The key IF there's a coaching change from the 3rd to 4th quarters is for the AD to have a very short list of candidates, and hire someone within a week or 2, tops. If you know you're firing Chumley, have 3 guys lined up ranked in order of who you want to offer first. You make the offers, you get the hire done quickly. You tell them to get the staff together ASAP so they can finish out recruiting strong.
In a perfect world, we fire Chumley on Saturday, Nov 28th. We have a new coach in place by at worst, Monday, Dec 7th (hopefully by the 1st--which would give from approx. 12/1 to 12/15 to recruit in person before the dead period). If it's an established guy like Butch, he can have a staff in place with a combination of (very few) holdovers and then guys he wants to bring in by the New Year. During that time, they can still communicate in writing and electronically to schedule official visits. Once the dead period is lifted and things are opened back up from mid-January to the start of February...you can haul in the official visitors and put the full-court press on to retain the kids you want and to sell the high end kids on the new vision.
In other words, we need to move fast after Chumley is canned (if that does indeed happen) to allow the max amount of time for the new staff to make sure they're able to get a hold of the Shaq Quarterman's of the world and their families to let them know that they're still wanted, that they're still a part of Miami's plan going forward, and that a staff who cares about Shaq and his future will be in place ASAP. AND--most importantly, that things will be going in a better direction than the previous regime had it going.
