Brad Bates was an AD at a MAC member institution for 10 years. He took the position at Boston College, where he paid a headhunter to find Jim Christian. He essentially bought a membership at match.com and got paired up with the girl that sat next to him in physics class last semester. The next time you think an unkind thought about Jim Schaus, reread this.
I fell in love with Christian over these last two years and I'm not afraid to admit it. I've believed in every word he's spoken since stepping foot in Athens. I love his coaching style and his candid manor. I want to be happy for him. I want to buy a BC hat and happily wear it. Call me naive, I can take it. I really, really want to believe him when he gives his account of the week's events. But I am having a hard time reconciling his assertion that he's not out there looking for new work and his presence on Eddie Fogler's rolodex. It's not a lie, but I find it terribly disingenuous. I would feel so much better if the story was that a former Miami AD called Ohio's coach directly and said "You killed me when I was there, I want you on my team here." That would make me so proud. That was the narrative I expected. That is the source of my disappointment.
There is no point in speculating who Schaus will hire. He will surprise us all.
Great post. I loved everything JC was doing up until 3 days ago. Maybe LongDistanceBobcat was correct in that JC was on the up-and-up about leaving, but the one thing that I have trouble with is the position he left the b-ball program. Groce left the program better than when he inherited it. I don't think we can say that with JC. But props to JC for talking to his players and communicating with them about this.
I think we should wait to see what recruits/current players stick around before we decide whether JC has left us in a better spot. If the only recruit we lose is Owens, it will hurt, but it is not program crushing. We would still have Campbell, Mo, Momp, and Setty in the post and a lot of length on the wings. I will wait to see who we have come the fall.