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Was Grant considered a better or worse hire than Oats?
Posted on 3/27/19 at 5:24 pm
Posted on 3/27/19 at 5:24 pm
What was the reaction then compared to now? Refresh my memory because I honestly don’t remember.
This post was edited on 3/27/19 at 5:26 pm
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Posted on 3/27/19 at 5:25 pm to Goldtide1
Grant was a "hotter" name simply because he beat Duke and was supposed to be the replacement for Billy Donavan.
Posted on 3/27/19 at 5:34 pm to Goldtide1
I'd say Grant's hire was viewed way more optimistically, from what I remember. Bill D had just recently won 2 straight national titles, and he was an assistant for those teams, and his VCU team had just beaten Duke in the tournament. Grant was very highly respected in the basketball community.
Posted on 3/27/19 at 6:11 pm to Goldtide1
I was so hyped for Grant.
Posted on 3/27/19 at 6:40 pm to Goldtide1
I was optimistic on the hire but I know better now. Grant is from Florida, when is the last time that state produced good-great basketball minds? Thankfully, Oats is from Wisconsin, a mecca of great coaching.
This post was edited on 3/27/19 at 6:48 pm
Posted on 3/27/19 at 6:42 pm to Goldtide1
In terms of national reaction it was about the same.
Alabama reaction I think Grant was much higher. We were also far less gun-shy back then, so many were less skeptical of mid major hires.
Alabama reaction I think Grant was much higher. We were also far less gun-shy back then, so many were less skeptical of mid major hires.
Posted on 3/28/19 at 7:24 am to Goldtide1
Grant was a great hire on paper and should've been great on the court. Unfortunately, he got paid and got lazy. There is no way for a fan to see that coming. An AD however should be able to pull that shite out in an interview.
Posted on 3/28/19 at 8:21 am to Goldtide1
As good as he looked on paper and as much as he was respected nationally, hiring a basketball coach in the SEC at a football-first school is about fit as much as anything else. And Anthony Grant was an awful fit.
Posted on 3/28/19 at 5:49 pm to Goldtide1
Whyyyy better
Posted on 3/29/19 at 10:20 am to Goldtide1
Personally, I remember really wanting us to go after Anderson after Gottfried because I loved his style of play. When Grant was announced I was a little bummed but quickly got on board and was excited. Not too different from this hire in that Oats wasn't really on my radar but I am getting excited about him the more I read and hear.
Illustrates the gamble with mid-major guys that has been discussed in other threads. They can look great but you really don't know until they are on the court.
Illustrates the gamble with mid-major guys that has been discussed in other threads. They can look great but you really don't know until they are on the court.
Posted on 3/29/19 at 6:05 pm to Goldtide1
At the time, I thought Grant was an incredible hire (whereas I was pretty skeptical of the Avery Johnson hire).
Grant checked a lot of boxes but the main one was that Florida was the model for a "football school" becoming basketball elite and Grant had been Billy Donovan's right hand man during their entire rise.
That he'd not yet had a full recruiting cycle as a head coach was just considered a minor question mark at the time.
Whether due to poor player evaluation, bad luck, discomfort being the face of the program or unwillingness to "get his hands dirty" -- most likely a combination of all four --- recruiting did ended up being his fatal flaw.
I still think Grant is a pretty solid coach and a lot of Bama fans are gun shy of mid-major hires for that very reason. Just a thin line between mediocre and getting momentum for an extended Top 20 run of years.
Grant checked a lot of boxes but the main one was that Florida was the model for a "football school" becoming basketball elite and Grant had been Billy Donovan's right hand man during their entire rise.
That he'd not yet had a full recruiting cycle as a head coach was just considered a minor question mark at the time.
Whether due to poor player evaluation, bad luck, discomfort being the face of the program or unwillingness to "get his hands dirty" -- most likely a combination of all four --- recruiting did ended up being his fatal flaw.
I still think Grant is a pretty solid coach and a lot of Bama fans are gun shy of mid-major hires for that very reason. Just a thin line between mediocre and getting momentum for an extended Top 20 run of years.
Posted on 3/31/19 at 8:13 am to Goldtide1
Grant was probably better known in these parts and he was a Bill D former assistant. He had been a HC at VCU for only 2 years where as Oats has been one for 4. Had Oats coached somewhere closer to Bama then he probably would have been a household name.
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