I’m not willing to put my money on it yet, but I’m hearing that there’s been multiple conversations with Princeton’s Brett MacConnell for the associate head coaching position. I don’t know much about him, but that’s the word on the street.
Interesting Assistant Coach tidbit...
- Thread starter ouchmyknee
- Start date
Karl Hobbs is the Associate Head Coach. Number 1 bench Coach and responsible for the offense. Makes sense with his 10 years of HC experience.
Young was clearly the #1 bench coach, despite salary numbers.
Maybe depends on the situation....offense or defense. 1A and 1B ? Young was definitely an important piece on the bench because he was with Pikiell for 10+ years.
We should hire him just because Kevin Had to spend years around Fred If there is a wrong choice I will pick it Gruninger. We are still paying for his monumental errors. Hard to even calculate the millions and millions of dollars he cost the university while collecting a significant paycheck.
That's not remotely close to being viable or true....assistants are compensated based on all factors. He had the longest tenure with Pike, which is fine, but the assistants are paid based on value. Bench coach is fine in theory, but the assistant coach job covers a lot of ground.
Was driving up 95 along the Connecticut coast a few weeks ago - Fairfield had a nice e-billboard with a ‘Welcome Coach Young’ message. Thought it was a nice touch.
Explain how the 3rd highest paid coach is.a #1 assistant?
Your post shows why with over 23,500 posts you only have 1700+ likes. You must really post a lot of non likeable messages
When Pikiell got hired it was believed that Young was going to become Stony Brooks next head coach. Pikiell was filling out his staff on the assumption Young would not be coming with him to Rutgers. When Young did not get the job at Stony Brook the only position available was 3rd assistant. Remember Young was Assoc Head Coach under Pikiell at Stony Brook.
Actually that's not what happened....Pike wanted SB to consider Young but the AD didn't want to continue with the same regime and Young wasn't really a factor during their search. The AD then hired his guy, who has done well sustaining the program, even though many disagreed with going outside the tree of coaches that were there under Pike. I believe the coach came all the way from Ohio to take the job.
I am not looking to contradict what is said in the media or by coach during any press conference, just taking 1st hand information from someone on the side of knowing what coaches are being negotiated with from the agents perspective. The agents perspective typically runs well ahead of what the media ultimately gets fed or spit out in Twitter or elsewhere.
I like Jay Young a LOT, he's an excellent coach and tactician but he has an enormous rebuild at Fairfield.....no JUCOs, very few 5th year kids, the highest academic profile at Fairfield, unlike the JUCO/transfer machine that Cluess has established at Iona.
Young on paper doesn't have the resume of Brandon Knight or Karl Hobbs on paper. What he does have was an extended period and run with Pike, which is immeasurable. But Young is not known as a recruiter or salesman on the trail and he will have to ensure he has the right assistant coaches to get kids that Fairfield can work with academically.
I would not consider or minimize anyone's resume or work ethic, but he's by regional or national definitions, not on the level of Hobbs (who has won at a high level at multiple stops) or Knight, whose resume under Jaime Dixon and now Pike, is an excellent recruiter and does great work with our backcourt. Both have had many more opportunities they have turned down as HCs, because they are looking for the right job like a Fairfield or higher.
Most familiar yes....closest to....yes.....#1 based on those items yes.....in real world, going with someone you are familiar with is great, but should not be confused with #1.
Steve Hayn is currently the acting active assistant coach and has the longest tenure or familiarity with Pike going back to the early 90s. He in theory, could be #1 as an assistant coach to replace Jay Young, because that length of time matters.
On paper, he is not a factor for any low major HC jobs, despite his extensive experience and knowledge of Pike. Don't confuse familiarity with overall experience or best candidate for the job.
If Steve Hayn is named the full time replacement for Jay Young, would fans quickly ready to consider Steve Hayn as Pike's #1 assistant coach??
If your answer is YES, then prepare yourselves to have Hayn as your 3rd assistant coach, who by anyone's definition today, isn't anywhere closely or remotely considered for an upcoming HC position. Or not in the way Hobbs and certainly Knight have been in recent months or years.
If your answer is "I would be fine with Steve Hayn", he seamlessly fills the spot, moreso than Brett Macconnell or the other assistant coaches that have expressed interest, then by most definitions, many would disagree.
I am not specifically looking for this to be a splash hire, but Macconnell would be (to me) as a splash hire. I feel he has HC potential in the next 5--8 years.
https://scarletknights.com/coaches.aspx?rc=2633&path=mbball
https://goprincetontigers.com/staff.aspx?staff=406
These are the bios of what I would consider 2 candidates for the opening. There's are 2 other names that have been named in other threads, but I am not in position to place those names publically, since they both have jobs already.
In the other instances, both of their Head Coaches of these 2 assistants, are 100% aware of their expressed interest in the RU opening, although the respective fanbases or alumni, may not feel good knowing they have assistant coaches looking to move on.
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To your point, Steve Hayn could get a bump up but would be #3 at best. Not about Hayn, though, my talking point was JY as #1. So throw out familiarity, closeness, etc, and make it basketball acumen, practice coach, pre-game scout, in-game coaching, etc. JY was the best basketball coach on Pikes staff. IMO.
Highest paid (tied with Hobbs) sometimes means you have a great negotiating position. Pikiell needed a local presence for recruiting, Knight's agent knew that and parlayed it into a nice salary package for his client. Good for him.
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Let’s focus on future. Time for this to all be done...not sure why Pike is percolating on this so long. Hire Princeton guy or one of the two mystery candidates and be done with it.
Maybe Pikes has his reasons and is working on his timeline and not yours?
Has nothing to do with agents or negotiators....Knight was on a staff that was in the Top 25 most years at Pittsburgh and recruited well.
Young was Pike's right hand man and in your theory, because of that, one would think would be #1 priority and pay. The only reason that didn't happen is because the other two coaches had more options and better resumes and therefore got what was their market value.
The local recruiting item also doesn't matchup, Stony Brook isn't hours away and they recruited NJ consistently (Warney and Dougher).
I guess the point is to immediately challenge anything posted here if it doesn't fit what someone wants to believe.
Your opinions are Opinions...not Facts. One day you will learn the difference and stop trying to lecture.
Multiple posters have different opinions on this, but, you are convinced that you are the only one stating a so-called Fact.
In this thread alone tried to lecture everyone about being so uniformed about Shoes recruiting for Knight last year....funny thing is I read about it when it first happened when Shoes was seen in Las Vegas watching PF recruit Cottrell.
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Well, it appears we handed out about 20 offers recently to class of ‘20 and ‘21 kids. So maybe that.
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Iowa has still yet to replace Andrew Francis. Georgia just hired a new assistant last night. Purdue filled their spot two days ago (it was probably lined up sooner but they waited for the Celtics season to end).
These things do take time.
These things do take time.
If you have ever hired someone, you would know that these things can take time, and there could be a number of variables in play.
Measure twice, cut once.
Well one reason is - which you apparently don’t see or agree with - he is not ready or in a position to hire the Princeton guy or one of the 2 mystery applicants and be done with it as you suggest.
New coach will be announced when SP is satisfied 100% he has the right person for the job - not before.
One other consideration.....if Hobbs and/or Knight is looking for, or is under consideration for
another position, then Pikell will wait as he would have more options if he knows
beforehand he is hiring for two.
another position, then Pikell will wait as he would have more options if he knows
beforehand he is hiring for two.
Any chance Coach Pikiell is interested in hiring someone from the Michigan staff who might not be retained by Michigan’s next coach, so he is being patient?
I saw Luke Yaklich interviewed at Texas. Not sure we'd dip our toes in since we've had the job open for much much longer than the Beilein news has been out.
I do wonder if there's a possible NBA coach we're waiting on. Purdue hired a guy from the Celtics right after their season ended.
In the Big Ten, I believe four teams have assistant coach openings: Michigan, Iowa, Maryland, and us.
I'm expecting Maryland's position to be filled next week. They seem to be down to three candidates, all of whom have DMV ties/connections.
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