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When last we left Purdue coach Gene Keady, he said if he had another struggling season like this one, he might retire before his contract expired.
Well, the season is over. But Keady is now fired up -- to get the Boilermakers back to the top of the Big Ten and to finish his contract.
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I'm not going anywhere. ... I've re-evaluated things and I haven't lost the hunger. I'm so pissed off. My contract ends in 2005 and I plan on fulfilling it. We had a bad season and I'm sorry it happened, but I didn't expect it to happen. We're going to start from scratch. We've never rebuilt here, only reloaded. But now we're rebuilding. ” |
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— Gene Keady,
Purdue head coach |
"I'm not going anywhere," Keady said. "We talked a lot of scenarios, but I've re-evaluated things and I haven't lost the hunger. I'm so pissed off. My contract ends in 2005 and I plan on fulfilling it. We had a bad season and I'm sorry it happened, but I didn't expect it to happen. We're going to start from scratch. We've never rebuilt here, only reloaded. But now we're rebuilding."
Keady says he'll working harder recruiting this spring than he ever has before. He's as geared up for a trip to Europe as he has been for any offseason trip.
"If we get these players to play with heart, then we can win," Keady said after only his second losing season at Purdue. "We didn't play intelligent. We never played smart down the stretch. That's not the way we play. It never soaked in for some reason."
Keady said he wants his Boilermakers to play like Wisconsin did this season.
"They were hungry, and you can't measure their heart," Keady said. "They played hard and played smart together. They never gave alibis."
Keady said the Boilermakers took a hit when Brian Cardinal left the program. He said that is when the team's drive was sapped.
"The kids have to want to get to the Final Four more than the coaches, and if they want to go and you get the breaks then you can," Keady said. "Coaches tend to blame themselves if they can't get there. I'm not tired and it's hard to leave a school in a bad situation."
Keady said he wants to have the job set up for his successor, like Jud Heathcote did with Tom Izzo at Michigan State. But that would mean his choice would be Southern Illinois head coach and former assistant Bruce Weber. It would also mean Weber would have to stay put until Keady is through, which isn't a guarantee considering the Salukis' run to the Sweet 16. And it would be hard to put that in a contract with Weber not at the school anymore.
"I don't know what's going to happen, and unless Bruce comes back (as an assistant, which isn't going to happen) then it would be hard to set up," Keady said. "But once I decide to step down, I want the recruits to know they won't miss a beat."
Weekly Chatter
The first what-was-he-thinking-about declaration for the draft was turned in by California's Jamal Sampson. Sampson declared for the draft last week with a stellar 6.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 54 blocks in one season at Cal. Sampson says he won't sign with an agent and he has until a week before the draft to withdraw. Unless he has a Steve Hunter-like workout and leaps into the first round, he should definitely return to school. Having him leave would be the type of thing that keeps a program like Cal from staying atop the Pac-10. They can't sustain losing players to the NBA early, especially big men.
Forget about any statue of limitations. Michigan needs to get hammered in some way for the payments made to former players. The number is simply too absurd for nothing to happen to the school. UMass had its banner removed from its '96 Final Four because of the violations involving Marcus Camby. This is much, much worse. At the very least, the school should remove any reference to the 1992 and '93 Final Fours and give back any money earned. The allegations that are out there make those achievements a farce.
Everyone wants to put Missouri's Quin Snyder at Washington because he's from Seattle. But, according to his staff, that's his only attachment to the area. Remember, after high school he chose to leave home, travel across the country and play for Duke. If Snyder ever moves, it would likely be for a destination job (such as a Stanford, UCLA or Duke) rather than for a school of Washington's hoops stature.
Arkansas' decision to let Andre Iguodala (Springfield, Ill.) out of his national letter of intent was a kind gesture, although he could be brought back into the fold if assistant Mike Anderson is retained in some form. Either way, Iguodala becomes a big-time catch in the spring recruiting season with the month-long signing period starting in mid-April. Iguodala's stock skyrocketed this season, and he was considered the cornerstone of Arkansas' recruiting class. A feeding frenzy in the Midwest is likely to occur for his services, but the favorite seems to be Arizona. Wow! If Iguodala goes to the Wildcats, there shouldn't be any doubt about the No. 1 team in the preseason.
USC coach Henry Bibby would have listened hard to Florida State had the Seminoles called instead of going with Leonard Hamilton. But Bibby is more likely to turn to a NBA head- or assistant-coaching position in the near future. He's an ideal pro-type coach and continues to work wonders with the Trojans, save the first-round upset to UNC Wilmington. But USC will be tested next season in replacing Sam Clancy and David Bluthenthal. Fellow senior Brandon Granville can be replaced by sensational freshman Errick Craven.
Utah assistant Dick Hunsaker is hoping to land a head coaching job, and he should -- somewhere. Remember, he was the Mountain West Conference coach of the year last season while filling in for Rick Majerus. Hunsaker was a head coach at Ball State, following Majerus. But it's difficult for Hunsaker to get a look because so many athletic directors look only for current head coaches. But again, Hunsaker has been a head coach.
Majerus said senior center Chris Burgess, who missed two-thirds of his season with a torn planter fascia, isn't pursuing a sixth season from the NCAA. Instead, he said Burgess would be at the Portsmouth Invitational (Va.) in April. Majerus said Burgess is hoping to then be invited to the Chicago pre-draft camp in June. Burgess' decision, and the NCAA's "no" decision on his sixth year, doesn't bode well for Texas' Chris Owens, injured in the same game in late December. Owens tore his ACL and the Longhorns' staff was hoping he could earn a sixth season, too. That now seems less likely.
Expect extensions and bumps in salaries over the next few weeks for Marquette's Tom Crean, Hawaii's Riley Wallace, Pittsburgh's Ben Howland and Western Kentucky's Dennis Felton -- if the latter two coaches don't head elsewhere for a bigger payday. Pittsburgh is expected to step up and pay whatever it takes to keep Howland. If he were to bolt now or in the near future for the West Coast, Panthers associate head coach Jamie Dixon and Xavier assistant and former Pittsburgh point guard Sean Miller would be obvious candidates.
The pros could come calling for Fordham's Bob Hill, at least in the assistant's role, possibly as soon as a team is eliminated from the NBA playoff race or playoffs. Meanwhile, the biggest speculation in the NBA offseason will be whether or not Larry Brown wants to be the Sixers' coach next season. If he doesn't, the immediate speculation will center on Kentucky's Tubby Smith, who is a favorite of the Sixers' brass, notably Billy King. Smith is a natural for the NBA and his ties only got stronger when he was an assistant on the U.S. (NBA) Olympic team in 2000. If Smith leaves ... well, it's too early to even go there. Regardless, Kentucky will have to make some decisions in the offseason on Adam Chiles and Josh Carrier while waiting to see what Gerald Fitch, Rashaad Carruth, Keith Bogans and Jules Camara decide to do. The first two could transfer after being suspended (Fitch) and sent to the doghouse (Carruth), while the latter two could declare for the NBA draft.
Florida coach Billy Donovan has two fires to snuff over the next few weeks, and they both involve the NBA draft. Donovan has to try to keep junior guard Brett Nelson and freshman wing James White from declaring. Neither is a lock for the first round.
Winthrop's Gregg Marshall would be a natural candidate for College of Charleston's head coaching job. But Marshall might be thinking about bigger things. The Southern Conference needs a Sweet 16 run here soon, with the money from Chattanooga's 1997 Sweet 16 run ending.
Forget all that talk about the NCAA having four play-in games for the four 16 seeds. To do that, as some have suggested, the at-large pool would have to be increased. The only thing that you might get rid of is a few blowout games (see: Cincinnati-BU and Duke-Winthrop) by getting a more tested 16 seed. This idea has been floated among some high major coaches to get more at-large berths. But having the eight lowest rated teams play for the four last spots means the at-large pool has to be increased above 34 to ensure a 64-team field. There are still only 31 conference champs. If you take that down to 23 teams that have automatic spots in the field, add in the four winners of play-in games and then the 34 at-large, you've got 61 teams. You still need three more at-large teams.
If UCLA assistant Jim Saia gets the Fresno State job and Kansas assistant Neil Dougherty gets the TCU job, two of the highest-profile programs will need top assistants. They would be two of the most coveted positions, as much as some head coaching jobs. Already, Dougherty is getting inundated with calls from assistant coaches trying to get through to him to recommend them to Kansas coach Roy Williams. Expect head coach Steve Lavin to stay with the Bruins and get a better deal or at least more security after his latest Sweet 16 appearance.
Metro State (Colo.) coach Mike Dunlap continues to win at the Division II level with this week's national championship. But he continues to snub Division I jobs. He could be a serious player at Fresno State, New Mexico and Long Beach State if he wanted to. Give him credit for not running to the first Division I opening to simply move up. Dunlap was a success as a head coach in Australia, and he hasn't stopped doing well since he has been stateside.
Keady wants the National Association of Basketball Coaches to re-visit the issue of officials working too many games, especially in a row. "We need these guys to be sharp," Keady said. "They're working too many games. It's definitely a problem."
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball is updated Fridays throughout the season.
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