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Rumor is that Gottfried is going to be interviewed early this week. He'd be a good fit and have this team competitive again quickly.

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Just now, PTR said:

Rumor is that Gottfried is going to be interviewed early this week. He'd be a good fit and have this team competitive again quickly.

 

Beat me to the post.

I'd be thrilled with that, retread is the way to go IMO and if we can't get Fox than Gottfried should absolutely top that list

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Just now, SleepingGiantsFan said:

Just gotta ask. Who the hell is Dooley?

Most recently a 10 year assistant at Kansas under Self, and then went to Dunk City when Enfield left for USC. 

Before that he was a brief assistant at UNM under Frachilla, and had a poor 4 year stint with ECU. Though in fairness no body has ever really won there

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Just now, SleepingGiantsFan said:

Just gotta ask. Who the hell is Dooley?

Long time Bill Self assistant that took over for FGCU when Andy Enfield took over at USC. He's a solid coach, but not sure if he's a good fit here.

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Steve Forbes is the name that is being tossed around more and more.  51-20 last two years with a 28-8 conference record, and took his team to the dance this year. I like him a lot, an all effort guy. He is making 200K this year, very affordable. 

Lobos have 950K to pay for new coach but have to figure out how to pay out the 500K this year and next. A backloaded contract with incentives will easily offset that.

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Dooley's only real advantage is that he would understand just what he's getting in to. Can he recruit the West or hire good assistants who can? That's the hesitation among the faithful at the moment.

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1 hour ago, Lobonado said:

Mark Fox is kinda intriguing. Pack fans, tell me more about him. Did he inherit a good program? Did he recruit well?

Fox was good while he was here. Not as good as his shiny record, but still very good. 5 years, 4 conference titles, 2-3 record in the big dance. He inherited a solid young team with a fiery senior leader in forward Kevin Pinkney and what turned out to be a franchise big man. His biggest score that first year was getting current NBA veteran point guard Ramon Sessions to sign late. That first team played ugly, all defense and no ability to shoot outside besides Fazekas. They were a tough team that got bounced in the conference tourney on buzzer beater in the first round which really hurt their seed. They won the 8/9 game against Texas and got whooped by the Williams, Brown, Head national runner up Illini.

The next two years he fielded juggernauts. Fazekas, Sessions, and ace perimeter defender Kyle Shiloh were joined by Marcellus Kemp; a Marcus Marshall-esque guard who had sat out Fox's first year on a medical redshirt. These teams were well rounded on both sides of the ball, but Fox never quite found the quality depth that would put them over the top. Despite a terrific overall record of 56-11, these teams are marred by tournament disappointments. The 06 team was unceremoniously dumped by Montana on the first day after having won the conference tourney and securing a 5 seed. The 07 squad lost twice to Utah State in the span of a week, once at the end of the regular season and again in the conference semis, which doomed them to a 7 seed and an eventual matchup with Calipari's uber athletic 2nd seeded Memphis team. Fazekas and Shiloh graduated, and Sessions shocked everybody declaring for the draft as a second rounder.

The last two years really had a souring effect on the fanbase towards Fox, which might seem strange considering how much he won. We finished in a four way tie for the conference title  the next year led by Kemp, a greatly improved Javale McGee, and hometown stud Armon Johnson. The conference was bad, and we ingloriously bowed out of the CBI in the first round. McGee bolted for the draft and Fox's last year was a rebuild. For once though he completely nailed a recruiting class with stud freshman Dario Hunt, Malik Cooke, and convinced 5 star Luke Babbitt to stay home. These three, along with Johnson, got us again to 20 wins and the CBI. 

These last two years were marred by off the court incidents. In 2008 a couple of guys were busted for shoplifting, including one of the few upper classmen we relied on to be a leader. But that's nothing compared to what happened the year before. On Halloween weekend 2007, Fox forbade the team from going out to party. Sophomore Tyrone Hanson ignored the order, went out to a party where he got into a fight, and layed unconscious while his assailant murdered three people.

By the time Fox left for Georgia the feeling amongst the fans was we would be ok. His fiery persona was grating on the players, his results had declined, his offense was stagnant without Fazekas, too many of his recruits had flamed out, guys were getting into trouble and reflecting poorly upon the university. We thought a players coach like David Carter would be a better fit, and besides that the two hometown boys were a foundation anyone could build on. As a recruiter Fox hit home runs with Sessions and McGee, and was probably a little lucky Johnson and Babbitt were Reno boys.

Honestly, I still don't know how good of a coach Fox is or would be for New Mexico. I'm positive he is better than Neal. But I didn't really follow him that much during his Georgia years. He seemed to recruit well but was always undercut by one thing or another, whether that be key injuries or something else.

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1 hour ago, Lobo Amor said:

Steve Forbes is the name that is being tossed around more and more.  51-20 last two years with a 28-8 conference record, and took his team to the dance this year. I like him a lot, an all effort guy. He is making 200K this year, very affordable. 

Lobos have 950K to pay for new coach but have to figure out how to pay out the 500K this year and next. A backloaded contract with incentives will easily offset that.

I like Forbes as a possibility as well. From a financial standpoint it makes sense. Especially if we're priced out if the bigger name candidates.

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2 hours ago, PTR said:

Long time Bill Self assistant that took over for FGCU when Andy Enfield took over at USC. He's a solid coach, but not sure if he's a good fit here.

I would think UNM has enough going for it in basketball that you shouldn't have to settle for a "solid" guy most of us have never even heard of.

Gottfried and Miles should be within the realm of possibility and both are better than merely "solid."

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31 minutes ago, SleepingGiantsFan said:

I would think UNM has enough going for it in basketball that you shouldn't have to settle for a "solid" guy most of us have never even heard of.

Gottfried and Miles should be within the realm of possibility and both are better than merely "solid."

I'm not sold on Miles.  I thought he was a great hire at Nebraska.  He walked into a new arena and the best facilities in the Big 10.  I know Nebraska will never be Indiana, but he should have been able to recruit to that.  He has lost his top returning player three years in a row because of conflict.  These are the guys that would be leading the team and they choose to walk to a new situation.  That just doesn't speak well for the coach.

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57 minutes ago, masterfrog said:

I'm not sold on Miles.  I thought he was a great hire at Nebraska.  He walked into a new arena and the best facilities in the Big 10.  I know Nebraska will never be Indiana, but he should have been able to recruit to that.  He has lost his top returning player three years in a row because of conflict.  These are the guys that would be leading the team and they choose to walk to a new situation.  That just doesn't speak well for the coach.

Me either. He had one good season in the MWC. 

I don't like Joe Dooley much either. He inherited a successful program and didn't run it off the tracks.

I'm pulling for UNM to get Romar from Washington.

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2 hours ago, masterfrog said:

I'm not sold on Miles.  I thought he was a great hire at Nebraska.  He walked into a new arena and the best facilities in the Big 10.  I know Nebraska will never be Indiana, but he should have been able to recruit to that.  He has lost his top returning player three years in a row because of conflict.  These are the guys that would be leading the team and they choose to walk to a new situation.  That just doesn't speak well for the coach.

He definitely didn't rise up and take Nebraska hoops to the next level. I think Tim would be a solid stabilizing hire, but if UNM interviews Gottfried, Romar, and Crean and winds up with Miles, I'm not sure the fans would be all that cool with it. 

UNM has to go in one of two directions: youngish coach looking to move up program tiers that will come relatively cheap <600K, or name hire moving down a tier but will put butts in seats and will command >950K. 

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23 hours ago, PTR said:

Rumor is that Gottfried is going to be interviewed early this week. He'd be a good fit and have this team competitive again quickly.

 

I like what he has done (a great 8 and two sweet 16's) in the past.  His last couple of years were up and down but he played in one of the toughest conferences in the NCAA.  On the surface, he looks like a sure thing as long as he is not asking a ridiculous salary.  If Crean is a no go Gottfried looks like the best available coach.  I have an uneasy feeling about Tim Miles but for some reason, I think he has a good chance of being named the coach for UNM.  I prefer Gottfried so hopefully, he gets the nod.

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4 hours ago, Hoser said:

I like what he has done (a great 8 and two sweet 16's) in the past.  His last couple of years were up and down but he played in one of the toughest conferences in the NCAA.  On the surface, he looks like a sure thing as long as he is not asking a ridiculous salary.  If Crean is a no go Gottfried looks like the best available coach.  I have an uneasy feeling about Tim Miles but for some reason, I think he has a good chance of being named the coach for UNM.  I prefer Gottfried so hopefully, he gets the nod.

Gottfried is probably the best realistic fit imo. Crean is a longshot. The fan base seems to be really anti Tim Miles, but he'd stabilize the program in a hurry. Just not a much of a ceiling imo. He was still B10 coach of the year one year if memory serves. I wonder about his recruiting as well. Not overly impressive at Nebraska.

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