Michigan PG

[IUFLA]

Hoiberg was a very good college player, and had a long, but not illustrious pro career...

He did a great job coaching at Iowa State, not so well with the Bulls, and if he gets a few years, I think he'll have Nebraska playing good ball...

[IU Scott]

3 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Or our own Mike Woodson etc. There are a number of very good coaches / former coaches who played at a high level, but there are also a number of poor coaches who played a high level, it's just a mix.

I forgot about Woodson and he did have some good years at Atlanta.  Also I think when you are just physically gifted and things comes easier to you playing it is hard for them to know what it is like for someone to have really work to get better.

[FKIM01]

7 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Or our own Mike Woodson etc. There are a number of very good coaches / former coaches who played at a high level, but there are also a number of poor coaches who played a high level, it's just a mix.

Agree, although as I said earlier, I'll give the (in general) advantage to point guards and bench warmers.  I question the wisdom of high profile college programs taking a chance on high profile former players with little or no actual coaching experience.  We'll see, but I'm pretty skeptical about the three examples I gave.  Maybe they can recruit at a high enough level to mask or overcome their own deficiencies, but as of now, the jury is very much out on all three as far as I am concerned.

I will credit Howard and Ewing with showing a willingness to impose discipline.  That's at mark in their favor.  Penny, OTOH, has already displayed a willingness to play in the grey area of recruiting.  That and getting so little from his massive recruiting haul has me very bearish on his longevity at this point.

[NotIThatLives]

1 hour ago, FKIM01 said:

I'm always skeptical of a very successful professional basketball player taking a college or even pro coaching job.  The successful players are on the floor.  The less successful players are on the bench next to the coach watching and learning.  Sure, they can recruit, but can they coach and develop once the players are there?  You're seeing this play out with Ewing at Georgetown, Penny at Memphis and Howard at Michigan.  I'm not sold on any of them at this point.

Ewing is doing an incredible job if we only look at what he has had to deal with this season and the results he has been able to salvage from it.  

[13th&Jackson]

1 hour ago, IU Scott said:

IT and Clyde Drexler were horrible college coaches as well.

Yes, but IT made up for it by being a horrible pro coach and terrible GM. It's amazing what opportunities he had post-retirement due solely to his stellar playing career. He sure could play the game, though.

The Pacers made the finals the year before Thomas showed up taking two games from Shaq, Kobe, and the Lakers. But Larry Bird was tired of coaching, and stepped away. The Pacers hired Isiah, Bird's fellow late-'80s superstar, in his first-ever head coaching gig.

With virtually the same team, the Pacers dropped to 41-41 in his first season as coach, good for eighth place in the East. They were eighth again the next year. In his third year, they won 48 games and finished third, but still lost in the first round to the Celtics.

The year after Thomas left, the Pacers won 61 games and were the No. 1 seed in the East.

Before Isiah Thomas showed up, the Pacers were one of the NBA's best teams. After Isiah Thomas left, they went back to being one of the NBA's best teams. They made the mistake of letting Thomas coach them during this window of potential success, and they'll never get those years back.

When Isiah Thomas took over as the Knicks GM in 2003, the Knicks were 39-43, good enough for a playoff spot. By the end of the 2006 season, they had the league's highest salary -- $126 million, more than twice the NBA's salary cap and almost $30 million more than the second-place team, the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks -- and the league's second-worst record, 23-59. They also didn't have their own draft pick, because they traded it away for Eddy Curry.

 

[IU Scott]

2 minutes ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Yes, but IT made up for it by being a horrible pro coach and terrible GM. It's amazing what opportunities he had post-retirement due solely to his stellar playing career. He sure could play the game, though.

The Pacers made the finals the year before Thomas showed up taking two games from Shaq, Kobe, and the Lakers. But Larry Bird was tired of coaching, and stepped away. The Pacers hired Isiah, Bird's fellow late-'80s superstar, in his first-ever head coaching gig.

With virtually the same team, the Pacers dropped to 41-41 in his first season as coach, good for eighth place in the East. They were eighth again the next year. In his third year, they won 48 games and finished third, but still lost in the first round to the Celtics.

The year after Thomas left, the Pacers won 61 games and were the No. 1 seed in the East.

Before Isiah Thomas showed up, the Pacers were one of the NBA's best teams. After Isiah Thomas left, they went back to being one of the NBA's best teams. They made the mistake of letting Thomas coach them during this window of potential success, and they'll never get those years back.

When Isiah Thomas took over as the Knicks GM in 2003, the Knicks were 39-43, good enough for a playoff spot. By the end of the 2006 season, they had the league's highest salary -- $126 million, more than twice the NBA's salary cap and almost $30 million more than the second-place team, the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks -- and the league's second-worst record, 23-59. They also didn't have their own draft pick, because they traded it away for Eddy Curry.

 

Actually it was not even close to the same team.  Smits and Mullins retired and Dale Davis was traded after going to the finals.

[jv1972iu]

3 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Or our own Mike Woodson etc. There are a number of very good coaches / former coaches who played at a high level, but there are also a number of poor coaches who played a high level, it's just a mix.

And there's Alford.   😁

[Hoosierhoopster]

52 minutes ago, jv1972iu said:

And there's Alford.   😁

Lol