In my opinion and many others there is more than a disturbing trend happening in college basketball.
More and more universities when they are seeking a new coach are turning to search firms to help them. Many times this at a cost of between $75,000 and $125,000.00, in these days of tight budgets and many athletic departments reaching for every dollar they can get, I just don't get these search firms being hired.
I first started following this back in 2007, when Oregon State was looking for a new head coach in men's basketball and they hired a search firm, which by most accounts cost them about $70,000.00. Yes, Oregon State, the school with one of the dumpiest basketball arenas in the country (they will never be able to afford a new one) and a school which sits right in the middle of the grass seed mecca of the world, but uses artificial surface on their football field to save money. By the way the two finalists for their job? Billy Grier and Craig Robison, how has that worked out so far? Not too good I would say.
Examining this even more, the reason given often to hire a search firm is that the search firm can make contact with potential candidates, keeping it confidential and thus not embarrassing the potential candidate. BUNK.
There are no secrets in sports anymore and also what do you hire an athletic director for? A good AD should have a constant list of candidates available and continually updating that list. As much as ADs make today, why hire a person if he needs help contacting people and knowing who is available. Sure it is good to have a free in-house selection committee or process, but it makes no sense at all to pay an outside firm to help you secure a coach. Final point on this section, if you follow these search firms and look at their client list, then check five years later on the success rate, it would get any human resources person fired. Enough said, but.....................
Let's keep going, it gets even a little more juicier in my opinion.
In July of 2010, the NCAA passed a rule which put the famous Pump brothers from California out of the coaching search business, in essence the rule said people who are connected to potential NCAA student athletes, can not at the same time be in the business of helping find coaches for NCAA schools. (The Pumps run basketball camps in the summer time and work with potential recruits).
Ok, not being a lawyer, maybe fair enough. But NCAA where is the fairness factor when a search firm is hired by a school to help seek an AD, then that AD fires their basketball coach and turns around and hires the same search firm to help them get a new basketball coach. Ok, I will go ahead and say it, examples are North Carolina State and Bradley, this past year. I guess follow the money.
But wait, how dumb am I ? The new president of the NCAA got his job through the help of one of the most famous of these search firms. Well I guess the rules on search firms just STOPPED right there.
At the very least search firms for basketball coaches are the biggest waste of money today in college athletics and at the very worst they are___________________, you fill in the blank.
If you care to comment please sign in or create an account, or you can always email us at crawscorner@gmail.com
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Don't Let The Game Get Boring
Ok, we all know the championship between Connecticut and Butler this past April was awful. In case you forgot, the Huskies defeated the Bulldogs, 53-41. Simply miserable to say the least.
Spectators of sports per every poll and survey taken, love action and love scoring.
This is what worries myself and many others about the college basketball game today. Not enough scoring and not enough action. Anyone could could argue and they are correct, the game is extremely popular, but for that to continue, it it time for some drastic changes and I do mean drastic.
In 1980, the then number 2 ranked Oregon State Beavers, visited Stanford for a conference game. Final score, Oregon State 18 Stanford 16. Yes, it did happen in 1980 and no one that I know of ever wants to see that happen again. In 1985, NCAA basketball introduced the 45 second shot clock, in 1993, the shot clock was reduced down to 35. More scoring? Actually, not.
Since 1989, average scoring in NCAA basketball games have steadily declined. It is time to change that and in doing so the game will maintain it popularity and continue to grow. If not, I see some dark clouds over the horizon.
You can call them rule changes, but call them more taking the boredom out of the game.
1. Adjust the time out rules as discussed in previous post. (NCAA, Fix it please) April 24th
2. Drop the shot clock down to 29 seconds, yes 29, not 30. Get a little edgy.
3. Move the three point line back two feet. Make the shot more valuable and it opens up the middle much more.
4. Do something really drastic, eliminate zone defenses. If all these so called great defensive coaches really want defense, nothing better than a man to man defense.
Are any of the four changes listed above going to happen? No chance, but hopefully it is great food for thought. The NCAA basically does nothing that is proactive, all their changes and moves are reactive. Outside the box thinking is not part of the culture, but what is part of the culture is the great game of basketball and it like everything else in life, needs some tweaking and dramatic change from time to time.
Comments, suggestions, criticism always more than welcom, crawscorner@gmail.com
Spectators of sports per every poll and survey taken, love action and love scoring.
This is what worries myself and many others about the college basketball game today. Not enough scoring and not enough action. Anyone could could argue and they are correct, the game is extremely popular, but for that to continue, it it time for some drastic changes and I do mean drastic.
In 1980, the then number 2 ranked Oregon State Beavers, visited Stanford for a conference game. Final score, Oregon State 18 Stanford 16. Yes, it did happen in 1980 and no one that I know of ever wants to see that happen again. In 1985, NCAA basketball introduced the 45 second shot clock, in 1993, the shot clock was reduced down to 35. More scoring? Actually, not.
Since 1989, average scoring in NCAA basketball games have steadily declined. It is time to change that and in doing so the game will maintain it popularity and continue to grow. If not, I see some dark clouds over the horizon.
You can call them rule changes, but call them more taking the boredom out of the game.
1. Adjust the time out rules as discussed in previous post. (NCAA, Fix it please) April 24th
2. Drop the shot clock down to 29 seconds, yes 29, not 30. Get a little edgy.
3. Move the three point line back two feet. Make the shot more valuable and it opens up the middle much more.
4. Do something really drastic, eliminate zone defenses. If all these so called great defensive coaches really want defense, nothing better than a man to man defense.
Are any of the four changes listed above going to happen? No chance, but hopefully it is great food for thought. The NCAA basically does nothing that is proactive, all their changes and moves are reactive. Outside the box thinking is not part of the culture, but what is part of the culture is the great game of basketball and it like everything else in life, needs some tweaking and dramatic change from time to time.
Comments, suggestions, criticism always more than welcom, crawscorner@gmail.com
Friday, April 29, 2011
Pac-12, What you waiting for??????
Ok, I love basketball so much, here is a little message for Larry Scott, the new commissioner of the Pac-12, or I guess you can't say not new anymore as he has been there awhile.
By all indication the Pac-12 is going to sign a new TV contract within the next month with someone. The possibilities are endless, I will not bore you with numbers or candidates, especially with the numbers because, they are so inflated.
My advice to you Mr. Scott, is quite simple, make the deal with ESPN, period. We all know the former Pac-10 has had a long standing relationship with Fox, but forget that.
People are going to watch college football no matter what, even if I were producing the games from my own garage, it is that popular, so the network it is on, does not matter.
But for basketball, it does matter. There should never even be the slightest debate, that ESPN covers college basketball better than anyone in the world. From the studio shows lead by the great Reece Davis, to the promotion of the game, to the announcers and analysts, it is very hard to find a weak person on the entire talent staff.
With the above said, Pac-12, you need a shot in the arm in basketball TV coverage, you have fallen behind the times in getting your product out there and ESPN is the answer. To go even further, make a deal with ESPN that you want a 6:00 p.m PST on Thursday night and a 4:00 PST on Saturday night, all doable with the present ESPN and Pac-12 schedule. This would not only get exposure on the west coast, but it would bring in all the east coast viewers into play, who at present rarely get to see a Pac-10 game in a good time slot.
So in conclusion, forget all this talk that comes from the Pac-10 about we need a network that will cover all of our olympic sports as well as the big two. Football and basketball drive the bus and always will when it comes to TV deals for college conferences, so this is a no-brainer choice and ESPN should be the choice of all concerned if basketball is to get the exposure it deserves and needs.
Comments are always welcome as are emails, to crawscorner@gmail.com
By all indication the Pac-12 is going to sign a new TV contract within the next month with someone. The possibilities are endless, I will not bore you with numbers or candidates, especially with the numbers because, they are so inflated.
My advice to you Mr. Scott, is quite simple, make the deal with ESPN, period. We all know the former Pac-10 has had a long standing relationship with Fox, but forget that.
People are going to watch college football no matter what, even if I were producing the games from my own garage, it is that popular, so the network it is on, does not matter.
But for basketball, it does matter. There should never even be the slightest debate, that ESPN covers college basketball better than anyone in the world. From the studio shows lead by the great Reece Davis, to the promotion of the game, to the announcers and analysts, it is very hard to find a weak person on the entire talent staff.
With the above said, Pac-12, you need a shot in the arm in basketball TV coverage, you have fallen behind the times in getting your product out there and ESPN is the answer. To go even further, make a deal with ESPN that you want a 6:00 p.m PST on Thursday night and a 4:00 PST on Saturday night, all doable with the present ESPN and Pac-12 schedule. This would not only get exposure on the west coast, but it would bring in all the east coast viewers into play, who at present rarely get to see a Pac-10 game in a good time slot.
So in conclusion, forget all this talk that comes from the Pac-10 about we need a network that will cover all of our olympic sports as well as the big two. Football and basketball drive the bus and always will when it comes to TV deals for college conferences, so this is a no-brainer choice and ESPN should be the choice of all concerned if basketball is to get the exposure it deserves and needs.
Comments are always welcome as are emails, to crawscorner@gmail.com
Division 2 Basketball
Division 2 basketball on the west coast in case you have never seen a game is pretty darn good.
As a matter of fact some of the teams are quite competitive against some D-1 teams and occasionally pull off a victory against their bigger brothers. If you have not followed it from time to time, I strongly encourage you to do so next fall when it gets up and rolling.
The three leagues on the west coast that compete in D-2 basketball are:
1. Pacific West Conference---This league has teams that span the United States from Hawaii to Arizona to Utah.
2. Great Northwest Athletic Conference--Consists of teams from the states of Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and the province of British Columbia.
3. California Collegiate Athletic Association---All of its teams are in California.
What is great about these leagues is there are about 10 players in each league that could play D-1 basketball. The gyms and arenas of the teams are lots of fun and for the most part seat under 3,000 people giving the fans that up close and personal look and for a lot of the teams, they play an up tempo style of ball which never gets tired of viewing as a fan.
Last season, the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders (got to love that nickname) who play in the Pacific West went all the way to the D-2 final game in Springfield, Mass, only to lose, but the team had a great run and many times scored over 100 points in games.
Fox Sports Northwest (Now Root Sports) has thought so much of the product that last year they televised seven GNAC league games and the conference tournament final.
So if you get a chance, take in a game, always exciting and a very good brand of basketball.
As a matter of fact some of the teams are quite competitive against some D-1 teams and occasionally pull off a victory against their bigger brothers. If you have not followed it from time to time, I strongly encourage you to do so next fall when it gets up and rolling.
The three leagues on the west coast that compete in D-2 basketball are:
1. Pacific West Conference---This league has teams that span the United States from Hawaii to Arizona to Utah.
2. Great Northwest Athletic Conference--Consists of teams from the states of Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and the province of British Columbia.
3. California Collegiate Athletic Association---All of its teams are in California.
What is great about these leagues is there are about 10 players in each league that could play D-1 basketball. The gyms and arenas of the teams are lots of fun and for the most part seat under 3,000 people giving the fans that up close and personal look and for a lot of the teams, they play an up tempo style of ball which never gets tired of viewing as a fan.
Last season, the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders (got to love that nickname) who play in the Pacific West went all the way to the D-2 final game in Springfield, Mass, only to lose, but the team had a great run and many times scored over 100 points in games.
Fox Sports Northwest (Now Root Sports) has thought so much of the product that last year they televised seven GNAC league games and the conference tournament final.
So if you get a chance, take in a game, always exciting and a very good brand of basketball.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
BEST PLAYERS EVER
In sports whenever you discuss the best EVER it can cause heated arguments, be controversial, but oh boy, can it ever be fun. I hope you have some fun with this. It took some thinking, it took some research, it took some consultation and it is for you to grit your teeth and say, " Craw's Corner is wrong or right"
West Coast basketball teams basically play in six different leagues. This list of best players in these six different leagues EVER, takes into account that the team they played for either played in that league at one time or their team now plays in that league. Confused? I think you will figure it out, when you see the list and the teams. READY?
1. Pac 8, Pac-10, Pac-12---KAREEM ABDUL JABBAR, UCLA-----Perhaps the best college basketball player of all time. Three titles at UCLA and only played three years cause of the no freshmen playing varsity ball rule which was in place at the time he played for UCLA.
2. West Coast Conference---BILL RUSSELL, San Francisco----He could do it all, score, rebound, block shots and pass the ball. It is great to watch the old film clips of him playing for the Dons.
3. Big West-----LARRY JOHNSON, UNLV,-------The Runnin Rebels were members of the Big West in the 90s when Johnson played and he was terrific. He was a player when passed the ball in the key, was basically unstoppable.
4. WAC----KEITH VAN HORN, Utah-----The Utes will have the pleasure of playing in three different leagues in the last 15years, Western Athletic Conference, Mt. West and Pac-12. Van Horn was a great player in college and had a great pro career. Consensus All-American in college.
5. Mt. West---JIMMER FREDETTE, BYU----Great scorer, great passer and just plain fun to watch. This league was formed in 1999 and has seen a real rise in basketball and in the past couple of years has established itself as a league that will produce many great players in the future.
6. Big Sky--FREEMAN WILLIAMS, Portland State---Quite possibly the best college player ever that no one has heard of. Still is the leading second leading all time scorer in NCAA basketball and once scored 81 points in a game, without the benefit of a 3-point line.
7. Independent--ELGIN BAYLOR, Seattle U---The Redhawks have named their court after him, he was the ultimate shot creator and many players in the past and even today have copied his style. He simply was GREAT.
Comments always welcome and keep those emails coming, appreciate the support for this blog and like I say, " If million people read it, it is fun, if three people read it, it is still fun."
crawscorner@gmail.com
West Coast basketball teams basically play in six different leagues. This list of best players in these six different leagues EVER, takes into account that the team they played for either played in that league at one time or their team now plays in that league. Confused? I think you will figure it out, when you see the list and the teams. READY?
1. Pac 8, Pac-10, Pac-12---KAREEM ABDUL JABBAR, UCLA-----Perhaps the best college basketball player of all time. Three titles at UCLA and only played three years cause of the no freshmen playing varsity ball rule which was in place at the time he played for UCLA.
2. West Coast Conference---BILL RUSSELL, San Francisco----He could do it all, score, rebound, block shots and pass the ball. It is great to watch the old film clips of him playing for the Dons.
3. Big West-----LARRY JOHNSON, UNLV,-------The Runnin Rebels were members of the Big West in the 90s when Johnson played and he was terrific. He was a player when passed the ball in the key, was basically unstoppable.
4. WAC----KEITH VAN HORN, Utah-----The Utes will have the pleasure of playing in three different leagues in the last 15years, Western Athletic Conference, Mt. West and Pac-12. Van Horn was a great player in college and had a great pro career. Consensus All-American in college.
5. Mt. West---JIMMER FREDETTE, BYU----Great scorer, great passer and just plain fun to watch. This league was formed in 1999 and has seen a real rise in basketball and in the past couple of years has established itself as a league that will produce many great players in the future.
6. Big Sky--FREEMAN WILLIAMS, Portland State---Quite possibly the best college player ever that no one has heard of. Still is the leading second leading all time scorer in NCAA basketball and once scored 81 points in a game, without the benefit of a 3-point line.
7. Independent--ELGIN BAYLOR, Seattle U---The Redhawks have named their court after him, he was the ultimate shot creator and many players in the past and even today have copied his style. He simply was GREAT.
Comments always welcome and keep those emails coming, appreciate the support for this blog and like I say, " If million people read it, it is fun, if three people read it, it is still fun."
crawscorner@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Gonzaga's Best Player Ever???
Over the last 15 years, the two kings of west coast basketball without question have been Arizona and Gonzaga. I will not bore you with their records.
And without question the person with the best professional basketball career to come out of Gonzaga is John Stockton.
But who is the best player ever during his time at Gonzaga?
For my money it is Frank Burgess. Sadly, Mr. Burgess passed away last year at the age of 75, at the time, he was still an active Federal Judge.
He shares the great history of Gonzaga basketball along with the likes of, Morrison, Santangelo, Frahm, Calvary, Dickau, Stepp, Turiaf, Raivio, Pargo and Bouldin, as well as the above named Stockton and a cast of many other fine players.
But when you look at what he accomplished at Gonzaga, perhaps Burgess was the best.
1. In the 1960-61 season he lead the nation in scoring with a 32 point per game average.
2. In his career at Gonzaga, seven times he scored over 40 points in a game. (Remember he had no 3-point line in his day, to score even more.)
3. He still holds the school's single game scoring record of 52 points in a game against UC Davis.
4. But often overlooked, he always played great defense, something lots of scorers, fail to do.
It is a shame that more of us do not honor the game, with the history of the game. As we go along with this blog, I hope to enhance your knowledge with a little bit of past west coast basketball history.
Comments, even criticism, always welcome, or emails at crawscorner@gmail.com
And without question the person with the best professional basketball career to come out of Gonzaga is John Stockton.
But who is the best player ever during his time at Gonzaga?
For my money it is Frank Burgess. Sadly, Mr. Burgess passed away last year at the age of 75, at the time, he was still an active Federal Judge.
He shares the great history of Gonzaga basketball along with the likes of, Morrison, Santangelo, Frahm, Calvary, Dickau, Stepp, Turiaf, Raivio, Pargo and Bouldin, as well as the above named Stockton and a cast of many other fine players.
But when you look at what he accomplished at Gonzaga, perhaps Burgess was the best.
1. In the 1960-61 season he lead the nation in scoring with a 32 point per game average.
2. In his career at Gonzaga, seven times he scored over 40 points in a game. (Remember he had no 3-point line in his day, to score even more.)
3. He still holds the school's single game scoring record of 52 points in a game against UC Davis.
4. But often overlooked, he always played great defense, something lots of scorers, fail to do.
It is a shame that more of us do not honor the game, with the history of the game. As we go along with this blog, I hope to enhance your knowledge with a little bit of past west coast basketball history.
Comments, even criticism, always welcome, or emails at crawscorner@gmail.com
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