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Yeah, this has a last year's Texas A&M flavor to it. Prime has had the good life and not sure what he knows about coaching beyond connecting with young athletes (although that is great in the college game). However, you bring in a bunch of guys enamored with his fame, brought in by NIL deals, and some remaining guys from the old regime, I'm guessing it mixes as well as that $30 million A&M recruiting class did last year.
Recruiting, yes. Coaching? To be determined.
I think that is exactly what CU is thinking. They actually have pretty good tradition, but they never recovered from their recruiting scandal that took place under Gary Barnett about 20 years ago. There are a ton of Big Ten alums in CO, and the Mountain time zone is an untapped area of the country for the Big Ten.
Yeah Colorado can help bridge the regional gap between traditional Big 10 country and the west coast.
A big name attracts good players. We should think about this for our basketball program. The only way we will ever have a decent basketball program is if we hire an ex-NBA big name player as our coach. He will attract good players. Think what John Thompson did for Georgetown a few decades ago.
I thought he was a pretty successful high school coach first. He didn't get much notice because of his playing career.
I'd prefer our current path of getting a guy that can actually coach. Especially when looking at the recent track record of the "big name player" as coach.
I think you're underestimating how quickly he could turn things around thanks to the portal. Just look at what Tucker did at MSU as an example - came into a dumpster fire and through heavy use of the portal was able to lead them to an 11 win season. Obviously what came after hasn't worked out, but if Coach Prime can have similar results to Tucker in his first couple of seasons the locker room will take care of itself.
Yes. We have a good one in Shrewsberry. Don't need to go get some big name that could be a bad fit.
I know a lot of people don't like him, but his shtick does seem to resonate with some high-end kids. I think it will be interesting to watch. I think his health will be a concern, but as long as he holds up I can see him having some success if they can get past the early losing. I don't see anything that looks like a sure win on this year's schedule considering they were 1-11 last year, so a few wins would probably be a success. But the Colorado of the late 80s early 90s would probably go 10-2 or better against this schedule. They aren't playing in the Big Ten East or SEC West.
I didn't mean to give the impression I don't like him. I'm just speculating on how the grind of responsibility (such a huge portion of a HC job isn't football) will wear on him. There are a few exceptions, but great athletes aren't usually the most patient coaches. Prime was/is a handfull.
I’d differ with you on that one. At their core NIL’s are just newly legitimate bag men. For decades coaches have passed the word on to their bag men as to who should be compensated. Usually via third parties to avoid culpability. While it’s true that coaches aren’t directly handling these issues, often they have a major, but discreet input. It would be highly disruptive to team Chemistry and morale to allow benefits to be distributed without guidance.
We have a very, very good coach with a strong reputation (NBA - Celtics) who is already raising bar of recruits.
Good points. It's definitely going to be entertaining IMO. I could see any outcome from crashing and burning (either due to on-field results or inability to deal with the non-football aspects of coaching at a P5 school as you mention) to having a championship-level program.I didn't mean to give the impression I don't like him. I'm just speculating on how the grind of responsibility (such a huge portion of a HC job isn't football) will wear on him. There are a few exceptions, but great athletes aren't usually the most patient coaches. Prime was/is a handfull.
It'll be interesting to see how he handles athletes who may be a lot like him.
#PatEwing is no John Thompson. Juan Howard shows potential but relies on Phil Martelli as a mentor. Mike Woodson was a solid hire for IU.
Howard has had some success, but Michigan fans are mixed on him…I was think about guys like Drexler, Ewing, Chris Mullin, Mark Price, Stackhouse, Manning, etc. that mostly flamed out. At this level, being able to coach goes further than a “big name”.
