Hello again, hello
In case you're wondering, it's a personal goal of mine to start as many blog entries as possible with Neil Diamond lyrics. Not sure how I'll get Cracklin' Rosie in there, but by gosh, I'll try.
But I digress. I titled this blog entry that way, because of this article by Doug Doughty, at our sister paper, the Roanoke Times.
Basically the piece points out all the historical parallels between UVA's current coaching search and the one the Hoos conducted after Terry Holland retired in 1990. Pretty amazing stuff.
And yes, Dave Odom was involved back then, as well. What happened to him this time? No one seems to have a very clear picture. But both sides are backing away from each other so fast, you'd think each one had an airborne virus or something. Odom's reported response to his South Carolina players - when asked if he was taking the UVA job - was essentially, as of right now, no. Kind of a strange comment. But then he released a statement saying he'd only talked in general terms to UVA AD Craig Littlepage, a long-time friend, about the job opening, and had not bee offered the position. In other words, he was more of an outside consultant, not an official candidate.
Apparently DePaul head coach Dave Leitao is emerging as a top candidate. But at this point, take everything with a large grain of salt.
Leitao would be a solid, if unspectacular hire, for the Cavs. He did a good job at getting DePaul turned around quickly after Pat Kennedy left it in a bit of a mess on his way out the door to Montana.
Whatever they do, they'd better do it soon. The longer this goes, the worse it makes the athletics department there look.
Comments (9)
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Is it just be, or does the trend lately seem to be hiring a guy that graduated from the college? UVA should go with this route and see how it works. That being said, do they have anyone that qualifies?
Posted on April 7, 2005 4:55 PM
Ah, yes....the 1990 hire to replace Terry Holland.
Rick Barnes canceled his acceptance of the job right before the press conference to announce him as the new head coach, forcing UVA to hire assistant Jeff Jones. I thought Jones was okay as coach, but UVA's hoops have not been the same since then.
Posted on April 7, 2005 10:28 PM
Interesting article - do they really think they still have a shot at Tubby Smith?
Anything new on the UNCG job?
Posted on April 7, 2005 11:03 PM
Oh, boy, Jim. You've brought back some great memories of our student polling at the Cavalier Daily in '90, back in my college days. You'll recall Littlepage himself was a candidate. He came in last of the 10 candidates we listed in the poll. Of course, we made sure to include his record at Penn and Rutgers, a combined 23-63, in print every chance we got. That probably didn't help him.
There were indeed many of the '05 coaches in the mix, including Montgomery and Barnes (who did accept and bail, as mentioned by an earlier commenter), but not Gillen (obviously). And the winner of our polling, I believe, was Lou Campanelli, formerly of JMU, then at Cal. Whatever happened to him?
Odom wasn't a candidate only because Holland blew his strategy of anointing him his successor. He couldn't make up his mind when he was leaving and Odom left for Wake in '89, just before Holland decided '90 would be his final year. Wanted a second year of Bryant Stith, apparently.
I'm in the Dennis Wolff camp. Of course, I might be biased by the time during the Great Alaska Shootout when I drove him back to his hotel and we had a good chat.
And, Matt, there is definitely one UVa grad who's qualified: Rick Carlisle of the Indiana Pacers. Don't think he wants take a paycut to coach a program with minimal upside, though.
Posted on April 7, 2005 11:13 PM
Cracklin' Rosie lyrics ought to be easy ones to fit into a blog headline. "You got the way to make me happy," "ain't nothing here I care to take along" or simply, "play it now" could fit a variety of story topics.
I admire your courage at fitting ol' Neil into your headlines. Whenever I admit to friends that I love Neil Diamond, I get a lot of "What the's?" Of course, I'm only 26, which probably makes me the youngest Neil Diamond fan in the rough.
-Jason
Posted on April 8, 2005 9:19 AM
Wow!
Clarke proudly displaying his Neil Diamond bonafides! You may not be the youngest fan though, considering all those Bosox fans that sing along to Sweet Caroline after a win.
After checking more of the Cracklin' Rosie lyrics though, I'm not sure how much I can use. Kinda racy stuff, you know?
Posted on April 8, 2005 1:35 PM
Racy, yes. But out of context, they don't necessarily mean much. You should probably leave out the "store-bought woman" part, though. Hard to disguise what that means.
Posted on April 8, 2005 2:29 PM
There's no shame being a Neil Diamond fan, Jason, though you probably don't want to be seen around the office singing the lyrics to "Comin' to America." Not too cool.
Jim, I'll be impressed if you can work the lyrics from my favorite Diamond tune, "Girl, you'll be a woman soon," into your next Duke recruiting story. Try this line:
I've been misunderstood for all of my life
But what they're saying girl it cuts like a knife
"The boy's no good"
Posted on April 8, 2005 2:33 PM
I'm aware that this thread is leaving its roots - the UVA coaching search - far behind. And yet, I can't resist.
Bringing up "Girl, you'll be a woman soon" reminds me of the rock-solid cover Urge Overkill did on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.
Now, is there anyway I can weave "Sister Havana" or "Positive Bleeding" lyrics into this blog? Hey, we've come this far on big Neil. I don't see any reason why we can't go even farther afield.
Posted on April 8, 2005 2:37 PM