Yeah the Izzo coaching bush (not really much of a tree at this point) hasn't produced a lot of stars with the Clapper as Exhibit 1!!!
Thad Matta Done
- Thread starter boombaby14
- Start date
If OSU does not land a coach soon --- I wonder how that will affect the recruiting of Jeremiah Francis at all who I believe CMP was after hard. Might not matter since he is a 2019 I think, but Painter seemed to want him.
Oh. Ha! I totally spaced their time together there. You gave me more credit than I deserved!
Agree. What has Fife ever done other than successfully recruit for Izzo (a task that shouldn't be that hard) ?
The one smart thing he's done is patiently wait for a good opportunity as I've heard him indicate before that he's turned down offers already.
I'd be surprised if Ohio State turned to someone who has had little success as a head coach though.
He built the IPFW program up from nothing, improving its record every season that he was there and leaving a MUCH stronger program than he took over. He demonstrated a lot of ability which his experience at MSU should only enhance.
Like you said, he built it from nothing. There was nowhere to go but up. I'm not impressed with the IPFW portion of his resume.
He's not the most experienced and I would agree it might be premature for him to get/take a job of OSU's level right now. However as Daddy said, he left IPFW in far better shape than he found it. And he did it with the rest of the teams around him in the league trying to get better as well; it didn't occur in a vacuum.
p.s. the only direction isn't up; IPFW could have stayed status quo while he was there, but it didn't. So it's logical that he must have done something right.
I'm not arguing that he didn't improve it at all but it's not like he was taking them to the NCAA tournament or anything. There are dozens or mid-major coaches who have proven more than he did at IPFW. If you put a ton of stock in his MSU experience, which I don't, then I could see why someone would think favorably of him. I just don't see much more in him than others. I see him significantly behind candidates that have actually had significant achievements as a head coach like Marshall, McDermott, Few, Mack, etc. Now if one of those guys took the OSU job, I could see Fife as a candidate to replace them at somewhere like Creighton/Wichita/Gonzaga/Xavier. I just think Ohio State can get someone more proven and better than Fife.
I would take a hard look in state at Cronin or Mack .... or if you wanted someone out of state......Marshall or Bennett
Gary Parrish is supposedly on record that the first choice is Donavan, second choice is Holtmann. FWIW.
No idea whether Donovan wants to return to college, but the timing for OSU to pursue that couldn't be better. It might be somewhat challenging to temp a sitting college coach to take the job (other than the obvious attraction of lucrative salary); most college coaches have effectively been on the job this season for 2 months now since the NCAA tourney ended. For coaches that were interested in open jobs and didn't get interviewed (or got passed over for whatever reason), would they still listen? I suppose some would, but it's not like it's April anymore. Either way, I guess you have to call Donovan and ask the question. Then move forward from there accordingly. I think the B1G has the best collection of coaches already... adding Donovan would easily lock us in to #1 even in the eyes of ACC fans.
No way Holtmann
It won't be Holtmann. I've been told that Butler doesn't lose coaches to better paying, more high profile schools.
No idea if he's a candidate or not, but I couldn't resist...
It won't be Holtmann. I've been told that Butler doesn't lose coaches to better paying, more high profile schools.
No idea if he's a candidate or not, but I couldn't resist...
No, he didn't. IPFW (now simply Fort Wayne) was a perennial 20 win team and DII NCAA Tournament participant in the late '80's and early '90's under head coach Andy Piazza before the program started to fall off some in the mid '90's. Doug Noll was the HC when IPFW switched from DII to DI (independent) in the 2001-2002 season. Tony Jasick was the first coach there to lead IPFW (once they joined the Summit League) to a conference tournament title appearance (aka on the cusp of making the NCAA Tournament). Fife didn't improve the program that much in his time there. I agree with a previous poster that stated Fife gets more credit than he deserves (at this point) as a coach.
I was a fan of IPFW when Tim Russell was the coach before Piazza (Mark Cook, Jeff Freelove, etc) going from NAIA to the GLVC.
There's a huge difference between NCAA Divisions 1 and 2 and the Division 2 success that IPFW had a decade before Fife arrived had no bearing on the state of the program that he took over. Fife took over a stagnant program that was 26-89 in four years as a division 1 program. In Fife's 6 years at IPFW, the Mastedons had their best record ever as a division 1 program in every season, culminating in an 18-12 record in Fife's final season as their head coach.
The saga for OSU continues... McDermott turned down the job. I wonder where on the short list McDermott was and what number they're on now? You gotta assume he wasn't #1...
EDIT: On a related note, this is why search firms are typically engaged for higher profile jobs like this rather than an AD doing it alone. Kind of like an attorney never asking in a courtroom a question he doesn't already know the answer to, you don't "offer" a job unless it's a certainty it will be accepted. This is kind of embarrassing (or at least it should be) for Smith and OSU.
EDIT: On a related note, this is why search firms are typically engaged for higher profile jobs like this rather than an AD doing it alone. Kind of like an attorney never asking in a courtroom a question he doesn't already know the answer to, you don't "offer" a job unless it's a certainty it will be accepted. This is kind of embarrassing (or at least it should be) for Smith and OSU.
Last edited:
NBC Sports saying Holtmann withdrew his name from consideration on Tuesday. But there are folks out there in punditryland still claiming he's in the mix. I think he's out at this point.
Looks like some Creighton fans believed he had taken the job. It has been changed but still hilarious.
Not sure how to upload pictures here without linking them to a URL
Come on, Crean...big bucks, big bucks, stop! He might be OSU's whammy but he'll be solid gold for their B1G foes.
Similar threads
