Simms wrote:

Can we stop implying that no one will come to Duquesne?  None of you know this.  No one knows what candidates will accept the position until Harper announces our next coach.  Stop judging the job based upon past expectations.  1 million dollars over 5 years is enough money to retire indefinitely.  I think that plenty of coaches would jump at the opportunity, especially if we offered new facilities and a new administration.  If we hire Mike Rice, great, but until then, let's be patient and see.  We all have our choices, but I hope that regardless of who is chosen we rally behind them.  This includes retreads like Groce.  

Simms, you are 100% correct. Things have changed with Harper/Gormley so drastically that you can pretty much discard the previous 40 years of failure. In reality, a potential coach is looking at the Dave Harper era - 2 years of history and more importantly - what support is forthcoming from Harper/Gormley in the next 1-5 years. That's it.

It may be hard to believe, but the Dukes job is very attractive right now. A head coach job in the A-10 is prestigious. And if the new coach wins at Duquesne, he would be in incredibly high demand for huge bucks at a P-5 school.

I have the UNCW game on in the background at work. I'm convinced Kevin keatts is the perfect candidate imo. UNCW currently beating virginia. Super athletic team playing great man defense.

Really athletic on offense as well, 4 players out there look to penetrate and pass. Move the ball extremely well and take great shots. They basically drive and kick and move until they get a good look, whether inside or out.

https://mobile.twitter.com/collegeinsider/status/793132851860533248

Take a look a this local coach doing big things at UT Martin. From the hill district doing an unbelievably impressive job.

His grandfather is a Duquesne alum and 1st black judge in the city of Pittsburgh for more than 30 years,
Judge James Warren Watson.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/several-young-coaches-could-raise-stock-at-ncaa-tournament/2017/03/13/dbfb9414-0820-11e7-bd19-fd3afa0f7e2a_story.html?utm_term=.7245b2c638ac

levon1975 wrote:

Duques102 wrote:

They are up 23-11 full court pressing and kicking their ass.

They lost!  So maybe not.
 

I hope you don't think we should disqualify candidates because they lose NCAA games against P5 schools. The list will get very short if you do that.
 

ElDuque wrote:

levon1975 wrote:

Duques102 wrote:

They are up 23-11 full court pressing and kicking their ass.

They lost!  So maybe not.
 

Not to be too personal, but Ferry's teams blew a lead or two while he was here.

Guys your talking about a team from the CAA, a 12 seed, losing to a Virginia team that was ranked in the top 15 in the nation basically all year long and is a perennial ACC powerhouse.

The fact that they lost in the end doesn't say anything about Keats, if you actually watched the game you would have seen the kid from UNCW throw the ball out of bounds to a teammate who wasn't looking when they had the ball down three with no shot clock. The kid melted in crunch time and I feel bad for him.

UNCW doesn't get kids as highly rated as Duquesne. Virginia gets some of the best talent in the United States and around the world. The fact that they basically lost by one possession should tell you enough about what kind of coach Keats is. His team was so disciplined defensively and executed the offensive game plan to a t. They were smaller and severely less talented and hung around all game long. They were able to exploit space with excellent ball movement to get good shots, despite their talent mismatch. That is a sign of good coaching. If Ferry coached them in that game with the same players, they would have lost by 30.

If anything we should be happy they lost because one or two wins would have put him in the power 5 stratosphere for sure. At least now we may have a realistic chance at taking a shot at him. If you just say oh he's not a good coach because UNCW lost to Virginia today you don't know anything about college basketball.

Harper had another great quote in that interview about going after coaching targets, "worst they can say is no". I wasn't sure about Harper until about a week ago, I think this is the guy to get us out of the woods.

Last edited by Duques102 (3/16/2017 4:01 pm)

Dukes2012 wrote:

Unfortunately, I think Keatts is out of our range at this point. I think he's holding out for a P5 job.

I fear your right but we should at least hold out hope. Watching that team up 15 at one point my first thought was damn are they well coached not damn are they talented. Their spacing and ball movement  was ridiculous, they looked like an NBA team from that perspective

Dukes2012 wrote:

Nathan Davis and bucknell put up a nice fight against WVU. Another name to keep an eye on.

What about this middle Tennessee coach? Beat Michigan state last year, about to beat Minnesota....

Ifky!  Glad to see some of us from our floor still support the Dukes!  Hope life is treating you well.  We should all meet up for a game sometime once we have a real coach!  I also think Keatts is doable, but I think it'll take a lot.

There is no way Dambrot should even be approached. We need a guy who wants to be here. He's in a comfortable spot, and he needs to be a lifer at Akron. If I don't hear that they at least approached Keatts, Becker, and Kelsey, I'm going to think it's more of the same nonsense.

duq81 wrote:

There is no way Dambrot should even be approached. We need a guy who wants to be here. He's in a comfortable spot, and he needs to be a lifer at Akron. If I don't hear that they at least approached Keatts, Becker, and Kelsey, I'm going to think it's more of the same nonsense.

Relax, these guys were occupied until yesterday.  I am sure that Harper is conducting an appropriate search and has his targets firmly in mind.  He even said in his interview that some of the people he wanted to talk to were still playing . Unlike the cluster that Amodio presided over Harper knows what he is doing.  BTW, I think that if Dambrot expressed any interest it would be because he wants to use DU to leverage another pay raise at Akron.
 

Mulder wrote:

Over on the A10 board at the link below there is a long post started back in 2013 that continues today about coaching rumors, with the last page on the Dukes and rumors from the UD board that Dambrot is a top candidate here.  The link:  http://www.basketballforum.com/atlantic-10-conference/533937-10-hot-seat-index-burnin-bernies-18.html

I know he was mentioned over here somewhere so I don't mean to beat this into the ground but it's an interesting brief discussion.  I don't recall Dambrot's problem at CMU but whether that was an issue or not I do recall his attitude when he was considered to replace Ron and that alone is enough to make me say "no" even without the added baggage.

We have the opportunity to make a statement not unlike Pitt last year.  They stumbled badly essentially saving the career of the AD's buddy rather than bringing in someone who could change the face of the program.  The latter is what we need and I hope that Mr. Harper is on the same track assuming that we are becoming attractive enough to have the interest of a solid coach.  Let's do this right.
 

No way in hell we go after a guy who turned us down when things were bad here. No way we go after a guy that got turned down by the dumpster fire that was the last ad, it would be a pr nightmare and frankly, we can do better.

Phildog wrote:

I wonder if Joe Dooley of FGCU is under consideration?
He is a tough defensive minded coach and last night they battled Florida State down to the wire despite the two 7 footers matched up against his two 6-8 forwards.

He doesn't make a lot , around 200m with bonuses but at 51 and success at FGCU and Kansas as crack recruiter and top Asst. for years, he might put the toughness into the Duquesne Program.

I think he would be a great choice Phil.  The guy is pretty much all that Harper described. He has won 21 games or more each of the last 4 years at FGCU and the NCAA each of the last two years along with an NIT and CBI trip.  I would take him for sure.