re: Say what u want about coach Cal

quote:

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LSU men’s basketball never has and never will shoot big when it comes to hiring a head coach.

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I don't think that is true. LSU certainly shot "big" when it came to hiring a WBB coach. So there is no reason to think they wouldn't do the same on the men's side. The issue is not an unwillingness to "shoot big". It the lack of opportunity.

I think many, particularly those who only came of age in the early 2000's, forget Nick Saban wasn't a "big" hire in 1999. He was a guy who had moderate success at Michigan St. In fact, he was best known to LSU fans as the HC who the now fired HC (Dinardo) blew out in the Independence Bowl. Saban built LSU into a championship contending program. Les continued it at that level for over a decade. Orgeron fell into a championship. Thus, the football program had the cache, built over 2 decades, to attract a "big hire" like Kelly.

LSU baseball was an afterthought before Bertman was hired. In fact, I bet many people at LSU and in BR didn't even know LSU had a baseball program. Bertman wasn't a "big" name when he was hired. He was an assistant coach at Miami. He ultimately built LSU into a powerhouse over two decades. That made the program attractive to the best coaches in America and allowed LSU the opportunity to go after them.

WBB was also mostly an afterthought until a nice little run in the early 2000's. However, that had faded by 2020. LSU wasn't a particularly attractive program to "big" names...except maybe one. A championship winning HC who grew up not that far from Baton Rouge, played college basketball in Louisiana, and had a son attend LSU. Mulkey wasn't leaving Baylor without something Baylor could not offer her. That something was "home". It's not that LSU was unreluctantly to shoot big in WBB and not in MBB. It's that the opportunity to do so in WBB presented itself.

Unfortunately, MBB hasn't had the level of success football and baseball have had over the last 30 years. And there is no championship level HC out there with deep Louisiana ties like Mulkey. So in order to be in position to "shoot big" LSU has to (a) get into the spot where they can be attractive to big names or (b) seize an unexpected opportunity.

Nate Oats wasn't a "big name" when Alabama hired him. In fact, his resume at Buffalo was probably less impressive than McMahon's at Murray St. But Oats has elevated the program. Danny Hurley was an up-an-comer at Rhode Island. It's not like UConn, a program with 4 NCs to its name at the time, "shot big". On the flipside you have guys like Bruce Pearl, Kelvin Sampson, Chris Beard, Rick Pitino. All had high level success at other jobs. All were available for reasons outside of on-court performance. Then you had guys like Rick Barnes, Calipari, Shaka Smart. Guys who have been highly successful, but whose stays at their current jobs had worn out.

Unless one of those things happen at the exact moment LSU is looking to hire a MBB coach, they are going to be left hiring from the pool that most basketball programs not named Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, UNC, etc hire from. Mid-major coaches looking to make a jump. Arkansas would have been left doing the same but for opportune timing. 4 years ago Cal would have NEVER considered leaving Kentucky for the Arkansas job. But it just so happened that Arkansas was in need of a HC at the exact same time Kentucky was really ready to move on from Cal. If Arkansas is looking for a new HC last season they likely don't have the opportunity to hire Cal. Same for if they were looking next season. But the timing worked out perfectly and they seized the opportunity.