I agree with that. Truly great coaches are more than extremely rare. There are a ton of middle of the road coaches and Konkol is that.
I agree with that. Truly great coaches are more than extremely rare. There are a ton of middle of the road coaches and Konkol is that.
Jeff Goodman
@GoodmanHoops
BREAKING: Tim Jankovich is out at SMU, source told @Stadium
.UNT’s Grand McCasland is the leader to replace Jankovich.
TULSA? Heck yes. They value quality basketball 100 times more than Louisiana Tech has since Dan Reneau was foisted upon us.
As an alum, I still would go there in a heartbeat.
Dr. Wood's vision upward for LA Tech athletics likely required the replacement of some head coaches to put his own stamp on the athletic department, especially with the two "biggest" programs (FB & MBB). I tend to think this is the result of one of those unwritten agreements that comes with a change in leadership. Maybe it is another one of those mutual agreements to move on except it was done more smoothly by Konkol than by Holtz. Congrats to Konkol on the landing the Tulsa job. I am looking forward to the change though while hoping much of this year's team will remain at Tech.
Your comparing apples to oranges - no changing of the guard, no unwritten mutual agreement, no being eased out the door -
Look at what happened in football the final two regular season games of the 2019 season, the entire 2020 Covid season and then last year - Holtz was shown the door in a very public fashion
2019-2020 finished 22-8 and tied for 2nd in the conference with tourney cancelled due to covid, 2020-2021 a CUSA West Title and 3rd Place NIT finish, 2021-2022 appearance in tourney title game & another 24 win season
If Konkol stays we are probably preseason favorites even if Jr doesn't come back...
Remember he was the 3rd assistant on Miami's staff when we hired him - he had some growing pains of learning the job of HC but the last three years had settled in nicely and his team had progressed to the point of reloading instead of rebuilding
Those of y'all who think this is in any way similar to the Holtz situation need to step back and reset
''Don't be a bad dagh..."
I thought "mediocre" meant average (like 50/50). If yall think Konkol was mediocre, you don't really want to see mediocre. He was good. That's why Tulsa hired him because he was good.
Have you considered those Dogs?
No doubt Dr. Wood has a vision for Tech athletics unlike any other recent ad. I totally agree with you there, and it is an awesome feeling having someone qualified in that chair. I also agree most ad's would like to hire their own coaches. Also no doubt Skip was shown the door, no options for him. HE HAD TO GO. Where I disagree is I think this move is entirely on Konkol. Tulsa is a step up from Tech for two reasons. One is they have a great history in mens basketball. Since I was at Tech they (Tulsa) have made several sweet 16's. Tech during that time, 0 appearances in the freaking tournament. Three of their coaches later on in their career won national dhampionships. Plus here is the big carrot for Konkol to move to Tulsa. Multiple tournaments bids for the AAC, he doesn't have to fight for one bid. I have no doubt he has the ability to take Tulsa dancing. Win a game or two in the tournament, then the Big 12 job becomes reality.
Plus remember after the NIT last season Dr. Wood extended Konkol's contract. So in a way Dr. Wood was saying "Konkol kinda is my guy", right? I mean you don't give an extension to a guy you are thinking of firing.
This doesn't even take into consideration Konkol is about to make more money. Konkol was reportedly making $400k here, Tulsa was paying their last guy $1.3 million. Tulsa wants to pay this hire in $650-800k range. Which is a nice raise for Konkol. Lots of folks would move to double their income.
I am excited to see who Dr. Wood brings in to run our basketball program. I think he did very good job with the football hire and I am sure he has a great list of names for possible basketball coaches as well. I hope both our new football and mens basketball coach take Tech to places we have never been before.
79-45 .637 winning percentage. Not bad, but zero conference championships, zero ncaa tournaments bids. Nice winning percentage, but no tournament bids tarnishes the job he did here somewhat. Keep in mind the last five Conference USA men's tournaments had five different winners. It's not like someone owned the tournament. Konkol could never crack the code. Was next year the year? We will never know.
Not a basketball buy, but the reason I'm not is (other than the last UNT game) he let the players play grab ass ball for the first 5 to 10 minutes, then started coaching. Why is that good coaching?