Did Willard start coaching Oklahoma State?

[NickRU714]

Looks like Kevin Willard is doing some recruiting consultation work for Oklahoma State.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...09/oklahoma-state-hires-brother-no-2-prospect

 

[Russ Wood]

Been in the works for awhile. Cannen is a good dude. Obviously his younger brother was a factor (I made a FutureCast pick for Cade Cunningham to Okie State on 5/29) but Cannen has the kind of connections that should make him a good recruiter.

 

[Mr_Twister]

It’s a cheesy hire, no matter how you spin it. Boss Hogg from Dukes of Hazzard hiring deputies.
Are there limits on the new coach’s contact with the recruit?
Right up there with big time college football programs hiring all kinds of “analysts” for their staffs. Pretty plum job if you can land one. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for one of their yearend job reviews.

 

[Russ Wood]

It’s a cheesy hire, no matter how you spin it. Boss Hogg from Dukes of Hazzard hiring deputies.
Are there limits on the new coach’s contact with the recruit?
Right up there with big time college football programs hiring all kinds of “analysts” for their staffs. Pretty plum job if you can land one. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for one of their yearend job reviews.

Clearly you have never met or spoken with Cannen Cunningham. The guy was going to be a D1 assistant at some point. It was just a matter of when/where. He has plenty of connections.

The NCAA can't limit contact between family members. He can't suddenly stop being Cade's brother.

 

[Mr_Twister]

His younger brother, and his access to him, makes him the best candidate for the job. Pretty simple.

 

[RUinFla]

Gee, didn't Danny Manning's dad get an assistant job with KU when Danny signed to play there? None of this is new.
TL

 

[RUPartisan]

We seem to be the only school that refuses to take advantage of this.

 

[Russ Wood]

We seem to be the only school that refuses to take advantage of this.

Hardly. There are 353 Division I basketball programs, 352 of them have not hired relatives of players in order to land them. Whenever a school does, the first thing fans, of a certain age, do is say something along the lines of 'Just like Kansas when they hired Danny Manning's father,' but that happened 35 years ago.

Florida just landed a kid who is arguably the top transfer prospect. I guess I better check the staff directory to see if they hired a family member.

 

[batts]

Willard didn't hire a recruit's family member. He hired a recruit's AAU Coach. Willard's gamble led to 4 straight NCAA appearances, a Conference Championship, a Conference final, and a 4 and 1 record against Rutgers. How many here would want those kind of results for RU?

 

[essexknight]

Willard didn't hire a recruit's family member. He hired a recruit's AAU Coach. Willard's gamble led to 4 straight NCAA appearances, a Conference Championship, a Conference final, and a 4 and 1 record against Rutgers. How many here would want those kind of results for RU?

The ethics of such a move can be debated, but I agree that Willard's gamble did pay off. SHU is definitely in a better position for it. Villanova did something similar with Tim Thomas awhile back.

 

[TDIrish27]

........ and that didn't work.

 

[ScarletR30]

Willard didn't hire a recruit's family member. He hired a recruit's AAU Coach. Willard's gamble led to 4 straight NCAA appearances, a Conference Championship, a Conference final, and a 4 and 1 record against Rutgers. How many here would want those kind of results for RU?

Oh wow such a risky and innovative guy Willard is...Glad to see he is going against the grain in college basketball world :joy::joy:. FOH...do we forget who this guy learned under? Anyone in college basketabll can turn a program around when you got bags to drop. Hope hall enjoys it now cause sanctions will be coming in the future.

 

[RUPartisan]

Hardly. There are 353 Division I basketball programs, 352 of them have not hired relatives of players in order to land them. Whenever a school does, the first thing fans, of a certain age, do is say something along the lines of 'Just like Kansas when they hired Danny Manning's father,' but that happened 35 years ago.

Florida just landed a kid who is arguably the top transfer prospect. I guess I better check the staff directory to see if they hired a family member.

I don't mean literally just a family member but also coaches, former coaches, etc

 

[Russ Wood]

I don't mean literally just a family member but also coaches, former coaches, etc

Even with hiring former coaches to land a kid, Rutgers is far from the only one to do that.

 

[hoquat63]

Hardly. There are 353 Division I basketball programs, 352 of them have not hired relatives of players in order to land them. Whenever a school does, the first thing fans, of a certain age, do is say something along the lines of 'Just like Kansas when they hired Danny Manning's father,' but that happened 35 years ago.

Florida just landed a kid who is arguably the top transfer prospect. I guess I better check the staff directory to see if they hired a family member.

Ohio State did it for the women’s team 4 years ago

 

[Russ Wood]

Ohio State did it for the women’s team 4 years ago

I'll take your word for it but I don't give to monkey nuts about women's basketball. The 353 Division 1 programs I was referring to was MBB.

I wouldn't even have a problem if every team did it. It's not against the rules so it would be something that programs are doing that isn't a violation.

 

[NickRU714]

Willard didn't hire a recruit's family member. He hired a recruit's AAU Coach. Willard's gamble led to 4 straight NCAA appearances, a Conference Championship, a Conference final, and a 4 and 1 record against Rutgers. How many here would want those kind of results for RU?

Don't try and downplay the "excellent" hiring practices of Williard.

To be specific, Williard hired the AAU coach of 2 players (Tiny Morton - 5 star Whitehead and 4 star Desi Rodriguez) and DR National Team Coach who helped another player come to the U.S. (Oliver Antgua - 4 star Angel Delgado).

Thats 3 players - not 1.
The top 3 recruits in their vaunted 2014 class.

Coincidentally, both Morton and Antgua left the program after only 1 year each.


And yes, I absolutely would be on board with RU following the same path.