Could McHale be a good college coach?

[coolhandgopher]

Isiah Thomas' return to college basketball and his immediate impact on the recruiting trail after his disastrous time with the Knicks got me thinking; could Kevin McHale transition successfully into the college game? It isn't a question of whether he wants to or would go that route; I'm guessing he doesn't have much interest in the college ranks. There isn't much else to talk about at this time though, so I thought I'd throw out the question.

I do think McHale has some definite positives he could bring to the college game. His former players with the T-Wolves speak highly of him, both from his ability to teach and the fact that he's a "player's coach". He's one of the NBA's Top 50 Greatest players, who even if he played before college age kids were alive, still has some cache. While his personnel moves torched much of his goodwill in Minnesota, he has the personality to bring attention to a program.

Negatives? Assuming that he'd want the job, McHale's player personnel decisions with the T-Wolves were questionable, at best. Would he be able to recruit or hire a competent coaching staff that would be able to bring the talent to campus? When it's the July recruiting period, would he be riding next to Tom Izzo on those flights across country or rather kick back on his estate?

Like I said, I'm sure this is nothing more than speculation, but I'm curious to see what others think.

 

[MRJ]

Interesting topic Coolhand. Thanks for the hypothetical.

I, for one, wouldn't want McHale for several reasons. First off, being a "players coach" is great, but at the college level that can cause some serious problems. These are still very young men at the college level and I would rather have a coach who is going to teach them and keep them in-line (at least somewhat) than someone whose trying to be everybody's buddy. To me, this sounds like a possible recipe for disaster in college due to all the outside influences that are already present at the NCAA level.

Second, I have some really big reservations about his ability to identify players. Granted, at the NBA level, evaluating talent is much different than in college. Having said that, his player evaluations at the NBA level were simply awful. If his targeted recruits at the college level resembled anything relative to what he saw as a good fit in the NBA, we'd be toast. Also, identifying recruits is one thing; signing them is something else altogether. And I don't know if I would consider McHale the type of personality who could "sell" a vision of what his team is going to be.

Third, and this somewhat relates to the first topic, I had heard that his offense wasn't very structured at the pro level, which is a big reason why players liked him. He gave them a lot of freedom on the offensive end, which is okay at the pro level if you've got players to make it work. The Wolves didn't and we saw the results. At the college level, this kind of strategy would absolutely kill a team. College basketball is much more about structure, strategy and managing a game. Based on some of the comments of former players, x's and o's are not amongst McHale's strengths.

These reasons would give me major pause before wanting to hire McHale to coach at the college level.

 

[Rick Mons]

I'd have to wonder about McHale's interest in the travel and schmoozing he'd have to do to recruit successfully.

And I'm pretty sure his knees couldn't handle climbing up and down the "staircase" to the raised floor that G4L oft complains about.

 

[Saber]

Someone posted an article a week or 2 ago that listed the "ironmen" of college recruiting, which was referring to their being on the road recruiting for all 20 of the recruiting days of the summer recruiting period. It was headed by Izzo, with a note saying that people close to the program claim he hasn't missed a day of recruiting since he first became a head coach. That's a huge portion of why MSU is and has been successful so consistently for so long.

Recruiting is the life-blood of college basketball, and I don't believe that McHale has the wherewithal to hit the recruiting trail hard and consistently enough, much less to pick out the most talented players at a young age to get in on them early.

 

[sec105]

No!

 

[MillionMoves]

(Izzo) hasn't missed a day of recruiting since he first became a head coach.

This would apply to nearly all big-time college basketball coaches.

 

[GoFerit]

Though I agree with MRJ mostly, it is possible that he appears more attractive to better NBA prospects. I would definitely prefer Tubby to Kevin. But, if the position is open, then I may be tempted for him. Of course, the contract has to be full of contingencies as I don't want to entrust the team to him on a long term basis without him producing any real results.

 

[Friend Of Tubby]

This would apply to nearly all big-time college basketball coaches.

(Gene Keady used to say) Recruiting is like shaving. Skip a couple days and you look like a bum.

 

[oleboy41]

I don't think McHale would have anywhere near the dedication needed to lead a major conference team. He'd have to do speaking engagements, show up at events, and get out and recruit. I especially can't see him putting in the time to recruit well.

As for the point about his offense, that has worked at Duke for years but they always have a lot of talent and guys that can shoot the rock. Coach K stresses spacing and he really teaches offense in practice but in games they don't run a ton of set plays or even a real structured motion or dribble drive O

 

[THESCOUT]

MCFAIL would be a good apple picker ! THESCOUT