OT: Doyel "grades" coaching hires

Gregg hands out “grades” on coaching hires. Gives an A to UMass and a B to Richmond. Louisiana-Monroe receives a C for hiring Orlando Early. Anyway, here’s the entire list:

Report Cards: Grading offseason coaching changes

I just don’t understand why this guy is always such a jerk???

His glowing praise of Laeito ( who did what at DePaul?) at UVA is fools gold. Gillen was no dummy and he just could’nt get the needed out of state recruits to Charlottesville. Don’t wish Laeito bad, but I’d be suprised if he really did much better than Gillen unless the sceond coming of Ralph Sampson is in the wings in some tiny town in Va. Holland got lucky, Gillen did’nt.

Some times it’s hard to figure Doyel. Not sure why he thinks Wainwright is such a bad hire for DePaul. I think JW will be successful with the Blue Demons, though I don’t know that they will be any better than middle-of-the-pack in the bloated Big East.

As far as Leitao, I believe he did a good job at DePaul. Pat Kennedy had really run that program into the ground (as he has done at Montana and Towson since leaving Chicago). Kennedy’s record at DU:

1997-98 7-23
1998-99 18-13 (NIT 1-1)
1999-00 21-12 (NCAA 0-1)
2000-01 12-18
2001-02 9-19

Not too impressive for a guy who was supposed to resurrect the once proud DePaul program that flourished under Ray Meyer.

Anyway, not sure if Leitao made the right decision to leave for UVa. Pete Gillen was certainly the wrong coach (see Pat Kennedy and DePaul) for the Cavaliers. Ditto for Melvin Watkins and Texas A&M, etc., etc.

[b]Anyway, not sure if Leitao made the right decision to leave for UVa. Pete Gillen was certainly the wrong coach (see Pat Kennedy and DePaul) for the Cavaliers. Ditto for Melvin Watkins and Texas A&M, etc., etc. [/b]

With DePaul’s move to the Big East, I think I would have made the switch to Virginia also. Both schools will likely be middle-of-the-pack schools in their respective conferences next season. The ACC lure us usually easier to get recruits for. The only thing he lost by leaving DePaul is the Chicago recruiting base. By “losing it”, I mean he’s not the hometown college coach anymore. He still will get some kids from there. Also, the trump card for me would have been the new John Paul Jones Arena. This should help with recruiting also, and is a major upgrade from what Depaul has and Virginia had.

John Paul Jones Arena Brochure (PDF)

X, I agree that the JPJ Arena, not to mention the $$$, were drawing cards for Leitao.

At some point, DePaul is going to have to break ground for a new arena. If Saint Louis can do it, no reason why DU can’t either. The Big East money should help get that started.

[i]Originally posted by X-49er[/i]@May 10 2005, 11:40 AM [b]
[b]Anyway, not sure if Leitao made the right decision to leave for UVa. Pete Gillen was certainly the wrong coach (see Pat Kennedy and DePaul) for the Cavaliers. Ditto for Melvin Watkins and Texas A&M, etc., etc. [/b]

With DePaul’s move to the Big East, I think I would have made the switch to Virginia also. Both schools will likely be middle-of-the-pack schools in their respective conferences next season. The ACC lure us usually easier to get recruits for. The only thing he lost by leaving DePaul is the Chicago recruiting base. By “losing it”, I mean he’s not the hometown college coach anymore. He still will get some kids from there. Also, the trump card for me would have been the new John Paul Jones Arena. This should help with recruiting also, and is a major upgrade from what Depaul has and Virginia had.

John Paul Jones Arena Brochure (PDF) [/b]


Man, that guy gave $35 MILLION dollars to UVA. Damn.