There's no reason to fire Aston unless you can hire a coach that can beat Kim. Aston does well playing for second place.
Mays and his collection of bowties may not be coaching anywhere for a while once SMU fires him (and they should). I don't have paywall access to the DMN, but a not very flattering picture of his coaching style is emerging. Wonder if he learned that from his time with Karen.skilledup said:
I hope they give Travis Mays an opportunity
Truth. It would be like USF firing Jose Fernandez because he can't beat Geno Auriemma. Aside from her first year, she's won 20 games every year, never finished worse than 3rd in the B12 (Goestenkors never finished better than a tie for 4th in her 5 years), has made the NCAA tourney in every one of those years (including 3 Sweet 16s and an Elite 8) and even beat the #1 team at the time this year.Valkyrie said:
There's no reason to fire Aston unless you can hire a coach that can beat Kim. Aston does well playing for second place.
Valkyrie said:
If I am UT, I would be really hesitant to replace Aston. It would almost be like replacing Mack Brown in football, it needed to be done but they are still trying to recover from that loss. And, they may never get back to a championship game in football. For me, a replacement for Aston would have to be someone that has skins on the wall at a P5 school or I would keep Aston. The only reason to replace Aston is to beat Kim, a tall order indeed.
The difference here is that Mack Brown actually won something at Texas. He had a national title and played for another. Karen Aston's biggest success is an Elite Eight finish, despite many years of top recruiting classes. Considering the current state of recruiting, the program is definitely trending down. Looking at what they have coming back, they will be lucky to finish in 3rd place next season and will be borderline for making the tournament. Her contract expiring this year is perfect timing to introduce some new blood and get the program trending up again. Keeping her around is just putting off the inevitable. The replacement might not have much more luck beating Kim, but could at least turn them into a top 25 team, which the Big 12 desperately needs.Valkyrie said:
If I am UT, I would be really hesitant to replace Aston. It would almost be like replacing Mack Brown in football, it needed to be done but they are still trying to recover from that loss. And, they may never get back to a championship game in football. For me, a replacement for Aston would have to be someone that has skins on the wall at a P5 school or I would keep Aston. The only reason to replace Aston is to beat Kim, a tall order indeed.
I think for the most part we are in agreement. I too think Aston needs to be replaced but there is a giant risk that the program can turn for the worse. I just don't think UT is willing to invest enough to get an established and proven P5 caliber coach.bearbone11 said:The difference here is that Mack Brown actually won something at Texas. He had a national title and played for another. Karen Aston's biggest success is an Elite Eight finish, despite many years of top recruiting classes. Considering the current state of recruiting, the program is definitely trending down. Looking at what they have coming back, they will be lucky to finish in 3rd place next season and will be borderline for making the tournament. Her contract expiring this year is perfect timing to introduce some new blood and get the program trending up again. Keeping her around is just putting off the inevitable. The replacement might not have much more luck beating Kim, but could at least turn them into a top 25 team, which the Big 12 desperately needs.Valkyrie said:
If I am UT, I would be really hesitant to replace Aston. It would almost be like replacing Mack Brown in football, it needed to be done but they are still trying to recover from that loss. And, they may never get back to a championship game in football. For me, a replacement for Aston would have to be someone that has skins on the wall at a P5 school or I would keep Aston. The only reason to replace Aston is to beat Kim, a tall order indeed.
I think they can do better than Aston no matter what their goal is. If they just want a base level of competitiveness, maybe contending for the conference every few years, there are dozens of coaches who could achieve that for less than they are currently paying Aston. With their resources, it just shouldn't be that hard to put together a contender. If they want to contend nationally, then they will have to swing for the fences and try to get a proven coach, which may still fail like it did with Gail Gostenkors. Either way, I think they can do better than Aston. I think what Aston is doing right now is the minimum level of success for that program, so there is not that much risk in moving on at this point.Valkyrie said:I think for the most part we are in agreement. I too think Aston needs to be replaced but there is a giant risk that the program can turn for the worse. I just don't think UT is willing to invest enough to get an established and proven P5 caliber coach.bearbone11 said:The difference here is that Mack Brown actually won something at Texas. He had a national title and played for another. Karen Aston's biggest success is an Elite Eight finish, despite many years of top recruiting classes. Considering the current state of recruiting, the program is definitely trending down. Looking at what they have coming back, they will be lucky to finish in 3rd place next season and will be borderline for making the tournament. Her contract expiring this year is perfect timing to introduce some new blood and get the program trending up again. Keeping her around is just putting off the inevitable. The replacement might not have much more luck beating Kim, but could at least turn them into a top 25 team, which the Big 12 desperately needs.Valkyrie said:
If I am UT, I would be really hesitant to replace Aston. It would almost be like replacing Mack Brown in football, it needed to be done but they are still trying to recover from that loss. And, they may never get back to a championship game in football. For me, a replacement for Aston would have to be someone that has skins on the wall at a P5 school or I would keep Aston. The only reason to replace Aston is to beat Kim, a tall order indeed.