I was quite surprised to hear that the storied college basketball powerhouse that is the Arizona Wildcats decided to hand over the keys to the Mercedes to non other than Tim Floyd. Maybe i'm still bitter with him after he took over for Phil Jackson in 1999 and proceeded to run the Bulls into the ground(not that god could have done better), but I expected a better guy to follow the legend that is Lute Olson. Arizona is my favorite college basketball team, as i was devastated when the refs gave away the elite 8 game to the Illini in 2005. I have to believe my admiration for the team was a result of the elegance and prestige that was associated with Luke Olson. If he had coached Duke all these years, as opposed to Arizona, he would be on the Mt. Rushmore of coaches in all sports. I think he could have continued coaching if not for family issues, so the school was forced to find a replacement.
I was hoping for a coach with a similar elegance and grace that Olson brought to the court every year, someone like a Jay Wright or Jaime Dixon. Instead, they went with Tim Floyd. I'll admit that Floyd has been a good coach since his days in Iowa State, but he doesnt seem to me like the right person to follow Olson, just like he wasnt the right person to follow Phil Jackson. His recruiting tactics have been brought into question, and he also once said "This is my last job, at SC" when he was offered the LSU head coaching job several years back. Coaches sure love to lie
apparently he's staying at USC, my bad
ReplyDeleteI didn't read your post but I think it's a bad decision to stay at USC, especially if Arizona offers him more money
ReplyDeleteOK so I read your post, yeah it's probably good for Arizona that Floyd turned down the job because I don't think Floyd is a good coach or recruiter (didn't the only reason he got O.J. Mayo because Mayo just randomly said he was going to USC, even without USC recruiting him?) and I don't think Floyd would have made Arizona good
ReplyDeletebut again from Floyd's perspective, you can't stay at USC forever and you gots to get paid homey!