Texas Tech and Grant McCasland announced the hiring of former Carleton University (that’s in Canada, eh) head coach Dave Smart. Smart had a record of 591-48, which is absolutely stupid. Dave has his own website where a bunch of coaches talk about his ability to teach defense:
Dave is one of the best basketball coaches in the world. His experience with FIBA basketball and his success at Carleton University give him a diverse and unique background. I have the utmost respect for Dave and his teaching of the game.
–Mick Cronin, UCLA
“Dave Smart of Carleton University has one of the most brilliant and innovative minds in all of basketball and his coaching is respected internationally. I have known Coach Smart for decades, and competed against his teams many times. In doing so, I always learn something about the game and come away a better coach. His defensive system is extremely well thought out, and is designed to exploit the other team’s weaknesses and minimize its strengths. From concept to detail, his system is as good as I have seen, and without a doubt a main reason for his unprecedented success throughout the years.”
–Bill Coen, Northeastern
“Dave Smart is as bright as anyone I’ve met in our business . His defensive philosophy and techniques have been helpful to us. We always look for opportunities to learn from Dave.”
–Jay Wright, formerly of Villanova
I like how coaches talk about Smart being very innovative and defensive oriented.
I’m not usually too rough on people pontificating about Texas Tech because it is the offseason. I get what they are saying, which is that there’s no alpha dog here. The stud, the guy that’s going to go get double-figures every single night. I don’t know if the cumulative effect of the pieces will make up for the lack of a big-time talent. Grant McCasland will have to prove it for sure.
College Hoops Today’s Jon Rothstein goes through the Big 12 and has Texas Tech 7th overall, probably a better grade than Field of 68, behind Kansas, Houston, Texas, Baylor, TCU, and Kansas State. Rothstein things that Isaacs, Toussaint, Williams, Cambridge and Washington will start. I could see Jennings getting the start because he adds a bit of beef, but that’s hard to argue with Rothstein’s starting five.
I long for the day that this article is released. Athlon Sports with opposing coaches dishing on Big 12 coaches. The mess talking about head coach Joey McGuire is legitimate bulletin board material as is the “They’re still in the middle of the road, and you can see it getting off the bus.”
“For all of the Texas high school coaching hires [head coach Joey McGuire was a high school coach as recently as 2016], I think this one is still an experiment. It’s still hard to tell. That’s not on Joey — he’s done a really solid job there so far — it’s just that they’re still not a high-end Big 12 roster. They’re still in the middle of the road, and you can see it getting off the bus.”
“The offense will have a really good year; they’ve basically got everybody back, but they’re used to that kind of performance. Having a good offense alone isn’t why they hired that guy.”
“The things we’ve noticed is the cultural change. They’ve got a legit home-field advantage, and when they’re up on you, it’s just an awful place to play a game. They’re loud as hell.”
“Hiring a high school guy doesn’t make Lubbock any closer to Dallas. That’s why we’re all still a little critical. If they’re on the same guy as Houston, how does that end up? It’s always been a hard place to build consistency.”
Hammer don’t hurt ’em.