Chris Caputo 📈⬆️⬆️

[Canedude08]

Here we go with the "Miami Guy Bro" stuff. Could Caputo be the guy? Yes, but the fact that people are already running to him, without even considering other, more experienced, better prepared, less risky hires is beyond me. Caputo was a respected assistant under L, but we don't really know what GW Is going to be long term, and this is Caputo's first HC gig. Instead of going after people like Ed Cooley, Ben McCollum, Chris Jans, people are running to the only name they know. Until our "Fanbase" moves beyond the same tired collection of names, and demands that Rad and the powers that be conduct full searches and hires the best possible candidate, even if it is a name from outside the bubble, we will never evolve as a department.

 

[Canedude08]

So I guess Duke is not serious about basketball?

This is the foolish fallacy that leads to the recirculation of flawed head coaches and predictably mediocre results.

Of course if we get a guy like Jans that has substantially improved every program he’s ever been at and has no real problematic baggage, amazing. But there are very, very few of those guys out there, and even a real commitment to basketball doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to get one of them.

Either way I’ll be happy to circle back to this thread in a few years when Caputo is one of the hotter names in coaching.

How many big time coaches would be interested in following behind K? The likelihood of failure is high, especially if you come from outside the Duke family. It's not an indictment of Duke's dedication of basketball, but I will say this: Few programs can get away with taking that kind of risk. Miami isn't one of them.

There's a reason why UNC went with Guthridge after Dean Smith, there's a reason why Hubert Davis got the job after Roy. It's extremely common for legendary coaches that retire in good standing to hand pick a long time assistant to follow them. Ironically enough, outside of some unique examples where the successor turns out to be a legend in their own right(Tom Osborne following Devaney, John Robinson following McKay), the guy that comes after the legend is usually fired after a disappointing tenure. You never want to be the man that follows the man, you want to be the guy that takes over after that guy fails.

 

[AmherstCane]

Here we go with the "Miami Guy Bro" stuff. Could Caputo be the guy? Yes, but the fact that people are already running to him, without even considering other, more experienced, better prepared, less risky hires is beyond me. Caputo was a respected assistant under L, but we don't really know what GW Is going to be long term, and this is Caputo's first HC gig. Instead of going after people like Ed Cooley, Ben McCollum, Chris Jans, people are running to the only name they know. Until our "Fanbase" moves beyond the same tired collection of names, and demands that Rad and the powers that be conduct full searches and hires the best possible candidate, even if it is a name from outside the bubble, we will never evolve as a department.

Don’t bother to read or understand, just say Miami Bro.

If you’ve ever made hiring decisions you know that firsthand knowledge of a candidate can actually have value. That’s not a Miami bro thing, that’s a how to succeed in business thing.

Mario was a poor hire made defensible only by the fact that the guys that wanted to hire him also put up big $$$ that the program needed to have a chance of succeeding.

JD was an obviously stupid hire.

Konkol and Fisher would be extremely poor hires.

Stereotypes are totally legit though, right? So any hire with prior Miami ties is a bad hire? We should do that more often with classes of people. Smart.

If you don’t have any firsthand knowledge of what Caputo’s contributions were at Miami and what he has done at a moribund GW program then you’re the one spouting off.

Ed Cooley? lol the definition of mediocrity.

Chris Jans… absolutely he’d be a good hire but a long shot to actually get him here.

 

[AmherstCane]

How many big time coaches would be interested in following behind K? The likelihood of failure is high, especially if you come from outside the Duke family. It's not an indictment of Duke's dedication of basketball, but I will say this: Few programs can get away with taking that kind of risk. Miami isn't one of them.

There's a reason why UNC went with Guthridge after Dean Smith, there's a reason why Hubert Davis got the job after Roy. It's extremely common for legendary coaches that retire in good standing to hand pick a long time assistant to follow them. Ironically enough, outside of some unique examples where the successor turns out to be a legend in their own right(Tom Osborne following Devaney, John Robinson following McKay), the guy that comes after the legend is usually fired after a disappointing tenure. You never want to be the man that follows the man, you want to be the guy that takes over after that guy fails.

Literally every coach who has been named as a possible candidate on this board would grovel to get the Duke job.

Do you think Duke wants to fail? That they’d just rather lose for a few years? And you think the likelihood of failure for a good coach is high why? Because of the resources and recruiting advantages that Duke has? Sounds terrible.

Time will tell if they made the right decision, but they hired Scheyer because they made the decision that he was the best guy to take over the program and continue the success K built. Not because they want to lose so they can move on to the next guy. That’s a notion so preposterous it’s beyond words.

The reason coach in waiting setups often end poorly is because there are hard lessons that have to be learned as a first time head coach… and learning those lessons at a place with sky high expectations typically just doesn’t work. Fortunately, that has nothing to do with Caputo… nor does promoting from within, nor does his qualification for the job stem in any way from being a Miami guy. Miami just happens to have the advantage of getting to see his skills as a basketball mind, worker, organizer, builder, and innovator firsthand.

But it’s easier to just say Miami guy without understanding any of that.

 

[Canedude08]

Don’t bother to read or understand, just say Miami Bro.

If you’ve ever made hiring decisions you know that firsthand knowledge of a candidate can actually have value. That’s not a Miami bro thing, that’s a how to succeed in business thing.

Mario was a poor hire made defensible only by the fact that the guys that wanted to hire him also put up big $$$ that the program needed to have a chance of succeeding.

JD was an obviously stupid hire.

Konkol and Fisher would be extremely poor hires.

Stereotypes are totally legit though, right? So any hire with prior Miami ties is a bad hire? We should do that more often with classes of people. Smart.

If you don’t have any firsthand knowledge of what Caputo’s contributions were at Miami and what he has done at a moribund GW program then you’re the one spouting off.

Ed Cooley? lol the definition of mediocrity.

Chris Jans… absolutely he’d be a good hire but a long shot to actually get him here.

Gotta love when people don't read to comprehend, instead choosing to read to respond. I NEVER said Caputo was a bad hire, I said that people run to the names they know, ignoring that there are a world of possibilities, possibilities that make far more sense on paper and in practice. We are getting hype about Caputo, a guy whose career accomplishments are built on a weak OOC schedule in year three. His first two years were solid, hardly spectacular. Miami can and should try other options, Caputo is solidly in the second tier of candidates.

By the way, the fact you think that Cooley is mediocre, despite his resume running circles around many, is beyond irrational. Is Cooley the second coming of John Thompson? No, but he consistently won at Providence(It's not easy to win there, contrary to popular belief), and has gotten Georgetown back on track. He's a proven winner, although his postseason success isn't nearly as extensive as one would want.

 

[Canedude08]

Literally every coach who has been named as a possible candidate on this board would grovel to get the Duke job.

Do you think Duke wants to fail? That they’d just rather lose for a few years? And you think the likelihood of failure for a good coach is high why? Because of the resources and recruiting advantages that Duke has? Sounds terrible.

Time will tell if they made the right decision, but they hired Scheyer because they made the decision that he was the best guy to take over the program and continue the success K built. Not because they want to lose so they can move on to the next guy. That’s a notion so preposterous it’s beyond words.

The reason coach in waiting setups often end poorly is because there are hard lessons that have to be learned as a first time head coach… and learning those lessons at a place with sky high expectations typically just doesn’t work. Fortunately, that has nothing to do with Caputo… nor does promoting from within, nor does his qualification for the job stem in any way from being a Miami guy. Miami just happens to have the advantage of getting to see his skills as a basketball mind, worker, organizer, builder, and innovator firsthand.

But it’s easier to just say Miami guy without understanding any of that.

Again, you are incapable of engaging with what was actually written, choosing to run with whatever random nonsense comes to mind. Again, I what I specifically said(Which is borne out by dozens of examples, through multiple programs over the last half century), was that legendary coaches who are retiring in good standing tend to get the courtesy of selecting their successor. The issue is that in most cases, they pick a long time assistant or someone that is in the family. What we see time and time again is that person failing, and it's usually because they lack experience as THE GUY, also they have to live up to community expectations that can be overwhelming.

Duke went with Scheyer, because K wanted that, and honestly, Duke has gotten to the point where they believe that with their resources and support, they can backstop an inexperienced coach and win. Keep in mind, decades of evidence has shown that there is still an extremely high probability of Scheyer eventually failing. There are few and I mean few basketball programs where the legendary coach retires, and their successor even comes close to matching their accomplishments. Even in the examples I gave of someone pulling it off, it was football programs. You look at UCLA after Wooden(Bartow got ran out of town, despite winning a ton), UNC after Dean(Guthridge retired, he had the best run of anyone listed here, with two Final Four appearances in three years), Georgetown after JT(Esherick had 1 NCAAT appearance in five full seasons),Syracuse after Boeheim( Autry has been okay, he's hoping that Melo's kid is the goods) the list goes on. It's tough to hit on one legend, much less succeed him with another high end guy. Miami can't hope and pray that some unknown assistant or young HC with minimal sustained success is the guy, Miami needs to swing for the best possible outcome, period.

 

[AmherstCane]

How many big time coaches would be interested in following behind K?

Those are literally your words big guy. But nice attempt to throw some sand in the air and run from them.

Your whole schtick is blown apart by the names you suggest.

It’s easier to win at Providence than at Miami. That is an objective historical fact.

You want to take a guy who coached for 12 years at a school with more history, more support, and more basketball resources than Miami who never made it past the sweet 16 (and only made it to that point once) and bring him to Miami? That’s a perfect recipe for Miami never ever sniffing a final four again.

An experienced high major coach who has accomplished less than L accomplished at Miami is not going to magically come to Miami and accomplish more.

When L came to Miami I knew he’d be successful. 4 sweet 16’s, 2 elite 8’s, and a final four later… it was an easy call BECAUSE HE HAD DONE IT BEFORE.

Bring a coach who is a program builder with final four experience and I’m all in… but we ain’t getting that.

Bring a coach who has substantially elevated every program he’s coached at and is known as an innovator and builder but hasn’t had the opportunity to coach a high major program for long enough to get to the Elite 8+… awesome, I’ll take Chris Jans.

But outside that the only way to make Miami a better program than it’s been under L is to identify someone with the attributes necessary to do so who hasn’t yet had the opportunity to do so. That’s much harder, unless that guy has worked for you for a decade and you’ve seen him up close and personal… seen what happened when he left… and understand the context of what’s happening where he’s at.

So, by all means, bring in Shaka or Dusty May or Mark Few… your 7 figure contribution to help do so would be revered.

Otherwise, avoid taking ignorant shots like “Miami Bro” on people who actually know more than you about the facts.

 

[Angry Ibis]

Again, you are incapable of engaging with what was actually written, choosing to run with whatever random nonsense comes to mind. Again, I what I specifically said(Which is borne out by dozens of examples, through multiple programs over the last half century), was that legendary coaches who are retiring in good standing tend to get the courtesy of selecting their successor. The issue is that in most cases, they pick a long time assistant or someone that is in the family. What we see time and time again is that person failing, and it's usually because they lack experience as THE GUY, also they have to live up to community expectations that can be overwhelming.

Duke went with Scheyer, because K wanted that, and honestly, Duke has gotten to the point where they believe that with their resources and support, they can backstop an inexperienced coach and win. Keep in mind, decades of evidence has shown that there is still an extremely high probability of Scheyer eventually failing. There are few and I mean few basketball programs where the legendary coach retires, and their successor even comes close to matching their accomplishments. Even in the examples I gave of someone pulling it off, it was football programs. You look at UCLA after Wooden(Bartow got ran out of town, despite winning a ton), UNC after Dean(Guthridge retired, he had the best run of anyone listed here, with two Final Four appearances in three years), Georgetown after JT(Esherick had 1 NCAAT appearance in five full seasons),Syracuse after Boeheim( Autry has been okay, he's hoping that Melo's kid is the goods) the list goes on. It's tough to hit on one legend, much less succeed him with another high end guy. Miami can't hope and pray that some unknown assistant or young HC with minimal sustained success is the guy, Miami needs to swing for the best possible outcome, period.

It’s a CanePuto thing, yall just don’t understand

 

[King of Allapattah]

Not sure what all the brouhaha is about but I think most, if not all people on this board agree that Caputo should NOT be the first option to fill Miami's head coaching vacancy. I don't think anyone here is close enough to the situation to know how realistic some of the other names being thrown here are as an option, but to say we should take Caputo over a Jans would be asinine. Again, first order of business should be for our AD to exhaust every avenue he can with more established HCs before settling on a guy like Caputo. GO CANES!!!

 

[Da_Lucky_One]

For Miami to be what most of us want Miami Hurricane basketball to be, you need to go with a young, energetic coach who will not get burned out in the current climate of college basketball.
Would some HC experience help, yes but it is not a deal breaker!
Largely because HC makes their own schedule so their record can be very deceptive.
Caputo does check a few of the boxes that you want in a HC and his record at GW is 13-3.
That is impressive as he has wins over Mercyhurst, Hampton, NC A&T, NJIT, La-LaFayette, Illinois St, VMI, ODU, Army, Lafayette, UVA-Wise, Dayton and Rhode Island. The losses came to Kansas St, American and Richmond.
The question becomes how much of that would translate to the Miami job.
He has a roster with a core of Northeast kids so you have to wonder what would be different now compared to when Coach L was here.
Largely because this season has taught us that you cannot bring in a bunch of mid major portal kids and expect to win consistently at the high major level.
You still need to develop and recruit high school players and mix in the transfers with your core.
So yes, there are a lot of factors.
Prep Recruiting, transfer skills evaluations, player development, offensive and defensive strategy are a few.
Don't overvalue one more than another as all are important to building a successful program that will maintain success over a long period of time.
For those wondering if Caputo would be on my list, sure.
My list is Luke Murray-UConn AC, Kimani Young-UConn AC, Ritchie McKay-Liberty HC, Scott Davenport-Bellarmine HC, and Caputo.

 

[King of Allapattah]

For Miami to be what most of us want Miami Hurricane basketball to be, you need to go with a young, energetic coach who will not get burned out in the current climate of college basketball.
Would some HC experience help, yes but it is not a deal breaker!
Largely because HC makes their own schedule so their record can be very deceptive.
Caputo does check a few of the boxes that you want in a HC and his record at GW is 13-3.
That is impressive as he has wins over Mercyhurst, Hampton, NC A&T, NJIT, La-LaFayette, Illinois St, VMI, ODU, Army, Lafayette, UVA-Wise, Dayton and Rhode Island. The losses came to Kansas St, American and Richmond.
The question becomes how much of that would translate to the Miami job.
He has a roster with a core of Northeast kids so you have to wonder what would be different now compared to when Coach L was here.
Largely because this season has taught us that you cannot bring in a bunch of mid major portal kids and expect to win consistently at the high major level.
You still need to develop and recruit high school players and mix in the transfers with your core.
So yes, there are a lot of factors.
Prep Recruiting, transfer skills evaluations, player development, offensive and defensive strategy are a few.
Don't overvalue one more than another as all are important to building a successful program that will maintain success over a long period of time.
For those wondering if Caputo would be on my list, sure.
My list is Luke Murray-UConn AC, Kimani Young-UConn AC, Ritchie McKay-Liberty HC, Scott Davenport-Bellarmine HC, and Caputo.

I don't see how guys like Luke Murray and Kimani Young (lifelong assistants) could get the Miami job, or any other high major job for that matter. I don't think you realize how difficult it is to go from assistant to head coach, particularly at the high major level. There's so much politicking involved in the hiring process at the high major level. Only high major job I could see Luke having a realistic shot at is probably UCONN and that's only because of his ties to the school and Hurley. Kimani going to have a more difficult time based on his past. His stint in prison for almost 100 lbs of weed is going to be tough for any high major AD to overlook especially without any head coaching experience.

 

[Da_Lucky_One]

I don't see how guys like Luke Murray and Kimani Young (lifelong assistants) could get the Miami job, or any other high major job for that matter. I don't think you realize how difficult it is to go from assistant to head coach, particularly at the high major level. There's so much politicking involved in the hiring process at the high major level. Only high major job I could see Luke having a realistic shot at is probably UCONN and that's only because of his ties to the school and Hurley. Kimani going to have a more difficult time based on his past. His stint in prison for almost 100 lbs of weed is going to be tough for any high major AD to overlook especially without any head coaching experience.

I agree with everything you said. Sadly, those same politicing approach is why Miami has the sad basketball history it has.
At some point, someone has to break the mold, go against the grain and do things differently.
I understand the difficulty previous assistant coaches have had making the transition to head coaches but assistant coaches have more responsibility now than in previous decades.
Also, with the transfer portal and the opportunity to play right away, that will make it easier for an assistant coach to build a team in his first year.
Given his relationship with previous recruiting classes.
The playing field is about to shift again as the COVID-19 kids are now out of eligibility so that will impact a lot of the mid major kids coming up to high major programs.
I think one thing we can all agree on is that the next HC should not have over 2 decades of HC experience.

 

[Da_Lucky_One]

 

[AmherstCane]

For Miami to be what most of us want Miami Hurricane basketball to be, you need to go with a young, energetic coach who will not get burned out in the current climate of college basketball.
Would some HC experience help, yes but it is not a deal breaker!
Largely because HC makes their own schedule so their record can be very deceptive.
Caputo does check a few of the boxes that you want in a HC and his record at GW is 13-3.
That is impressive as he has wins over Mercyhurst, Hampton, NC A&T, NJIT, La-LaFayette, Illinois St, VMI, ODU, Army, Lafayette, UVA-Wise, Dayton and Rhode Island. The losses came to Kansas St, American and Richmond.
The question becomes how much of that would translate to the Miami job.
He has a roster with a core of Northeast kids so you have to wonder what would be different now compared to when Coach L was here.
Largely because this season has taught us that you cannot bring in a bunch of mid major portal kids and expect to win consistently at the high major level.
You still need to develop and recruit high school players and mix in the transfers with your core.
So yes, there are a lot of factors.
Prep Recruiting, transfer skills evaluations, player development, offensive and defensive strategy are a few.
Don't overvalue one more than another as all are important to building a successful program that will maintain success over a long period of time.
For those wondering if Caputo would be on my list, sure.
My list is Luke Murray-UConn AC, Kimani Young-UConn AC, Ritchie McKay-Liberty HC, Scott Davenport-Bellarmine HC, and Caputo.

You know, as much as I’d like to disagree with you, there’s some alignment in how we look at the situation. Since we’re not going to get a guy who has a recent track record of success matching our expectations (regular sweet 16 appearance with deeper runs), we have to find the guys that can do it if given the chance.

Guys who have just continued the success that they inherited and guys who hit a ceiling lower than the full potential of their program are just not interesting to me…. Because we’re looking for someone who can elevate our program above where it has ever (consistently) been before.

My reaction to Young and Murray is that I don’t think we (or the decision makers at Miami) have enough info to evaluate them on all the levels necessary to predict success as a head coach. I also don’t know that Murray has enough top of the staff experience to transition into the HC role without a LOT of growing pains.

Don’t underestimate the struggles that first time head coaches are virtually guaranteed to go through.

I also believe that we already have a guy who checks all your boxes AND has some HC experience where he is demonstrating positive growth.

The reason Caputo is in the conversation is NOT because he’s a Miami guy. It’s because he’s exceptionally smart (basketball and life), incredibly organized, and he’s an absolutely tireless worker and an incredibly skilled networker. Miami just had an opportunity to see that up close and personal. And it looks like he may be at the point of really turning the corner in his third year at a “moribund” GW.

Luke may have all that and more (he is very smart and a very good guy), but that’s really hard to know for sure without seeing a guy work in your business day in and day out for years.

 

[Tinman64]

I agree with the sentiment of looking for a bigger name that can give some juice to the program .. put some butts in the seats etc…has a proven track record . Caputo I’m sure is going to be good .. just seems it’s like going back to an old girlfriend .. you’re comfortable with it. .not looking for something better .

 

[hotshot]

Here we go with the "Miami Guy Bro" stuff. Could Caputo be the guy? Yes, but the fact that people are already running to him, without even considering other, more experienced, better prepared, less risky hires is beyond me. Caputo was a respected assistant under L, but we don't really know what GW Is going to be long term, and this is Caputo's first HC gig. Instead of going after people like Ed Cooley, Ben McCollum, Chris Jans, people are running to the only name they know. Until our "Fanbase" moves beyond the same tired collection of names, and demands that Rad and the powers that be conduct full searches and hires the best possible candidate, even if it is a name from outside the bubble, we will never evolve as a department.

I think we sorta do know what GW will be in the "long term." A mid-level A10 team. That's not Caputo's fault, it's just the way things are at GW with their "resources."

As bad as Miami is at present, the Canes and GW don't recruit on anywhere near the same plane. If we all agree we need more top players, that would be a concern for me with Chris at Miami.

 

[JZCane0825]

I think many here are overcomplicating things. Caputo is an obvious name for many to bring up by fans and media given the regime ties. That said, unless GW goes on an insane run deep into March, he likely won't be the hire.

This job is as attractive as its ever been and the powers that be will have months to run this search. With all due respect, a drawn out process like that doesn't lead to Caputo being the guy.