Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - WHO WILL BE THE NEXT KANSAS BASKETBALL COACH??? When Bill Self Retires, Who Could the Jayhawks Call?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Who should be the next head coach for Kansas basketball to follow Bill Self? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. What's going on Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you that every day is catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcasts including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the

Starting point is 00:00:36 show. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we discussed the ultimate question. When Bills self retires, if Bills self retired today, who would be at the top of the list to be the next Kansas men's basketball head coach? We'll get into some of the candidates and some interesting conversations that relate to those and who those top guys are on this episode of the show. Let's just dive right into it. So real quick, there are going to be certain guys who

Starting point is 00:00:59 you know, are really good college basketball coaches, but might not be on this list. Well, one of the main reasons that's going to be the case is because of age. I don't think you necessarily want to bring someone in who's 60, 65, where you feel like, okay, you might only get a couple years out of them to replace Bill South. So realistically, I'm looking for coaches who are 55 and younger. And honestly, like there's going to be a heavier weight on the guys who are 55 and younger. And honestly, like there's gonna be a heavier weight on the guys who are like 50 and under, 52 and under, right? Because then you can at least, okay,

Starting point is 00:01:33 if they did coach till 65, if they're 55, it gives you 10 years. They coach till they're 70, that gives you 15 years, right? And each coach kind of has a longer time or shorter time that they wanna go for. It could be style of play. There are certain coaches that like, like even when Tony Bennett was in his heyday,

Starting point is 00:01:48 there still was a hesitation to me to be like, ah, you know, it's just a boring style of play. I want a fun style of play, right? It's entertainment at the end of the day too, right? It could also be that I just don't want to deal with their antics. So like Danny Hurley, who was a tier one coach last year, is no longer on my tier list. And I don't know, he'd be a great head coach hire for Kansas, but after he won two

Starting point is 00:02:09 titles at UConn, after he denied the Lakers job, I'm not even sure he'd leave anyway. And also like, I don't know, not into the antics, I guess. And then could just be I don't think the coach is good enough. So let's start here. Tier zero, there is only one coach on my tier zero. There's reason I have a tier zero. It's the call them and make you make them tell you no tier. This would theoretically be Jay Wright, if you were younger or interested in still coaching college basketball. But that's not a thing. The only guy I have on here and this guy hasn't shown any propensity to want to coach anymore either. But when you're Brad Stevens, he's 48 years old. He hasn't been in the college game a while. So how would he adjust to the NIL? Well, he's been in the front office for the Celtics.

Starting point is 00:02:49 Like he understands player acquisitions and transactions. That would be a tier zero. You call him, you make him tell you no, he probably does. He's happy with his life where it is. But hey, maybe he is itching back to get into coaching and you at least make him tell you no. All right, tier one. These are like the realistic candidates that would be an excellent hire for KU. The first is Nate Oates. He is 50 years old. So he's starting to get a little more up there in terms of, you know, if Bill Self coaches

Starting point is 00:03:17 another five years, I don't know that that would be the over under you'd set it at. But we'll see where that comes then. But Nate Oates has obviously had all the success in the world. He's had sustained success now, right? I mean, you're talking about at Alabama, which is not an easy place to win. You've been there six seasons and you've had what four seasons where he finished top 15 on Ken Palm. You've made a final four. You've made multiple lead eights. You've made four second weekends in your six years there, which is not easy to do.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Before that, you were at Buffalo, which he got Buffalo his final season there to finish 22nd on Ken Palm. That is remarkable to be able to do that. So Nate Oates, obviously the top tier, and he plays an exciting brand of basketball. Tommy Lloyd would be tier one for me. I don't hear this name as much as like Nate Oates, but to me, he is tier one.

Starting point is 00:04:05 I mean, I believe Tommy Lloyd owns the record for most wins of a head coach in his first three seasons at the power level. And there is an interesting trend that I'll be curious to see how they do in 2026 because they have gone down in wins each year, 33 to 28 to 27 to 24. But I think they're gonna have a good team in 2026

Starting point is 00:04:24 and I think they'll buck that trend again. But still, you're talking about all four years in Arizona, he's been top 13 in Ken Palm each and every year. And yes, he hasn't had like the super deep tournament run. He's made the second weekend in three of his four years. He's made the sweet 16 in three of the four years. When Kansas hired Bill South away from Illinois, he hadn't made a final four either, right?

Starting point is 00:04:43 And so there's solid success in the tournament. There's just not as much as you might have hoped with with the resume, but he's a very good coach. They play an exciting brand of basketball. They play fast. They've had a top 50 tempo has been a top 20 tempo his previous three seasons. So they play up and down and there's a lot of similarities

Starting point is 00:04:59 with how he plays how like Roy Williams plays where you're playing two big men where one's kind of ceiling and one's running up the floor, right? It's Todd Golden does it too. And Todd Golden's our next guy on here too. Todd Golden only 39 years old. So that's certainly one to watch too. You do wonder did the title in Florida, does that make it so that he's not going to leave the Gators? I don't know. But he's also analytically based. He's obviously won a title. He's obviously had a lot of success there. Prior to this year, he had never made it out of the first round of the NCAA tournament, but he had made, took San Francisco, which doesn't go to the tournament very often,

Starting point is 00:05:31 to the tournament, took Florida to the tournament. Obviously, there's the off the court stuff that is interesting with Golden that you kind of have to work around, but I guess he got cleared of it. So there's that. And then Dusty May is the last one I have in here. He's 48 years old. So made the jump from Florida Atlantic to Michigan. We had him in the future tier to watch as we did with Golden last season

Starting point is 00:05:52 as a guy who like, let's see how he does at the big leagues. He's obviously had a lot of success. He did really well. Michigan made it to the sweet 16 this season. He showed he can adjust to his personnel. He brought in two big men and played two bigs. At Florida Atlantic, they were playing around one big with a bunch of guards. So he's showed he can adjust to his personnel. He brought in two big men and played two bigs. At Florida Atlantic, they were playing around one big with a bunch of guards.

Starting point is 00:06:08 So he's shown he can adjust. He's shown he can have success in the NCAA tournament. He would be there too. My next tier of coaches is tier two. This is the, it would still be a good higher, but you've missed out on your top tier of candidates. And Grant McCasland is on this tier two for me. He'd be close to being in tier one.

Starting point is 00:06:26 And honestly, he had the beat in Florida, made the final four. Maybe he would be tier one. So maybe he should be up there a little bit more. I do want to see him have, you know, sustained success here because that was his first run in the NCAA tournament, making it to the elite eight. He had one previous tournament win before that.

Starting point is 00:06:42 The other thing against him is the tempos a little slower. He's never been higher than two well 196 that North Texas one year in tempo but a lot of those years he was in the 300s. So you know he's played a little faster attack it's not the fastest in the world. I think he's an outstanding coach. I also though look at how they lost that elite game Florida and they of, you know, went down their legs, so to speak. And so maybe that is knocking against him a little bit, but he would be close between tier two and tier one for me. TJ Otzelberger would be a tier two higher for me

Starting point is 00:07:13 from Iowa State. He's obviously had a lot of success. It's funny because these years at Iowa State, the teams that are not expected to go far in the tournament have been the second weekend teams. Well, I guess I take that back. 2024, they were a really good team and they made it to the Street weekend teams. Well, I guess I take that back 2024. They were really good team.

Starting point is 00:07:26 They made it to the sweet 16 polite. You look at the 11 seed that he pushed it to in 2022. They made the sweet 16 and then he gets a 16 2023 lose in the first round and he gets a three seed this year and loses in the second round. But obviously they had injuries they were dealing with. He's been a good head coach. I mean you're looking at back-to-back top 11 finishes in Ken Palm this year. He took over an Iowa State team that didn't have a single win in Big 12 play when he took

Starting point is 00:07:48 over and they just play hard. They play physical, they play defense. Sometimes they have a little clunky of an offense. This year they were a little better though they tanked at the end of the year with some of those injuries, but he's a good coach overall. Would be a good hire. I just don't have him on the same tier as these other guys. Matt Painer, honestly, Matt Painer might deserve to be a good hire. I just don't have him on the same tier as these other guys. Matt Painter, honestly, Matt Painter might deserve

Starting point is 00:08:06 to be a tier one. The real reason I have him in tier two is just age. He's 54 years old. Last year I did have him in tier one. And again, kind of like McCaslin, where it's like maybe a tier one and a half, I guess. Because even losing Zach Eady, they still made it to the second weekend.

Starting point is 00:08:21 And that was good to see what they did with Zach Eady, where they made the final four, because you would have had some great regular seasons for Matt Painter, some years where they made the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight, but you hadn't really had that, that final four run. And it was good to see him have that. He's a very good coach, calls up really good plays.

Starting point is 00:08:39 They play a pleasing style of basketball on the offensive end where they're able to space it out around a big man. So he would be up there as well and then I don't know I thought about making this guy do a move him down to a tier three I kept him at the end of tier two that would be Mick Cronin from UCLA they finished 20th on Ken Palm this year and obviously the year before they went to 16 and 17 but you're talking about now the big sample size six seasons at UCLA you're talking about now the big sample size six seasons at UCLA.

Starting point is 00:09:05 You're talking about three second weekends, one final four. You're talking about seasons in which he finished 13th, 11th, 3rd, and 20th in the country on Ken Palm. And before that at Cincinnati, they didn't have like the super deep tournament run, but like Ken Palm finishes his final three years at Cincinnati, 29-4 and 23. So he's a good basketball coach, good defense, and I think would almost be a better fit going back to the Midwest where he was at Cincinnati, coming to Kansas than he would be at UCLA.

Starting point is 00:09:36 But again, I would have all those other coaches in front of him where if you did get to him, that probably meant a lot of guys said no. Tier three, wouldn't be a bad hire, would be a little bit underwhelming though. I have Greg Gard in there. I'm not gonna go as deep on these. Wisconsin, 54 years old.

Starting point is 00:09:50 Buzz Williams, I've always heard that Kansas likes Buzz Williams. Some of the brass likes him. He just feels like he has a low ceiling, but a high floor, but 52 years old. Fred Hoyberg helped Kansas develop their 2018 offense. And you have to grade it on a curve at Nebraska because that's a team who's never won

Starting point is 00:10:08 a tournament game. And he's, you know, this past season, they obviously didn't make the tournament, finished the season poorly, but they finished 46th on Ken Palm, which is actually ahead of Texas, who did make the tournament in the year before they did make it to the tournament.

Starting point is 00:10:20 So again, he would be somebody who, at least a little bit interesting there. And then I have my future tier of guys. You might be wondering where's Ben McCollum? Because Ben McCollum deserves to honestly, Ben McCollum might on his own be like a tier two already. But I put him in the future tiers to watch because I want to see how this year goes at Iowa, right? You're at the big level now. Let's see how it goes. And that was the same way I put Todd Golden last year. That was the same way I put Dusty May. It was the same area I put Graham McHaslin. And now those guys are in tier one or two, too. So let's see where it goes this year for McCollum.

Starting point is 00:10:49 Right now he's in my future tier. Same with Will Wade. How does he do at NC State? Kevin Young at 43 years old. How's he do with continued success at BYU? Pat Kelsey at 49 years old, year two at Louisville. Can he start to build something now? Ryan Odom, the former UMBC coach, is now then was at VCU, now he's at Virginia. What can he do? He is 50 years old.

Starting point is 00:11:10 Richard Pitino at 42 years old. Now, I know he got fired from Minnesota years back, but he's had a nice bounce back. Obviously with New Mexico, they had a really good team this season. And when you look at Richard Pitino now, you look back in the Minnesota days, and even though he did get let go, he made it to two NCAA tournaments, made a five seed. He had another year where he finished 27th in Ken Palm, but they didn't make the tournament, which is pretty wild. Looking back at how tough that job is, especially with how young he was at the time, he was in his mid thirties.

Starting point is 00:11:40 We'll see how he does his aviour to see if he can level himself back up. Nico Medved at 51, now at Minnesota making that jump. Mark Byington, who was the James Madison coach, did pretty well in year one at Vanderbilt. He's 49. Michael Shrewsbury at 48. Can he ever get a go at a Notre Dame after he had success at Penn State? Ross Hodge, now at West Virginia from North Texas, part of the Grant-McCaslin coaching tree. He's 44. Alan Huss at 46. He was at high point. Now he's the Creighton assistant coach and the head coach of waiting. What if he takes over in a year or two and then does well Creighton? Who knows? That would depend on Bill South being at Kansas for a little longer. And then Bucky McMillan who Bucky Ball, we saw KU play

Starting point is 00:12:18 them at Sanford, went to Texas A&M this year. How does he do there? So those are the future tier guys. I also have the future tier guys of like, they need to move up and have more success. Those are the future tier guys who are now at like power schools. Brett Ballard at Washburn, if he could follow a path similar to Ben McCollum. Tony Skin, who's 42 at George Mason, they had a good year. Brian Hodgson, who's 38 now at South Florida, Brian Wardle 45 at Bradley, Jerry Calhoun, former Bob Huggins assistant is a Utah State, Takao Sittle, Preston Spradlin and Drew Valentine is like future future guys to watch. But again, the top tier guys, Nate Oates, Tommy Lloyd, Todd Golden, Dusty May, and then tier two, Graham Caslen, TJ Otzelberger, Matt Painter

Starting point is 00:12:59 and Mick Cronin. All right, there is a interesting one about what do you do with Chris Beard? Because I have an interesting conversation with this because I've heard from multiple people like multiple, multiple people that like this is a real possibility and the Bill Self wants Chris Beard to be the next head coach for KU men's basketball. Let's discuss that next. This episode of the show is brought to you by Supply House. Get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trades. Supply House, whether you're in plumbing, HVAC, or electrical work, Supply House is the reliable way to order products online. Their easy-to-use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get your job done right.

Starting point is 00:13:37 Plus, with a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from 400-plus top brands, you'll find exactly what you need delivered fast from coast to coast. Need help with an order? Supplyhouse offers expert support and industry-leading service so you'll always talk to a real person. For trade pros looking for an extra edge, their free Trade Master program offers exclusive perks like a dedicated phone line, free shipping, and discounts on every order. Thousands of skilled professionals are already taking advantage. Now it's your turn. Join the Trade Master program today at supplyhouse.com slash tm and start ordering plumbing, HVAC,

Starting point is 00:14:10 and electrical supplies with just a few clicks plus use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That is supplyhouse.com. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the show. I should mention people might be wondering, what about keeping it in the house, keeping it in the family of KU? I don't think that's necessarily,

Starting point is 00:14:29 but if you do want to have a keeping in the house candidate, I guess Brett Ballard, could he move up more or Jacque Vaughn? Those would be the two that I think would be the only realistic options there, but I would probably have Vaughn in like tier three. And for what it's worth, if you are asking me who would be my favorite of the tier ones, I think I'd go Nate Oates one, Tommy Lloyd two.

Starting point is 00:14:47 Okay, Chris Beard is somebody that I've heard from many people, like a handful of different people who are like, this has not been something where they've interacted with them. It's like been different times with different people. Bill South, whose buddies with Chris Beard, wants Chris Beard to be the next head coach for the University of Kansas. So there's the off the court stuff with Chris Beard, wants Chris Beard to be the next head coach for the University of Kansas.

Starting point is 00:15:06 So there's the off the court stuff with Chris Beard that a reminder of what happened, this is why he got fired, let go by Texas, right? Beard was arrested on the morning of December 12th of, what was this, 2023, 2022, after his fiance, Randy True, told officers he choked her from behind, bit her, and hit her when the two got in an argument. True released a statement in which she denied telling police that Beard choked her. So kind of a he said, she said thing, it seems like they made up and yada yada yada. For me, that would be enough that I don't really want to root for the guy. I don't really want to.

Starting point is 00:15:42 I mean, again, like you're Kansas. You should have this long list of good coaches that we just went over that you're going to have options that that should be enough. It is for some people, you know, they're going to be like, whatever, I just want to win games. And you know, that's your prerogative. So let's just take that that off the court stuff aside. I where would Chris Beard be hypothetically, if we were just evaluating him off of his coaching resume. And for me, I still don't think he would even be tier one because Dogenborough, he's been a good head coach in college basketball.

Starting point is 00:16:14 I don't want to take that away that like if you're just talking about the on court stuff, he's been a good head coach. I don't think he's close to the same tier though as Nate Oates and Tommy Lloyd and some of these guys. So think about this. Chris Beard has been between Ole Miss, Texas and Texas Tech. That is three power five schools. The reason I bring that up is because if you're out of power five school and you're on multiple,

Starting point is 00:16:34 you're going to have real resources to make damage, right? It's not like he's been at Florida Atlantic and just was at Arkansas Little Rock where, oh, you know, like it's going gonna be hard to have sustained success theoretically. So he was at those three power fives, he was staying at Mississippi for eight seasons total between Ole Miss, Texas and Texas Tech. Do you know how many times of the eight years he's finished top 10 on Genbomb?

Starting point is 00:16:57 It's been once, it was the year that they made it to the national title game. So again, good coach, I just don't think he's an elite coach. I would also look at this, since the national title runner-up team in 2019, which you get credit for that, Chris Beard has not finished inside the top 14 on Kenpom.

Starting point is 00:17:14 So again, good coach, but is he a great coach, which you're looking for at the University of Kansas? I also look at this, eight seasons of Power 5 basketball. Seven of the eight have had double digit losses. In Lawrence, we freak out when Kansas gets double-digit losses. We freaked out this past year. Guess what? They were only one seed at Ole Miss better than what Kansas was this season. They lost 12 games. We'd be freaking out at Kansas. He had three – his last three seasons as the head coach, he's had 12 losses. Last four seasons – or I guess last five. So, since they lost as the head coach, he's had 12 losses, last four seasons, or I guess last five. So since they lost in the title game, 13 losses, 11, 12, 12, 12. And

Starting point is 00:17:51 if you're just talking about entertaining style of basketball, a lot of times that can mean offense, a lot of times that can mean tempo. Okay, so at Ole Miss this year, they were 143rd in tempo, so a little bit of a change there. But every single year prior to this past year at Ole Miss, he's been outside of the top 220 in tempo. And on adjusted offensive efficiency on Kenbom, even the national title runner-up team, Chris Beard has never had an offense finish better than 25th. All right, I guess I take that back. This year, they were 22nd. He's never had an offense finish better than 22nd nationally. So he's never had a top 20 offense.

Starting point is 00:18:25 He's had seven of eight seasons of double-digit losses. Now again, what he did at Texas Tech was remarkable. What he's done at Ole Miss to make them competitive, that's a tough job, sure. He's a good coach. I don't wanna take that away. For me, the off-the-court stuff is enough. But if we're just evaluating the on-court resume,

Starting point is 00:18:44 he'd be a tier two or a tier three guy. And is that worth bringing in with the off the courts? I don't know, I don't know, man. I don't know. Not my cup of tea, but I wanted to bring it up because I have heard it from a lot of different places that Bill Self is championing for it. And that I guess it would be a real possibility.

Starting point is 00:19:01 But at the end of the day, is that decision of Travis Gough? How much poll would Bill Self have? I want to finish up here. What about an assistant coach? Because I do think that is an actually very interesting conversation. Thanks for joining us on this episode

Starting point is 00:19:17 of Locked on Jayhawks. If Bill Self retired today, going over different candidates. I did want to bring up the assistant coach conversation because I do think there is some validity here. Again, I would be going to my tier one guys first, but like, let's say you got to the end of the tier two, let like, let's say the tier one guys didn't leave or whatever. And you call Graham Caslet and Matt Painter or whatever.

Starting point is 00:19:38 And like you got to the, the Mick Cronin or the tier three guys. I don't think that hiring an assistant coach would be the worst thing in the world, as long as you identify the right one. And again, I'm not putting these guys, I wouldn't say hiring an assistant coach is better than doing this or that. Like I would still rather have those. But first of all, Roy Williams was an assistant coach

Starting point is 00:19:59 before he came over to Kansas. That worked out pretty well for Kansas. Tommy Lloyd, before he got the Arizona job, they hired him as an assistant. That worked out pretty well for Kansas. Tommy Lloyd, before he got the Arizona job, they hired him as an assistant. That worked pretty well. If you can identify the right assistant coach at a big school to come over, it can work. And so I look at like UConn, who has been known as having, I think it's Kimani Young and Luke, Luke Murray, of course, it's Bill Murray's kid. Luke Murray have been like the top assistants at UConn and they are just known in like NBA circles,

Starting point is 00:20:29 scouting circles, especially with like Luke Murray, Commodity Young more like the recruiting one and Luke Murray for like the X's and O's and the unbelievable game plans that they've provided for UConn. So like I look at guys like that. There's obviously other assistant coaches, but it's not like as widely known.

Starting point is 00:20:43 They're like, I'm sure athletic directors have a better idea of than we would here. And there's also the like, what if it's a top tier NBA assistant coach? We've seen that work with Kevin Young at BYU. We've seen some other schools that are gonna be trying that this year, like Utah is gonna be trying that. And I think there's some real things

Starting point is 00:21:01 you can look to there for that, because now with things being more transactional with rosters and almost needing a GM, if you bring in like an NBA assistant coach, they're probably going to have a good idea of somebody to bring in as a good GM to help them building the roster. And it's just a different sport than it was. So again, I take my tier one guys, I take at least the top list of my tier two guys ahead of making something like this. But like, if a lot of those guys do say no, let's say you get in a situation where Kentucky was last off season when like, it seemed like they were going for Scott Drew, and they were going for maybe Nate Oates and going for some of these other big hires, and they get down the list a little bit and they end up with Mark Pope and it worked out well for them in year one. I mean, Mark Pope took them to a three seed. He's obviously a Kentucky guy that, you know,

Starting point is 00:21:49 seems like Mark Pope runs a fun offense and handles the transfer portal well. So it seems like it worked out. But they got down the list a little bit to get to Mark Pope. And I don't know that that would be the case at Kansas, right? I mean, every job search is unique and different and at a different time and yada yada yada

Starting point is 00:22:09 But let's say you did have to go down the list a little bit more like Kentucky did I Wouldn't hate that as a possible option for KU I think you at least kick the tires on it because there there is more of it working and obviously the biggest negative of it Would be it wouldn't be a sexy hire and you would have a lot of almost defending yourself to the fan base, which is funny because again, it worked very well with Roy Williams just in today's day and age. You want the splash, you want the big thing, you want the proven thing. So I don't know, I at least think it's an interesting thing to toile with.

Starting point is 00:22:36 But again, Nate Oates, Tommy Lloyd, those are kind of the top two for me at this point. All right, I don't know if for this episode of Locked on Jenny Hawks, you can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page back at you on Mondays. I'll be back for my little vacation. So hope you enjoyed this episode of the show and see you next time with Locked on Jayhawks.

Your Ad Here

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - WHO WILL BE THE NEXT KANSAS BASKETBALL COACH??? When Bill Self Retires, Who Could the Jayhawks Call?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.