New Coach Search

[Birds of B'more]

Especially in this era of social media.

At this point it feels like just spreading rumors when sharing Tweets from alleged "news media" members. No idea who to trust. If I'm KA, I look into this and make sure none of this stuff is leaking out of his department. If it's coming from other "sources", then not much he can do about that.

[waroriole]

I think Turgeon is a good hire. Better than Brey, and possibly better than Miller. I know some fans will be upset, but that's foolish.

[Birds of B'more]

I think Turgeon is a good hire. Better than Brey, and possibly better than Miller. I know some fans will be upset, but that's foolish.

Definitely not better than Miller, at least equal to and maybe better than Brey. But a good hire still, and judging it strictly on its own merit, people shouldn't be too upset. But factoring in the Miller debacle it's understandable that people will be. Of course it isn't a done deal yet. He could get home and have a change of heart about leaving. If Turgeon turns them down, this coaching search officially becomes a bigger joke than NC State's was.

[OregonBird]

Definitely not better than Miller' date=' at least equal to and maybe better than Brey. But a good hire still, and judging it strictly on its own merit, people shouldn't be too upset. But factoring in the Miller debacle it's understandable that people will be. Of course it isn't a done deal yet. He could get home and have a change of heart about leaving. If Turgeon turns them down, this coaching search officially becomes a bigger joke than NC State's was.[/quote']

This ^^^^^^

I think Turgeon accepts though and I called it.

[Birds of B'more]

This ^^^^^^

I think Turgeon accepts though and I called it.

My hunch is he accepts too. Unlike Miller's situation, this would be a step up for Turgeon. And whether he is capable of reaching it or not, his ceiling potential is higher at MD then it is at TA&M.

[Danielos38]

I really hope that he accepts. The more I think about the possibility of his hire, the more I like it. Don't know if I'll ever love it, but I think I would really like it. I would not be shocked at all if A&M makes some kind of counter offer. This thing is not over yet.

[JohnD]

I want to like it. I want to embrace him. But Kevin Anderson needs fired yesterday. He's a walking debacle.

[The Rick]

I really hope that he accepts. The more I think about the possibility of his hire, the more I like it. Don't know if I'll ever love it, but I think I would really like it. I would not be shocked at all if A&M makes some kind of counter offer. This thing is not over yet.

Texas A&M just gave him an extension in April of 2010, It's unlikely they'd do it again, but who knows. Bottom line, he's not thrilled at A&M and doesn't like the fact that he's a quality coach doing quality things at a football school where their home fans don't appreciate it.

I want to like it. I want to embrace him. But Kevin Anderson needs fired yesterday. He's a walking debacle.

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

But on the matter of KA, the jury is still out. I would hope they would look into the matter if KA f'ed up our chances at Miller. Edsall, while not sexy, could end up being a good hire, we'll just have to see.

[ccbird]

Turgeron is better than Brey. I've accepted him as a solid hire. Losing Miller to Anderson's debacle is a hard pill to swallow but Turgeon was probably the best we could do otherwise. Heard Keith Cavanaugh on the way home tonight and while I always take what he says with a grain of salt this is what he said.

- Turgeon is 99% likely to take the job

-If Turgeon turned us down Brey would still be in play. He wants this job.

-He also said Md was Miller's dream job and while he didn't go into what happened he said it was suprising to a lot of people including some family he had in the MD area that he stayed in Arizona. Also said, Wright, Dixon, Barnes all would have been in play if we didn't make Miller our primary target. After the play on Miller they didn't want to be percieved as 2nd choice and chose to stay at their schools

- Turgeon has some connections to the recruiting area and apparently his top assisntant has a connection to Bino Ransom. Sounds like we might be able to keep him on board.

- Shaq Cleare was going to commit to MD over the weekend but by luck I guess Texas A&M was second on Cleare's list and we still should have a very good shot of reeling him in.

[JohnD]

Why does Kevin Anderson make me feel like I'm a New York Jets fan during the first round of the NFL draft between, say, 1985 and 2000?

[Birds of B'more]

Fake Kevin Anderson:

People are reporting that Turgeon isn't letting his players know anything yet. If it's any consolation, I also no nothing.

[The Rick]

A well thought out, knowledgable post on Turgeon on another board from a Texas A&M fan:

A little background...

A&M might have been the worst D-1 NCAA basketball school in the country a decade ago. It wasn't too long ago that we went 0-16 in conference play. Enter one miracle worker Billy Gillispie. He IMMEDIATELY turned our program around and in short order took us to a couple of NCAA tournaments including a Sweet 16 run and we also knocked off Gerry McNamara (the year he went off in the Big East tourney) and Syracuse in our opening round game. Billy recruited amazingly well to a school like A&M. His success did not go unnoticed and a few short years later he was wooed by Kentucky and signed on as their head coach.

Enter one Mark Turgeon who had previously been the head coach of Wichita State. Had a lot of success with them including a Sweet 16 run if I remember correctly. Turgeon immediately went to work on recruiting trying to keep the 5 star C Billy had signed, DeAndre Jordan, now with the Clippers. He was successful keeping him on board. I don't think it would be accurate however to say he recruited him to Texas A&M. The following year he signed a solid 2 person class, 4 star PG Dash Harris and 4 star PF David Loubeau, both out of Florida with nice offer lists. Harris started out well but has since evolved into one of the worst starting PG's in the nation. His development has been very disappointing. Loubeau has been a solid player for the Aggies and recently flirted with the draft this year. The 2009 class was most noticeable for 4 star Naji Hibbert out of DeMatha who had some serious offers from Maryland and Syracuse. Naji has really struggled since joining A&M. Turgeon's other significant signing was 3 star SG Khris Middleton who has developed into one of the Big 12's most productive players. He did not have many offers and his development at A&M has been incredible. In 2010 Turgeon signed a bunch of big men. 3 star Kourtney Roberson (soild thus far), 4 star Tobi Oyedeji (passed away in H.S.), 3 star Keith Davis (had an offer from Texas, played sparingly last year during his freshman season) and 3 star Daniel Alexander (redshirted). Its early but the 2010 class doesn't appear to have any budding stars (Roberson will likely be a 3rd team all-conf. type of guy) but Tobi's passing was a huge loss. Turgeon's latest class has perhaps his best signee 4 star Jamal Branch who had offers from many big schools and 3 star Jordan Green who by all accounts is going to be very good. Their first game played will be this fall. Turgeon and our AD teamed up to bring Soulja Boy onto campus a couple years ago and invited Branch to the concert and he committed soon after. Say what you will about that but he got the kid to sign an LOI. Many A&M fans are worried about 2012 recruiting. It is a VERY deep class and Turgeon can't seem to sign anyone, nor do we lead for anyone either. Additionally there is a stud PG who lives in town (very rare) and we seem to be an afterthought.

Turgeon's recruiting has been a mixed bag. Some impressive signees (Naji, Branch, Dash and Loubeau). It has lacked true superstars (although impressively Turgeon made Kyrie Irving's final two before Kyrie ultimately chose Duke). A&M recently built a very nice basketball facility and while we may not be the best regarded basketball school in the country, some A&M fans feel Turgeon is a solid, but not spectacular, recruiter. Especially when you consider some coaches ability to recruit to Manhattan, KS, Waco, TX or Stillwater, OK. I would give Turgeon a B as a recruiter. He will probably have more success at a school like Maryland.

How about results. For the last 4 years we have pretty much been a 20-25 win team, finish 2nd-4th in the conference standings, make it to the conference tournament quarter/semifinals, appear in the NCAA tournament and win maybe 1 game. That is pretty standard for the last 4 years. Turgeon has been VERY consistent and relatively productive. We have never appeared to have a great team nor have we had a bad one. We're solid every year. Spend more time in the AP top 25 than not. Highest we've been is #6. Turgeon is a better coach than he is a recruiter. He has an emphasis on defense and we are usually pretty good on that front. Our "motion" offense will make anyone's head hurt. We are often times standing around and a 60 pt. outing might be a good total for us on any given night. I would give Turgeon a B+ with regards to coaching.

Over the past few seasons Mark has made it a point to call out the fans (say after 6,000 show up to watch us play Lamar University). He has not hidden his disdain for our inability to sell out our arena on a consistent basis. We are primarily a football school and basketball has been slow to catch on and Turgeon has not held back his tongue. The consistent jibes have worn on many A&M fans but it has become clear that Turgeon likely desires a true basketball school much the same way Gillispie did 4 years ago. Turgeon will handle any departure with much more class however. He is a good guy. You will never run into shady recruiting with him. You will never have an off the field incident with him. He does speak his mind in press conferences but never anything outlandish.

I think if Turgeon went to Maryland he would turn the Terps into a consistent Sweet 16 type of team. He would recruit better than at A&M but still nothing off the charts. I am not sure he is that dynamic type of personality/coach that will set the world on fire but he is a guy that will make you proud of your basketball program.

[ccbird]

The good thing is, If Turgeon somehow backs out it would 100% be the end for Anderson. There is no chance he would survive 2 more years. I can't even lie, there is a little part of me that wants KA to continue this debacle so we get him out of here ASAP.

[JohnD]

If his arena not selling out upset him at A&M, he won't be too happy in CP either.

[BaltimoreTerp]

If his arena not selling out upset him at A&M, he won't be too happy in CP either.

You're right. No one ever goes to games at Maryland when the teams are good.

I think you are starting to cross over from being right to overreacting to every little thing here. Of course, you did the same thing during the football search, and didn't react well when I said as such, so it will be interesting to see what happens with this.