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George Mason Fires Paul Hewitt

We should of course fire Willard. But Hewitt was easy to can because his teams got worse each year and his buyout was very small as I understand it.
 
Paul Hewitt is a perfect example of a coach whose stock rises sky-high early in his career, but who turns out to be fool's gold. This guy could've had just about any job he wanted after taking Georgia Tech to the Final Four. Now, he looks destined to be an assistant at a major program.

Was he not Louis Orr's immediate predecessor at Siena?
 
By the same token, this is the same sort of thing that would worry me right now about Bobby Hurley. His stock is sky-high, but he's only coached two years - albeit two good years, and trending upward.

The team was 14-20 in Reggie Witherspoon's final year, only a year after going 20-11, 12-4 in the MAC. In the three years prior, Witherspoon won 20, 18 and 21 games. So this program was on pretty good footing, Witherspoon's last year notwithstanding. So it's not like Bobby walked into a program that was completely broken, as Danny did at Wagner, and to a lesser extent, URI (or even St. Benedict's). Danny clearly has the stronger resume, though he has yet to win a conference title.

And this isn't to say Bobby isn't a terrific coach. Nothing exists to say he is not; just that the body of work is not substantial enough to say "he's a sure thing." Paul Hewitt sure looked like one, too.

Seton Hall - whenever the job comes open - has to really nail it this time. There are no sure things, but I'd be awfully nervous about Bobby if it were this year (just for instance). To me, Danny carries much less risk at this time, just to look at those two brothers.
 
Originally posted by SHUSource:
Paul Hewitt is a perfect example of a coach whose stock rises sky-high early in his career, but who turns out to be fool's gold. This guy could've had just about any job he wanted after taking Georgia Tech to the Final Four. Now, he looks destined to be an assistant at a major program.

Was he not Louis Orr's immediate predecessor at Siena?
He was.
 
It happens all the time .coaches are hired at major programs ,have immediate success like Hewitt ,and Mike Davis at Indiana ,,Brady at LSU,etc.then in a year or two ,programs are in the doldrums .

Could never figure out the DePaul hire of Oliver Purnell.

Kevin Ollie at UConn wins the NCAA championship in his first year .Don't think the UConn program will be as dominant after Calhoun.UConn will be good ,Recruiting some top 100 players.

As far as Willard , he is definitely here next season.These are his recruits ,better produce .

Trying to think of coaches who were successful at mid majors and moved to top conferences and are or were successful .Any help here .talking the last 20 years or so .
 
John Calipari went from Umass to Memphis to Kentucky.

Sean Miller went from Xavier in Atlantic 10 to Arizona.

These are the two easy ones.
 
Jay Wright came from Hofstra. He's worked out OK.

Before him, both Steve Lappas and Fran Frschilla both came from Manhattan, and both had some success at Villanova and SJU, respectively. In fact, Fran did very well there before getting himself canned for off-the-court reasons.

Ed Cooley was also from the MAAC, at Fairfield. Kevin Bannon was at Rider before Rutgers, and he very nearly turned it around there, of all places. he also did himself in off the court.

Al Skinner came from Rhode Island to BC, and did very well there.

Jim Larranaga went from George Mason to Miami with success.

Just off the top of my head. No Hall of Famers besides Jay, but some very good coaches.

This post was edited on 3/16 1:12 PM by SHUSource
 
The college landscape is filled with them. Thad Matta went from Xavier to OSU. I think Billy Donovan was at Marshall for two years before heading to Florida.
 
and as mentioned a month or two ago, anyone who coached Murray St for the past 15 years.
 
The late Skip Prosser spent one season coaching Loyola, Md., in the MAAC, and it wasn't even a particularly good one. The Greyhounds had excellent talent, but underachieved at14-13 in the regular season. Then got hot and won the MAAC tourney up in Albany. Prosser's next stop was Xavier where he was an instant success. Then again, Xavier always makes home-run hires.
 
Not as dramatic as BIll Self, but not bad -

Mark Turgeon - Jacksonville St, Wichita St. Texas A&M, Maryland
 
John Chaney - Cheyney State to Temple
John Thompson II - St. Anthony High School in DC to Georgetown
 
Bo Ryan did a Wisconsin state tour...Wisconsin Platteville to Wisconsin-Milwaukee to Wisconsin.
 
Gregg Marshall - Winthrop to Wichita State to whatever job he wants.
Rick Barnes - Providence to Texas
Bruce Pearl - Milwaukee to Tennessee to Auburn
Mike Brey - Delaware to Notre Dame
Dana Altman - from MVC's Creighton to Oregon
Fran McCaffery - Siena to Iowa
Matt Painter - Southern Illinois to Purdue
 
Rick Barnes was also at Clemson.

John Beilein (all as a head coach) - Erie Community College, Nazareth College (D III), LeMoyne College (DII), Canisius, Richmond, West Virginia, Michigan. He's won everywhere he's been, and has taken all four of his Division I schools to the Big Dance. Great coach. Talk about climbing the ladder!
This post was edited on 3/16 5:36 PM by JIMSOULS
 
Originally posted by Aggs:
Gregg Marshall - Winthrop to Wichita State to whatever job he wants.
Rick Barnes - Providence to Texas
Bruce Pearl - Milwaukee to Tennessee to Auburn
Mike Brey - Delaware to Notre Dame
Dana Altman - from MVC's Creighton to Oregon
Fran McCaffery - Siena to Iowa
Matt Painter - Southern Illinois to Purdue
For Rick Barnes, you can include 'from George Mason to Providence.' I believe Rick Barnes made his college head coaching debut against us in the 1987 Pre-Season NIT when he was at Mason.
 
That is correct. His first game as a coach was against SHU in pre-season NIT game played at Rutgers.

He coached one year at George Mason, then went to to Providence once they fired Gordon Chiesa after just one season.
 
Also, Jay

Hofstra - Villanova

It's sucks to say, but it's almost luck of the draw. You can get a great coach who walks into a crappy situation and there's almost nothing they can do about it. The best will obviously persevere through but I think there are tons of great coaches that get lost due to circumstance and then wind up finding success at their new home.

Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case with your guy because he's had every single opportunity to prove himself with actually some pretty good teams just handed to him and it's been bupkis. Honestly, every year I'm pretty scared to play you guys, I always think that this is the year it gets turned around and then something catastrophic happens. Whether it be injuries, player turmoil, collapses, you know it and it's happened within the last 5 years. I know it's tough to be a fan at the moment but these things generally tend to be cyclical and you'll get out of the rut eventually. I think there's too much talent on next years team for even Williard to screw it up. I know everyone harps on the height issue, but look at what Nova's been able to do with 1 player that plays over 6'6". It might take a scheme change or something but it can be done. If the talent is there, the coach has to figure out the best way to use it. Hopefully Williard can get out of his own way next year and let these kids excel.
 
Wright was mentioned already. Thanks for your insight though.
 
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