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Sandy will screw up this opportunity

The hope and speculation is that she will not be given the opportunity to screw up the next hire. We are hopeful that Drake's new president has something to do with this. He grew up in Kansas and claims to be a big basketball fan. He was at Gonzaga before Drake, so should have some concept of what a winning program can do for a university.

Drakey wrote:The hope and speculation is that she will not be given the opportunity to screw up the next hire. We are hopeful that Drake's new president has something to do with this. He grew up in Kansas and claims to be a big basketball fan. He was at Gonzaga before Drake, so should have some concept of what a winning program can do for a university.

I thought he was from Kentucky. His undergrad and law degrees are from UK

Some UK. I assume you are right. All I know is he claimed to be a big basketball fan. Kentucky? Even better.

Didn't Giac come from Gonzaga and have some idea what success looked like?

Cdizzle wrote:Didn't Giac come from Gonzaga and have some idea what success looked like?

Yes, but his trajectory at Drake was very similar to his previous head coaching gig at Utah. Each season was worse than the one before.

DUBulldog wrote:

Cdizzle wrote:Didn't Giac come from Gonzaga and have some idea what success looked like?

Yes, but his trajectory at Drake was very similar to his previous head coaching gig at Utah. Each season was worse than the one before.

Just saying the previous comment about the AD wasn't necessarily reason for confidence.

Cdizzle wrote:

DUBulldog wrote:

Cdizzle wrote:Didn't Giac come from Gonzaga and have some idea what success looked like?

Yes, but his trajectory at Drake was very similar to his previous head coaching gig at Utah. Each season was worse than the one before.

Just saying the previous comment about the AD wasn't necessarily reason for confidence.

It was actually the president of the university....and you are correct not necessarily a reason for confidence.

But, compare him with Drake's previous president:

Previous guy did his undergrad at Grinnell (D3), and then worked at Tufts (D3), Whitman (D3) and Johns Hopkins (D3), and wasn't a sports fan.

New guy did undergrad and law school at Kentucky and most of his academic career was at Gonzaga. He also mentioned his love of basketball in many interviews shortly after his hire at Drake.

So, it doesn't necessarily mean a thing, but I know which of those 2 guys is more likely to oversee the rebuild of a basketball program.

IMO, Drake would be more successful trying to emulate Grinnell than UK or GU. Both in that I think D2 or D3 is a better idea, and that even if not, running a gimmicky scheme might be their best way to attract talent above their current level. You might actually be able to find some decent talent that would want to play a fun run-and-gun style, or 40 minutes of hell, or something. D+ wasn't attracting anyone.