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FreeChavez
Member Posts: 3,223
Gotta say, romar actually being fired is surreal. In a good way. The guy is paid for performance and it's not like UW had an itchy trigger. The guy was awful for years and his last year at the helm provided a 9 win season. I will say that I don't think Jenn makes this move without pieces on the chessboard. If she was ready to can Romar, she would have done it a week, two weeks, or a month ago. What I want to give her credit for is that she may have a contract and coach in place ready to go right after romar's release. There was no reason to fire him 3 weeks ago. I still think it's a coach still in a tournament or it would be announced. My gut says it's musselman, but it's still early. Let's just pop the champagne than Jenn got rid of a 6 year losing streak.
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Worst case they are putting together a list now.
I think she likely already has an idea (probably the reason she didn't even mention that she'll hire a search firm) because she said she has done her homework already. If they got donors to step up for that buyout, (and she also mentioned she viewed that buyout as a "investment I thought was right long term") that tells me they have the funds to spend the money necessary to try and attract a name coach.
I get all the reasons why Marshall shouldn't be in play ...
But from what I've gathered of how Cohen operates, she puts the pieces on the table with an offer that makes it difficult to impossible to say no ... and if she gets resistance she doesn't just take it and leave she finds a way to make it difficult to say no in the end.
If you buy the above, then I'd say that I'd say Marshall is as likely as the field.
Just because we likely have a good amount of money to offer doesn't mean we'll get the hottest coach on the market.
My gut says that this move was made to make a big splash ... this program is becoming a national laughing matter because of the incompetence of Romar ... and there's a lot of egg on the face of those supporters who have blindly supported Romar and had the wool pulled over their eyes. This year was rock bottom for them ... and when you couple where basketball is with where Pete has taken the football program in 3 years I'm guessing that the basketball movers and shakers are wanting to see something positive happen and happen soon.
Nothing against Mussleman or Rice but they aren't moving the needle. Bennett just isn't a fit and given that he's close to Romar he's not taking the job since we fired him (I could see him finally jumping to Cal). Majerle would actually be an interesting guy and I could see Arizona State jumping on him after Hurley turns ASU around and leaves to go somewhere else.
Nobody realistically thought that Pete was in play ... but in hindsight, we can understand why Pete made the move when he did. He stated it's the only metro area he had really targeted. He'd wanted the job for a while. The value system fit his. He had basically maxed out at his current level and if he wanted to compete on the big stage he needed a bigger platform.
Compare that to Marshall's situation ... he's getting screwed yearly at Wichita in the pursuit of competing in the NCAAs by being perpetually under seeded. The Missouri Valley Conference is ultimately going to limit his ability to recruit at a national level and there's not a built in recruiting pipeline locally. His wife is from the area and in-laws live here still. He's shown himself to be largely loyal to programs so you don't have to be fearful that he'd use Washington as a stepping stone job. His programs demand energy, effort, accountability, planning, and performance ... things that have been tied into what UW expects out of their programs. There's a reasonable fit.
The one area that I laugh at is this idea that because Marshall makes $3.3M a year in Wichita he therefore would need a $5M salary to coach at UW. He may need a $5M a year salary to coach at UW depending on the competition and if a bidding war breaks out and he's driven by that (I don't personally think that he is from what I've gathered about him over the years). My guess is that he'd probably be just fine being at a compensation level similar to Petersen provided that the AD was as supportive at providing the program the resources necessary as has been done Petersen.
In some ways, what doesn't make sense sometimes can make the most sense. I'm optimistic.
His resume is 9 years as head coach at Winthrop and now 10 years at Wichita State.
He's 54 years old now ... so he's probably got another 10 years or so in his career ...
If he's going to leave, now's the time ... and it's consistent with his career path.
But it won't be.