Big 4 Hoops Blogger

Hey guys,

We're back for another episode of Talkin' Big 4 Hoops tonight. John Snyder and myself will be joined by Kevin Massare around 6:30ish. We'll have a link to the live show below. You can also watch the replay of the entire episode after the fact.

We have some juicy news regarding the latest rumors surrounding the UB coaching search and give our opinions on where things currently stand.

4 hours ago, DooleyBull06 said:

He must really wanna play for Paulus, otherwise this is random and a step backwards.

He had a huge decline in minutes and production this year under Michael Lewis. Niagara will offer him an opportunity to start again and be a key contributor on an improving MAAC squad.

I like the fit for him on the Purple Eagles. He wasn't a great player in the MAC but should be decent in the MAAC.

1 hour ago, DaBulls99 said:

That’s not a collective. It’s the department educating the kids about NIL. 

Wouldn't this be how UB is trying to help their student athletes acquire NIL deals? They have a Built In Buffalo NIL student request form.

https://ubbulls.com/sb_output.aspx?form=22

3 hours ago, ub2019 said:

Interesting video. Does anyone know what UB’s collective/NIL looks like compared to the rest of the MAC and mid-majors?

I don't know if UB currently has one but Ohio launched their NIL program last May:

https://ohiobobcats.com/news/2022/5/24/general-ohio-athletics-unveils-the-ohio-nil-exchange-to-public.aspx

Here's an idea of how it operates:

https://dash.inflcr.com/exchange/ohio-university

I recently gave my thoughts on UB firing Jim Whitesell on Trainwreck Sports. Fast forward to the 12:20 mark for our coaching discussion.

31 minutes ago, promotherobot said:

Speaking of TBT, not to get off topic here, but what are the plans this year? Is Buffalo going to be a regional location? and if so, where will they play? Alumni or maybe at the Flickinger Center at ECC Downtown?

It appears that only three of their regional locations have been announced at this time (Wichita, Louisville, West Virginia). I know there was speculation about Buffalo in the past and would think that's a strong possibility given Blue Collar's recent string of success.

https://thetournament.com/tbt/2023-locations/

34 minutes ago, DaBulls99 said:

College sports coaching graveyards are filled with former great recruiters. Just find the best coach. The rest takes care of itself. Nobody around here had a clue who Becky was before she was hired. 

That's an overly vague statement that doesn't include a lot of context. Sure, there's plenty of former great recruiters that didn't pan out to be good head coaches. There's also a ton of great teachers, developers and game managers that didn't turn into great head coaches because they couldn't recruit the level of players needed to be successful.

There are plenty of different skills needed to be a successful head coach at the D1 level. To diminish any skillset as non-important is wrong. Ideally, you want someone well rounded but that's not always possible at the mid-major level.

I truly feel bad for Toledo fans. To win three straight regular season titles and fall short in Cleveland each time is absolutely brutal.

I'm going to assume that most of our roster will look to transfer out and seek other opportunities. It's not necessarily a bad thing for a new coach with the current state of the transfer portal. You can guarantee newcomers immediate playing time which should help land some decent recruits.

St. Bonaventure had to reconstruct their entire roster last season and while they had an overall down season this year, they're set up to be somewhat successful in the upcoming years with some of their quality younger players.

20 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

You obviously have a lot of inside intel. Do you think Hodgson could continue to be an ELITE recruiter back at UB? Currently he can point to the coaching success of Oats, but without Oats, is there enough there to bring the guys in? Also, wouldn't he have to give up a lot of the things he does well to be the HC? Not being critical if that is the direction, I'm curious on your take. In my business, being really, really good at a component of the job doesn't make you a great leader of the whole, in many cases it seems to be a detriment because they tend to revert back to what they are good at and comfortable with, which detracts for the overall leadership. I continue to go back to the NFL where really good OC/DC people often suck when they get the HC seat. I would rather have a great X and O guy that has run a team that brings in a really, really good recruiter. Just my opinion.

Hiring a guy like Hodgson to be head coach would certainly come with some risks but it would be worthwhile in my opinion.

If he flops and can't handle the job, you can easily move on after three seasons and start over. From my past experience covering other mid-major programs, the ones that had the highest upside were schools that specifically targeted high level recruiters.

It's probably the riskiest path because you need to surround yourself with a skilled staff to make up for your shortcomings. I think UB still has enough to offer as a mid-major to allow him to recruit at a high level.

He would certainly be more limited recruiting as a head coach but I still think his skillset would still come in handy. He was bringing in high 3-star, borderline 4-star guys to UB and 5-star, All Americans to Alabama. That's absolutely unreal recruiting ability.

The issue with X & O's guys is that they need talent to develop and coach up. The MAC is a very top heavy with Akron, Kent, Toledo and Ohio. You need 3-star guys to compete with them. If you can't keep up with them recruiting wise, you're toast. If you do out-recruit them, you can win in spite of being a below average X & O guy if you have other talented coaches on your staff.

So to wrap up, it's definitely a risk. Hodgson could go 24-8 or 8-24 depending on how things come together if he were to get the job. An X & O guy might consistently go 18-12. You could be solid every year but never good enough to go dancing.

Essentially, I'm saying to take to risk to go after the highest ceiling rather than settle for a safe hire. The other candidates mentioned are certainly good options as well.

26 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

To this point…western Kentucky fired their coach. And he’s highly regarded as a coach and recruiter. 

Being a good recruiter doesn't mean you'll be a good coach. It's an important skillset but not the only one.

Some people are X & O guys, other coaches specialize in developing players and some focus on recruiting.

The key is to have a solid staff that can excel in each category. WKU wasn't winning at the level expected when they hired Rick Stansbury. He had tremendous recruiting classes but couldn't guide them to the tournament during his seven seasons. Despite that, he still was winning at a very high rate and won 20+ games 14 times in his career including his time at Mississippi State. 

I'm not a supporter of Hodgson because he can recruit. I'm a fan of his because he's an ELITE recruiter. If he ends up being their choice, I'll be happy but I'm also content with the other guys mentioned on the lists being leaked to the media.

5 hours ago, MuchMany said:

From the BN article on JW's firing:

Carlin Hartman (50), an assistant at Florida and a Grand Island High School graduate

Adam Cohen (~36), an assistant at Xavier and a Williamsville North graduate

Bryan Hodgson (36), former UB assistant and Jamestown High graduate who is now an assistant at Alabama

Baker Dunleavy (40), Quinnipiac head coach

Speedy Claxton (44), Hofstra head coach

Other names of interest:

Mike Mennenga (~53), Oregon assistant and former UB assistant

Matt Langel (45), Colgate head coach

Dave Smart (57), mentioned on the coaching insider podcast that broke the JW news last night as a "Canadian savant" and their choice

Jeff Boals, Ohio head coach

The three names that make the most sense are Cohen, Hodgson or Hartman.

Cohen knows the game, can recruit and has local ties. He would be a perfect hire and would likely use UB to catapult his career.

Hodgson brings elite recruiting ability, local ties and familiarity with the UB program. He'd instantly bring higher level players to Buffalo (transfers, 3 and possibly 4 star recruits). He'd need to surround himself with a strong staff to make up for his shortcomings.

Hartman is a Buffalo local that has put his time in as a major assistant. He'd bring familiarity with WNY, someone appreciative of the opportunity that could potentially stay longterm at UB and certainly knows the game.

I'm open to other names not listed as well. It's safe to say we'll likely lose a good portion of our roster in the upcoming weeks so whoever gets hired will need to have solid roster building skills because it'll likely be a brand new squad next year.

1 hour ago, UBinMD said:

A good question, here are my personal thoughts and the AD has not asked my opinion: 😂

1. People should almost always get a second chance, I have gotten many myself, but very rarely back where the mistake was made

2. I personally would like to see a fresh start, a Hodgson hire feels like a retread. It's like saying a mistake was made, so we are going to go back 4 years and hire the other guy. Don't love that.

3. He has been an assistant for close to 10 years, the last 4 at an SEC school. No HC chances? Did he get calls and not want to go? It seems like if you want to be a HC and a D1 opportunity arises, you take it and start the journey.

4. I hear a lot about the TBT, but he wasn't the HC there, why? Too busy with Alabama? I would have like to see some sideline action. If that's the criteria why not hire the actual TBT HC?

5. He feels like a guy who is good talking the talk to the guys, hyping them up getting them into the fold and then moves on. Like a GM. There are a lot of good GMs I would not want being my HC.

6. I could be wrong, but is there at Oats coaching tree yet? Who's the next guy?

I could be completely in left field and wrong, but those are the things floating in my head on this particular option. I had barely heard of Becky Burke, but once I found out about her trajectory, I was all in on her potential. She started at the lowest of low and has proven herself time and again in very short periods of time. I would like to see someone like that.

2. Jeff Boals was overlooked for jobs twice at Ohio before being hired.

3. Many assistants coach for 10+ years before getting their first head coaching job. That's not uncommon at all.

4. He wasn't the head coach because it didn't fit his schedule at Alabama in terms of recruiting and events. He was originally supposed to be the head coach and stepped down prior to TBT beginning the first year. He was responsible for the entire roster of guys playing.

5. The players at TBT came back because they wanted to play together. He was the one that convinced them. He has built great relationships with players which is why he's a tremendous recruiter.

Hodgson might not get the job or be a top candidate but some of your speculation is slightly off base. I personally know about the TBT info from talking with former players and people within the UB athletic department that let Blue Collar practice at UB.

1 hour ago, UBinMD said:

If you actually wanted the job, you don’t get on the plane. He acted like an immature assistant and was treated as such. If I had an interview with someone and showed up in a competitors gear I would question their desire for my position. Similar to the NFL, even great assistants don’t always translate to success in the big chair. It is a much different position that being the buddies of the players.

The story that got out and the truth of what actually happened don't line up. Hodgson was told they weren't considering him for the job so he moved on. Bad look on his part but it didn't play out the way many on this board discuss the incident and I know that for a fact.

Take this for what it's worth but a group of donors are pushing Alnutt to hire Hodgson. That certainly means something after he wasn't considered four years ago when Oats departed.

While he certainly has his detractors, there's a large portion of the fanbase that wants UB to hire him. Out of all the potential candidates, he'll have the largest backing heading into the process.

I'm not against the idea of Josh Pastner but don't think that's likely. Mike Anderson is a nice name but could be viewed similarly as Whitesell as a retread head coach that's a short term fix despite a much more impressive resume. All of that said, I think UB is more likely to target a young, rising assistant in my opinion.

22 hours ago, BrooklynBull said:

My comment was not a shot at Schmidt but at UB Horns Up.

My apologies. Obviously, we understand why Bona and UB have vastly different budgets.

6 hours ago, BrooklynBull said:

So St. Bonaventure spent $1,000,000.00 on a coach and went 14-18 and lost their first tournament game.  Not so great a return on investment.

Mark Schmidt has a long track record of success and built that program from a laughing stock in the A10 coming off probation to a school that has made three NCAA Tournaments (should be four), a NIT Final Four and a perennial contender in a Top 10 conference in college basketball during his tenure.

One year doesn't destroy his reputation, especially when they didn't have one returning player from his team last season. So while both teams were especially awful this year (Bona 200, UB 204 in KenPom), I'm more inclined to give Schmidt a pass than Jim Whitesell.

Whitesell has been a D1 head coach for over a decade and hasn't made a NCAA Tournament at this level. Spending money doesn't guarantee success but it certainly helps.

3 hours ago, Kevin said:

Took the year off. Didn't want to be fighting people. Focusing a lot on time consuming Bills coverage. 

Plus @Big 4 Hoops Bloggerreplaced me.

It was a big responsibility filling your void! 

9 minutes ago, DaBulls99 said:

I don’t think anyone is content and everyone knows to improve we need new leadership. But the second we miss 2 shots in a row it’s all doom and gloom and everything is awful. We get it. We just don’t need to hear it over and over again. What will happen, will happen. We still want our team to succeed every time they take the court. 

I'm on the same page with you on all of that and typically don't post during games for that reason.

Believe me, I'm not a doom and gloomer with UB basketball. I still think they have the building blocks to be a successful program. It's just been a frustrating year.

And to add to my previous point, Ohio fans are upset that they're 18-13 (10-8) and don't believe they have any shot in Cleveland despite being 134th in KenPom.

Some of the posters on this board are content because we're entertaining and finished where we were projected before the season. UB is 15-16 (9-9) and 198th in KenPom.

Ohio has not been consistently great in the MAC over the past decade while UB had one the best five years runs in the history of the conference not too long ago.

Why is it that Bobcat fans have higher expectations for their program than Buffalo fans? That's a problem.

17 hours ago, DaBulls99 said:

Jim’s worst year and he finished all of 1 game behind your idol Jeff Boals. Nobody has ever said Jim is great. He is what his career record says he is. Average. We can do better. We could also do worse. I’ll always remain an optimist for my team. Doesn’t mean I’m unaware of reality. 

Not sure why you're calling me out or saying that Jeff Boals is my idol. I've been critical of Boals all season in my other circles regarding his rotations and stubbornness at times.

I have been far from the most critical UB fan on this board. The only thing I've been hard on them is that they've decided to settle for being average rather than striving to be great.

Respect UB for coming back and getting the win when they could've easily given up down double digits. I'll be down in Cleveland for the MAC Tournament. Not expecting much but hoping they can at least give Akron a game in the quarterfinals.

I think this year is proof that many of Whitesell's critics over the past few years weren't pessimists but instead people who had the vision to see where the program was headed under him. Unless his recruiting magically improves, we're staring down mediocre basketball for the foreseeable future.

1 hour ago, Bluebird96 said:

Interesting to see UB’s defensive rankings in conference games are actually better than their offensive. That’s in conflict with the narrative we hear from ESPN’s announcers game in and game out which seems to be strictly based on the Bulls’ points for/against numbers. Either way, defense needs to continue improving down the stretch to have any chance of making some noise in Cleveland.

That's a good point. A lot of people have this perception that UB's strength is on the offensive side of the court because of their quick tempo but the metrics don't back that up. Truth is, Buffalo is average on both sides of the court.

Their defense is near the top of the conference during MAC play while their offense is closer to the bottom group of teams in the league. It's pretty easy to point out some of the problem areas for this squad when you look at their deeper numbers.