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Gottlieb to Kansas State?

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I talked to my dad for a little while last night. We discussed Kentucky, chatted about the Masters, I asked him how New Jersey (where he lives) was. We talked about Stillwater some, then I asked him if he’d seen the Gottlieb to Kansas State rumors…

“Whhhaaaaat?!?!?!”

“Whaa… Whaa… I have so many questions.”

Photo Attribution: US Presswire

We all do, pops.

So Nolo, Quade, Amilian and I decided to tackle this via email today, here’s what transpired:

Nolo: I have a few friends that go to/went to KSU that I follow and my timeline blew up last night with Gottlieb to KSU propaganda. Do you think it will happen? Do you think it would work?

Kyle: I don’t think it will happen but I do think it could work. In my time playing sports, and Nolan you can absolutely refute this and I won’t get my feelings hurt, I always felt like good coaches were always better at managing players and meshing a group of college students than doing Xs and Os stuff (not that Gottlieb doesn’t know Xs and Os but just that I think he’d be pretty good at meshing people).

I guess the obvious comp is Hoiberg and their similarities are that they’ve both been in a hoops related job for the past decade (Gottlieb commentating, Hoiberg in the front office with the T-Wolves).

I dunno, it just seems like Gottlieb is oblivious enough not to know that it wouldn’t work so it might actually work, but I don’t think K-State would ever do that.

If they thought Frank Martin was egotistical……..

Quade: I would love to see Gottlieb start coaching somewhere. It would be fun. I agree with you Kyle on the whole Xs and Ox stuff. You’re right on, at least from a basketball standpoint for sure.

Nolo: I agree to an extent, but scouting is a big part of it. Recruiting though is an even bigger part. You can’t win without talent.

The thing I think is funny about all this is that K-State has a 3rd year athletic director who hasn’t exactly proven anything and their fan base is all united against him right now which means he needs to make a good hire that people will agree with. So what does Gottleib do? He does an interview where he breaks down what he would do and paints a utopic picture of what it would look like and the K-State fans go crazy. Now they are all sending the AD messages about getting Gottleib and how that’s the guy they want ect. ect.

The thing the fans don’t realize is that if Currie (the AD) hires somebody else and they all hate him initially but it works out, he’s a hero. If it doesn’t work out, he loses his job. On the flip side if he hires Gottlieb then everyone likes him. If Gottlieb succeeds, he’s a hero. If he fails, he loses his job. So really, as it should be, the AD shouldn’t care what the fans think. He should hire the right guy.

Kyle: Yeah he put himself in a not very good situation.

Also, completely agree on the recruiting thing. I think Gottlieb understands that you have to recruit parts that fit together, unless you’re Calipari of course and just collect 5-stars, tell them “I will get you to the NBA”, and end up with McDonald’s All-Americans averaging like six assists a game and playing tougher D than anybody else in the country.

Coaches are so scared to not recruit top talent because they either don’t trust their system, their ability to coach, or the role players they’re recruiting. Not to bring up Sutton like everybody else, but I feel like he had a firm grasp on “I need these two guys to shoot, this guy will pass, this guy doesn’t care about scoring so he’ll just bang the boards, and everybody will D the F up.”

A LOT of other coaches haven’t grasped this concept…though I think Ford is kind of coming around to it.

Nolo: I completely agree with you about the Sutton comparison, Kyle. That was part of the reason I loved that whole ’05 recruiting class. Eaton running the point (and Ding the F up), Harris shooting (and Ding the F up), Fleming slashing/driving/scoring, Brumbaugh running the pick-and-roll and/or pick-and-pop and grabbing boards along with Cooper who would be our inside post presence/shot blocker and Gerald Green being our freak athlete/alpha dog/jack-of-all-trades.

Four years of them would have yielded a title I’m convinced. But as we know, you have to retain players as well. Otherwise you go from Eaton/Harris/Brumbaugh/Fleming/Cooper/Green to graduating Eaton/Harris/Brown/Hughes/Booher/Cox in four years. Not exactly ideal.

Amilian: Gottlieb in Manhattan could work, but shouldn’t K-State be above hiring a guy with zero coaching experience? I thought whether or not I would eventually want Doug coaching in Stillwater and I like the idea of it because he gets OSU. The problem is, he’s probably too arrogant to take a job like Winthrop or St. Bon or whatever to get some experience under his belt. He does get the recruiting thing. I guarantee you he wouldn’t have gone after Cezar, or any player like him. When he starts coaching, he’ll be able to bring in the talent he needs.

Nolo: You know what I just thought of? If Gottleib got hired by K-State it could be a potential win-win for OSU. If he fails, it’s good for OSU and we find out he can’t coach without ever having to hire him, but if he’s wildly successful, why wouldn’t he want to leave for his alma mater? This would be assuming Ford continues his mediocrity, which I hope doesn’t happen. I would rather have Ford be at OSU than anybody.

Amilian: Who has a higher ceiling at OSU: Self, Gottlieb or Ford?

Maybe it’s the same and that’s not a fair question. Doug would definitely leave KSU for OSU. He’d love to be responsible for bringing GIA back to life. A better question might be, who could reach that ceiling the fastest, Gottlieb or Ford? (we all know Self would do it quicker than both).

But I agree, I don’t want Gottlieb’s first coaching gig to be OSU. I wonder if Doug would want it to be? He knows how important the program is, so maybe he wouldn’t want it to be his dry run. Then again, he’s confident he can do it.

Nolo: When I said I would rather have Ford than anybody I was leaving out guys who obviously wouldn’t leave where they are for OSU. I am rooting for Ford but having two former Cowboys at football and basketball head coach is intriguing to say the least.

It really is, what do you guys think? Would Gottlieb be good for K-State or is this whole thing just absurd?

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