Smart Decision in Stevensville

The chain of events that has been set off since the Goofs upset UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament has had many facets both interesting and puzzling.  As you know, Ben Howland was fired as coach of UCLA the day after the Goofs' rout and the head coach of the Goofs, Tubby Smith, soon followed out the door after the Goofs were trounced in the next round by Florida.

Howland had already had his issues with the Bruins and was probably on his way out anyway.  Although Smith had some success as the Goofs coach, he just never looked comfortable under the "Minnesota Nice" microscope that has consumed such coaching legends as Denny Green, Glen Mason, Brad Childress, and Dan Monson.

Credit goes to both programs for immediately going after good young talent.  Because of the connection the Goofs AD, Norwood Teague had as a previous employee of Virginia Commonwealth, Minnesota made overtures in the direction of Shaka Smart to no avail as not only did he turn them down but VCU gave him a decent pay raise.  UCLA also leaned in Shaka's directions hoping the sheer mention of their name and location (Los Angeles) would be enough for Shaka to change his mind.  When that failed, they started heading in Brad Stevens' direction but the Butler head coach immediately declined going so far as to tweet his excitement about starting Spring workouts. 

Puzzling in all of this was UCLA's next move.  They hired Steve Alford.  At two different schools, Alford was an at first overachieving and then a grossly underachieving basketball coach that had initially excited the alumni and fan bases at both Iowa and New Mexico.  In the end he took both teams into an NCAA tournament as a #3 seed and is the first head coach in NCAA history to lose a first round game as a #3 seed with two different teams.  Insult to injury (and I can't insult him enough, seriously), the year following Iowa's exit from the tourney as a #3 seed, he became the first Iowa coach in 30 years to lead a team with a winning record (17-14--not exactly "winning") to no postseason berth--the NIT didn't even want the Hawks that year.  When the Iowa AD said he needed to do better, he fled to New Mexico.

Yet this is who the Bruins want as their head coach.  A storied program with the likes of the legendary John Wooden in its history of head coaches, wants an underachieving, arrogant individual who couldn't be bothered to take at least one of two teams out of the first round as a #3 seed.  Explain to me how this is better than the current team that lost to the Goofs as 6 seed?  Maybe they thought Alford's looks and plastic hair were meant for the "fakedom" that is Hollywood.  Regardless, UCLA went from being serious about their coaching search to settling for someone who has shown the potential to set back a program by a number of years.

Which brings me to Shaka and Brad, the duplicative antithesis of Alford.

You could almost call these two the "Odd Couple".  Smart is an extremely demonstrative coach on the sidelines who practically pretends to play defense up and down the sidelines during VCU games.  Stevens, on the other hand, strides up and down the sidelines in his suit, recalling echoes of the "Wizard of Westwood" and other elder sideline generals but with the ability to get emotional when necessary (how could anyone not root for him after his non-hostile, incredulous reaction to the offensive goaltending call at the end of the Marquette game?).  Both have taken mid-major teams to the Final Four--one after starting as a dual 12-seed in a play-in game (Shaka, 2011), one in back to back years, losing in the championship game both years, once to Duke and once to UConn (Stevens, 2010 and 2011).   Both are confident without being arrogant.  Both have their respective schools eating out of their hands (in Shaka's case, literally, as he delivered pizzas to students standing in line for tickets the night before VCU throttled Butler on their home floor last month).

Both are young--Stevens, 36 and Smart, 35.  And both are smart (no pun intended)--Shaka was accepted to Yale, Harvard, and Brown but "settled" for Kenyon College where he was a member of the 1999 USA Today All-USA Academic team.  Stevens was promoted as Butler's head coach after then coach Todd Lickliter made the ill-fated decision to bolt for Iowa (ill-fated for Iowa's fans) and Butler's players begged the AD to promote from within.  Stevens won 30 games his first year at the helm.

But the smartest move of all was the move each took to stay put.  Both are below the average salary for Division I coaches in the NCAA tournament.  With their current resumes, either could make overtures towards struggling programs and be first in line to claim the position before the body is even cold.  Both men will forever be #1 and #1a on any short list as positions come open.  But both men know what they have in their current environments.  Both have beaten #1's.  Both have been to the Final Four.  And although probably not important to either, both are already well-respected in the basketball fraternity.  They didn't need to be at major Division I colleges to make this happen.  They did it at smaller mid-major schools that gave them their first coaching opportunity and that have stood by them, despite the overtures being made by the major schools.  Each has repaid their current school with *gasp* loyalty.

And finally, throughout all this, both have proven one thing.

For once, it might really not be about the money.

Peace,
Reg