Another TX Addition to Hester's Staff - Aaron Smith, Panola College

[Dwayne From Minden]

https://www.panolaathletics.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/Aaron_Smith_Bio?view=bio

This staff appears to be very juco heavy and very TX heavy

[FriscoDawg]

The juco-heavy may be ok short-term, but not so much long-term.

Being Texas-heavy doesn't bother me as much considering the number of players available there compared to Louisiana.

[Dawg Fan]

I am going to be cautiously optimistic Hester is putting together a great coaching staff and Tech is going to have great teams for the foreseeable future. I don’t know enough about the play of JUCO, NCAA Division II and III, and NAIA teams to know if coaching philosophies from those teams transfer well to Division I.

[Dwayne From Minden]

The juco-heavy may be ok short-term, but not so much long-term.

Being Texas-heavy doesn't bother me as much considering the number of players available there compared to Louisiana.

I agree - Texas connections - especially to the metro-plex and Houston area are great to have

However - the staff outside of Hester appears to have very little D1 experience and what experience they have is at the SWAC level

Color me unimpressed so far

[inudesu]

I agree - Texas connections - especially to the metro-plex and Houston area are great to have

However - the staff outside of Hester appears to have very little D1 experience and what experience they have is at the SWAC level

Color me unimpressed so far

What was Konkol's first staff like from an experience standpoint?

Barker (who currently has a "show-cause" ban, right?) had been at some MAC/SB level schools I think.

Conroy had been at a Horizon league school for a pretty long time.

Skinn was new to college level.

Is that it? And some Ops guys or something, right?

[Dwayne From Minden]

What was Konkol's first staff like from an experience standpoint?

Barker (who currently has a "show-cause" ban, right?) had been at some MAC/SB level schools I think.

Conroy had been at a Horizon league school for a pretty long time.

Skinn was new to college level.

Is that it? And some Ops guys or something, right?

Much more experience at the D1 level -

Best I can remember here is his first staff - remember that McMahon was immediately hired away a couple of days after Tech hired him to go back to Murray St when Prohm was hired by Purdue?

Matt McMahon - Murray State/App State
Duffy Conroy - Univ Milwaukee/Univ Wisconsin
Corey Barker - Bowling Green/Ark State
Andy Fox - Tulane/Citadel
Tony Skinn - AAU Nike Team/Nigerian Natl Team/George Mason (really young dude)

I think that was his original staff, I may have left one out

But as you can see it was littered with D1 experience - Horizan, SoCon, CUSA, A10, Big10, SunBelt

Everyone except Skinn this was their 3rd or more stop at a D1 school

Not saying he won't be successful, but listening to basketball folks I trust in the business, it's a different makeup and path that he is using

[inudesu]

Much more experience at the D1 level -

Best I can remember here is his first staff - remember that McMahon was immediately hired away a couple of days after Tech hired him to go back to Murray St when Prohm was hired by Purdue?

Matt McMahon - Murray State/App State
Duffy Conroy - Univ Milwaukee/Univ Wisconsin
Corey Barker - Bowling Green/Ark State
Andy Fox - Tulane/Citadel
Tony Skinn - AAU Nike Team/Nigerian Natl Team/George Mason (really young dude)

I think that was his original staff, I may have left one out

But as you can see it was littered with D1 experience - Horizan, SoCon, CUSA, A10, Big10, SunBelt

Everyone except Skinn this was their 3rd or more stop at a D1 school

Not saying he won't be successful, but listening to basketball folks I trust in the business, it's a different makeup and path that he is using

Yeah, I doubt there is one way to do it. But I didn't remember what the last time looked like (I hadn't been following the Barker situation even though I guess his issues were here locally to me and he was most recently on staff for one of our new conference mates).

[Dixonfor6]

Maybe this path will work. I’m willing to wait and see

[ACSlatech1994]

I am also willing to give the new staff a chance to see what they can do. The transfer portal has forever changed recruiting, with relationship building becoming more important than ever. While there is not a great deal of D1 experience beyond Hester, there is still a wealth of basketball knowledge with this proposed staff.

I would like to know if any more of the current players (Williams, Allen, Hunter) will be leaving to join Konkol in Tulsa.

[skilldawg]

my concern would not necessarily b coaching ability or recruiting.

doesn’t sound like anyone ever had to deal with additional rules other than Hester himself