Hewitt's Replacement Short List?

[lethalweapon3]

Now turning in another underwhelming, subpar season, Paul Hewitt's time has got to be running out on the Flats. Cutting Hewitt loose after this season will require a $7 million buyout. That said, who are some candidates to take the helm?

I threw together a list of current head coaches, but in addition to NCAA coaches, maybe there are some top-flight NCAA assistant or ex-NBA coaches you have in mind.

Tony Barbee (UTEP - former Calipari assistant at Memphis, has Miners in Top 25)

Perry Clark (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - former Bobby Cremins and Morgan Wooten assistant, ex-Miami head coach, resurrected Tulane after the point-shaving scandal)

Mike Davis (UAB - No superlatives since leaving Indiana but three straight 20-win seasons for the Blazers)

Steve Donahue (Cornell - Wrested Ivy League powerhouse role away from Princeton and Penn)

Cliff Ellis (Coastal Carolina - former Clemson and Auburn head coach making Chanticleers respectable)

Billy Kennedy (Murray State - Longtime assistant coach at various places, including Miami, leading Racers to 30+ win season)

Mike Lonergan (Vermont - keeping the winning seasons coming in Catamount country, won a Div. III national title at Catholic U., briefly assisted Gary Williams at Maryland)

Frank Martin (Kansas State - sustained the rebirth of K-State's program after Bob Huggins' sudden departure, Miami native recruited JJ Barea while up at Northeastern)

Gregg Marshall (Wichita State - rebuilt the Shockers program after legendary run at WInthrop)

Fran McCaffery (Siena - Not another Siena coach! Saints reached NCAA second-round last two seasons)

Chris Mooney (Richmond - Spiders climbing up the water spout for the first time in awhile, most wins since 1986)

Brad Stevens (Butler - will be 34 years old, just passed Mark Fox for most NCAA wins after first three coaching seasons)

Blaine Taylor (Old Dominion - Montana hoops legend has had Mons perennially in the postseason)

~lw3

[coachx]

Shoot for the stars !

Coach Drew, of Baylor is probably as good as any coach in the country. He can coach and recruit. All Hewitt can do is recruit athletic specims but not really basketball players who can make up a well rounded team. Tech obviously needs some better assitant coaching as well. The players, especially guards simply don't get fundamental basketball.

I wanted UGA to get Drew but am quite pleased with Fox.

Most of us realize that the signing of Derrick Favors is the only reason Hewitt was brought back for this season. Tech will be the worst team in the ACC next year with Peacock, Lawal, and Favors all leaving. Even though Atlanta is a "hot bed" for recruiting that may make it a bit more difficult to bring in big name coach.

Edited March 8, 2010 by coachx

[mrhonline]

An NBA team needs to sign Hewitt as a scout. He's got an eye, but did a poor job developing...

[lethalweapon3]

Blown out of the gym by Kennessaw Friggin State? Shooting 28 percent against Charleston Bleepin Southern? Dragged into OT by Clark Freakin Atlanta? Forget ACC contention, is this the best college hoops team in the 404 area code? Will this team's winning percentage fall below their annually abysmal graduation rates?

(EDIT: Kennessaw State lost its home exhibition contest two weeks ago to Division III LaGrange College, who then got blown out in their opener by the Stormy Petrels of Oglethorpe University. Triangulate at will...)

Pay the man his parting gifts and start over. Who's out there now to pick up the pieces?

~lw3

Edited November 16, 2010 by lethalweapon3

[AHF]

Whatever AD gave him the auto-renewable lifetime contract needs to be canned wherever he is working today. That was just moronic. At least you can usually live with overpaying someone by sucking it up for a few years and then cutting them loose.

I agree that Tech should make their move as soon as possible because Hewitt's severance is a sunk cost.

Tech should be the state's flagship basketball program and playing in Atlanta should be an easier sell to a lot of basketball players than playing in more rural places like Raleigh, Lawrence, etc.

Edited November 16, 2010 by AHF

[Guest]

Tech should be the state's flagship basketball program and playing in Atlanta should be an easier sell to a lot of basketball players than playing in more rural places like Raleigh, Lawrence, etc.

I understand you are comparing it to Atlanta, but Raleigh rural? The comparison of Atlanta to Raleigh is about the same as Raleigh to Lawrence, so I'm just puzzled at lumping Raleigh in with Lawrence in comparison to Atlanta.

[AHF]

I understand you are comparing it to Atlanta, but Raleigh rural? The comparison of Atlanta to Raleigh is about the same as Raleigh to Lawrence, so I'm just puzzled at lumping Raleigh in with Lawrence in comparison to Atlanta.

You could put Lexington and most other schools in there as well. My point wasn't that Raleigh and Lawrence are comparable, it is that the schools in those places are not remotely urban like Georgia Tech is being set in the heart of Atlanta.

Rural was not precisely the right word but you can compare Georgia Tech and Duke and the area of Raleigh in which Duke is located is quite far from a fast paced urban location.

[coachx]

You could put Lexington and most other schools in there as well. My point wasn't that Raleigh and Lawrence are comparable, it is that the schools in those places are not remotely urban like Georgia Tech is being set in the heart of Atlanta.

Rural was not precisely the right word but you can compare Georgia Tech and Duke and the area of Raleigh in which Duke is located is quite far from a fast paced urban location.

Its urban all right. Here is 1 night on the campus of GT. These 2 stories broke within 3 minutes of each other.

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/georgia-tech-students-stripped-743070.html

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/body-found-on-georgia-743237.html

Just showing there is no comparison in these campuses.

Edited November 16, 2010 by coachx

[lethalweapon3]

Whatever AD gave him the auto-renewable lifetime contract needs to be canned wherever he is working today. That was just moronic.

That was the Braine-less wonder (Dave Braine)

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

How about Mark Price? It's not like Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis need any help with shooting.

~lw3

[Guest]

You could put Lexington and most other schools in there as well. My point wasn't that Raleigh and Lawrence are comparable, it is that the schools in those places are not remotely urban like Georgia Tech is being set in the heart of Atlanta.

Rural was not precisely the right word but you can compare Georgia Tech and Duke and the area of Raleigh in which Duke is located is quite far from a fast paced urban location.

Yes thats true. And the Durham part of Raleigh is crappy, no one likes it...

I was just thoroughly confused when you put a 90,000 city next to a 350,000 city. GT is definitely an interesting case, you would think basketball recruits would love living in Atlanta. And if you cannot entice them with the city (as some place like Duke cannot) then you can entice them with a high quality education (like Duke). I don't think academic rigor is thaaaat much of an issue with GT since they school doesn't seem to care about their low graduation rates. But it appears the talent is there, so its an issue with aggregating the talent.

[AHF]

Yes thats true. And the Durham part of Raleigh is crappy, no one likes it...

I was just thoroughly confused when you put a 90,000 city next to a 350,000 city. GT is definitely an interesting case, you would think basketball recruits would love living in Atlanta. And if you cannot entice them with the city (as some place like Duke cannot) then you can entice them with a high quality education (like Duke). I don't think academic rigor is thaaaat much of an issue with GT since they school doesn't seem to care about their low graduation rates. But it appears the talent is there, so its an issue with aggregating the talent.

That is my feeling. Not everyone will want Tech but a large enough % of students should be excited about being in Atlanta that with the Georgia talent base and a good recruiter, Tech should be a very good basketball program and they haven't been more than mediocre for too long under Hewitt (who appears to be a nice enough guy at least).

[lethalweapon3]

One more name to throw out there: Dereck Whittenburg? I know these guys are available this time of year for a reason, but at least he's experienced and familiar with the program.

Also Cliff Warren, who would be harder to pry free from Jacksonville U. with the season just starting.

~lw3

[dms269]

They were talking about Hewitt on 680 this afternoon. They basically said that unless someone comes up and agrees to help pay for the buyout that you are stuck with Hewitt due to the renewal of the 6 year contract every year.

[lethalweapon3]

They were talking about Hewitt on 680 this afternoon. They basically said that unless someone comes up and agrees to help pay for the buyout that you are stuck with Hewitt due to the renewal of the 6 year contract every year.

:cant believe: :help wanted3:

If you hear about a dude buying up all the scratch-off tickets at the convenience store, that's me.

GTAA supporters should do a telethon, or a "We Are The World"-style song ("We want you gooooone... we want you fired..."), or a bake sale, or somethin'. Anything! We can't beat Oglethorpe for gawdsakes! Morris Brown wants a piece of us!

~lw3

[AHF]

They were talking about Hewitt on 680 this afternoon. They basically said that unless someone comes up and agrees to help pay for the buyout that you are stuck with Hewitt due to the renewal of the 6 year contract every year.

But they have to pay that at some point. It is a sunk cost so unless you plan on Hewitt retiring at Georgia Tech, then you are going to have to pony up the money at some point. If Hewitt leaves on his own, he is leaving guaranteed millions to walk away so he isn't going anywhere of his own choice to let Tech off the hook.

Edited November 17, 2010 by AHF

[hussamga]

Only logical explanation for such a ridiculous contract would be a kickback....

[lethalweapon3]

M_k_ W_o_s_n?

I can barely type his whole name, but why not? His daughters are already there, and I suspect he's not terribly busy.

~lw3

[Guest]

But they have to pay that at some point. It is a sunk cost so unless you plan on Hewitt retiring at Georgia Tech, then you are going to have to pony up the money at some point. If Hewitt leaves on his own, he is leaving guaranteed millions to walk away so he isn't going anywhere of his own choice to let Tech off the hook.

Well the way it sounds the buyout is a fixed number of $7 million or so. What it is doesn't really matter. The buy-out is fixed, but the real value changes over time as inflation can decrease the value. So its a decreasing sunk cost, what point in time you pay it determines its value and that changes over time.

[AHF]

Well the way it sounds the buyout is a fixed number of $7 million or so. What it is doesn't really matter. The buy-out is fixed, but the real value changes over time as inflation can decrease the value. So its a decreasing sunk cost, what point in time you pay it determines its value and that changes over time.

You weight the relatively minor decline in value of your fixed cost buy-out (say the difference between the value of $7M in March of 2011 versus March of 2013) against the declining value of your basketball program and I have a feeling a lot of Tech fans would tend to think that they are losing more in the way of the program than the time value decrease in the buyout.

For all practical purposes, there is not a big difference in the value of that sunk cost. For example, looking at the inflation rate from 2005-2009 (inclusive) the total value of the $7,000,000 would be reduced to a present value of $6,160,839.

http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/inflation_rate/historicalinflation.aspx

While $840K is nothing to sneeze at, that means that Tech will have to stick with Hewitt for another five or so years - basically until 2016 - to save roughly $840K (assuming we see similar inflation over the next 5 years).

Is that worth it?

If it is, then they have to think about making life a living nightmare for Hewitt in the meantime and see if they can get him to walk away faster for a smaller buyout.