Basketball from a fans perspective
That was quick
He’s history after but one year, Brad Underwood has left Oklahoma State for Illinois. After a sparkling record (89-14 .864) at Stephen F. Austin and three straight NCAA invites Underwood was hired by Oklahoma State to lead that program. The basketball team led by the new coach finished the 2016-17 season with a 20-13 record and another NCAA trip. Underwood is on the move again this time headed to Illinois replacing John Groce.
Okay…..really
Marc Stein of ESPN caused me to go WOW! On Saturday he writes a story on several subjects my focus is the one written on Doc Rivers. Stein indicates Rivers might return to Orlando one day in the role of general manager. Coaching aside I wonder what’s led Stein to conclude Rivers would be successful in this role. The difference between Rivers and Magic Johnson we have a body of work in front of us for Rivers we only have one man’s opinion on Magic.
As for Rivers coaching aside we’ve seen him operate as president of basketball operations. We guess that is signing free agents making trades and other player issues. There are always circumstances those in the public sector might be unaware. The Clippers could have cap space issues preventing them from signing a high profile free-agent. I’m not going to cover trades I’m unsure in that area. If the Magic desire to hire Rivers along with acquiring Blake Griffin or Chris Paul so be it. I’m just unsure if we’ll see much difference, the Magic might just become the east coast version of the Clippers.
An unknown name
I admit Kevin Keatts was a name unknown to me; his was mentioned as Mizzou began its coaching search. If you were already aware of Keatts you were 5 or 6 steps ahead of me however I know who he is now. First serving as an assistant at Southwestern Michigan, Marshall and Louisville hired at UNC Wilmington in 2014 his teams finished the season 18-14, 25-8 and 29-6. Keatts first served as an assistant and later head coach at Hargrave Military Academy a prep school in Chatham (VA) on two separate occasions.
As for UNC Wilmington the last two seasons his team earned trips to the NCAA Tournament. I was intrigued by his resume and believed he would be a potentially good hire should Mizzou chose him. On Friday word came Keatts has been hired to replace Mark Gottfried at North Carolina State receiving a 6-year contract. It’s tough coaching in the ACC facing Duke, North Carolina and Louisville however based on his past Keatts should be up to the task.
Most important jobs
A number of basketball jobs across the country are choice. Coaches knock down one another attempting to be first in line at the AD’s office with their resume. Okay I exaggerate a bit but you get the general idea. The ‘elite’ basketball programs and not in any order are; Duke, North Carolina, UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas and Indiana. Some might include Arizona in the count as well. Of those schools mentioned one is in need of a coach, Indiana fired Tom Crean after 9 seasons at the helm.
The names mentioned on ESPN to replace Crean have jobs; they are Steve Alford at UCLA, Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall and Dayton’s Archie Miller was among the names. Alford is likely to remain in place having reached the coaching pinnacle now that he’s established at UCLA. As for Marshall that could be different matter. Marshall has spoken of ‘owning beach front property.’ There’s no reason he couldn’t have a second home in Florida if he took the Indiana job. For Miller at Dayton it would be an upward bound move.
