Learning To Speak English
posted by Scott Hood on Wednesday, January 23, 2008
While intriguing, I’m not optimistic it will happen.
From a journalist’s perspectives, I admit it would make for fascinating theatre to watch a Basketball Hall of Famer and one of the greatest players in USC history stalk the sidelines at the Colonial Center.
A number of schools have successfully done it in the past. Some others – notably Houston with Clyde Drexler – have failed miserably.
There’s no question English is enthralled by the prospect of returning to Columbia. My sources have told me that he wasted little time before he contacted the USC athletic department to express his interest once it became known Odom would retire at the end of the season.
So, we know he wants the job. But will he get it?
In my opinion, Hyman would prefer to hire a coach from the Division I college level that is, first and foremost, a good recruiter.
There’s no question that after spending more than 20 years with the NBA as a highly decorated player and assistant coach, English has a very high basketball IQ.
But, as USC fans have painfully discovered the last several years, college basketball, and college sports in general, are less about X’s and O’s and more about the Jimmys and Joes.
In short, the teams with the best players typically win the most games.
Unfortunately, English has little experience recruiting at the Division I college basketball level, especially when it comes to convincing Top 100 level players.
Frankly, recruiting in major college basketball is a nasty business, much more so than football. Why? Because all it takes is one or two great players and a program can become an instant winner.
As we all know, it’s not that way in football. The efforts of a talented skill position player on the gridiron can get lost with weak line play.
But basketball is much more of an individualistic sport within a team framework.
As a result, great high school players are highly coveted. Many of these kids surround themselves with entourages, street agents, family, AAU coaches and sneaker company reps.
Everybody wants a piece of the action.
The best college basketball coaches are the ones that can swim in shark-infested waters.
The SEC East features three of the best recruiters in the country in Florida’s Billy Donovan, Kentucky’s Billy Gillespie and Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl.
What do they have in common? All have magnetic personalities that talented players flock to. We’ve seen what Donovan has accomplished with the Gators. Pearl has turned Tennessee into a Top 10 program. Gillespie should have Kentucky humming by next season.
And I haven’t even mentioned Clemson’s Oliver Purnell and the job he’s done when it comes to attracting quality players to the Upstate. Frankly, the talent gap between USC and Clemson the past three seasons has been troubling.
USC needs a coach that’s an ace recruiter to keep pace with its SEC East rivals or the Gamecocks will find themselves falling further behind.
So, while a homecoming for English would set Gamecock Nation ablaze, here’s the key question you need to ask yourself: Does English have the recruiting acumen and staying power to keep up with the aforementioned coaches?
The answer, I believe, is no. But, of course, my opinion doesn’t matter one bit in this regard. The one person English needs to impress is USC athletic director Eric Hyman.
Several people have told me USC should hire English as head coach simply because he's a Gamecock, and they want a fomer player in that role. That's nonsense. The only relevant consideration is whether English is a good enough coach, no matter where he graduated from. The same goes for all the other candidates.
This is a crucial hire for Hyman, one that could make or beak him as the USC athletic director. Does he roll the dice and take a chance on English despite his lack of recruiting and college coaching experience?
In my opinion, knowing Hyman’s personality a little bit, that’s unlikely.
So, if it’s not English, who will get the job? Right now, you would have to say the two favorites heading into the first turn are Virginia Commonwealth’s Anthony Grant and Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel. Both are two of the hottest young coaches in the country.
Grant, who makes about $300,000 per season at VCU, could have the opportunity to more than quadruple his annual income. I’m sure Capel, Grant’s predecessor at VCU, is already well compensated at Oklahoma, so it may be more difficult to entice him with an attractive seven-figure financial package.
In my opinion, the No. 3 and No. 4 candidates are Duke assistant coach Chris Collins and Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall. Most of you already know the latter’s story, so I don’t need to repeat it here.
Marshall and Grant have already spoken publicly about the position. Marshall issued an open-ended statement Monday that left him plenty of wiggle room in case USC beckons at the end of the season.
Right now, with the college basketball season in full swing, no coach is going to acknowledge publicly he has an interest in the USC job. That would invite a revolt from his current AD, players and fans.
In truth, are Grant and Capel interested? You bet. How about Marshall? He’d be more than happy to talk with USC athletic director Eric Hyman in late March or early April, whenever Wichita State’s season concludes.
The way the Shockers’ season is going, that will be sooner rather than later.
Capel could exploit USC’s interest into a more lucrative long-term deal with Oklahoma. But coaches at mid-major schools don’t have that luxury.
Buckle in, because the process to hire a new basketball coach at USC is going to last awhile, probably into late March or early April. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the new coach isn’t named before the Final Four.
As long as he’s the right guy, I can wait.
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Based on the number of posts and e-mails I have seen, there is a large group of Gamecock fans out there that want to see Alex English named South Carolina’s next head basketball coach.
While intriguing, I’m not optimistic it will happen.
From a journalist’s perspectives, I admit it would make for fascinating theatre to watch a Basketball Hall of Famer and one of the greatest players in USC history stalk the sidelines at the Colonial Center.
A number of schools have successfully done it in the past. Some others – notably Houston with Clyde Drexler – have failed miserably.
There’s no question English is enthralled by the prospect of returning to Columbia. My sources have told me that he wasted little time before he contacted the USC athletic department to express his interest once it became known Odom would retire at the end of the season.
So, we know he wants the job. But will he get it?
In my opinion, Hyman would prefer to hire a coach from the Division I college level that is, first and foremost, a good recruiter.
There’s no question that after spending more than 20 years with the NBA as a highly decorated player and assistant coach, English has a very high basketball IQ.
But, as USC fans have painfully discovered the last several years, college basketball, and college sports in general, are less about X’s and O’s and more about the Jimmys and Joes.
In short, the teams with the best players typically win the most games.
Unfortunately, English has little experience recruiting at the Division I college basketball level, especially when it comes to convincing Top 100 level players.
Frankly, recruiting in major college basketball is a nasty business, much more so than football. Why? Because all it takes is one or two great players and a program can become an instant winner.
As we all know, it’s not that way in football. The efforts of a talented skill position player on the gridiron can get lost with weak line play.
But basketball is much more of an individualistic sport within a team framework.
As a result, great high school players are highly coveted. Many of these kids surround themselves with entourages, street agents, family, AAU coaches and sneaker company reps.
Everybody wants a piece of the action.
The best college basketball coaches are the ones that can swim in shark-infested waters.
The SEC East features three of the best recruiters in the country in Florida’s Billy Donovan, Kentucky’s Billy Gillespie and Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl.
What do they have in common? All have magnetic personalities that talented players flock to. We’ve seen what Donovan has accomplished with the Gators. Pearl has turned Tennessee into a Top 10 program. Gillespie should have Kentucky humming by next season.
And I haven’t even mentioned Clemson’s Oliver Purnell and the job he’s done when it comes to attracting quality players to the Upstate. Frankly, the talent gap between USC and Clemson the past three seasons has been troubling.
USC needs a coach that’s an ace recruiter to keep pace with its SEC East rivals or the Gamecocks will find themselves falling further behind.
So, while a homecoming for English would set Gamecock Nation ablaze, here’s the key question you need to ask yourself: Does English have the recruiting acumen and staying power to keep up with the aforementioned coaches?
The answer, I believe, is no. But, of course, my opinion doesn’t matter one bit in this regard. The one person English needs to impress is USC athletic director Eric Hyman.
Several people have told me USC should hire English as head coach simply because he's a Gamecock, and they want a fomer player in that role. That's nonsense. The only relevant consideration is whether English is a good enough coach, no matter where he graduated from. The same goes for all the other candidates.
This is a crucial hire for Hyman, one that could make or beak him as the USC athletic director. Does he roll the dice and take a chance on English despite his lack of recruiting and college coaching experience?
In my opinion, knowing Hyman’s personality a little bit, that’s unlikely.
So, if it’s not English, who will get the job? Right now, you would have to say the two favorites heading into the first turn are Virginia Commonwealth’s Anthony Grant and Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel. Both are two of the hottest young coaches in the country.
Grant, who makes about $300,000 per season at VCU, could have the opportunity to more than quadruple his annual income. I’m sure Capel, Grant’s predecessor at VCU, is already well compensated at Oklahoma, so it may be more difficult to entice him with an attractive seven-figure financial package.
In my opinion, the No. 3 and No. 4 candidates are Duke assistant coach Chris Collins and Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall. Most of you already know the latter’s story, so I don’t need to repeat it here.
Marshall and Grant have already spoken publicly about the position. Marshall issued an open-ended statement Monday that left him plenty of wiggle room in case USC beckons at the end of the season.
Right now, with the college basketball season in full swing, no coach is going to acknowledge publicly he has an interest in the USC job. That would invite a revolt from his current AD, players and fans.
In truth, are Grant and Capel interested? You bet. How about Marshall? He’d be more than happy to talk with USC athletic director Eric Hyman in late March or early April, whenever Wichita State’s season concludes.
The way the Shockers’ season is going, that will be sooner rather than later.
Capel could exploit USC’s interest into a more lucrative long-term deal with Oklahoma. But coaches at mid-major schools don’t have that luxury.
Buckle in, because the process to hire a new basketball coach at USC is going to last awhile, probably into late March or early April. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the new coach isn’t named before the Final Four.
As long as he’s the right guy, I can wait.
- Permalink, Discuss, Blog Home
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.