Coaching Choice POLL

Out of the likely only four candidates, which one gets your vote?

  • TJ Otzelberger

    Votes: 237 59.1%
  • Brad Underwood

    Votes: 47 11.7%
  • Steve Prohm

    Votes: 83 20.7%
  • Bryce Drew

    Votes: 34 8.5%

  • Total voters
    401
I don't like Prohm cause he hasn't coached a team at Murray State without an NBA point guard. He took an established program and did well with it, but I don't think that's maybe enough to get this job.
 
I don't like Prohm cause he hasn't coached a team at Murray State without an NBA point guard. He took an established program and did well with it, but I don't think that's maybe enough to get this job.

So it's a bad thing that he develops NBA point guards??
 
I don't like Prohm cause he hasn't coached a team at Murray State without an NBA point guard. He took an established program and did well with it, but I don't think that's maybe enough to get this job.

Don't we want NBA point guards? Don't we have an NBA point guard?
 
I realize that this whole discussion is futile.....but I think I might like Bryce Drew.

I've always thought Scott Drew was an idiot, but I've come around to like the guy a bit. And he can recruit.

Bryce would have the perfect person to tell him what he needs to do to be a winner in a major conference.

I also think that it is possible that Scott Drew cheats. I wouldn't exactly be opposed to cheating a bit at this point.
 
So it's a bad thing that he develops NBA point guards??

They were both great the minute they showed up in Murray. Maybe he gets credit for identifying them at least, but I don't know.
 
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They were both great the minute they showed up in Murray. Maybe he gets for identifying them at least, but I don't know.


Maybe, just maybe, TJ isn't the only one who knows how to recruit.

At the very least Prohm and his staff identified point guards that were good enough to go to the NBA and got them to go to Murray State. That seems like a good thing.
 
Maybe, just maybe, TJ isn't the only one who knows how to recruit.

At the very least Prohm and his staff identified point guards that were good enough to go to the NBA and got them to go to Murray State. That seems like a good thing.

Prohm wasn't even HC there until Canaan's junior year. Not really sure he gets credit for that one. Maybe he should, I don't know.
 
I'm probably not up to date on this but I thought Hornacek's agent gave us some hope that Horny might be interested. Has he eliminated himself since then?
 
Prohm wasn't even HC there until Canaan's junior year. Not really sure he gets credit for that one. Maybe he should, I don't know.

Wasn't he an assistant? And haven't we learned that assistants basically do all of the work....all of the recruiting, all of the game planning, and all of the practice work? Hell, that makes it even more impressive!

I guess of all the reasons not to favor Prohm (and there are plenty---I completely understand being concerned about Murray State's level of competition), I think the fact that he's had some NBA point guards is the least of them.
 
I'm probably not up to date on this but I thought Hornacek's agent gave us some hope that Horny might be interested. Has he eliminated himself since then?

Hornacek's agent and Iowa State played chicken. He was never likely interested, but Iowa State killed any chances of trying to convince him by leaking stories about him and apparently (at least according to the agent---who can lie too) not going through the right channels.
 
My #1 would be Bryce Drew. I the he can provide that combination of improving the 2015-2016 team while building for the future. I think he can bring some good things defensively to the 15-16' team while also recruiting at a high level. I like that he has the NBA experience as well.

Guy has to be offensive minded! Didn't you see that was a requisite for the job? You must be new here :jimlad:
 
For me (and it's not so much TJ love), the other 3 don't really do much for me. Records might be impressive - but look at the competition. Yes - it's very much likely I'm suffering from GMac syndrome. But right now, I'd rather have a P5 assistant than a mid major career guy. Underwood being the lone exception to that it would seem - but I'm concerned about his style, and the KSU connection.

I'd like to see some more action from top p5 assistants.

There's been a ton of coaches who put up great numbers at "low" schools. Jim Calhoun was the coach at Northeastern before going to UConn, his last 7 or 8 seasons, he compiled a win percentage of around .750. Rick Pitino was at Boston U and Providence before going to Kentucky. Billy Donovan? Marshall.

Just because GMac sucked, doesn't mean that's how it always is. Having one point of data doesn't make a trend.
 
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Wasn't he an assistant? And haven't we learned that assistants basically do all of the work....all of the recruiting, all of the game planning, and all of the practice work? Hell, that makes it even more impressive!

I guess of all the reasons not to favor Prohm (and there are plenty---I completely understand being concerned about Murray State's level of competition), I think the fact that he's had some NBA point guards is the least of them.

Yes, he was an assistant at Murray State between '06 and '11. He recruited Canaan to play at Murray State.

From: http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/11/can-isaiah-canaan-make-a-splash-in-the-nba/
As the NBA Draft Combine played out at ATTACK Athletics on Chicago’s West Side in early May, Murray State head coach Steve Prohm was one of the few college coaches in attendance there to track his former player.
Prohm sat along the west baseline for many of the drills during the point guard session of the combine and occasionally smiled watching Canaan run alongside players that came from powerhouse programs in Murray State’s own state like Kentucky and Louisville. Prohm helped recruit Canaan to Murray State as an assistant coach and eventually took over the reigns of the Racers for his star guard’s final two seasons.


Of all the candidates, I'd take Prohm. Has an almost .800 win percentage at Murray State (including an almost undefeated season) as well as recruiting 1 current NBA player and another who is supposed to be a first round pick this season.

He's not a splash hire, but I've heard some people refer to him as a rising star

BTW, the previous coach for Murray State, while Prohm was an assistant, was Billy Kennedy who is currently at Texas A&M.
 
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Prohm wasn't even HC there until Canaan's junior year. Not really sure he gets credit for that one. Maybe he should, I don't know.
I bet you have no problem giving credit to Fred Hoiberg about Diante Garrett success though! Better not give Hoiberg any credit for Kane either.
 
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Prohm wasn't even HC there until Canaan's junior year. Not really sure he gets credit for that one. Maybe he should, I don't know.

Prohm was the top assistant at Murray State when Canaan was there and if you read enough into it, Canaan went because of Prohm. So yes, he gets credit for it big time.

In all honesty, Prohm seems to be for Murray State what Ben Jacobson is for UNI. One time both of them were assistants and both of the head coaches left to go to major schools (MSU's went to Texas A&M while there's GMac). Then the assistants (Prohm and Jacobson) took over and the success continued where it left off. It almost seems like the real masterminds were those assistants, and not necessarily the previous HC.
 
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I agree. Both Prohm and Underwood would bring in capable assistants.

Prohm's top assistant just left for La Tech. He is gone. Prohm was mentioned for Alabama and Florida jobs, did not get either. Interesting read about him concerning Florida job here. They hired Mike White. Thought this was kind of interesting concerning Prohm's record at Murray State.

http://www.alligatorarmy.com/2015/4...ng-search-candidates-archie-miller-chris-mack

[h=4]Steve Prohm, Murray State head coach[/h]Overview: Prohm is 40, has been at Murray State for four seasons, and has won 104 games as a head coach. That's an absurd pace, beyond even White's, and the work Prohm did in recruiting dynamite guards Isaiah Canaan and Cameron Payne to tiny Murray, Kentucky (population: 17,741) would get him looks at the high-major level even if he hadn't won so many games with them.
But there's a bit of a catch: Murray State was 31-2 in 2011-12, and 29-7 in 2014-15, with top-60 KenPom rankings in each campaign. The Racers were outside the KenPom top 100 in the two intervening years, however; their wins have come largely from a top-heavy Ohio Valley Conference, where the best team in the league has racked up at least 14 conference wins over a 16-game schedule over each of the last four seasons.
Prohm is an Alabama alumnus, and was linked to that job before the Crimson Tide hiredAvery Johnson, but he'll end up at a bigger job eventually.
Viability: Prohm would be an even bigger reach for Florida than White.
He's never coached in the SEC, and has spent the last nine years of his life at Murray State; while that certainly means he's got recruiting connections in the Ohio Valley area, including whatever ones he used to land Payne (a future NBA player), they aren't particularly germane to the Florida job. And all the same "Who?" worries would apply to him, too.
Gut feeling: White isn't ever needed, as Foley doesn't get this far down on his list.
 

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