Harlan needs to poach Quannas White away from Houston

[MDUte]

Quannas White is the exact type of sneaky hire Dr. Chris Hill was famous for making. White is on his 8th season under Kelvin Sampson at Houston and was recently promoted to Associate Head Coach. The staff at Houston has proven to do more with less for years…exactly the type of coaching talent that’s needed at Utah. And Houston plays the most exciting brand of basketball that’s hard-nosed, up tempo, in your face defense…I think White would be my ideal hire to finally bring Utah MBB back to prominence.

College Basketball’s best assistant coaching staffs (Houston)

[The Miami Ute]

No offense but you want a guy who’s never been a head coach at the collegiate level or has any sort of local ties? I’d rather hire a proven winner and there many out there that are getting paid much less than what Utah can afford.

[MDUte]

None taken. Yes, I’d absolutely take a proven top recruiter from one of the elite programs in the country who knows what it takes to be a top ranked team every year. Craig Smith is the proven track record of HC success type that you’re referring to…no thanks to another one of those types of hires.

Give me a top up and comer who is a proven recruiter of elite talent and who knows what it takes to build and run a Top 10 program. And local ties to Utah is definitely not high on my list of requirements for the next HC. You can get the tie in locally through one of your assistant coaches. Majerus had no local ties to Utah. But he had Jeff Judkins on his staff who could bring in the best local kids. I’d much rather have an elite HC come in from the outside with ties to a recruiting hotbed like Houston Texas than one from Utah, no question.

[The Miami Ute]

The last few seasons that Krystkowiak was here, he was getting paid over $3.5M a season and was in the Top 8 of highest paid coaches in the nation. That kind of money can buy you a proven winner and by proven winner I’m talking about a guy that has a long track record and has taken his teams on Deep NCAA runs. Smith has neither of those qualities. As I’ve said many times on this site, his hire was an intellectualy lazy move by Harlan probably driven by proximity more than anything else.

[MDUte]

I’m not trying to be argumentative at all but name a proven coach out there who has made deep runs in the tourney that Harlan could bring to Utah for $3.5M/year.

[The Miami Ute]

Dusty May – FAU Head Coach – currently making $1.25M.

[MDUte]

Great call. I agree with you, May would be a home run hire.

[The Miami Ute]

My #1 choice would be Mark Few, but he’s never leaving Spokane no matter the inducement.

[RustyShackleford]

Disgusting, I hate him. He’s a good coach though

[Hahnenwk]

Utah would never hire Few with a DUI

[The Miami Ute]

Evidently Michigan thought that Dusty May was also a great coach because they just hired him last night from FAU.

[krindor]

Yes, Krystkowiak was making $3.8M…but he also ended up having a $6.5M buyout, which limited Utah’s ability to bid big on the next guy.

So it ended up being Craig Smith at $2.1M/yr (on average). But if Utah moves on from him now, there will be a buyout cost of…about $6.5M (maybe a bit more). Which will again limit spending on the next guy

[The Miami Ute]

Smith makes $1.85M a year. He’s not getting canned until the end of next season at rhe earliest, At that point, Utah would be on the hook to him for $3.7M.

[krindor]

Base salary of $12.6M over 6 years. That’s an average of $2.1M per year.

His first year salary (not his every year salary) was $1.85M, which makes it likely his salaries (by year) are

$1.85M, $1.95M, $2.05M, $2.15M, $2.25M, $2.35M.
(Or a percentage increase, but wouldn’t be much different than that and would be even more backloaded)

Meaning if we moved on this year it would be a $6.65M buyout…just more than what we had to pay Krystkowiak when we moved on.

Waiting until next year would drop that to a $4.6M buyout…which would be less debilitating, but may still impact our ability to shell out big money for a coach

[The Miami Ute]

I did some background research on Smith’s contract and you’re absolutely right. That being said, Smith’s salary is close to the bottom of what PAC 12 MBB head coaches are getting paid.

[palos_verdes_ute]

I would agree with Miami here. Why the F would we hire an assistant? Furthermore, no more prospecting with potentials like LK or CS. Go with proven formula this time around like a big time program. My vote is Brad Stevens – He wants to get back into coaching and is stuck behind the Celtics office.

[The Miami Ute]

Stevens is at the top of my list but I can’t see a realistic scenario where he leaves Boston and comes to Utah.

[palos_verdes_ute]

The scenario is his itch to get back into coaching.

[The Miami Ute]

You know this for a fact or read it somewhere?

[krindor]

Even if he had an itch to get back into coaching, it’s tough to see him coming to Utah.

For example, he’s from Indiana, his wife is from Indiana, he coached in the state (Butler), his dad played football for Indiana, and his son just committed to play basketball in Indiana (Notre Dame).

And as it turns out, Indiana (a marquee basketball school with a great history) just missed the NCAA tournament in a downer of a season with their third-year head coach. Given that the two programs (Utah and Indiana) are in almost the same place right now, except that Indiana has B1G money and tons of personal connections for him, it’s unlikely that Stevens would end up at Utah even if he does want to get back into coaching

[FountainofUte]

I can’t either, but can you imagine if we did!? Boy howdy.

It is a hire like that that we need. We can’t eff around anymore. This has gotten bad.

On one hand I feel like our program is miles from where it needs to be. And on the other, I think the fix could be quick if the right moves are made — possibly even by Smith (though I’m losing faith fast).

For all of the crap we get about attendance, I think it would bounce back if this program could get some talent, swagger and success back to the Hunty.

[GameForAnyFuss]

You just described the problem with Utah fans: We don’t support a team unless it’s already a winner.

Problem is, it’s hard to create a winner without already having support. Without the cash flow and full stands, you won’t get high quality players. Did you see what the arenas at USU and BYU-Provo Campus looked like when they really stunk? They looked exactly like they looked this year.

[Zigziggler]

Chris Capko from USC is another fantastic young energetic coach that Utah needs to build their BBall program. This guy has coached all over the the stars and helped USC recruit some of the hottest BBall talent in Southern California. He is going to be a top candidate for some program. It might as well be ours!

[The Miami Ute]

Capko is the same as White. A guy that’s never been a head coach at the collegiate level. Is Utah such a dumpster fire of a MBB program that we have to take chances on unproven coaches? I heard vía the grapevine that Randy Bennett reached out to the program after Krystkowiak was fired and didn’t even receive a call back. Bennett has been a consistent winner for a very long time at Saint Mary’s and fits the profile of the type of coach that should be on Utah’s radar.

[palos_verdes_ute]

Hiring an up and coming assistant is common and could be lucrative if you hit it. Tommy Lloyd and Jerome Tang are examples of former assistants that took over big programs (and are running well with it).

I just think we’ve done enough prospecting (trying to find the next Majerus), and would like to see a big bang hire for once.