Our search wasn't the disaster that St. John's is in the midst of, but I would argue it was poorly executed. We hired an internal candidate after a significant delay. Our recruiting class bailed during this transition- aside from Andre Allen, the decisions were announced deliberately, well into the search. A more decisive move to ensure continuity (Whitesell or He Who Won't Be Named) may have prevented some of the defections. Our coaching hire was announced on the Saturday of the Final Four. The press conference was Monday. This prevented any appreciable networking/interviewing of assistant coaches at the prime event for such wheeling and dealing each year. As such, we are still down an assistant coach, and just hired our second. It also prevented us from regaining any recruiting momentum (hired during a dead period). Lastly, we wasted resources hiring a search firm only to select an internal candidate. This, alone, is damning. IMO, the decision (internal vs. external) needed to have been made months prior. Oats was walking- we all listened to "Gonzaga of the East" but he always added "leave for stupid money." Stupid money was surely coming this off-season. ADMA was not prepared.
Love that Whitesell has the support of our returning players. I will accept the supposition that he is a superior basketball mind to Hodgson. Time will tell if he was the right selection. But the coaching search was poorly executed and cost us precious momentum, even if he ultimately proves to be the right man for the job.