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Fire Shaka Smart


smokebomb

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40 minutes ago, Dirk X West said:

Who is BWG?  I mean, I know he's "Bitter White Guy", but who is he?

I don't doubt there are some people (likely a very small number of people) who post on these things that might have insider info, but considering that A. everyone who posts on a message board does so under aliases/screen names and that B. there are tremendous loads are bullshit stated in these contexts that various folks claim to be accurate, forgive me for remaining skeptical.  I think it's just as likely that most of you believe that Chris Beard *must* be interested in UT, and if anyone claims to have heard rumors to that effect, you naturally think "aha, I knew it!' 

bitterwhiteguy is one of the few dedicated Texas basketball writers on the Internet, and has discussed Shaka's status at Texas in more detail than anyone else who gives a shit about the program (which isn't a high bar, in fairness).

https://www.barkingcarnival.com/2019/3/10/18258653/sources-shaka-smarts-departure-likely

He's mentioned in the past that Beard would have legit interest in the Texas job, but has acknowledged that there are obstacles to that move ever happening (not least of which are the financial hurdles).

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Right back at you.  This seems to be a common defect with message board posters.
Yeah, no. I don't have a position on the veracity of that report. If I had to guess I'd figure it's true that there's some communication going on but that it says nothing about whether or not he's genuinely interested in leaving Tech. It could simply be his agent doing his due diligence in making sure he's always aware of his client's market value.

You have chosen to believe it's not true based simply on wanting that to be the case. But you're absolutely right that it's not uncommon.
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18 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Yeah, no. I don't have a position on the veracity of that report. If I had to guess I'd figure it's true that there's some communication going on but that it says nothing about whether or not he's genuinely interested in leaving Tech. It could simply be his agent doing his due diligence in making sure he's always aware of his client's market value.

You have chosen to believe it's not true based simply on wanting that to be the case. But you're absolutely right that it's not uncommon.

Is there any doubt that Tech will offer Beard a mega contract after their season is done?  His buyout is gonna be even more ridiculous next season, unless he specifies Texas as his out school. 

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Is there any doubt that Tech will offer Beard a mega contract after their season is done?  His buyout is gonna be even more ridiculous next season, unless he specifies Texas as his out school. 


According to Hocutt, they are already discussing a restructure with more dinero. He’ll be at 4 M or over soon. Plus more for his assistants and all. Hocutt speaks softly, but he’s not one to jack around
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10 hours ago, Katfid54 said:

The only hiring data point we have so far at Texas was the women's softball coach, and he definitely swung for the fences there (and appears to have hit it out of the park).  I don't see any reason why the same expectation wouldn't apply to basketball (especially if there are already reports/indications out there that Beard is playing footsy with Texas brass).

Not sure we should consider the type of coach he was able to land at TCU/Rice as an indicator of his competency in hiring.  He batted .500 at TCU on bball coach hires, including one where he poached Pitt's longtime basketball coach.  He batted 100% on Rice football hires (David Bailiff), which was made in the wake of the Todd Graham mess.  His meaningful input in the TCU football program appears to have been convincing Patterson to bring in Cumbie/Meacham, which almost got TCU into the CFP.

Point being:  CDC's hires haven't been perfect, and it's unreasonable to expect anyone's to be.  But the notion that CDC pussyfoots on hires just does not appear correct. 

I was going to point this out but with less words.

Also CDC is extremely invested in the fund raising for football right now. That’s not to say that he’s not looking at options for Shaka right now but it looks really likely that it’s an issue that gets tackled next year.  

He is “very personable and quite the salesman. I couldn’t get him to spill his guts about Shaka”. That’s all you assholes get.

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15 hours ago, DeadArmadillo said:

 


I thought Matta looked 51 a long time ago.

7f11c28846e4735ca53d4cc178f2ad2d.jpg

 

He looks about 60 in that pic.  While urban claims to have health issues whenever he gets in trouble, I think Matta could legit die on the sideline at 55.

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I just can’t believe that beard will be a candidate because of money. If he were to be stolen then it will be the best hire in the history of UT basketball and I will never doubt the power of the great Texas moneywhip again. 

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Shaka needs this kinda of help......

New Bama Basketball Coach Nate Oats (Buffalo) :

Buffalo also had a “mental skills coach” who helped with the psychological aspects of the game, according to multiple news reports. Arnie Guin is a registered psychotherapist, according to SB Nation, who helped with positive visualization. “If you do it for the sole purpose of winning games, it's all wrong,” Oats said before last week’s NCAA tournament second-round loss to Texas Tech. “You do it because it's the right thing to do. It's my job as a coach to help these -- we get them as young men or boys coming out of high school, and when we get done with them, they're supposed to go into society. They're men now on their own. Not going back home to mommy.”

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6 hours ago, Pancho Negro said:

He might be a candidate for the Midwestern State job actually

Moving from JUCO to D2....next stop, D1 baby

I very much enjoyed the rivalry between Barnes and Gillispie. BCG knew how to work those refs, and that Cheshire Cat grin was easy to lampoon.

Hope he's conquered his demons. Would be nice to see him succeed again. He's proved himself an excellent coach ... provided his life away from hoops is in order.

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4 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

I very much enjoyed the rivalry between Barnes and Gillispie. BCG knew how to work those refs, and that Cheshire Cat grin was easy to lampoon.

Hope he's conquered his demons. Would be nice to see him succeed again. He's proved himself an excellent coach ... provided his life away from hoops is in order.

Well, he's got a fresh kidney, so he's buying, right? 

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On 3/26/2019 at 11:26 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Tech would be stupid not to lock that down like an ugly rock star dating a supermodel.  They're not gonna touch anyone as good as Beard for decades, if then.  If money's an issue, I'd be shocked if we landed him.

Hocutt was again asked about Beard on his radio show today. 

He said people would be crazy to not come after him, but Tech wasn't going to let him get away. 

 Hocutt reminded his listeners that Beard signed a six-year deal last season.  He added they'll continue to be proactive and investing in him and his program. 

I might add there are a fair number of non-financial reasons he might be interested in staying in Lubbock as well.  Has lived there 14 years, daughters are nearby, girlfriend, very shiny new basketball facility currently under construction, etc.

 
 
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Provided we can find an answer for our own program, there's a part of me that hopes Beard stays at Tech for the long term. It would do a world of good for basketball within this state to have multiple viable basketball programs with potential to impact the national scene. As it stands now, we can only watch one classification of the high school state championship games on tv. The U.I.L. finally allowing kids to play AAU ball in the late 80s/early 90s woke Texas high school basketball from the dead during the 90s, and began to impact the state's universities at the turn of the millennium. Hopefully the next step is to have some sort of consistent national presence among the universities within the state and start to keep the talent within our confines. Watching Williamson and Maxey in the Mickie Ds game knowing that both of them decided to take their talents to the state of Kentucky stings a little. Both are not only skilled, but have the savvy and smarts that are more common place in wings that come from other areas of country. They are the exact sort  of players we need to keep within the state. 

Edited by Catdaddyhorn
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On 3/21/2019 at 8:45 AM, Underdog said:

Shox take out Horns in Finals, CDC hands pink slip to Shaka and hands over the keys to Marshall, Derka implodes, ascends the ESB where planes shoot him down, everybody wins. 

Scenario still in play. 

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Smart wasn't / isn't going anywhere.  But last night and the resulting trip to the Garden just made Del Conte's job of explaining it a lot easier.   Doesn't matter if the team played in the Jayvee tournament, those 3 wins (and perhaps more) w/o its best player generated "momentum" going into '19 - '20 and that's how the presser will begin and end relating to Smart's job security.   Regardless of how much substance is behind said explanation.   

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Nobody knows if Shaka was/is going anywhere. It’s all speculation.

But if this NIT run has changed CDC’s mind on Shaka’s employment, I’ll be sorely disappointed.

It’s painfully obvious he’s not the answer here. We’re just wasting time and money keeping him around another year, not to mention sabotaging our ability to recruit.

Edited by Ghost of Shag
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3 minutes ago, Ghost of Shag said:

If this NIT run changes CDC’s mind on Shaka’s employment, I’ll be sorely disappointed.

I don't know that it did, my impression from what I was told is that it's more coincidental than causal. I think other things - like the Wake Forest and Boston College jobs not opening up - have more to do with it than the on-court results. The regents do not appear to have the appetite to eat the entirety of the guaranteed money, so it's now basically up to Shaka and his agent to decide. If they want to find another spot, they will; otherwise he's back for another year. It seems much less likely that Shaka ends up elsewhere than it did a couple of weeks ago.

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I agree other jobs not opening don't help the odds, but as I (and others) have said before the "average Texas basketball fan" doesn't demand excellence.   While those of us that care enough to post on a fan board about Shaka's future can all laugh at the NIT run, I think the reality is that the basketball team still playing has taken some of the heat off the way the season ended.  We can all agree it shouldn't matter but the 'average fan's' perception of still playing vs. losing that first NIT game and finishing the year on a 4 game losing streak is different.  At this point I will be shocked if Shaka isn't back.

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10 minutes ago, Red Five said:

Are we offering any financial assistance to potential takers?

Basically, Shaka gets a new job and the school could pay him $1 per season and we would be on the hook for the 4 years of buyouts minus $1 each season he is employed at that school. The hope is to get him a job and negotiate more reasonable contract terms for his salary there, knowing that we are paying him an additional premium for the first 4 years.

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1 hour ago, PantsTent said:

There's a ton of jobs that were or are still open.  And not one of them want Shaka.  Because he sucks...

Not really

A&M and Arkansas pretty much have their guys (unless something weird happens)

UCLA is open, but he turned them down in the past already

I guess VT will be open if/when Buzz leaves there for a&m.  I'd imagine he would find going back east appealing, but I don't know if he'd be on VTs radar. 

So no, there really aren't a lot of openings left for him to take.  He's not leaving a P5 job for a G5 job. (or at least I wouldn't think he would.)

 

EDIT: I only read the first sentence of your reply and not the rest of it.  My bad. 

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reading skillz sux
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1 hour ago, Pancho Negro said:

Not really

A&M and Arkansas pretty much have their guys (unless something weird happens)

UCLA is open, but he turned them down in the past already

I guess VT will be open if/when Buzz leaves there for a&m.  I'd imagine he would find going back east appealing, but I don't know if he'd be on VTs radar. 

So no, there really aren't a lot of openings left for him to take.  He's not leaving a P5 job for a G5 job. (or at least I wouldn't think he would.)

 

EDIT: I only read the first sentence of your reply and not the rest of it.  My bad. 

Maya is not going to the hinter lands of Blacksburg. She's only going to a city with a cool vibe. Austin has it. Blacksburg is camouflage, and miserable Winters, but glorious Summers.  So Shaka ain't either.

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On 3/26/2019 at 6:55 PM, Huckleberry said:

Yeah, no. I don't have a position on the veracity of that report. If I had to guess I'd figure it's true that there's some communication going on but that it says nothing about whether or not he's genuinely interested in leaving Tech. It could simply be his agent doing his due diligence in making sure he's always aware of his client's market value.

You have chosen to believe it's not true based simply on wanting that to be the case. But you're absolutely right that it's not uncommon.

I haven't chosen not to believe it.  Chris Beard being interested in the UT job is entirely plausible, which is all anyone has to go on here, and how plausible is a matter of (ultimately meaningless) debate. 

What I'm saying is unsubstantiated reports posted by an anonymous person on a college sports message board don't prove a thing either way.  

 

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