Bracketing the field of 64
Be sure and grab an Oklahoman on Monday morning. We are producing a 64-coach bracket to help Mike Holder select an Oklahoma State basketball coach.
This is a lot of fun and something we did when the OU job was open two years ago. Of course, we can be thrown a curveball. Two years ago, Jeff Capel’s name somehow didn’t make the field. Talk about your stealth candidates. Capel was 31 at the time, and I figured no way Joe Castiglione would go for someone so young. But he did.
So we’re taking another stab at it, and it’s a fun way to think about what kind of coach OSU might hire. Established winner? Up-and-comer? OSU ties?
All kinds of things go into the selections, as it does in real life with Holder and the candidates. Who might be interested in the job? Who might Holder be interested in? What are the factors: age, money, name recognition?
My guess: OSU will shoot the moon and work its way down. That’s what Mike Montgomery said two years ago, when he was coaching the Golden State Warriors (about to be fired; I don’t know if he knew but everyone else did) and we asked him about his interest in the OU job. He was insulted at the question, but he did say something interesting. He said everyone does a coaching search the same way. They start with Adolph Rupp and work their way down.
I assume that means OSU will start with Bill Self and work its way down.
Who will the Cowboys choose? Probably have to wait a week or so. But who will we choose? Check out the Monday Oklahoman.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
It would be interesting to know Bill, how much closer to Edmond Stillwater is than Lawrence. Not in miles, but in Bill Self’s mind. I think maybe Lawrence is closer. Anyway, I hope the Aggies spend a lot of time on trying to get Bill Self. Thst way, some of the coaches that will actually be interested will already have new jobs, and they will be getting down their list. Thinking that Bill Self is coming to Stillwater is like OU fans thinking Darrill Royal is going to leave Texas and come to OU when Gary Gibbs was fired.
this really isn’t as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be. a 64-coach bracket. it was silly the last time you did it. slow news days? news, we want news — not punditry and speculation. so what if the job of coaching a team that hasn’t been to the dance in two years and hasn’t been a national power since it was called A&M is up for grabs. i bet the baseball coaches in stillwater and norman are wishing you’d devote a 1/10 of the effort to covering them as you do this non-story.
Self may not be the least bit interested in living close to his folks but I’d say he has a better understanding of what he wants than we do. If he’s not interested in the OSU job he’ll use it to extract a larger contract out of KU, which is fine with me. There may be a dozen coaches out there that can do just as good a job and they may come to Stillwater at a much lower cost. Self will be sky high.
I doubt Holder will spend a lot of time with Self if he really isn’t interested. Our speculation on the subject is fun but ultimately not very important. The decisions will be made regardless of where we went to school or what we think.
It makes sense to “shoot the moon” first and work your way down since you never know which candidate is really interested. Maybe money really isn’t a concern for Holder and then again maybe it is, you know better than me. If it is he will quickly get down to the section of his list with affordable coaches and then he can choose based on coaching skills and recruiting.
I am one of those thinking Self may be more interested in returning than your typical KU or OU fan would believe. He has always jumped to the better job, whether it was from ORU and Tulsa to Illinois or from there to Kansas. The better job is based on Self’s view not ours and it could be that being close to his families trumps “tradition” or “prestige” or “money” or even “working conditions.” It’s going to be interesting.