Just heard that IU's making the offer today

[xeus]

I know Gary will be disappointed, but Sean Miller is staying put at Xavier. Looks like it's Lon Kruger to IU!

[xeus]

Holy crap - TOM CREAN

[muskieman]

I heard that too on Indy radio.

[Getreal]

Sky, Mark Cuban can pull the buyout amount from between the cushions on his couches. If Miller wants to go and if IU really wants him they will make it happen. I just don't think he wants to walk into the cesspool.

[muskieman]

What if you are an IU fan and you just realized that Davis wasn't so bad for IU after all. Sampson took a program down faster than anyone in history.

[wkrq59]

The events and posts on both boards re-Sean Miller and where will he go? have led me to a not too pleasant conclusion.
Some of us, yes, indeed maybe many of us, really don't think that coaching Xavier basketball is a destination job. We are still having trouble deciding whether Xavier is a mid-major program. At least that's how we act. That's what we seemingly think.
Where's the Xavier pride? Xavier's basketball program has become one of the best in the nation. Bob and Pete and Skip and Thad and Sean have made it so. Why don't we believe that? Why don't we think that way?
I suppose it's much easier to say "woe is me" and "we'll never be more than a mid-major" especially after a loss. The idea that "So we got to the Elite 8 twice in five years, but anything less than a Final Four is unacceptable is in my mind extreme arrogance.
I guess what it all boils down to is who the hell do we think we aren't?

[Mr. Neutral]

<<Some of us, yes, indeed maybe many of us, really don't think that coaching Xavier basketball is a destination job.>>

Q, with all due respect, these moves, or possible moves had nothing whatsoever to do with whether WE think Xavier is a destination job.

Staak didn't, and left.
Gillen didn't, and left.
Prosser didn't, and left.
Matta didn't, and left.

So our COACHES have shown us that THEY didn't think X was a destination job. Until Miller breaks that pattern, the only guys that matter, the coaches, have said "great place to start, but I've got to go!".

[XU84]

IU ruined another catholic college program instead of ours. Sorry Marquette!

Of course now I question the reliable sources of MM posters.

[MarionHall4ever]

IU ruined another catholic college program instead of ours. Sorry Marquette!.

I feel bad for Marquette. Before Georgetown (and Patrick Ewing Sr.), before Xavier's resurgence, before anybody outside the Northwest Territories ever heard of Gonzaga, Marquette (and Al McGuire) was the flagship Catholic (sorry ND fans), and, specifically, Jesuit, school program. I personally think the Warriors/Golden Eagles (maybe not Kevin O'Neill personally) have been an exemplary program. They've lost their share of Coaches, but they've demonstrated an ability to "reload". I wish them continued success in that regard. (I'd also like return to the days when Xavier and Marquette played each other home and away each year, but that's fodder for another post).

Re: whether "X" is a "destination school", I've got to concur with Mr. Neutral. What any of us think about whether Xavier (or Marquette for that matter) is a "destination school" really isn't important. What's important is whether the individual Coach thinks "X" is a "destination school".

The immediate threat here at Muskie Tech (i.e., losing Sean to I.U.) has apparently now passed. I doubt that Sean's interested in the Oklahoma State job. I also doubt that one Jesuit school (i.e., Marquette) would steal another Jesuit school's Coach, so, unless University of Pittsburgh (i.e., Sean's alma mater and alleged dream job) suddenly has a vacancy, I think we can all stop speculating about where Sean will be coaching next season.

When the speculation inevitably starts up again, however, I think it might be productive to think in terms of why (other than bags and bags of cash) a school is perceived by an individual Coach as a destination school.

Roy Williams was Coach at Kansas. I personally think that Kansas (with it rich basketball history) qualifies as a "destination school". Yet, Williams left that job to go to North Carolina (i.e., his alma mater). That's the same thought process that suggests that Sean may one day coach at Pittsburgh.

Maybe that's a starting point. Have we grown any potential Coaches here at X.U.? Byron, maybe? Doesn't have to be one of our NBA guys, but that wouldn't hurt either. I'm thinking down the road a little bit with this next one, but I think that Stanley has "Coach" written all over him. It can't hurt to suggest to the AD that we may want to reward some of our players with the chance to be an assistant at their alma mater. We have clearly demonstrated a willingness in the past to promote from within (i.e., Skip and Sean) where a coaching vacany has arisen.

Just a little food for thought now that we will be entering into the "slow season" on the board.

[XU84]

I wasn't being sarcastic when I said "Sorry Marquette"--I really meant it.

So what is a destination school? Its either about the biggest money possible or a tie to the school from having played for them. It does seem to be bigger schools, where the money resides. If X hired a former player as a head coach, and they took the team far into the tournament, would that coach leave for $2million at a bigger school? Maybe.