Ben Howland
- Thread starter Plum Street
- Start date
His name was certainly brought up at a time when he was available. There was an indication he was interested but not sure we ever seriously considered him. Probably out our league financially.
yes we should have hired him instead of Jordan, he was interested supposedly but RU was in such panic mode as usual...Carl Kushner..lmfao
Wow. I can’t believe we passed on howland. And that it is hardly mentioned here is very surprising. We would be a good program by now with howland.
well it would have been his 6th season so we would either be in the NCAA or getting ready to hire a new coach
Based on howland’s track records, we already would have been in the ncaa tournament . We would probably be a sweet 16 type team at this point.
Can you guarantee Howland would win here? I can't. I am more than happy with Coach Pikiell, he is all class, and good coach for us, and wants to be here.
Howland is a final four caliber coach. If he can’t win here , no one can.
He isn't here, and he is no guarentee for Rutgers. Pikiell is and I am glad we got him. I am enjoying the build. we have a class coach.
at Rutgers there is no guaranteed he would have won
I seem to recall Howland did have an interest but RU was worried about some locker room controversy with him that given the fresh Mike Rice wounds was not going to fly with BOG. We also probably didn't have the $$ then--still on AAC payouts. Don't quote me on it though.
True .
Calhoun was never interested in coaching Rutgers and was not liked by our fan base . You can start a thread on Calhoun if you like. He was a great coach
Calhoun was never interested in coaching Rutgers and was not liked by our fan base . You can start a thread on Calhoun if you like. He was a great coach
Personally, I am glad we have Steve Pikiell.
Do you know anything about why Howland was tossed by UCLA? Your post would indicate you do not. If that is, in fact, the case, I suggest you read this:
https://www.si.com/more-sports/2012/02/29/ucla
Hardly mentioned here today, sure. But Howland was mentioned plenty when we were looking for a coach.
Not really sure the point of that article . Anyway, we should be so lucky to have a coach take rutgers to 3 straight final fours and then end his time here on a sour note .
Sign us up for that .
I'm happy with what Pike is doing now, but when talking about Howland being hired instead of Jordan:
470 career wins might be an indication he’d be able to win at RU
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/coaches/ben-howland-1.html
The reality is Rutgers was not going to hire any coach with any issues after the Rice controversy. Eddie was hired because he was clean and a Rutgers legend.
True and RU screwed that up.
He was clean, but not the graduate Rutgers said he was and that foul-up make his hire look bad
before he ever coached a game.
There were some complaints, by players, of how Howland talked to his assistants, team managers and players at the end of the bench. There was also a player, Reeves Nelson, best teammates precedes was allowed to get away with things that other players on the team we're not allowed to get away with. Years later Howland admitted he mishandled Nelson.
I recall an interview with Howland, before he took the Mississippi State job, where he mentioned that he had other offers that he turned down. He said that a few of them were "rebuilds"
At some point the administration has to say F#ck it and just try to win no matter what the NJ media or national media has to say.
At the time, the NJ media had also been picked up nationally, the Mike Rice tape was getting what felt like continuous airplay, and RU had already badly mishandled his firing (and fired their AD). Compound that with a new president who just wanted all the media noise around basketball to go away so he could focus on the medical school integration (and who was much more focused on the costs of athletics than being competitive), and an interim AD who wasn't going to push back against that president or want to go out on a limb, and the university was going to be very gunshy about hiring anyone with a behavior questions in their background (and tight with the pocketbook).
I just don't think that Howland was in the cards given our situation at the time.
Unfortunately, All of our coaches have been “Coach A” since Tom Young.
It isn't easy.
You would think a guy like Ben Howland makes a lot of sense because he built Pitt basketball. It is a very similar situation on the surface, except..........
1. College basketball recruiting is different
2. Ben Howland is probably financially secure where he probably wasnt before
3. Ben Howland is 20 years older than when he built Pitt
It takes a lot to build a program and unless it is the right person (or wrong if you ask friends and family) it is real difficult to do twice. Not only do you need hunger, but you need to be the same person you were before the fame and glory. It is 1 thing to kiss a HS players arse when you are Ben Howland before the success. Once you've made I can't see how most humans would not think they are above a lot of that stuff. i am worth X million dollars and i am a successful coach i don't need to be texting kids 8-10 times, my assistants can do that.
You would think a guy like Ben Howland makes a lot of sense because he built Pitt basketball. It is a very similar situation on the surface, except..........
1. College basketball recruiting is different
2. Ben Howland is probably financially secure where he probably wasnt before
3. Ben Howland is 20 years older than when he built Pitt
It takes a lot to build a program and unless it is the right person (or wrong if you ask friends and family) it is real difficult to do twice. Not only do you need hunger, but you need to be the same person you were before the fame and glory. It is 1 thing to kiss a HS players arse when you are Ben Howland before the success. Once you've made I can't see how most humans would not think they are above a lot of that stuff. i am worth X million dollars and i am a successful coach i don't need to be texting kids 8-10 times, my assistants can do that.
In this case Coach A succeeded at every single place he coached.
I am happy with the path pike has . But after seeing Howland this weekend, what is this 4 programs he has taken to the tournament? The guy is a NC caliber head coach . To say he would have succeded here is not going out on a limb.
Northern Arizona and Pitt builds occurred while he was young and put him on the map as a coach and in his wallet.
Success at UCLA has almost no correlation with succeeding at Rutgers. Only thing that can be taken is X and Os.
He is 27-38 in SEC play for Mississippi State. Premature to give him any credit for what he has done there.
Would Ben Howland come here and do the little things needed to win here? What he did at Pitt was miraculous. I just doubt him having the hunger to do it all over again.
Success at UCLA has almost no correlation with succeeding at Rutgers. Only thing that can be taken is X and Os.
He is 27-38 in SEC play for Mississippi State. Premature to give him any credit for what he has done there.
Would Ben Howland come here and do the little things needed to win here? What he did at Pitt was miraculous. I just doubt him having the hunger to do it all over again.
Hell of a coach, but we were never gonna hire the controversial Howland coming off controversy with Mike Rice. Just the wrong timing.
Ben Howland? are we talking about the same ben howland who went to the final four 3 times and recruited multiple NBA players? That Ben Howland?
Danny Hurley and Mike Lonegran wouldnt take the Rutgers job. What makes you think Ben Howland would take it? If we are asking for Howland we might as well be asking for John Beilein or Mark Few too.
Danny Hurley and Mike Lonegran wouldnt take the Rutgers job. What makes you think Ben Howland would take it? If we are asking for Howland we might as well be asking for John Beilein or Mark Few too.
And on top of that, we weren't going to pay for Howland, either. His contract at Miss St was double what we paid EJ.