I had resigned myself to the fact that Jeff Capel was going to be our next basketball coach even though he would not have been my first, second or third choice but it did have some appeal given his connection to Jerry Colangelo and the Team USA deal that had stalled...
I think it is pretty clear that Herb was not going to be our coach after the Devils lost to USC in the first round of the PAC tournament (March 11) and I think that is when the wheels of change started happening in earnest and when RA started contacting some people for feedback, that included Jerry Colangelo which, of course, led to the potential Jeff Capel episode...
So, by the time Herb was fired on March 24th the plan to go after Capel was in place and the preliminary feedback from Capel must have been fairly positive at the very least or ASU would not have waited like they did the past couple of weeks, while Duke advanced through the tournament...
The interviews with other candidates and contacts through agents or other back channels with other coaches was just window dressing at this point, since all signs pointed to a Capel hiring by the end of the tournament...RA and Cohen visited with Capel last week and would not have held off on other possibilities had the meeting with him not gone well or at least reasonably well all things considered...there had to be a positive vibe in the air...
What changed the scenario around is anyone's guess at this point...Duke won the championship Monday night and Capel decided against taking the ASU job, which has now thrown a huge monkey wrench into the situation...where RA and ASU go from here is unclear and we can only hope that RA is able to pull a last minute rabbit out of his hat...
I think this is a sobering reminder that the ASU job is not a prestigious one that many coaches would like to have for all of the reasons enumerated here and elsewhere on many occasions...this has to be a sobering and humbling experience for RA, who now has egg on his face the way Lisa did with the Kevin Sumlin matter, even though the situations are clearly different...
Perception is the only thing that matters in these types of situations and the perception related to both RA and ASU will be very negative at this point...the key thing now is to not compound the matter by doing something rash in the coming days like hiring a bad fit or just anybody because time is of the essence, given the upcoming basketball evaluation periods, etc, that are on the immediate horizon...
Time is critical but not so critical that you hire a guy for millions of dollars in the coming years that cannot elevate the program the way you want...RA already did that to a degree with the ill advised Herb extension and he had a big curve ball thrown at him by Capel but don't just settle on the first guy that will say yes...stick to your guns and hire someone that will elevate the program, even if that means using a search firm or whatever...
It is much more important to get this right than to get it done quickly just because...it shouldn't take weeks and months but it doesn't have to be done in the next 24-48 hours either for that matter...Go Devils!!!
I think it is pretty clear that Herb was not going to be our coach after the Devils lost to USC in the first round of the PAC tournament (March 11) and I think that is when the wheels of change started happening in earnest and when RA started contacting some people for feedback, that included Jerry Colangelo which, of course, led to the potential Jeff Capel episode...
So, by the time Herb was fired on March 24th the plan to go after Capel was in place and the preliminary feedback from Capel must have been fairly positive at the very least or ASU would not have waited like they did the past couple of weeks, while Duke advanced through the tournament...
The interviews with other candidates and contacts through agents or other back channels with other coaches was just window dressing at this point, since all signs pointed to a Capel hiring by the end of the tournament...RA and Cohen visited with Capel last week and would not have held off on other possibilities had the meeting with him not gone well or at least reasonably well all things considered...there had to be a positive vibe in the air...
What changed the scenario around is anyone's guess at this point...Duke won the championship Monday night and Capel decided against taking the ASU job, which has now thrown a huge monkey wrench into the situation...where RA and ASU go from here is unclear and we can only hope that RA is able to pull a last minute rabbit out of his hat...
I think this is a sobering reminder that the ASU job is not a prestigious one that many coaches would like to have for all of the reasons enumerated here and elsewhere on many occasions...this has to be a sobering and humbling experience for RA, who now has egg on his face the way Lisa did with the Kevin Sumlin matter, even though the situations are clearly different...
Perception is the only thing that matters in these types of situations and the perception related to both RA and ASU will be very negative at this point...the key thing now is to not compound the matter by doing something rash in the coming days like hiring a bad fit or just anybody because time is of the essence, given the upcoming basketball evaluation periods, etc, that are on the immediate horizon...
Time is critical but not so critical that you hire a guy for millions of dollars in the coming years that cannot elevate the program the way you want...RA already did that to a degree with the ill advised Herb extension and he had a big curve ball thrown at him by Capel but don't just settle on the first guy that will say yes...stick to your guns and hire someone that will elevate the program, even if that means using a search firm or whatever...
It is much more important to get this right than to get it done quickly just because...it shouldn't take weeks and months but it doesn't have to be done in the next 24-48 hours either for that matter...Go Devils!!!
