Memphis Tigers Are In Search Of Wow!

You can’t fault John Calipari for accepting Kentucky’s offer.  Coach Cal encourages his players to take the NBA route if they can go high in the draft. 

Calipari has said that one reason Memphis has been successful in recent years (more so than Kentucky) is because recruits remember the programs that have been winning since they were 15 or 16 years old; longer than that, not so much.  

Calipari is living his youthful dreams of being a part of Kentucky’s great tradition and you can’t fault him for wanting to add to their legacy.

The program that John built at the University of Memphis will attract another quality coach for several reasons. Calipari has demonstrated that success can be achieved with a strong out of conference schedule regardless of its non-BCS conference affiliation. 

Coaches Mark Few at Gonzaga and Sean Miller at Xavier have also confirmed this paradigm as their programs are no longer labled "mid-major."   

As Calipari often says “it takes a village.” The university's Athletic Director RC Johnson has in place a solid player support structure that ensures high graduation rates and developswell rounded student athletes. The village of Memphis packs a 17,000 seat arena and outdraws the NBA Grizzlies. 

The ability to counter Kentucky’s offer with a better financial package than the one Calipari accepted shows that Memphis has a booster base that is willing and capable of paying top dollar for the right coach.  

As quoted in the Memphis Commercial Appeal on Wednesday, “FedEx vice president Alan Graf, who will run the search from the boosters’ side, said Wednesday that the UofM would be looking to make a splash as it attempts to keep the program nationally relevant. 

“Some of the names (being considered), if people heard them, they’d say, ‘Wow.’

Looking back through the history of Memphis basketball success, its important to realize that Memphis never has gone out and bought a "Wow" coach. 

It's not because Memphis could not afford one or didn’t have a program that was competitive on a national level.  Bob Vanatta (109-34), Dana Kirk (158-58), Gene Bartow (83-32), and Larry Finch  (220-130) all had nationally recognized success at Memphis but none of them started their tenure as a “wow” coach.

Instead, Memphis has had success finding diamonds in the rough and creating environments that allow coaches to succeed.

Today’s “wow coaches” are "flavor of the month" coaches.  They are hot today.  They are hyped and ranked by the media like Rivals Power Coach Rankings.  Going after one of these guys right now is like a feeding frenzy in shark infested waters; as we have seen with the recent contract retention packages obtained by Missouri’s Mike Anderson, USC’s Tim Floyd and Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl. 

If Mike Anderson's salary increase is any indication (from $850,000 to $1.35 million with an additional $200k in deferred compensation), the price for a “wow” coach is going up.

Memphis' coaching search should be more opaque.  Opaqueness is difficult in the media fish bowl and certainly easier when one has first strike capability (a.k.a. Kentucky).  Rather than an aggressive pursuit strategy, Memphis should be pursued. 

Its important to know that the coach truly wants to be at Memphis rather than Memphis wanting the coach to fill the spot to satisfy the “wow” factor.  Good coaches don’t coach from their wallet but rather coach from their heart.

Memphis needs a coach who has faced adversity but also tasted success.  Memphis needs a coach that may appear to be a little risky. There may be some questions or unknowns that the general public and media aren’t sure about.  

There must be solid background checks to properly vet the prospect for potentially criminal and unsavory behavior and media should not serve that function.  John Calipari was perceived as risky when Memphis hired him.  

Much of that riskiness was washed away for Kentucky through nine unblemished years at Memphis.

So, who are some coaches Memphis should consider?  Try this list of potential “wow” coaches (in no order) and some links to information on their coaching backgrounds:

Scott Drew - Baylor

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=3189351

Brad Stevens - Butler

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/region_4/Brad_on_influences_20090309

Rick Stansbury - Mississippi State

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Stansbury

Avery Johnson - Former NBA Dallas Mavericks

http://www.nba.com/mavericks/news/Avery_Johnson_dismissed_043008.html

Flip Saunders - Former NBA Detroit Pistons

http://blogs.usatoday.com/gameon/2008/06/morning-rant-fl.html

Lawrence Frank - Current NBA NJ Nets

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E3DB1238F93BA15752C0A9629C8B63