Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis – our first of 2019. When the calendar turns over, that means conference play is either here or close by, and we’ve already had some conferences get going in earnest.
But the big story that we spend a lot of time on is the latest development in something we touched on in the prior podcast: Steve Alford has been fired by UCLA. Perpetually on the hot seat in Westwood, Alford was fired after the Bruins lost their sixth in nine games to Liberty on Saturday. A prior Morning Dish talked about this in some detail, so we won’t repeat it in the show notes.
We look at a couple of the names being thrown around as possible successors, namely, Rick Pitino and Earl Watson. The former is currently employed in Greece, but would not come without risk, while the latter has NBA head coaching experience, but got fired from that job. Both have people openly advocating for them.
Who will ultimately get the job? We look at some of the names being mentioned and who makes sense. So many of the names being mentioned have both pros and cons – there does not appear to be a clear home run hire at least at first.
We also spend some time looking at the practical aspect of this – why fire a coach during the season? It’s not like Murry Bartow will get the “interim” label removed and get the job beyond this season, so they aren’t getting a chance to try out a possible successor. Former Maine head coach Bob Walsh weighed in on Twitter with an interesting thought:
5 full seasons as head coach, 4 NCAA Tournaments, 3 Sweet 16s. Gets fired mid-season. And generally the move is understood/applauded. We don’t even blink an eye anymore. Shouldn’t this bother us, at least a little bit? Tough environment to coach/teach kids the right lessons.
— Bob Walsh (@CoachBobWalsh) January 1, 2019
We all know that the last sentence refers to a bit of idealism that is often stated, but whether or not it is meant is debatable. However, it is interesting to think that a move like this, or firing a coach after, say, two seasons (and not for cause – no NCAA violations or legal/ethical issues), leads few to bat an eye nowadays.
Finally, we close by looking at some interesting games of late, including St. John’s bouncing back from a tough loss to blowout Marquette and the conference as a whole being under the radar.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow college basketball fans. Be sure to tune in again soon for our next one.
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