Men’s Hoops: Do you care?
- Thread starter Oldmanastro
- Start date
Count me in on letting the Contract expire but please please do not renew it. We can and should expect year in and year out top 10 finishes!!! How many times has Shakas teams done that.
If it’s one and out in the tournament, I’d let it expire. If it’s Sweet 16 or a deeper run, it’d be hard to not extend. The optics would be really bad and could hurt recruiting.
Nothing is going to happen to him before his contract is up but he needs a deep run to get off the hot seat. Keep in mind that this team is the most talented, experienced and deepest team in many years. Regular season is one thing. The tournament is where coaches distinguish themselves. Everybody is talented and highly skilled. It comes down to X’s and O’s and decisions in crucial moments of the game. Believe me, I desperately want him to succeed. I want a national championship and if he can demonstrate that he can lead us there he deserves to stay. His work product to this point hasn’t shown that he can get it done. Remember that the next couple years will be down years as we’ll be in transition and have zero experience. We’re likely be below .500 next year and the next.
This is the year he needs to get it done.
This is the year he needs to get it done.
I was afraid you prisoners of the moment would start talking extension. Here's the truth from somebody that knows basketball-- shaka is bad at strategy, adjustments, and coming up with something in a pinch. He's not average; he's BAD. He makes bad decisions (see: timeout vs tech with 1.8). His players turn the ball over and take bad shots at the worst possible times (see: TWO shot clock violations in overtime vs Kansas because they were trying to split a double team that happened because of a stationary screener). The dribble dribble dribble dribble JACK UP A 3 AS THE SHOT CLOCK RUNS OUT offense is maddening. It was better earlier this year, then went back to what it's always been. He can recruit. He's a good man, seemingly. But if you don't think Dave rose or Tom Izzo vs shaka in round two is an absolute nightmare of a coaching matchup, I dunno what to tell you. If shaka wants an extension, CDC should say "hey yeah, great job, let's talk annoy that soon", and then let the calendar pages flip to December and see what it looks like without a final four quality roster (which, let's be fair, shaka put together). My vote don't matter, but I vote no extension
MM, I'm going to have to table my definitive answer to this until after the tournament. I will say that my opinion that Shaka is not the long-term answer has not changed. I've been in agreement with @Drtxhorn on just about everything regarding Shaka and Texas basketball in recent times. I'd also love for him to prove me wrong and grow into the coach that makes us consistently good to very good again, but his body of work still suggests this is very unlikely.
The season has turned out pretty well so far, but the talent and experience was there for something significantly better than an 11-7 conference record (which is almost certainly what our record would have been if the game in Waco had not been canceled). I'm very pleased with the conference tournament championship, even if we caught some extraordinary breaks to win it, but it's still nothing close to winning a regular season conference championship -- or, better yet, doing something of significance in NCAA tournament -- and it absolutely does not on its own merit a contract extension with significant additional guaranteed money. Adding two years to the contract with very little guaranteed money for recruiting purposes is defensible, since he is coming back next year regardless of what happens in the tournament; adding two years with a full ~$7 million in guaranteed money is not, absent a stellar showing in the tournament (for me, Final Four or better). Then there are several "in-between" scenarios.
Rather than play out all of the hypothetical scenarios for tournament performance, let's come back to this once everything's in the books.
Yeah, not terribly excited about possibly seeing Izzo in the second round. Michigan St. has wins over two one-seeds and a two-seed in the last three weeks.
It’s only got a year left, so if he makes a deep tournament run it will very likely get extended. That’s just the facts like it or don’t everyone will have to deal with it. If I were a betting man I’d bet pretty heavy money Shaka being at Texas past 2022
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I think he'll get a small extension this year and if he proves it again next year then give him the big boy deal.
You seem to have the wrong expectations of UT basketball. The money is not there like it is for Football. I think most fans and donors are fine with making the tournament each year and making a deep run every five years or so. He got lucky last year and got a do over but if he misses the tournament again then he has problems. Right now he's sitting pretty.
Could be. But I honestly don’t believe inside the athletic department Shaka’s seat had ever been that hot. CDC right after the conference tournament game was cancelled last year gave a pretty strong endorsement of Shaka to the point that I don’t think the result of that game or the result of selection Sunday would of changes his mind
CDC had no choice but to heavily endorse him because Greg Brown had not yet committed. He was still weighing between UT and the NBA G League. We would've lost his commitment if he hadn't endorsed Shaka. By the way, the G League Select team has been a big success in it's first year. Next season, I would expect to see many more elite HS prospects opting for the G League instead of going to college. That dynamic will change NCAA Men's BBall. The likes of Duke, Kentucky, Kansas dominating year after year are pretty much finished. It's going to come down to coaching and development. The new BBall program model moving forward are Gonzaga and Baylor. Mark Few and Scott Drew have a great model using a combination of keeping and developing quality role players with experience and recruiting heavily in the Juco and transfer portal for kids that show high upside. They know how to evaluate talent and how to incorporate player strengths into the program. Chris Beard is another one. Look at the job he did with Mac McClung. That kid is a gamer who was tossed aside by Georgetown.
Shaka has to learn to keep older players on the roster. Having some mature leadership in the locker room goes a long way in keeping the focus on winning and not individual accolades.
I don’t dispute that. What I said was I don’t believe his seat was ever as hot LAST year as many believe. Now if this year had gone bad yeah it would of got pretty hot but I don’t think he was ever that close to getting fired last year as many like to believe he was.
Guys were going to the big dance. Granted we have to spend a month in a place like Indiana but hey if we win its cool. We were ranked 2nd but then covid hit. But we've righted the ship and were going to tournament on a roll. Were starting to play like the team that was ranked 2nd. Were going to far this time.
HookemHorns
HookemHorns
Until Shaka puts together some runs in the tournament like Barnes and Penders did consistently, in no way does he deserve a contract extension.
The buyout on his contract was too high. Fenves and Perrin knew what they were doing. He needs to get up to speed at keeping older players on the team. As Drtxhorn said, the G league is going to be taking the more talented players so Shaka will need to be keeping and developing players for multiple years like Jericho Simms.
Also the Lady Horns are in tournament. They're a 6 seed which is good for a first year coach. I don't know how far they'll go. Would it be a success if they win at least 1 game or should they win more? Either way
HookemHorns
HookemHorns
I was responding mostly to this sentence: "But I honestly don’t believe inside the athletic department Shaka’s seat had ever been that hot."
Anyway, that's fine -- I think we just have a different idea of what constitutes a hot seat. To me, if you're facing certain termination unless you perform at a level that exceeds anything you've done during your five-year tenure, that constitutes a seat that's plenty hot. But usages can vary.
