Dana Altman to Arkansas

[CarlSpackler]

Speaking of Illinois, what's the national consensus on which job is better, Arkansas or Illinois? I only ask because Illinois is one of the many schools that pursued Altman in the past, only to be rebuffed by him. I already have my own opinion, I'm just curious what others think.

Also, it appears that Creighton's recruits are taking a wait and see approach. The name I'm hearing the most as Altman's possible successor is Scott Sutton, the youngest son of Eddie, who is currently coaching at Oral Roberts.

[CarlSpackler]

Well, it looks the Bluejay nation can pop the champagne and get the party started because Dana is coming back!

I can't believe it! Altman says icht nich to the Hawgz, and is coming back to Creighton! Absolutely amazing!

[Austiger]

Pretty funny. Who does Arkansas go after now?

[ChipWrecked]

[ QUOTE ]
Pretty funny. Who does Arkansas go after now?

[/ QUOTE ]

[censored] me.


Frank Broyles will not give up his week at Augusta for anything, so the Hog fans will have to wait.

I'm looking over my list of sins.... I don't see anything deserving of this.

The curse of the Razorback fans landed hard on Eddie Sutton at Kentucky.

Clearly, the Nolan Richardson curse is coming home to roost at Fayetteville.

[CarlSpackler]

There are all sorts of wild rumors going on as to why Altman left. I've heard that up to 6 Razorback players were supposed to be academically ineligible, and one player failed his performance enhancing drug test. I don't know how credible any of this is (probably not very), but the one thing I do believe is that Altman wanted to replace the existing bball academic advisor, and was rebuffed. Supposedly he met with Arkansas Chancellor John White 3 times, and was told personnel changes wouldn't be made. Dana is huge on academics (remember Creighton is one of the top universities in the country, and obviously has very stringent academic requirements).

One thing does seem for certain, that Arkansas does have significant academic problems in the program.

I'll give Altman a lot of credit for taking the high road, and not throwing Arkansas under the bus on his way out, as most coaches in his position would. Instead he played the family card. Most are calling it career suicide, in terms of him being able to take another job at an upper echelon university. Selfishly, I hope this deters other top schools from pursuing him in the future. Hopefully he finishes his coaching career at Creighton.

You can now add Arkansas to the list of schools Altman has turned down which includes Illinois, New Mexico, Tennessee, Georgia, Iowa, Iowa State, Arizona State, and Penn State.

[MyTurn2Raise]

[ QUOTE ]
Dear Illinois fans,
Coaches like to go to more prestigious programs given the opportunity and a good situation. Get over it.

[/ QUOTE ]

you think I'm sad about losing Self?
hahahhahahahhahaha
good luck with that guy
talking a good game and coaching a good game are two separate things

[MyTurn2Raise]

[ QUOTE ]
Speaking of Illinois, what's the national consensus on which job is better, Arkansas or Illinois? I only ask because Illinois is one of the many schools that pursued Altman in the past, only to be rebuffed by him. I already have my own opinion, I'm just curious what others think.

Also, it appears that Creighton's recruits are taking a wait and see approach. The name I'm hearing the most as Altman's possible successor is Scott Sutton, the youngest son of Eddie, who is currently coaching at Oral Roberts.

[/ QUOTE ]

both jobs are pretty close
Illinois is sought after due to the huge local recruit pool, major market tv exposure, and huge passionate alumni and fan base. It's a borderline top10 job.
Arkansas has a solid history of success and competes in a conference (SEC West) that isn't the most passionate about bball success. It's easy to get the snowball rolling if a team is constantly winning its division.

Whether Altman was ever offered by Illinois is up for heavy debate. I know he was sought for initial interviews. I'm not sure he was ever a serious candidate. Guenther, the Illinois AD, is very secretive about most of this stuff. He has interviewed many coaches the national media never knew about and ignored others (Crean) that the media thinks the Illini pursued. I have no idea why Altman would turn down Illinois, except that Illinois doesn't pay too much. He claims to encourage academics and be squeeky clean. Well, Illinois academics are very strong, especially bball graduation rates, and its program is squeeky clean regarding violations and whatnot. (Off-the-court shenanigans this year beside.) Weber has been crucified by some in the media for being too squeaky clean to land the big recruits.
My guess is, if Altman was actually offered, it was the lack of pay that turned him off.

[MyTurn2Raise]

the Altman to Illinois story
as best anyone in the public knows



Really, this gives Arkansas another chance at a grand slam hire. I really think an Anthony Grant would be much better.

[CarlSpackler]

Very interesting link. Thanks for the info.

FWIW, I thought it was a mistake for Arkansas to fire Heath, unless they had a big time hire lined up to replace him. I'm a strong believer in the old adage, "You don't fire a head coach unless you have someone better to hire."

Now I think Altman is one of the best coaches in the country, he is as good as anyone at X's and O's, he's excellent at developing players, and no one runs a cleaner, more respectable program in D1, but the big question with him was how would he be able to recruit at Arkansas, which is something Heath seemed to do very well (as opposed to actually coaching the team, which he seemed subpar, at best). While I would take Altman over Heath any day of the week, he was not a huge upgrade over Heath.

IMO, Altman would of struggled a bit recruiting at Arkansas due to the academic inegrity he demands of his players. Arkansas has never been thought of as an institution which places high priority on academics within the athletic dept., to say the least. Unless Arkansas were to undergo a dramatic culture change within the athletic dept., I don't think the Altman-Arkansas marriage would be a happy one. And it now appears the academic issues at Arkansas are much deeper than they appear on the surface.

Also, since Altman isn't one of the big time hires, he's in the next tier down, you know the rabid and quite unreasonable Arkansas fan base was going to be very critical of everything that didn't go Arkansas' way from the get go. This environment is the polar opposite of what he has going on here at Creighton, where he has pretty much attained godlike status, and is the toast of Omaha.

As for what Arkansas does now, I have no idea. From what I've heard, Altman was #6 on their wish list. I don't see any way they hire a bigger name than Altman now. Remember AD Broyles is out after this year, which is another negative as far as this job goes. What big name coach is going to want to come in when they don't know who they'll be working for next year? Also, this job just got more unattractive with Altman bailing on Arkansas 26 hours after being named coach.

I wonder what the favorite memory of the Altman era is for Razorback fans. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[xJames2112]

When Altman was at Kansas State, he did an OK job, but I never could see that program going to the next level. He took over after Lon Kreuger left for Florida so he had big shoes to fill. Maybe I am wrong about him now, but I think Altman is more suited to be the big fish in the small pond.