2026-27 Coaching changes and movement

[Garnacho]

The Bonnies rear their head from time to time. When I was there as a Freshman (1962) they had regularly been a Top 10 school nationally for the previous 4-5 yrs.

This was before their greatest all-time player ever, Bob Lanier, attended. They made the Final Four in 1969-70, along with UCLA, New Mexico State, and Jacksonville. You can guess who won the title.

1962! That’s awesome. Much respect.

 

[hotshot]

Oh man! You got deep roots.

And Lol yeah i can; hollyWoodending fasho.

Yeah they will never get back to consistently being great however they can def shake up the A-10 every few years; which is enough for them at this stage.

I can see the tournament expanding to 96 or even 138 teams in the near time future too.

I'm not a fan of tournament expansion. In this new era, even less reason to do so. The mid-majors are now just a showcase for players moving up to the bigger, better and richer programs.

As for that 1970 Final Four, that was Coach Wooden's 4th straight NCAA Championship at UCLA, and 6th overall. They beat Jacksonville (with the two 7 footers, Artis Gilmore and Pembroke Burrows) in the Championship game, 80-69. Wasn't really that close.

The founding of the Big East Conference in 1979-80 is what killed the Bonnies (and many other Eastern teams) as a national power. Prior to 1979, all the Eastern teams except the Ivy League played as Independents. Those not getting into the Big East suffered badly.

 

[hotshot]

1962! That’s awesome. Much respect.

Transferred to Miami after one semester at St. Bonaventure. Talk about night and day culture and weather-wise. From the snow belt south of Buffalo to the tropics. Rick Barry was a class ahead of me.

 

[Pentagon Cane]

You get to a point where he is making big money at St Luois with a lot less demand. Likely to run him out of Raleigh in 4 years. Smart decision on his part.

 

[Pentagon Cane]

In fairness, so was the Jai Lucas hire but there are some similarities.
Justin Gainey has a reputation of being a very good recruiter for Tennessee and he has no prior head coaching experience.
He does recruit the State of North Carolina well so that works in his favor.
Probably too good the more I think about it because I think he was the guy recruiting Cody Peck to Tennessee.
The good is that Tennessee is probably no longer a destination for Cody Peck.
The bad is that Justin Gainey is the head coach at NC State with $14M in NIL to fill out his roster.
No, his name doesn't win the press conference nationally but being a NC State grad keep the fanbase actively supporting the program.

Jai's resume is better. NBA dad as his mentor. Played for Donovan and Barnes. Coached for Barnes, Calipari and Scheyer. Those are all Hall of Fall coaches. The common coach is Barnes. I think Gainey did time with Buzz Williams.