Boylen fired as Utah men’s basketball coach

[//r00t 4 Jazz]

Also for the record when people started complaining about Boylen I always was hoping maybe he could get some better assistants, as has been stated in some cases the assistants make the coach or at the very least can help cover some deficiencies.

 

[7StraightIsGreat]

VCU and Butler were successful programs before Smart and Stevens were there.

Had either school even came close to making runs at the Final 4 before those two?

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

Had either school even came close to making runs at the Final 4 before those two?

So a Final Four alone makes a basketball program successful?

 

[Archie Moses]

VCU and Butler were successful programs before Smart and Stevens were there.

This has nothing to do with my point.

 

[Bronco70]

So a Final Four alone makes a basketball program successful?

This isn't my question to answer, but if it were I'd say that a final four is not the definition of success, but a pretty reasonable barometer of it. If your team is in a final four, it's a safe bet that it is going in the right direction.

 

[Jazz Spazz]

I would say a team that got to the Final Four was slightly closer to a successful program than a team that consistently won for 10 years and never made it to the Final Four.
Isn't the very definition of a successful program one that wins the NCAA Tournament and is consistently in contention? The other levels of success are just steps down from that point, with that as the main goal? Of course there are other smaller goals, and you check your barometer to see how close you are any given year... but you have not "made it" until you have "won it".

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

This has nothing to do with my point.

I suppose you're right. Except in some ways you're implying that these teams are now successful because of these good hires whereas the truth is that they were already successful prior to the hires. Not trying to get into a Kicky/Archie lovefeud. Just the way I sort of took your post.

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

This isn't my question to answer, but if it were I'd say that a final four is not the definition of success, but a pretty reasonable barometer of it. If your team is in a final four, it's a safe bet that it is going in the right direction.

No doubt. My point was just that these two programs were already clearly headed in the right direction (VCU had won two tourney games prior to Smart including a huge win over Duke and Butler was quite successful under Matta) and in fact consist of players who were primarily recruited under their predecessors. They seem to have brought that talent to the next level, yes. However, I'm curious how well they'll recruit and keep this going going forward. mark Few's ship sailed over five years ago and time is the best indicator.

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

I'll just say too that I love Stevens by the way. He reminds me of Coach K in some ways (not in dorkiness but in the way you can see his wheels turning) though a little more deliberate in his choice of words.