@MarkKnudson41
Strike One: There are a zillion story lines already whirling around college basketball for the upcoming (we hope) season. At the top of that list is whether or not we’ll have a season at all. Everything else takes a back seat at the moment.
However, if you scroll down the list, you’ll find this question: What’s going to happen with the coaching situation at Wichita State? The future of very successful head coach Gregg Marshall is in doubt following allegations of abusive behavior towards players (sound familiar, Colorado State fans?) It appears that Marshall and WSU could part ways at any moment.
Marshall’s Shockers have been a “mid-major” powerhouse for the past decade. They’ve won their conference or conference tourney five times over that period, made seven consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and made the Sweet 16 in 2015.
In 2013, Wichita State was in the Final Four.
That’s the definition of big time success, regardless of who you are or what conference you play in.
College basketball isn’t like college football. Being in a major or “power five” conference isn’t as big a deal, especially when it comes to post-season opportunities. Sure, it’s great to be Kentucky, Duke, Kansas or any number of big conference powers. But keep in mind that Villanova – which doesn’t even have a football program – UConn, Butler, Gonzaga and others from conferences that aren’t household names still send out dominating basketball squads every season. Villanova has won the National Championship twice in the past four seasons.
Wichita State has been in the thick of all that as well under Marshall.
So, if they’re going to cut ties with Marshall, who’d be in line to succeed this successful head coach…and keep the Shockers program performing at a high level, albeit with a less heavy hand?
Coming in this late – just days before the season is scheduled to start – makes replacing Marshall now problematic. Perhaps WSU does the wise thing and simply elevates an assistant on an interim basis. However, former Ohio State head man Thad Motta has also been mentioned as an immediate replacement. Bringing someone like him in right now is probably setting the coach to fail this season, however.
If this were a typical situation, where a school was/is looking to make a new hire immediately after a season ends, the list of candidates would be fairly long. So if Wichita State is still searching for a full time head coach at the end of the upcoming season, one name that should be on their list: Former WSU assistant and current University of Colorado head coach Tad Boyle.
Boyle was part of Mark Turgeon’s staff in Wichita for six seasons (2000 -’06) before moving back to his hometown to take over the program at Northern Colorado in Greeley. In Tad’s final season with the Shockers, they went 21-6 and made it to the Sweet 16. Good times.
Boyle was a smash hit in Greeley before landing the CU job in 2010. He’s had a lot of success in Boulder, too. Had there been a NCAA tournament last spring, the Buffs would have qualified for the fifth time in Boyle’s nine seasons at CU, along with winning the Pac 12 tournament in 2012. In just those nine years, Boyle is already the third winningest coach in program history. You can state with a good deal of confidence that Tad has been the best Men’s basketball coach in CU history.
So why would he leave a Pac 12 gig and take what many would consider a step backwards to the American Athletic Conference?
Because it would not actually be a step backwards. Wichita State is a bigger, better program and coaching gig than CU.
Want proof (other than all that on-court success)? For 2020, Marshall was set to be the 15th highest paid coach in all of college hoops, earning a reported $3.5 mil for the coming season. Marshall would have been on the hook for $15 mil had he tried to break his contract and take another job.
By contrast, Boyle is set to be the 61st highest paid college basketball head man in 2020 – 21, earning roughly half of that, $1.8 mil, this season.
So…if you can double your salary and take over a program that’s more successful on a national level than the one you’re currently at…how’s that a step backwards?
Sure, most of us would rather live in Boulder than Wichita. We’d all rather travel to places like LA, San Francisco and Phoenix than Cincinnati, Tulsa or Greenville. But while location is better in real estate (and presumably for recruiting) why is Wichita State that much better in basketball than CU? Perhaps being at a place that doesn’t have a football program, where hoops are top banana, is appealing? Men’s basketball gets the most attention and resources at those schools. For those coaches, that’s got to feel pretty good.
Boyle has stated before that CU is his “dream job,” and he’s told anyone who would listen that he plans on finishing his coaching career in Boulder. The notion of anything less than replacing Bill Self at his alma mater, Kansas, is a non-starter for him. Maybe. But if you have a chance to double your salary and take over a powerhouse program, in a place you’re already familiar with and have experienced success before…wouldn’t you at least consider it?
Strike Two: The NBA Draft, followed quickly by the start of free agency, is upon us. After the four month break during last season, this short off season is going to speed by.
The Denver Nuggets, coming off perhaps the best season in franchise history all things considered, understand that they cannot simply stand pat right now. Yes, they have a great young nucleus and can conceivably be a 50-win team next year as is. But the NBA’s Western Conference is loaded, and even the champion Lakers know they can’t just roll out last season’s team and expect to win it all again. And winning it all is now the Nuggets ultimate goal as well.
Along with the Lakers and LA Clippers, Golden State will surely rebound from their injury wracked 2019-2020 season. Houston will contend. So will Oklahoma City and Utah. And Phoenix is on the rise.
The Nuggets need to make moves.
First, they need to secure their own free agents – Jeremy Grant being at the top of that list. That will probably take a contract in the range of $16 mil per season. Maybe they want to lock up Mason Plumlee as well, depending on their view of the financial importance of the back-up center spot. Perhaps Paul Milsap still figures into the plans, too. After making an astronomical $90 mil over the past three seasons (and not playing at anywhere close to that level) perhaps he takes a hometown discount as a free agent in order to remain a Nugget?
Over the past two drafts, Denver has been able to select players they could effectively “redshirt” for a year, and not have to depend on them as rookies to bolster the team’s chances. That’s still the case, but it’s not inconceivable, that even picking at #22, the Nuggets might look for and get some more immediate help. Projections have them taking North Carolina’s Cole Anthony in that slot. Another intriguing guard/wing prospect who’s been mentioned for Denver is Kentucky’s Tyrese Maxey.
Or…it’s also been speculated that the Nuggets might actually try to trade UP in the draft to secure that back up big man. Washington’s Isaiah Stewart might be available. It would likely take some maneuvering to land a player like Maryland’s Jalen Smith. They could even go for a guy like the University of Colorado’s Tyler Bey, who is an excellent defender and rebounder at 6’ 7”…but just 212 lbs. He’d need to beef up to play down low.
The bottom line is that all the questions the Nuggets are facing in free agency – which won’t be answered until after the draft – make this year’s draft a bit more urgent than past one’s for a Denver team that has mile high aspirations.
Strike Three: For several years, folks have been searching for good things to say about Broncos offensive tackle Garrett Boles. He’s a big lug, passionate and motivated. He wants to be a great Bronco by all reports. Up until this season, things haven’t gone very well, despite all that want-to.
This year, we’re all supposed to believe that Bolles is playing at a Pro Bowl level. He’s receiving all sorts of mid-season accolades as one of the top performing offensive tackles in the entire NFL. That’s got to be music to John Elway’s ears. As for the rest of the offensive line…umm…not so much.
As a unit, the Broncos offensive line has been…offensive.
The next pocket that Drew Lock gets to pass out of will be his first in a very long time. The Broncos prized quarterback prospect has been predictably up and down in his first season as the full time starter. He makes his share of physical mistakes and bad decisions to be sure. But he’s also been under siege virtually every time he drops back to pass. He’s been throwing on the run most of the time. There are observers who are praising the first half play of guards Dalton Risner and Graham Glasgow as well, touting high individual grades for both. Really?
What are we missing here?
When you watch the Broncos offense, does it look to you like one guy, much less three, on the O-line are performing at a high level? There are no big holes to run through. Both Phillip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon are being forced to find small spaces to attack and find almost all their yards after contact. The naked eye says the pass protection has been dreadful. Bolles has yet to give up a sack this season due in no small part to Lock’s mobility and his tendency to want to throw on the run much of the time. He hasn’t had a lot of choice.
Rookie center Lloyd Cushenberry III was put into a tough spot to be sure – any rookie center would be. So far, it’s appears to be a pretty standard first go round for the former LSU Tiger. Some good, a lot of not-so good. He’s bound to get better, but it will take time. Risner may actually be going through a sort of sophomore slump. He’s got to play better, too. And the revolving door right tackle spot needs a lot of help.
Despite those nice grades as individuals, the sum of the parts isn’t adding up. Lock is getting a lot of the criticism – it goes with the position. But if he can get some protection and settle into whatever kind of pocket he can get consistently, we may actually see some growth from him, too.