem too bad a deal all things considered.



[This message has been edited by Pumpkinhead (edited 5/7/2014 4:19p).]
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wacarnolds
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5:20p, 5/7/14
AG
lol at thinking we have an AD dumb enough to let Kennedy pick his successor...
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THE LOVER
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5:23p, 5/7/14
Are you sure?^ Hyman seems to see something in Kennedy that the clear headed people around here don't.
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NoHo Hank
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5:24p, 5/7/14
AG
quote:
quote:
if that were true ph, then it wouldnt have been a month+ btwn CYP leaving and Stansbury getting hired.


Like Junk says, I guess it does not really matter. But I'm basically looking at this as Stansbury replacing Cyp and Rahim replacing Reese...which frankly does not seem too bad a deal all things considered.



[This message has been edited by Pumpkinhead (edited 5/7/2014 4:19p).]

Agreed. I'm pleased with this hire. The nature of it makes me think this is Kennedys last year one way or another.
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AgInMO
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5:31p, 5/7/14
AG
Very good hire.
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