Annual Schmidt to New England Rumors

Well he wont be going to Rhody. I also read an article that listed about 10 candidates for Xavier and he wasn't mentioned, for what it's worth.

If Xavier hires Sean Miller they are fucking idiots.
 
with that Rhody money for Archie you gotta think Umass is gonna back up the brinks truck for Schmidt!!!
 
Damn that was a doozie yesterday. This Blauds guy seems like he himself is as fictional as his tweets.

For what it's worth, what I heard from a very trustworthy source: the program knew about the offer, and it was mutually understood that the financially sound decision for Schmidt was to formally 'listen' to it, so that we could formally 'reply' to it. We were fully prepared to do so before anything officially came over, and there wasn't much more to it than that.

In any case. Glad its over.
 
Damn that was a doozie yesterday. This Blauds guy seems like he himself is as fictional as his tweets.

For what it's worth, what I heard from a very trustworthy source: the program knew about the offer, and it was mutually understood that the financially sound decision for Schmidt was to formally 'listen' to it, so that we could formally 'reply' to it. We were fully prepared to do so before anything officially came over, and there wasn't much more to it than that.

In any case. Glad its over.
How stupid do our fans make us look on Twitter? To be fair to them, I do find it funny UMass fans think they are one of the top jobs in the A10. At best, they'd be 7th.

It's not the end of the World that Schmidt listened to an offer from another school even if it's a fellow A10 club. You can count on one hand the amount of coaches in D1 that would refuse any interview for a job that pays 40-50% more.

Had Schmidt been offered $2M, he would have been gone and I don't think I would have blamed him. Just hate all these schools thinking their coaches would never entertain the idea of doubling or tripling their $$$.

Thankfully Schmidt is almost 60 so most schools are scared off by that. If Schmidt was 10-15 years younger, he probably would have taken the Pitt or BC job.
 
Television has made all these enormous athletic budgets possible, but there was something to be said for the innocent days when it was truly an amateur sport. Larry Weise was about 25 years old, a recent Bona grad, and probably felt like Daddy Warbucks if his first contract was for 15K a year. I don't know the actual amount, but I would be surprised if it was much more. Eddie Donovan's was a similar story.
 
Yeah, I'm not sure if 2M or something else would have been the magic number to go to UMass. I've got no clue, but staying put for 300-500K less is in itself pretty remarkable, and I don't think most Bona fans have stepped back to objectively appreciate how significant that is.

As far as Martin, he may very well end up doing a good job there, but there are 2 ways to view his resume. View 1: He revived K State basketball and reached the final four at SC. View 2: he rode Huggins' momentum into a run at K State, that launched a job offer at SC. There, he reached just 1 NIT and 1 NCAAT in 10 years- his one NCAAT being a final 4, inflating the perception of his success.

I can't think of a hire that symbolically fits UMass and their program better than someone with a resume like Martin's. For the sake of the A10, I hope he does well, but I'm not sold.
 
It remains to be seen what Martin can do at the A10 level but I'm a little more sold on Martin being a great hire for UMass. South Carolina is a hard place to win at they have made only 5 NCAA tourneys since '89 and the only time they won a game was the final 4 run. Auburn is the SEC team with the next fewest runs making the tournament 6 times in that time span but won a game each appearance (discounting Mizzu and A&M that werent in the SEC the whole time).
 
That's fair, Jive. What's interesting though is that a similar case for UMass within the A10 could be made vs SC within the SEC, if you look at their history outside of Calipari. Cal clearly wins wherever he goes, and save for his first ever career HC gig happening to be UMass, they've done very little outside of his time.

That said, that history and tradition is there and can't be discounted, and it'll be interesting to see how it's leveraged through the Martin hire. I think he can take them to the level SLU has demonstrated under Ford. Since arriving to SLU, they're consistently a top 100, though they've yet to put together an at large worthy season. That said- UMass being perennially in the top 100 with NIT caliber resumes, and being a threat to win the A10 tourney, would still provide a boost for the league compared to the last 8 seasons.
 
It remains to be seen what Martin can do at the A10 level but I'm a little more sold on Martin being a great hire for UMass. South Carolina is a hard place to win at they have made only 5 NCAA tourneys since '89 and the only time they won a game was the final 4 run. Auburn is the SEC team with the next fewest runs making the tournament 6 times in that time span but won a game each appearance (discounting Mizzu and A&M that werent in the SEC the whole time).
I disagree on South Carolina being a hard place to win at, the state is loaded with talent. Frank Martin just plain missed out on Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, Bryce McGowens, Brice Johnson, Josiah-Jordan James, etc. They could be a powerhouse with the right coach
 
I disagree on South Carolina being a hard place to win at, the state is loaded with talent. Frank Martin just plain missed out on Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, Bryce McGowens, Brice Johnson, Josiah-Jordan James, etc. They could be a powerhouse with the right coach
Sure and I'm saying they have been trying for 30 years to find the guy that can keep that talent in house and havent succeeded. (not just in basketball).
 
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