(Thetowntalk.com) Grant logical choice to replace Donovan

[Tomhog™]

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Grant was an assistant coach under Billy Donovan for 12 years -- two at Marshall and 10 at Florida -- before taking his first head coaching job last season.

All Grant, 41, did was lead Virginia Commonwealth to an upset over Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and a 28-win season. He's also the logical person next in line to become Florida's coach.

[Held Hawgstage]

Wait a minute....shouldn't Florida be scouring the Sun Belt looking for the next big thing? Shouldn't they take a chance on a guy that didn't make a tournament. They would actually take a chance on a 1 year head coach who has won a NCAA tournament game....didn't they see our failure with Stan....shouldn't they take our lead and hire one of the Sun Belt coaches? Just asking? Am I missing something here?

[cardinalhawg]

Wait a minute....shouldn't Florida be scouring the Sun Belt looking for the next big thing? Shouldn't they take a chance on a guy that didn't make a tournament. They would actually take a chance on a 1 year head coach who has won a NCAA tournament game....didn't they see our failure with Stan....shouldn't they take our lead and hire one of the Sun Belt coaches? Just asking? Am I missing something here?

Well, in regards to Pelphrey, he was a man who took over a struggling program, and was up and down for a few seasons before bringing up the program to a good level.   Grant took over a program with more recent success and took them up a notch with up tempo play.  I think both will more success in the future, but yes both are still unproven to an extent, even though Pelphrey has built up a small program and Grant has had a good year with someone else's players.

This hasn't been mentioned, but I do believe that South Alabama made a great hire in hiring Ronnie Arrow to replace Pelphrey.  He is a guy that has had some success at smaller Division I schools playing up tempo.

I think some people put too much emphasis on whether a coach made the NCAA tourney the last season in regards to coaching hires.  A coaching hire has got to go much deeper than that.  Mark Turgeron was a hot name until this past season, and that was primarily because he did not make the NCAA tourney.  He could sill be a great coach even though his team did not make the tourney, just as a coach making the NCAA tourney doesn't necessarily prove much either.

Perhaps Florida can't be as picky this late in the year concerning a coaching change.  On one hand coaches realize that this is a hot program with the success in recent years, but on the other hand coaches realize that living up to the standard set by Donovan will be very tough.

[ColumbianHog]

Wait a minute....shouldn't Florida be scouring the Sun Belt looking for the next big thing? Shouldn't they take a chance on a guy that didn't make a tournament. They would actually take a chance on a 1 year head coach who has won a NCAA tournament game....didn't they see our failure with Stan....shouldn't they take our lead and hire one of the Sun Belt coaches? Just asking? Am I missing something here?

Like cardinalhog said:

John Pelphrey --> Took a bad program and rebuilt it into something respectable.
Anthony Grant --> Took a decent program and won a tourney game with someone elses players a la Stan Heath (not that that's a bad thing).

Can you see a huge difference between the two?  I can't.  I think both will be good coaches but it's really too soon to tell.

I think some people put too much emphasis on whether a coach made the NCAA tourney the last season in regards to coaching hires.  A coaching hire has got to go much deeper than that.  Mark Turgeron was a hot name until this past season, and that was primarily because he did not make the NCAA tourney.  He could sill be a great coach even though his team did not make the tourney, just as a coach making the NCAA tourney doesn't necessarily prove much either.

I agree.  When in a conference like the Sun Belt or CAA or MEAC or MAAC or a dozen other small conferences, you can win your conference regular season, have 20+ victories, make the conference tourney finals, lose in an upset, and not make the NCAA tournament because you coach in a one-bid league.  Does that make you a bad coach?  Hardly.  It just means all the breaks didn't go your way.  It happens.  That's why you play more games in basketball than in football.

[Dr Swineglove]

Wait a minute....shouldn't Florida be scouring the Sun Belt looking for the next big thing? Shouldn't they take a chance on a guy that didn't make a tournament. They would actually take a chance on a 1 year head coach who has won a NCAA tournament game....didn't they see our failure with Stan....shouldn't they take our lead and hire one of the Sun Belt coaches? Just asking? Am I missing something here?

Like cardinalhog said:

John Pelphrey --> Took a bad program and rebuilt it into something respectable.
Anthony Grant --> Took a decent program and won a tourney game with someone elses players a la Stan Heath (not that that's a bad thing).

Can you see a huge difference between the two?  I can't.  I think both will be good coaches but it's really too soon to tell.

I think some people put too much emphasis on whether a coach made the NCAA tourney the last season in regards to coaching hires.  A coaching hire has got to go much deeper than that.  Mark Turgeron was a hot name until this past season, and that was primarily because he did not make the NCAA tourney.  He could sill be a great coach even though his team did not make the tourney, just as a coach making the NCAA tourney doesn't necessarily prove much either.

I agree.  When in a conference like the Sun Belt or CAA or MEAC or MAAC or a dozen other small conferences, you can win your conference regular season, have 20+ victories, make the conference tourney finals, lose in an upset, and not make the NCAA tournament because you coach in a one-bid league.  Does that make you a bad coach?  Hardly.  It just means all the breaks didn't go your way.  It happens.  That's why you play more games in basketball than in football.

Good points.  Both hires were (are) based mostly on potential.  Stan Heath was a great choice five years ago based upon his potential.  However,  Heath proved himself a good gamble that crapped out; that's why he was fired.  Hopefully Pelphrey will turn out to be a much better investment, and with his job references, he should.

[ColumbianHog]

Wait a minute....shouldn't Florida be scouring the Sun Belt looking for the next big thing? Shouldn't they take a chance on a guy that didn't make a tournament. They would actually take a chance on a 1 year head coach who has won a NCAA tournament game....didn't they see our failure with Stan....shouldn't they take our lead and hire one of the Sun Belt coaches? Just asking? Am I missing something here?

Like cardinalhog said:

John Pelphrey --> Took a bad program and rebuilt it into something respectable.
Anthony Grant --> Took a decent program and won a tourney game with someone elses players a la Stan Heath (not that that's a bad thing).

Can you see a huge difference between the two?  I can't.  I think both will be good coaches but it's really too soon to tell.

I think some people put too much emphasis on whether a coach made the NCAA tourney the last season in regards to coaching hires.  A coaching hire has got to go much deeper than that.  Mark Turgeron was a hot name until this past season, and that was primarily because he did not make the NCAA tourney.  He could sill be a great coach even though his team did not make the tourney, just as a coach making the NCAA tourney doesn't necessarily prove much either.

I agree.  When in a conference like the Sun Belt or CAA or MEAC or MAAC or a dozen other small conferences, you can win your conference regular season, have 20+ victories, make the conference tourney finals, lose in an upset, and not make the NCAA tournament because you coach in a one-bid league.  Does that make you a bad coach?  Hardly.  It just means all the breaks didn't go your way.  It happens.  That's why you play more games in basketball than in football.

Good points.  Both hires were (are) based mostly on potential.  Stan Heath was a great choice five years ago based upon his potential.  However,  Heath proved himself a good gamble that crapped out; that's why he was fired.  Hopefully Pelphrey will turn out to be a much better investment, and with his job references, he should.

I wouldn't say Heath crapped out...he did a good job of getting the program back to a competitive state and left the cupboard fairly full when he was fired.  The administration determined that he had hit a "plateau" and that we needed to go our separate ways.

Maybe that's splitting hairs but it's the way I see it...

[The Boar War]

If this is true I'm glad that Grant got his chance.  I thought he could have been a reasonable hire for the hogs but I think that the one year experience made us a little gunshy.  Im happy with the guy we got.  If both teams are running up tempo full court defense we will have a track meet when we play them this year.

[justonefan]

I'm just glad Pelphrey is already spoken for.  Not that they couldn't come after him anyway if they really wanted him, but it's less likely.  If we hadn't hired him when we did, I'm thinking he'd be on Florida's hotlist.

[RedSatinHog]

I think some people put too much emphasis on whether a coach made the NCAA tourney the last season in regards to coaching hires.  A coaching hire has got to go much deeper than that.  Mark Turgeron was a hot name until this past season, and that was primarily because he did not make the NCAA tourney.  He could sill be a great coach even though his team did not make the tourney, just as a coach making the NCAA tourney doesn't necessarily prove much either.

I agree.  When in a conference like the Sun Belt or CAA or MEAC or MAAC or a dozen other small conferences, you can win your conference regular season, have 20+ victories, make the conference tourney finals, lose in an upset, and not make the NCAA tournament because you coach in a one-bid league.  Does that make you a bad coach?  Hardly.  It just means all the breaks didn't go your way.  It happens.  That's why you play more games in basketball than in football.
[/quote]

Wait a minute.  The past 2 seasons, the CAA has gotten no less than 3 invites to the NCAAT.  Heck, in 2006, I believe they got 4 teams in AND managed to get a team into the Final Four (George Mason).

Beating Duke in what amounted to a down year loses its lustre by anyone's standards, and if VCU misses their last shot, all anyone would be talking about with regard to Grant is how in the world a coach puts a unit on the floor which allows Duke's start player to drive the length of the floor and go to the hoop uncontested.  That's EXACTLY what happened before VCU hit that shot.

Pelphrey's accomplishments mean more in my eyes.  He has gotten USA into postseason play two years running in a league which NEVER gets more than a single bid to the NCAAT, and in his lone appearance in the big dance, he lost to eventual national champion Florida, something at least 5 other teams from the field are left saying.  This year's loss to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome was an impressive outing when one considers how badly they were undermanned, how hostile the environment was, and how they remained in the game until the last minute.  Considering where the Jags program was when he took it over, I am much more impressed with his performance.

[ColumbianHog]

I think some people put too much emphasis on whether a coach made the NCAA tourney the last season in regards to coaching hires.  A coaching hire has got to go much deeper than that.  Mark Turgeron was a hot name until this past season, and that was primarily because he did not make the NCAA tourney.  He could sill be a great coach even though his team did not make the tourney, just as a coach making the NCAA tourney doesn't necessarily prove much either.

I agree.  When in a conference like the Sun Belt or CAA or MEAC or MAAC or a dozen other small conferences, you can win your conference regular season, have 20+ victories, make the conference tourney finals, lose in an upset, and not make the NCAA tournament because you coach in a one-bid league.  Does that make you a bad coach?  Hardly.  It just means all the breaks didn't go your way.  It happens.  That's why you play more games in basketball than in football.

Wait a minute.  The past 2 seasons, the CAA has gotten no less than 3 invites to the NCAAT.  Heck, in 2006, I believe they got 4 teams in AND managed to get a team into the Final Four (George Mason).

Beating Duke in what amounted to a down year loses its lustre by anyone's standards, and if VCU misses their last shot, all anyone would be talking about with regard to Grant is how in the world a coach puts a unit on the floor which allows Duke's start player to drive the length of the floor and go to the hoop uncontested.  That's EXACTLY what happened before VCU hit that shot.

Pelphrey's accomplishments mean more in my eyes.  He has gotten USA into postseason play two years running in a league which NEVER gets more than a single bid to the NCAAT, and in his lone appearance in the big dance, he lost to eventual national champion Florida, something at least 5 other teams from the field are left saying.  This year's loss to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome was an impressive outing when one considers how badly they were undermanned, how hostile the environment was, and how they remained in the game until the last minute.  Considering where the Jags program was when he took it over, I am much more impressed with his performance.

Point taken about the CAA...you're right.  But I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or not.

What I was trying to show is that just because Pelphrey didn't make the tournament this past season, it doesn't mean he's any less of a coach.  They still had a great season by USA standards and had the Sun Belt been more than a 1-automatic-bid league, they probably would have gotten in again.  So....I think we're on the same page.

Good points....+1

[hawgtime]

Wait a minute....shouldn't Florida be scouring the Sun Belt looking for the next big thing? Shouldn't they take a chance on a guy that didn't make a tournament. They would actually take a chance on a 1 year head coach who has won a NCAA tournament game....didn't they see our failure with Stan....shouldn't they take our lead and hire one of the Sun Belt coaches? Just asking? Am I missing something here?

Like cardinalhog said:

John Pelphrey --> Took a bad program and rebuilt it into something respectable.
Anthony Grant --> Took a decent program and won a tourney game with someone elses players a la Stan Heath (not that that's a bad thing).

Can you see a huge difference between the two?  I can't.  I think both will be good coaches but it's really too soon to tell.

I think some people put too much emphasis on whether a coach made the NCAA tourney the last season in regards to coaching hires.  A coaching hire has got to go much deeper than that.  Mark Turgeron was a hot name until this past season, and that was primarily because he did not make the NCAA tourney.  He could sill be a great coach even though his team did not make the tourney, just as a coach making the NCAA tourney doesn't necessarily prove much either.

I agree.  When in a conference like the Sun Belt or CAA or MEAC or MAAC or a dozen other small conferences, you can win your conference regular season, have 20+ victories, make the conference tourney finals, lose in an upset, and not make the NCAA tournament because you coach in a one-bid league.  Does that make you a bad coach?  Hardly.  It just means all the breaks didn't go your way.  It happens.  That's why you play more games in basketball than in football.

Good points.  Both hires were (are) based mostly on potential.  Stan Heath was a great choice five years ago based upon his potential.  However,  Heath proved himself a good gamble that crapped out; that's why he was fired.  Hopefully Pelphrey will turn out to be a much better investment, and with his job references, he should.

I wouldn't say Heath crapped out...he did a good job of getting the program back to a competitive state and left the cupboard fairly full when he was fired.  The administration determined that he had hit a "plateau" and that we needed to go our separate ways.

Maybe that's splitting hairs but it's the way I see it...

I agree. Nothing wrong at all with the talent that Heath brought in.  He was left the program in shambles and got kids to come here. NOW we just have to win with them and get more to come.

go hogs go

[hawgtime]

I'm just glad Pelphrey is already spoken for.  Not that they couldn't come after him anyway if they really wanted him, but it's less likely.  If we hadn't hired him when we did, I'm thinking he'd be on Florida's hotlist.

i think it speaks volumes that both of the guys (Pelphrey & Grant) that were hot items on this board are now some of the possible replacements for Donavon.  We may have just got our new NC coach.

go hogs go