Looks Like Konkol Will Be The Next Head Coach at Tulsa…

[Bulldawg81]

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.

One thing most don’t take into consideration is injuries and unbelievably losing two key players to heart conditions during his tenure. Christon was leading the team in scoring as a sophomore when he went down—he was never the same player when he came back. We beat Ohio State with Joniah White. We lost a great rim protector when he went down—he also was not the same player when he came back and eventually had to give up the game. Last year Cobe Williams broke his hand right before the conference tournament. This year we lost an all conference player (Crawford) early in the season and Allen, who was the 5A player of the year in Louisiana (if I remember correctly) the prior year, before the season started. I believe the coaching staff was expecting Allen to contribute significantly this year.

Of course we’ll never know, but with a little bit of luck regarding injuries we might have won 2 or 3 conference titles.

[boxerdog]

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?

I think you have a good point there. Seemed like our guys often started game trying to get a feel instead of playing with an edge.

Mike White, who I also think is a good coach, never made the NCAA tournament at Tech. Once he got to Florida, he made it 4 times (really 5 but one was the Covid year) and got to the elite 8 in his second season.

[Dawgpix]

Three words;
More. Offensive. Rebounding.

[Dixonfor6]

Good luck Coach Konkol. I have nothing bad to say about the man. Unfortunate circumstances that were mentioned in this thread definitely held us back many times.

We aren’t so deep that losing a 7 footer, your best all around player (crawford) or your PG just before the conference tourney isn’t a big deal. We will only get to that level of depth with consistency of THOSE THINGS NOT HAPPENING. How many other schools lost two key players to heart conditions over the past few years?!

I will pull for Tulsa. And wherever Junior ends up, I’ll pull for them too.

[nadB]

Seems to me that the best measure would be against conference teams.

Are we talking about the clown who managed to win only one away conference game one season and didn't get fired ?? Oh, wait; didn't he manage to do it two seasons in a row and still didn't get fired ?? Or, did I dream that ??

[nadB]

If he can produce a similar output at Tulsa, he'll make the NCAA tournament. I think he's a good coach.

Have you bothered to check out Tulsa's scheduling?? No way their fans will allow konkol to pad his stats by scheduling the likes of Crowleys Ridge College or Jarvis Christian College or the dregs of the SWAC for home games. If Wood makes a good hire, and I think he will, we will come out way better than Tulsa on this deal !!! I actually believe we finally got the Lion's share, for once, and that's not even adding in the buyout.

[champion110]

I liked Konkol being at Tech. His accomplishments were big, especially in recruiting. Was he the best? Not really, but he was good. I, also, know that this happens more often than not in G5 programs. My biggest worry is finding the right match now and KEEPING our star players. That is the biggest risk during times like these.

[boxerdog]

Are we talking about the clown who managed to win only one away conference game one season and didn't get fired ?? Oh, wait; didn't he manage to do it two seasons in a row and still didn't get fired ?? Or, did I dream that ??

How many conference away games has Dusty May won in 3 years?

[Dwayne From Minden]

Have you bothered to check out Tulsa's scheduling?? No way their fans will allow konkol to pad his stats by scheduling the likes of Crowleys Ridge College or Jarvis Christian College or the dregs of the SWAC for home games.

Evidently you haven't -

2021 - SW Christian University, Northeastern St

2022 is littered with SWAC and SLC schools

Everyone does it...

EVERYONE

[kfj]

Not much talk on here about EK's replacement? Anyone know what's going on? Is there a short list? Is it a low priority right now?

[Dwayne From Minden]

Are we talking about the clown who managed to win only one away conference game one season and didn't get fired ?? Oh, wait; didn't he manage to do it two seasons in a row and still didn't get fired ?? Or, did I dream that ??

Come on man -

In those two years he went 7-11 and 9-9 in conference

And then he backed those two years up by going

5-4, 4-3 and 6-3 on the road for a record of 15-10 on the road in conference that's 60% overall

and he went 13-5, 12-4 and 12-6 overall in conference which is a 71% clip

His overall conference road record is 27-34 for 44.3% (nice rebound considering he had a 2 year stretch of 2-16)

His overall conference home record is 52-11 for 82.5%

His total overall conference record is 79-45 for 63.7%

This is in a sport (D1 basketball) where the home winning percentage is over 68% and the road winning percentage is 34% - (that's overall %'s, not just conference games)

[Dwayne From Minden]

Not much talk on here about EK's replacement? Anyone know what's going on? Is there a short list? Is it a low priority right now?

Really no official short list -

I hope we can name a new coach by Monday - but there is some thought out there that it could drag on to the first week of April

Keller at SFA
White who played at OU and is an assistant at Houston
Hester who is an assistant at TTech

Are a few of the names -

Supposedly it's drawing a strong interest nation wide

After Wood hired Taylor in softball and Cumbie for football, I'm willing to trust in his process

[boxerdog]

Three words;
More. Offensive. Rebounding.

Crash the offensive glass and you're much more likely to surrender easier transition buckets on the other end. The statistics back it up. Unless you are an elite scoring team, you need to drop back on defense.

[kfj]

Really no official short list -

I hope we can name a new coach by Monday - but there is some thought out there that it could drag on to the first week of April

Keller at SFA
White who is an assistant at OU
Hester who is an assistant at TTech

Are a few of the names -

Supposedly it's drawing a strong interest nation wide

After Wood hired Taylor in softball and Cumbie for football, I'm willing to trust in his process

Thanks, Dwayne. That's great that it is drawing interest nation wide. Does that mean that it's considered a better job in the new look C-USA?

[Dwayne From Minden]

Thanks, Dwayne. That's great that it is drawing interest nation wide. Does that mean that it's considered a better job in the new look C-USA?

I think it means we are viewed as an upper 1/3 program nation wide maybe a top 100 program

The last sitting HC we hired was Woolridge out of Texas St in 1993 after the Jerry Lloyd fiasco

Of course Woo left right before the start of the 1998-99 season and we promoted Richard from within

Then when they moved on from KR we let Karl dictate the hiring of Rupp

In 2011 when we hired White we hired him from Ole Miss - he was their top recruiter

In 2015 when we hired Konkol he was the 3rd assistant for Laranega (sp?) at Miami (who had been with him since his Final Four run at George Mason)

So as you can see our last two searches have grown from regional in scope to more of a national search with a Southern influence