Montgomery is not interested in UVa job
March 19, 2005

Former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery is officially out of the picture in Virginia’s search for a new head basketball coach.

Raymond Ridder, executive director of public relations for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, told The Daily Progress on Friday that Montgomery is not considering leaving the Warriors.

“Coach Montgomery was quoted in the Contra Costa Times as saying he has ‘absolutely no interest’ in the Virginia job or any other college jobs,” Ridder said. “From all indications [Montgomery] is really enjoying the NBA and plans to be the Warriors coach for a long time.”

-Jerry Ratcliffe
 

Holland explains Stokes hiring
Barnes courtship provides lessons
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Somewhere in the crossfire between an irate Virginia fan and radio talk-show host Greg Roberts, I was hit by a memorandum that originated with East Carolina athletic director Terry Holland.

The e-mail wasn't intended for me, but Holland has given me permission to use it, providing that I agree to provide the correct "context."

Holland, previously the athletic director at Virginia, was responding to a fan concerned with his selection of former Virginia Tech head coach Ricky Stokes as the new head coach at East Carolina. Stokes had played for Holland from 1981-84, when the latter was head basketball coach at UVa.

Holland wants to make it clear that neither he nor Stokes is taking any credit for the success that Seth Greenberg has enjoyed at Virginia Tech, particularly this season, when Greenberg was named ACC coach of the year. Greenberg succeeded Stokes in Blacksburg after the 2002-2003 season.

Holland and his East Carolina associates "wrestled with the Virginia Tech won-loss record as well as the 'perception' that I was showing favoritism toward one of my former players," he said.

"The easy thing to do would be to simply hire someone else."

It was Stokes' apprenticeship under Dave Odom (at Wake Forest and South Carolina) and Rick Barnes (at Wake Forest) that convinced Holland to pursue Stokes, in addition to Stokes' reputation as a recruiter.

"When we carefully examined the record [46-69] at Virginia Tech, it was an interesting progression," Holland wrote. "Ricky's first team was in the Atlantic-10 and had a winning record. As expected, the first year in the Big East [Ricky's second season as a head coach] was a tough year, with eight total wins. The next year, the team won 10 games and the fourth season produced a total of 12 wins.

"It is certainly not a stretch of the imagination that Ricky's teams could have continued that modest two-game-per-year improvement. If so, then his Tech teams would have won 14 games in Year 5 and 16 in Year 6. As it turned out, the new coach's team won 15 games in 2004-2005 and he was named ACC Coach of the Year.

"Seth Greenberg is an absolutely marvelous coach, with great overall skills, but his selection was one of the most controversial (and brilliant) hires that an AD could make. If I remember correctly, the most polite comment that I heard from Hokie fans and media was that it was a "strange hire" for Jim Weaver, the Virginia Tech AD. Those same folks today are happy to acknowledge that they love "strange" hires.

"During our search, Jim Weaver indicated that releasing Ricky was the toughest call he has made as an AD. He told me that Ricky was a great role model and community citizen and was beginning to get wins against Big East powers like Connecticut and St. John's.

"No one can guarantee that if Ricky had stayed at Virginia Tech that his teams would have continued to progress, but it is a reasonable to assume that they would more likely have progressed than that they would have lost ground.

"If so, then he would have been just a heartbeat away from being named ACC Coach of the Year and we never would have had the opportunity to hire him."

That might be a reach, but it is correct that three of the starters on this year's Tech team -- Carlos Dixon, Coleman Collins and Jamon Gordon -- were Stokes recruits.

Holland also observed that it would have been difficult for East Carolina to land an assistant with the credentials of a Mack McCarthy, previously the head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga and Virginia Commonwealth, if McCarthy did not feel Stokes was capable of doing the job.

Don't be surprised if another former head coach, Holland, lends the benefit of his expertise as the most successful coach in UVa history. Unlike deposed Virginia coach Pete Gillen, perceived as cool to advice from Holland and other basketball types like Craig Littlepage, Stokes is likely to listen.

IF THERE IS such a thing as Roanoke Times royalty, the term would apply to the Spencer brothers, Kevin and Keith, schoolteacher sons of the last Newton Spencer, assistant sports editor of The Roanoke Times from 1967-85.

Like their dad, a University of Kentucky alumnus, the Spencer brothers are huge Wildcat fans, so I was interested to hear their take on the rumors linking UK coach Tubby Smith to the Virginia vacancy.

Keith Spencer said he gets most of his information from a website, thecatsdomain.com.

"Some [posters] are saying that it is a done deal, some are saying, 'Why would he want to enter basketball hell?' " Spencer related. "Some fans are ready for him to leave. And, some are questioning who we would get.

"Just like every other chat rooms, there are some idiots. Some people are even suggesting that Rick Pitino is coming back!"

WHAT'S INTERESTING is what Virginia does now with Rick Barnes. If Smith is their No. 1 target, do the Cavaliers try to get a read on him before contacting Barnes, whose Texas team was defeated by Nevada 61-57 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament? Or do they contac t Barnes, knowing that any possible contact might alienate Smith?

One thing can be learned from the Cavaliers' ill-fated contact with Barnes in 1990. If either Smith or Barnes visits Charlottesville and is offered the job and accepts, never let him back on a plane to Lexington or Austin.

Cincy, Kentucky programs not exactly opposites
Gregg Doyel March 18, 2005
By Gregg Doyel
SportsLine.com Senior Writer

INDIANAPOLIS -- Cincinnati plays Kentucky on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and you know what's coming next.

Stories in the media -- awful stories -- about Beauty and Beast. Stories -- ugly stories -- about the renegade program with the academic deficiencies, arrests and players generally doing stupid things to embarrass the team.

But really, people, Kentucky hasn't been that bad.

Caught you leaning the other way, right? Figures. Everyone leans on Cincinnati and nobody leans on Kentucky, but these programs are not the polar opposites they are generally presented to be. This is not Good vs. Evil, as the Duke-UNLV meeting in the 1990 NCAA championship was (mistakenly) hyped.

Cincinnati is perceived to not graduate its players, but in the first NCAA Academic Progress Report released last month, Kentucky was well behind Cincinnati. Kentucky, in fact, was well behind almost everybody. Of the 65 teams in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, Kentucky was No. 63. Cincinnati was No. 44. The NCAA red-flagged 10 schools in the 2005 field, and Kentucky was one.

Cincinnati was not.

Surprise, surprise.

There are surprises everywhere. Cincinnati has had its share of legal problems in recent years, but you could knock me over with a rolled-up search warrant if the Bearcats have had more problems than Kentucky. The Wildcats haven't had anyone punch a police horse, but their players and/or recruits have been caught using fake ID's (Gerald Fitch and Erik Daniels), charged with DUI or DWI (Desmond Allison and Jules Camara), and arrested for selling marijuana (recruit Michael Southall).

Ex-Wildcats of recent vintage also have been in trouble, with Heshimu Evans charged with vehicular offenses including leaving the scene of an accident, and Wayne Turner being arrested after police found a loaded handgun in his car.

Since Kentucky coach Tubby Smith began cleaning house in 2002, the Wildcats have been mostly trouble-free, and that's the image of Kentucky basketball. Cincinnati, though, fights all kinds of image issues.

Here's another: In recruiting circles, there are two areas to get players: traditional high schools, and everywhere else. "Everywhere else" includes Division I transfers, junior colleges and basketball factories masquerading as prep schools.

Cincinnati's rotation has four players (transfers Nick Williams, James White and Jihad Muhammad; and prepster Roy Bright) that came from "everywhere else." Kentucky's rotation? It also has four (transfer Patrick Sparks and prepsters Rajon Rondo, Ramel Bradley and Lukasz Obrzut).

But this, typically, was one of the questions asked Friday of senior forward Chuck Hayes during Kentucky's press conference: Chuck, Cincinnati recruits from different circles than Kentucky. Do you think they'll come in with chip on their shoulder?

 And this, unfortunately, was the meat of Hayes's answer:

"I know their players attend all the AAU camps as we did," he said. "Coach Huggins and his staff and Coach Smith and his staff were there, scouting players. I don't know what Coach Huggins looks for in his players, but Coach Smith likes to bring in players that are respectful, who know the game and are good kids."

You mean like Mike Southall?

Sorry. Cheap shot. But why, in this neighborhood rivalry that's not a rivalry at all -- more on that in a minute -- are the cheap shots usually saved for Cincinnati?

The NCAA has looked at Cincinnati, yes, but it has never found anything remotely close to what it found at Kentucky in 1989.

DerMarr Johnson is held against Cincinnati as the ultimate one-and-done renegade with no interest in a degree. Do you know the difference between DerMarr Johnson and NBA-hungry Kentucky center Randolph Morris? Johnson had the chance to turn pro after his freshman season. Morris won't.

If Kentucky and Cincinnati were as morally far apart as the typical media coverage would have you believe, Smith and Huggins wouldn't be friends. They are. When Huggins hosted his annual coaches clinic this past fall, Smith was his keynote speaker. They have hosted a charity golf tournament together. Both have volunteered for the other's charity foundation.

"Tubby is what I think all coaches ought to be," Huggins said. "His players have great respect for him, he works extremely hard, he's involved in his community, he's involved in the betterment of basketball. I don't know what else a guy could do. If they have the word 'coach' in front of your name, I don't know what more anybody could expect."

On the Ohio side of the Interstate 75 corridor that separates the campuses by roughly 80 miles, there is much clamoring for the 'Cats and 'Cats to sign a long-term series contract. That's been done before, actually. It was 1987, when the schools had a six-game deal that lasted two games. After Kentucky beat Cincinnati in 1990, Cincinnati people say, Kentucky asked out of the deal. Cincinnati agreed. The teams haven't played since.

They play Saturday. Neither team has a choice.

The people watching the game will form opinions of both programs. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is your choice.