Politi Article : Final 3 Candidates

RU fanatic

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according to politi article the final 3 are cluess, lornegan and pikiell. I shocked Dooley isn't on the list. Believe he's a great choice.
 

kupuna133

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If those truly are the 3 candidates I am not overly impressed. Cluess good coach but builds teams on retreads in a much lower conference. Lonergan is interesting but not sure he has interest. Pikiell can hit the ground running and will be able to recruit locally. But none of the names will make a splash. Much rather go with a top level assistant or Boyle over these three names. I have a feeling it will be a left field coach as well.
 

ouchmyknee

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Yeah. I'm gonna agree with Hawk that I'm not sure it's as cut and dry as those are the final three candidates. They may be candidates but there are others not listed.
 

ColonelRutgers

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Politi could be correct but I sincerely doubt the candidates are limited to these 3 people....I don't think his info is updated or accurate in this case.
Sure hope you're right but Politi was pretty definitive in the way he reported this. This wasn't a column where he was just throwing stuff out there to get a rise out of people (Boyle, Chip Kelly, etc.)
 
Dec 17, 2008
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I don't believe a word in that article. Hobbs hasn't uttered anything to anyone. I don't know where Politi gets his info, but I'd bet my mortgage it didn't come from PH. Gut feeling, we're going to get someone from left field.
If it's someone completely off the radar then how about a Ben Jacobson or Brad Underwood who I mentioned in the other thread.
 

Greene Rice FIG

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GW was ranked 26th by kenpom for experience. Going from 18-5 on 2/6/16 with a win against VA to not being on the bubble is concerning.

Given the lack of names I like on coaching list I think I'd be happy with this. Given that his team losses a lot of players next year he might know this is as good as time as any to take the RU job and make more $.

Not everyone is motivated by $ though.
 

SHUSource

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If it's someone completely off the radar then how about a Ben Jacobson or Brad Underwood who I mentioned in the other thread.
I'm surprised he doesn't get more mention here. You can make a better case for him than uninspired choices like Tim Cluess, whose teams play no defense and would get eaten alive in the Big Ten.

Lonergan is an excellent coach who would also be a great fit at Rutgers. Wow, if you can get him, you do it. But I really think he is a guy who is very much attached to that D.C. area, and may even be waiting on the job at Georgetown to open. But that's just the impression I get. He'd be a home run, in my opinion. In other words, I'd hate it!
 

Sideline20

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Here's how theses story's are written......journalism in the 2000's

Steve......"hey Adam what is Hurley telling you?"
Adam Z...."Steve, Danny said.......its down to Lonergan, Pikiell and Cluess"
Steve...."ok, thanks Adam.....if you hear anything, call ot text me"
Adam.Z...."have a good day Steve"
 

Shady Side Terp

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Jimmy Patsos, Siena, would be a good choice, but haven't heard his name mentioned. Like Lonergan, is a product of the Gary Williams coaching tree. Lifetime record is just north of .500, but has totally turned around two programs. Rutgers needs a HC with experience doing that. Not everyone is able to do it. Do some reading on him; he's also a personality that will mesh very well in Piscataway.
 
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Dec 17, 2008
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I'm surprised he doesn't get more mention here. You can make a better case for him than uninspired choices like Tim Cluess, whose teams play no defense and would get eaten alive in the Big Ten.

Lonergan is an excellent coach who would also be a great fit at Rutgers. Wow, if you can get him, you do it. But I really think he is a guy who is very much attached to that D.C. area, and may even be waiting on the job at Georgetown to open. But that's just the impression I get. He'd be a home run, in my opinion. In other words, I'd hate it!
I like Lonergan but not sure if it's realistic or not so stick with the "lesser" names.

As to Jacobson I think his name has been mentioned here a little in the past but not much. He's had a couple NCAA runs a little while back and now again with a different cast. In my mind he's in a little bit of a no man land from pie in the sky names like Miller/Mack and the usual suspects of Dooley/Cluess/Masiello. So I'm not sure how realistic he is. He just recently signed a 10 year 900K contract at NIU and he's been there awhile so not sure how eager he is to leave for a place like us.

I like what Underwood has done in his first 3 years as a HC and while he inherited a regular season conference title team it looks like he did suffer some losses with 3 seniors, including the player of the year and the top 2 scorers on the teams and he lost the whole staff including 5 incoming commits. So given the job he's done is good. His record is impeccable. 88-13 and 53-1, 3 NCAA tourneys in 3 years and advancing a game last year. Makes 400K and has been an assistant under Huggins and Frank Martin. I'd see him as better gamble then some of the other names thrown out.

People are very dejected by the names out there but I'm not. Good coaches come from these levels. I'm sure Gregg Marshall was looked down on back when we hired Waters and look at him now. I can't tell you which one will bloom and which one will burn but at least you can see the merits of a guy's record and say maybe he can do it. Also other coaches we've hired were close but couldn't get over the hump and got derailed by other stuff. Bannon was close, if Waters had more time with Hill he may have done it. It's not as if were miles and miles way. It's the ADs job to identify the one that's gonna be successful.
 

NBKnight

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Sure hope you're right but Politi was pretty definitive in the way he reported this. This wasn't a column where he was just throwing stuff out there to get a rise out of people (Boyle, Chip Kelly, etc.)

So you can tell the accuracy of his information by the way he reports it?
 

Cinco-70

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Jimmy Patsos, Siena, would be a good choice, but haven't heard his name mentioned. Like Lonergan, is a product of the Gary Williams coaching tree. Lifetime record is just north of .500, but has totally turned around two programs. Rutgers needs a HC with experience doing that. Not everyone is able to do it. Do some reading on him; he's also a personality that will mesh very well in Piscataway.


Love Jimmy...Used to work with him at a bar in G-Town when he would bartend every couple of weeks. He had a pretty big following there. Actually ran into Bill Raftery one night there. From a selfish standpoint i'd love it...that raspy voice.
 

_dave_

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Here's how theses story's are written......journalism in the 2000's

Steve......"hey Adam what is Hurley telling you?"
Adam Z...."Steve, Danny said.......its down to Lonergan, Pikiell and Cluess"
Steve...."ok, thanks Adam.....if you hear anything, call ot text me"
Adam.Z...."have a good day Steve"
Sideline, then all the other reporters and bloggers report the same. "Hobbs has reportedly narrowed his search down to three...." Even better is that they begin to quote each other.
 
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ConnBill

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Patsos's schtik will get old real fast. If you want a guy with experience turning around a program, Jeff Neubauer at Fordham did a very good job this year. Former Eastern Kentucky coach. Been to a couple of NCAA's with that team. Fordham is a difficult job in the A-10. First winning record for the program in something like 150 years.
 

ColonelRutgers

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So you can tell the accuracy of his information by the way he reports it?
If he wasn't pretty sure of his information he would've put more qualifying language in there and he didn't. That's the way reporters write. This isn't life and death stuff so if he's wrong he's not going to be blasted by a Presidential Press Secretary but Politi is a columnist and doesn't venture into reporting that much so I assume he knows something. Which sucks.
 
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SAE96

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I could see why Hobbs was pushing hard for Hurley. He was his top candidate.

However, now that Hurley is no longer a candidate, he has the ability to take his time, do research on other prospects, and have a wide-ranging pool of candidates. At this point, there's no rush to get it done in the next week or two.

I have strong doubts about Politi's information. When you have nothing to print, regurgitating old info seems to be the press' mo.
 

RU MAN

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I don't believe a word in that article. Hobbs hasn't uttered anything to anyone. I don't know where Politi gets his info, but I'd bet my mortgage it didn't come from PH. Gut feeling, we're going to get someone from left field.
I do like Lonergan a lot. But when a reporter gives us three names, he doesn't know **** about what Hobbs is thinking.
 
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NewJerseyHawk

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Politi could throw the most recent 3 names and if one is hired, he would be considered correct, so it's not like there isn't wiggle room with a general statement. I can pretty much guarantee that there are less than 5 people that I know that are aware of some of the details that eventually land in articles a day or two after I'm gather the info....some post here and are really reliable (ouchmyknee here is specifically is one of them) and the others all have information that consistently check out almost all the time.....most of it is non-coaching search related and doesn't limit itself to just RU related information as well.

I would be completely shocked if these 3 names are the only finalists left for a job that just opened up late last week. Some searches extend at least 3 weeks before they get finalized. It's possible we may be here next Friday without anything finalized and no press conference scheduled/set and coach in place. That wouldn't mean that anything is wrong, just that the dynamics or candidates or circumstances have changed. It just needs to be combed through to make sure you don't rush into a hire when you don't need to, especially for this job, which is unique and has some significant financial upside to go along with a substantial increase in compensation for the bulk of the candidates involved.
 

RU MAN

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Politi could throw the most recent 3 names and if one is hired, he would be considered correct, so it's not like there isn't wiggle room with a general statement. I can pretty much guarantee that there are less than 5 people that I know that are aware of some of the details that eventually land in articles a day or two after I'm gather the info....some post here and are really reliable (ouchmyknee here is specifically is one of them) and the others all have information that consistently check out almost all the time.....most of it is non-coaching search related and doesn't limit itself to just RU related information as well.

I would be completely shocked if these 3 names are the only finalists left for a job that just opened up late last week. Some searches extend at least 3 weeks before they get finalized. It's possible we may be here next Friday without anything finalized and no press conference scheduled/set and coach in place. That wouldn't mean that anything is wrong, just that the dynamics or candidates or circumstances have changed. It just needs to be combed through to make sure you don't rush into a hire when you don't need to, especially for this job, which is unique and has some significant financial upside to go along with a substantial increase in compensation for the bulk of the candidates involved.
Hawk, as you may or may not know, I follow all sports at Rutgers, but give to the football program where I am really tuned in. Not so much on the BB side. Would you at least say if Lonergan is still seriously in the running or is he just a name Politi threw in there? Personally, Politi doesn't really have a clue what is up Hobbs' sleeve.
 

MADHAT1

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Apr 1, 2003
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Did Steve get his info from the informed poster from the Hall who knows the name but can't reveal it or the TarHeel that has a boss connected to everything RU ?
If not, I don't believe Politi knows what's going on and only acting like what he's speculating is a fact.
Seems media types like him have givin us enough wrong information about this coaching search, the grain of salt should be a fill shaker.
 
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ruman

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Politi could throw the most recent 3 names and if one is hired, he would be considered correct, so it's not like there isn't wiggle room with a general statement. I can pretty much guarantee that there are less than 5 people that I know that are aware of some of the details that eventually land in articles a day or two after I'm gather the info....some post here and are really reliable (ouchmyknee here is specifically is one of them) and the others all have information that consistently check out almost all the time.....most of it is non-coaching search related and doesn't limit itself to just RU related information as well.

I would be completely shocked if these 3 names are the only finalists left for a job that just opened up late last week. Some searches extend at least 3 weeks before they get finalized. It's possible we may be here next Friday without anything finalized and no press conference scheduled/set and coach in place. That wouldn't mean that anything is wrong, just that the dynamics or candidates or circumstances have changed. It just needs to be combed through to make sure you don't rush into a hire when you don't need to, especially for this job, which is unique and has some significant financial upside to go along with a substantial increase in compensation for the bulk of the candidates involved.
Hobbs didn't help himself by saying he wanted to be done in a week.
 
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Sep 29, 2005
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Final 3 candidates today. Next week he'll have another article with a different set of final candidates. Since there were no leaks during the football search, I would say the leaks around Hurley were coming from the Hurley camp. This is media conjecture.
 
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Russ Wood

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Thank you thank you thank you. Then who? Who would your top 3 most likely be right now?
I don't have a top 3 for the Rutgers job or a job for that matter.

I really thought that Steve Pikiell would be a really good choice for Rutgers if he was interested.

Hobbs has his work cut out for him.
 

RutgersFbFan

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I don't have a top 3 for the Rutgers job or a job for that matter.

I really thought that Steve Pikiell would be a really good choice for Rutgers if he was interested.

Hobbs has his work cut out for him.
what are your thoughts on kevin boyle? I've really warmed up to the idea, specifically from a recruiting perspective and his ins w/ AAU coaches
 

mal359

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What happened? I thought Politi was a garbage journalist with no information!