It’s more than a head coach in hoops, look at Dale Brown.

He had Jack Schalow, Tex Winters, then Homer Drew, then Rick Huckabay, and later Gary Duhe. Brown obviously wasn’t an XO nor a game coach and he wouldn’t have had half the success he had without these assistants. And to those who don’t remember, weren’t around, or deny his success. One of his first teams was with Eddie Palubinskas, Mike Darnell, John Enquist. They were sub mid pack record wise but he put a good product on the floor. Then he really started hitting on all cylinders when my teammate Howard Carter was a sophomore in 1980 with Macklin, Sims, Leonard Mitchell, Huck Martin, John Tudor, and Cookie Man. 17-1 in SEC and 31-5 overall, and a final four berth, finally to be taken down by the great Bobby Knight. That game was Huckabay vs Knight in XO and game coaching and Knight was better. But Brown assembled that team.

Then the next final four team with Redden, Blanton and Derek Taylor, another Redemptorist boy.

Bottom line and moral of the story. You can’t win with a passive, sluggish, probably a great guy but not enthusiastic at all coach. You need a spitfire who believes his own schtick. Dale Brown had most of what’s needed because he knew he needed the good technical assistants. And at this stage of his young career, Will Wade has what it takes even more so. Rouse knows that and hopefully he can throw the cast net well enough to bring the General home.