Bummer, supposedly. Bryant’s pulled his name from consideration.

[UtahUtesRock]

I’m not a Smith guy.  At this point as far as I’m concerned talk to Earl Watson.

[Ute Dub]

What do you have against Smith? Too proven at taking a middle of the road team in the conference and making them first or second in their conference every year?

[Ute2]

Agreed! I think smith would be a great choice! I’ve been all over the Aggies for years since my in laws are all big aggies.

He’d be a great hire.

[Ute Dub]

I don’t get the fascination with Bryant, he has very little on his resume. No HC experience, No defensive coaching experience, some player development experience, some experience with James Dolan and the s**tty Knicks who desperately want Donovan Mitchell via Bryant.  

[Ute2]

Well I might disagree with you there.

I think NBA associate head coach for the knicks is quite the line on a CV.

[Ute Dub]

Jim Boylen was Associate HC with zero HC experience. Just saying. Ray Giacoletti was a first assistant to the HC with zero HC experience as well. Alex Jensen had 2 years as d league coach. What coaching experience does Earl Watson have? IDK.

[Central Coast Ute]

Wasn’t Earl Watson an NBA HC?

[Ute Dub]

True. .280 win percent for the Suns.

[Central Coast Ute]

Yeah. Which is why he wasn’t there for long.

[UtahUtesRock]

I didn’t think Utah State ever made it out of the first round with him. 

[Ute Dub]

And therefore take guys who have never even coached a team before in Bryant and Earl Watson? Utah State is the 5th best job in the MWC. Try recruiting to Logan, Utah. Yet there he is getting to the tourney 3/3 years.  They hadn’t been to the tourney since 2011 before that. How long is Utah’s drought? Read an article or two about Smiths philosophy and identity. Defense first and if you play defense you will play. Rebound and don’t turn the ball over, and his guys buy in. It’s basically K-Whitt in basketball form. If he’s interested we absolutely should pull the trigger. Imagine better PAC 12 athletes playing 40 minutes of defense and out rebounding every opponent every game. We’ll win games and make the tourney as a higher PAC seed rather than a MWC seed that gets a 12 seed and gets a 1st round with a top 20 team. 

[UtahUtesRock]

No but I’d rather take potential over the known if the known can’t take his team out of the first round. 

[Ute Dub]

More likely you’ll take guys who can’t even get there.

[UtahUtesRock]

Yeah I’m sorry I don’t like your candidate. I’m pretty sure Harlan doesn’t check with me first. I get my guy hasn’t coached college ball. I like how he competed as a player, he’s smart and I “think” he could recruit. It’s a total unknown. Sorry just not a Smith fan. I’m sure he’s a good guys just seems like I’ve seen what I can expect from him. I also think your downplaying Utah States rep as a program too. They had a few bad years but they’ve been pretty damn good. I’d just expect him to do more with that team. But agree to disagree. 

[Ute Dub]

Fair enough. We’ll see where this roller coaster ride goes, I guess. Hopefully Harlan gets the right guy whoever it is.

[Stone]

Smith seems like a solid hire. He has won everywhere he has been. Hard to argue with that. 

My only hesitation with him is that I have a soft spot in my heart for the Aggies and would feel a bit bad about poaching him. I like it when USU has success. That said, better that we steal him than some other school.

[Staples]

I think Watson is an intriguing candidate. Question is if there’s interest on his part.

[fosternano]

I also look at it with who Oklahoma will take. I love the utes but if smith got a job offer from both Utah and Oklahoma I would expect him to take the Oklahoma job…