Who should be our next head coach!

usuaggies6 · Post by **usuaggies6** » March 27th, 2024, 11:37 pm

Check this out

Isn't that Andy Hill on the far right of this picture? Doesn't seem like a guy who has the job...

hipsterdoofus21 · Post by **hipsterdoofus21** » March 27th, 2024, 11:40 pm

usuaggies6 wrote: ↑
March 27th, 2024, 11:37 pm
Check this out

Isn't that Andy Hill on the far right of this picture? Doesn't seem like a guy who has the job...

he's already got a shirt!

bigblue32 · Post by **bigblue32** » March 27th, 2024, 11:48 pm

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑
March 27th, 2024, 11:40 pm

usuaggies6 wrote: ↑
March 27th, 2024, 11:37 pm
Check this out

Isn't that Andy Hill on the far right of this picture? Doesn't seem like a guy who has the job...
he's already got a shirt!

He took the usu job and already resigned and is now associate head coach in Washington. Makes sense given the current trend of how long coaches have stuck around

PGaggie · Post by **PGaggie** » March 27th, 2024, 11:51 pm

usuaggies6 wrote: ↑
March 27th, 2024, 11:37 pm
Check this out

Isn't that Andy Hill on the far right of this picture? Doesn't seem like a guy who has the job...

Danny did mention in his UW press conference that Andy was up there with him. Probably recruiting him hard to follow up to Seattle.

pono · Post by **pono** » March 28th, 2024, 12:06 am

some insight from a long time Toledo fan on TK (Tod Kowalczyk). He's a great offensive coach who has built a career on relationships and created a really solid family culture at Toledo. Has kept staff long term and had little quality player turnover beyond guys graduating from UT and using their extra COVID yr to make a half mil of so at a P6. He coaches a smooth entertaining style that's a little more athletic version of the Princeton motion offense. On defense he's pretty vanilla and prefers to play clean, not foul and make opponents hit moderately contested shots. Main fan gripes are that he doesn't usually develop enough of a bench and that he hasn't recruited enough interior depth (tough at a mid major).

To understand the no NCAA tourneys and zero NIT wins you need to understand Toledo basketball. It's an historically strong program that was a national power in 40s, was integrated well before that was the norm. In the 60s-80s UT was a mid major power that drew 8,000 fans and routinely hosted and beat Big 10 teams. After the 1981 NCAA trip the curse began. For 43 years UT has continued to be one of the better programs in the league but has never made the dance somehow. This for a USU regional reference is like Weber St or E Washington never getting to the dance for 43 years even though they almost always contend for the Big Sky title. Something always goes wrong and there's enormous pressure come conf tourney time. Every season is considered a failure without breaking the curse and whole thing weighs on the team and fan base. We've been to the NIT a million times and no one wants to play or cheer for those games because it means we just missed the dance, again. During TK's 14 year tenure he took a disaster situation (a hot young ND asst was hired who was a womanizing egomaniac who forced hurt players to play, took side chicks on road trips w the team and graduated no one). TK started w no players and NCAA cut 3 scholarships and gave us a multi-year tourney ban. TK still quickly restored the program. Had a 26 win team with a #34 RPI that didn't get an at-large. Had a strong team watch the conf POY blow out his knee in the MAC tourney quarters, had another strong team lose it's PG as well as nation's #2 rebounder to injury in the quarters (to a concussion in the pregame layup line), had a 27 win team w the nation's longest win streak lose in the conf tourney semis and not get an at-large, and 4 straight conf titles w no conf tourney berth or at large. The curse continues. Personally, I see part of the issue in that he coaches a clean smooth playing style and come postseason the refs swallow their whistles and the gritty bigger physical teams gain an edge.

TK is a positive straightforward guy. He will take time to talk w fans or respond to a letter. He's not a screamer like the UC Irvine HC. Treats his players like young men and equals not kids or beneath him. Big yoga guy who has gotten his players into it over the past 5 or 6 seasons and started to reduce injuries and improve focus. Wisconsin and Ohio his whole life but he's an outdoorsy guy who would prob enjoy USU area. Toledo is an hour from Detroit, 2 from Cleveland and Columbus and 5 from the Chicago metro area and all of Indiana. That's recruiting gold and little reason for a good regional mid major to recruit much elsewhere. His son is a good, not great, D1 prospect. Family enjoys Toledo and intends to retire there even if he chooses to leave for, the likely, final chapter of his college coaching journey.

Roy McAvoy · Post by **Roy McAvoy** » March 28th, 2024, 7:46 am

rAggie wrote: ↑
March 27th, 2024, 6:24 pm
As of this hour I believe Andy Hill is the favorite for getting the job.

Let’s talk a little more about Andy Hill.

He spent 10 years at Utah & was an assistant for some good teams. However, he was part of the Larry K staff that got fired.

He landed at New Mexico where he was there just one year and then joined Sprinkle at Montana st. Why one year at New Mexico? Was he let go or did he leave that job to go to Montana st.?

Roy McAvoy · Post by **Roy McAvoy** » March 28th, 2024, 7:56 am

usuaggies6 wrote: ↑
March 27th, 2024, 11:37 pm
Check this out

Isn't that Andy Hill on the far right of this picture? Doesn't seem like a guy who has the job...

Super interesting that neither Chris Haslam or Eric brown are in this picture but Andy Hill is. May mean nothing… but maybe it does.

Aggie702 · Post by **Aggie702** » March 28th, 2024, 7:58 am

Roy McAvoy wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 7:56 am

usuaggies6 wrote: ↑
March 27th, 2024, 11:37 pm
Check this out

Isn't that Andy Hill on the far right of this picture? Doesn't seem like a guy who has the job...
Super interesting that neither Chris Haslam or Eric brown are in this picture but Andy Hill. May mean nothing… but maybe it does.

Not surprised. Danny said in his press conference yesterday that Andy was currently with him but still in mix for USU job.

hipsterdoofus21 · Post by **hipsterdoofus21** » March 28th, 2024, 8:01 am

Roy McAvoy wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 7:56 am

usuaggies6 wrote: ↑
March 27th, 2024, 11:37 pm
Check this out

Isn't that Andy Hill on the far right of this picture? Doesn't seem like a guy who has the job...
Super interesting that neither Chris Haslam or Eric brown are in this picture but Andy Hill. May mean nothing… but maybe it does.

I would love to keep Haslam but there's no way he isn't following Danny. I'm going to miss the British pipeline.

thrashsoundly · Post by **thrashsoundly** » March 28th, 2024, 8:19 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:01 am

I would love to keep Haslam but there's no way he isn't following Danny. I'm going to miss the British pipeline.

I guess this is where Nate Dixon could potentially plug in and help.

ineptimusprime · Post by **ineptimusprime** » March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am

If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.

ineptimusprime · Post by **ineptimusprime** » March 28th, 2024, 8:25 am

And I don’t think it’s weird Andy was with Sprink. I do think it’s kind of weird he’s one of the only people in that pic wearing UW gear if he’s in the mix here — doesn’t really scream “I’m USU’s next coach.”

hipsterdoofus21 · Post by **hipsterdoofus21** » March 28th, 2024, 8:28 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am
If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.

Simon knows a lot of the players on our roster, as well as our incoming recruits (decommitted or otherwise).

Madmartigan · Post by **Madmartigan** » March 28th, 2024, 8:56 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am
If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.

IIRC, none of us felt that Brown and Osobor were "superstars" last year before we'd seen them play as Aggies. A common thought was that we couldn't compete relying on Big Sky talent. You never really know until a guy comes in and plays for a bit against better competition.

AGGIEinIOWA · Post by **AGGIEinIOWA** » March 28th, 2024, 9:01 am

pono wrote:some insight from a long time Toledo fan on TK (Tod Kowalczyk). He's a great offensive coach who has built a career on relationships and created a really solid family culture at Toledo. Has kept staff long term and had little quality player turnover beyond guys graduating from UT and using their extra COVID yr to make a half mil of so at a P6. He coaches a smooth entertaining style that's a little more athletic version of the Princeton motion offense. On defense he's pretty vanilla and prefers to play clean, not foul and make opponents hit moderately contested shots. Main fan gripes are that he doesn't usually develop enough of a bench and that he hasn't recruited enough interior depth (tough at a mid major).

To understand the no NCAA tourneys and zero NIT wins you need to understand Toledo basketball. It's an historically strong program that was a national power in 40s, was integrated well before that was the norm. In the 60s-80s UT was a mid major power that drew 8,000 fans and routinely hosted and beat Big 10 teams. After the 1981 NCAA trip the curse began. For 43 years UT has continued to be one of the better programs in the league but has never made the dance somehow. This for a USU regional reference is like Weber St or E Washington never getting to the dance for 43 years even though they almost always contend for the Big Sky title. Something always goes wrong and there's enormous pressure come conf tourney time. Every season is considered a failure without breaking the curse and whole thing weighs on the team and fan base. We've been to the NIT a million times and no one wants to play or cheer for those games because it means we just missed the dance, again. During TK's 14 year tenure he took a disaster situation (a hot young ND asst was hired who was a womanizing egomaniac who forced hurt players to play, took side chicks on road trips w the team and graduated no one). TK started w no players and NCAA cut 3 scholarships and gave us a multi-year tourney ban. TK still quickly restored the program. Had a 26 win team with a #34 RPI that didn't get an at-large. Had a strong team watch the conf POY blow out his knee in the MAC tourney quarters, had another strong team lose it's PG as well as nation's #2 rebounder to injury in the quarters (to a concussion in the pregame layup line), had a 27 win team w the nation's longest win streak lose in the conf tourney semis and not get an at-large, and 4 straight conf titles w no conf tourney berth or at large. The curse continues. Personally, I see part of the issue in that he coaches a clean smooth playing style and come postseason the refs swallow their whistles and the gritty bigger physical teams gain an edge.

TK is a positive straightforward guy. He will take time to talk w fans or respond to a letter. He's not a screamer like the UC Irvine HC. Treats his players like young men and equals not kids or beneath him. Big yoga guy who has gotten his players into it over the past 5 or 6 seasons and started to reduce injuries and improve focus. Wisconsin and Ohio his whole life but he's an outdoorsy guy who would prob enjoy USU area. Toledo is an hour from Detroit, 2 from Cleveland and Columbus and 5 from the Chicago metro area and all of Indiana. That's recruiting gold and little reason for a good regional mid major to recruit much elsewhere. His son is a good, not great, D1 prospect. Family enjoys Toledo and intends to retire there even if he chooses to leave for, the likely, final chapter of his college coaching journey.

Thanks for the terrific insight Pono!!! Toledo is a great fanbase it’s very helpful to understand the circumstances and backstories behind TK’s successes and failures. I’d be more than happy if we could land him as he seems like a developer of both young men and basketball players. I would obviously feel for your fanbase if he ends up leaving but Toledo is an appealing job so I’m sure, like us, you would be in a good position to sustain your success.

Sl7vk · Post by **Sl7vk** » March 28th, 2024, 9:04 am

I think it's as important to have a good person as it is to have a good coach and TK seems like he would be a great fit here in Logan.

Post by **GeoAg** » March 28th, 2024, 9:05 am

pono wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 12:06 am
some insight from a long time Toledo fan on TK (Tod Kowalczyk). He's a great offensive coach who has built a career on relationships and created a really solid family culture at Toledo. Has kept staff long term and had little quality player turnover beyond guys graduating from UT and using their extra COVID yr to make a half mil of so at a P6. He coaches a smooth entertaining style that's a little more athletic version of the Princeton motion offense. On defense he's pretty vanilla and prefers to play clean, not foul and make opponents hit moderately contested shots. Main fan gripes are that he doesn't usually develop enough of a bench and that he hasn't recruited enough interior depth (tough at a mid major).

To understand the no NCAA tourneys and zero NIT wins you need to understand Toledo basketball. It's an historically strong program that was a national power in 40s, was integrated well before that was the norm. In the 60s-80s UT was a mid major power that drew 8,000 fans and routinely hosted and beat Big 10 teams. After the 1981 NCAA trip the curse began. For 43 years UT has continued to be one of the better programs in the league but has never made the dance somehow. This for a USU regional reference is like Weber St or E Washington never getting to the dance for 43 years even though they almost always contend for the Big Sky title. Something always goes wrong and there's enormous pressure come conf tourney time. Every season is considered a failure without breaking the curse and whole thing weighs on the team and fan base. We've been to the NIT a million times and no one wants to play or cheer for those games because it means we just missed the dance, again. During TK's 14 year tenure he took a disaster situation (a hot young ND asst was hired who was a womanizing egomaniac who forced hurt players to play, took side chicks on road trips w the team and graduated no one). TK started w no players and NCAA cut 3 scholarships and gave us a multi-year tourney ban. TK still quickly restored the program. Had a 26 win team with a #34 RPI that didn't get an at-large. Had a strong team watch the conf POY blow out his knee in the MAC tourney quarters, had another strong team lose it's PG as well as nation's #2 rebounder to injury in the quarters (to a concussion in the pregame layup line), had a 27 win team w the nation's longest win streak lose in the conf tourney semis and not get an at-large, and 4 straight conf titles w no conf tourney berth or at large. The curse continues. Personally, I see part of the issue in that he coaches a clean smooth playing style and come postseason the refs swallow their whistles and the gritty bigger physical teams gain an edge.

TK is a positive straightforward guy. He will take time to talk w fans or respond to a letter. He's not a screamer like the UC Irvine HC. Treats his players like young men and equals not kids or beneath him. Big yoga guy who has gotten his players into it over the past 5 or 6 seasons and started to reduce injuries and improve focus. Wisconsin and Ohio his whole life but he's an outdoorsy guy who would prob enjoy USU area. Toledo is an hour from Detroit, 2 from Cleveland and Columbus and 5 from the Chicago metro area and all of Indiana. That's recruiting gold and little reason for a good regional mid major to recruit much elsewhere. His son is a good, not great, D1 prospect. Family enjoys Toledo and intends to retire there even if he chooses to leave for, the likely, final chapter of his college coaching journey.

Great stuff. Really worried about your comment about his style not being conducive to post-season success.

SLB · Post by **SLB** » March 28th, 2024, 9:08 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:28 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am
If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.
Simon knows a lot of the players on our roster, as well as our incoming recruits (decommitted or otherwise).

Simon offered Great Osobor, Javon Jackson, Dallin Grant, and Issac Johnson.
Jordy Barnes and Chris Cox were offered by Southern Utah, but I don't know if Simon was involved.
Will Simon have Dave Rice as an assistant coach? Simon was an assistant coach for Dave Rice, and Dave Rice is currently an assistant coach for Cal Baptist.

cval · Post by **cval** » March 28th, 2024, 9:38 am

I would really worry about TK not coaching his team to play physical. The MWC has really become a lot more physical, and I don’t think we could compete by trying to finesse our opponents to death.

hipsterdoofus21 · Post by **hipsterdoofus21** » March 28th, 2024, 9:40 am

SLB wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 9:08 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:28 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am
If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.
Simon knows a lot of the players on our roster, as well as our incoming recruits (decommitted or otherwise).
Simon offered Great Osobor, Javon Jackson, Dallin Grant, and Issac Johnson.
Jordy Barnes and Chris Cox were offered by Southern Utah, but I don't know if Simon was involved.
Will Simon have Dave Rice as an assistant coach? Simon was an assistant coach for Dave Rice, and Dave Rice is currently an assistant coach for Cal Baptist.

Case Wynott as well

Aggie84025 · Post by **Aggie84025** » March 28th, 2024, 10:10 am

SLB wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 9:08 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:28 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am
If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.
Simon knows a lot of the players on our roster, as well as our incoming recruits (decommitted or otherwise).
Simon offered Great Osobor, Javon Jackson, Dallin Grant, and Issac Johnson.
Jordy Barnes and Chris Cox were offered by Southern Utah, but I don't know if Simon was involved.
Will Simon have Dave Rice as an assistant coach? Simon was an assistant coach for Dave Rice, and Dave Rice is currently an assistant coach for Cal Baptist.

Interesting, Rice is a very good recruiter.

SLB · Post by **SLB** » March 28th, 2024, 10:12 am

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 10:10 am

SLB wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 9:08 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:28 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am
If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.
Simon knows a lot of the players on our roster, as well as our incoming recruits (decommitted or otherwise).
Simon offered Great Osobor, Javon Jackson, Dallin Grant, and Issac Johnson.
Jordy Barnes and Chris Cox were offered by Southern Utah, but I don't know if Simon was involved.
Will Simon have Dave Rice as an assistant coach? Simon was an assistant coach for Dave Rice, and Dave Rice is currently an assistant coach for Cal Baptist.
Interesting, Rice is a very good recruiter.

Dave Rice can do his magic with recruiting after our recent basketball history.

tetonaggie · Post by **tetonaggie** » March 28th, 2024, 10:28 am

SLB wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 10:12 am

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 10:10 am

SLB wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 9:08 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:28 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am
If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.
Simon knows a lot of the players on our roster, as well as our incoming recruits (decommitted or otherwise).
Simon offered Great Osobor, Javon Jackson, Dallin Grant, and Issac Johnson.
Jordy Barnes and Chris Cox were offered by Southern Utah, but I don't know if Simon was involved.
Will Simon have Dave Rice as an assistant coach? Simon was an assistant coach for Dave Rice, and Dave Rice is currently an assistant coach for Cal Baptist.
Interesting, Rice is a very good recruiter.
Dave Rice can do his magic with recruiting after our recent basketball history.

Simon with Rice and Dixon?

LarryTheAggie · Post by **LarryTheAggie** » March 28th, 2024, 10:50 am

tetonaggie wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 10:28 am

SLB wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 10:12 am

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 10:10 am

SLB wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 9:08 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:28 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am
If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.
Simon knows a lot of the players on our roster, as well as our incoming recruits (decommitted or otherwise).
Simon offered Great Osobor, Javon Jackson, Dallin Grant, and Issac Johnson.
Jordy Barnes and Chris Cox were offered by Southern Utah, but I don't know if Simon was involved.
Will Simon have Dave Rice as an assistant coach? Simon was an assistant coach for Dave Rice, and Dave Rice is currently an assistant coach for Cal Baptist.
Interesting, Rice is a very good recruiter.
Dave Rice can do his magic with recruiting after our recent basketball history.
Simon with Rice and Dixon?

This and he brings Lourawls Nairn Jr. with him.

Aggie84025 · Post by **Aggie84025** » March 28th, 2024, 11:02 am

If Simon is the guy does anyone know what his buyout would look like? i tried finding his contract details but was not successful.

Aggie in Boise · Post by **Aggie in Boise** » March 28th, 2024, 11:10 am

Considering the timing of PONO's post alongside the upcoming announcement of a new head coach on Monday, I'm speculating that we'll likely be hiring Tod. It's interesting to me that a Toledo fan would make the effort to endorse Tod for the head coaching position, prior to an official announcement, unless there's a significant personal connection between the two of them. If not Tod, then Todd seems like the next likely candidate.

Aggie in Boise · Post by **Aggie in Boise** » March 28th, 2024, 11:15 am

tetonaggie wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 10:28 am

SLB wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 10:12 am

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 10:10 am

SLB wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 9:08 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:28 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 8:23 am
If Todd Simon is the coach and everyone leaves, where are you starting from a roster building standpoint? He doesn’t have superstars to bring with him like Danny did. Are we just pulling some average players from Bowling Green and then getting what we can from the portal?

TK, Todd, and Hill are all about sixes to me, but I probably lean Hill or TK because it’s easier to see a path to a competitive roster next year with those two.
Simon knows a lot of the players on our roster, as well as our incoming recruits (decommitted or otherwise).
Simon offered Great Osobor, Javon Jackson, Dallin Grant, and Issac Johnson.
Jordy Barnes and Chris Cox were offered by Southern Utah, but I don't know if Simon was involved.
Will Simon have Dave Rice as an assistant coach? Simon was an assistant coach for Dave Rice, and Dave Rice is currently an assistant coach for Cal Baptist.
Interesting, Rice is a very good recruiter.
Dave Rice can do his magic with recruiting after our recent basketball history.
Simon with Rice and Dixon?

And Haslam.

Gidbob · Post by **Gidbob** » March 28th, 2024, 12:38 pm

I'll give my perspective on him as a guy who was at SUU four years.

The program was terrible when he got there and terrible after he left. He was there 7 years and the last 3 were all 20 win seasons. I did get frustrated with shot selection a lot of times watching the games, but he got results at a program that rarely gets them. All that was missing was winning a conference tournament. In his earlier seasons when the team wasn't good quite yet they did better than expected there, but then underperformed as a 1 seed and a 2 seed, before reaching the final as a 3 seed. In the season of reaching the final as a 3 seed, the semifinal win over UVU was a comeback from 23 points down with just under 16 left. He'd probably been talking to Bowling Green then, but he didn't quit coaching when he was still at SUU. Of course UVU made a lot of mistakes in that game, a 23 point comeback doesn't happen without them, but SUU did very well not to quit despite being in that hole. The final that year wasn't good, a 3 point heavy GCU team hit all their 3s and that was it. The team also may not have responded well to playing the day after a big emotional comeback win over a rival, so maybe that was partially on Simon, idk.

He also retained players at SUU way better than I would have expected. Getting Tevian Jones, Mazien Fausett, Harrison Butler, and Jason Spurgin to all come back for the 2022-23 season was quite a shock to me. They all were solid players who could have had some role on bigger programs. The portal and NIL were a thing by then.

I loved him at SUU and his departure hurt the program a lot and now with his likely going to USU I really wish he gave SUU one more year. Keeping a good program going will be a very different job from turning around a bad one, but he's a good coach and I expect him to do well at USU.

I'll add that his overall record isn't something to be concerned about. It's skewed lower by his 1st couple of seasons at SUU where it took a bit of time to turn the team around. His last 4 seasons have all been 20+ win seasons. The drop to 3 in the conference standings his last season at SUU has a lot to do with the WAC being better at basketball than the Big Sky.

Gidbob · Post by **Gidbob** » March 28th, 2024, 12:53 pm

Gidbob wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 12:38 pm
I'll give my perspective on him as a guy who was at SUU four years.

The program was terrible when he got there and terrible after he left. He was there 7 years and the last 3 were all 20 win seasons. I did get frustrated with shot selection a lot of times watching the games, but he got results at a program that rarely gets them. All that was missing was winning a conference tournament. In his earlier seasons when the team wasn't good quite yet they did better than expected there, but then underperformed as a 1 seed and a 2 seed, before reaching the final as a 3 seed. In the season of reaching the final as a 3 seed, the semifinal win over UVU was a comeback from 23 points down with just under 16 left. He'd probably been talking to Bowling Green then, but he didn't quit coaching when he was still at SUU. Of course UVU made a lot of mistakes in that game, a 23 point comeback doesn't happen without them, but SUU did very well not to quit despite being in that hole. The final that year wasn't good, a 3 point heavy GCU team hit all their 3s and that was it. The team also may not have responded well to playing the day after a big emotional comeback win over a rival, so maybe that was partially on Simon, idk.

He also retained players at SUU way better than I would have expected. Getting Tevian Jones, Mazien Fausett, Harrison Butler, and Jason Spurgin to all come back for the 2022-23 season was quite a shock to me. They all were solid players who could have had some role on bigger programs. The portal and NIL were a thing by then.

I loved him at SUU and his departure hurt the program a lot and now with his likely going to USU I really wish he gave SUU one more year. Keeping a good program going will be a very different job from turning around a bad one, but he's a good coach and I expect him to do well at USU.

I'll add that his overall record isn't something to be concerned about. It's skewed lower by his 1st couple of seasons at SUU where it took a bit of time to turn the team around. His last 4 seasons have all been 20+ win seasons. The drop to 3 in the conference standings his last season at SUU has a lot to do with the WAC being better at basketball than the Big Sky.

Dang, within minutes of my posting this essay it changes.

thrashsoundly · Post by **thrashsoundly** » March 28th, 2024, 1:13 pm

I mean there's always a chance that folks here are wrong and that after 7 years in Utah TS definitely does not want to come back.

hipsterdoofus21 · Post by **hipsterdoofus21** » March 28th, 2024, 1:16 pm

thrashsoundly wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 1:13 pm
I mean there's always a chance that folks here are wrong and that after 7 years in Utah TS definitely does not want to come back.

He does. His words.

thrashsoundly · Post by **thrashsoundly** » March 28th, 2024, 1:20 pm

Yeah, I'm not really sold on any coach's words atm.

SLB · Post by **SLB** » March 28th, 2024, 2:03 pm

Gidbob wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 12:53 pm

Gidbob wrote: ↑
March 28th, 2024, 12:38 pm
I'll give my perspective on him as a guy who was at SUU four years.

The program was terrible when he got there and terrible after he left. He was there 7 years and the last 3 were all 20 win seasons. I did get frustrated with shot selection a lot of times watching the games, but he got results at a program that rarely gets them. All that was missing was winning a conference tournament. In his earlier seasons when the team wasn't good quite yet they did better than expected there, but then underperformed as a 1 seed and a 2 seed, before reaching the final as a 3 seed. In the season of reaching the final as a 3 seed, the semifinal win over UVU was a comeback from 23 points down with just under 16 left. He'd probably been talking to Bowling Green then, but he didn't quit coaching when he was still at SUU. Of course UVU made a lot of mistakes in that game, a 23 point comeback doesn't happen without them, but SUU did very well not to quit despite being in that hole. The final that year wasn't good, a 3 point heavy GCU team hit all their 3s and that was it. The team also may not have responded well to playing the day after a big emotional comeback win over a rival, so maybe that was partially on Simon, idk.

He also retained players at SUU way better than I would have expected. Getting Tevian Jones, Mazien Fausett, Harrison Butler, and Jason Spurgin to all come back for the 2022-23 season was quite a shock to me. They all were solid players who could have had some role on bigger programs. The portal and NIL were a thing by then.

I loved him at SUU and his departure hurt the program a lot and now with his likely going to USU I really wish he gave SUU one more year. Keeping a good program going will be a very different job from turning around a bad one, but he's a good coach and I expect him to do well at USU.

I'll add that his overall record isn't something to be concerned about. It's skewed lower by his 1st couple of seasons at SUU where it took a bit of time to turn the team around. His last 4 seasons have all been 20+ win seasons. The drop to 3 in the conference standings his last season at SUU has a lot to do with the WAC being better at basketball than the Big Sky.
Dang, within minutes of my posting this essay it changes.

My gut says Todd Simon and Eric Henderson were the best 2 of the group. Simon knows our team and probably kept the a good part of the team while having someone like Dave Rice finish building the team.

Real Life Aggie · Post by **Real Life Aggie** » March 28th, 2024, 3:16 pm

rAggie wrote: ↑
March 27th, 2024, 6:24 pm
As of this hour I believe Andy Hill is the favorite for getting the job.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » March 28th, 2024, 3:28 pm

I wanted Simon, but believe kowalczyk will win at Utah state. His track record is arguably the best of any basketball coach we have ever hired. Sustained success over a long period of time means a lot. I would take his pre USU career over stews pre USU career. Don't know how you can look at what he has accomplished and think all of a sudden he is going to stop winning.

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