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I have a feeling that Lusk, Lansing, Simmons are all headed out the door after this season. The way things are going Lusk might leave even earlier than that. Hinson is safe in my opinion.

SalukiHoops wrote:I have a feeling that Lusk, Lansing, Simmons are all headed out the door after this season. The way things are going Lusk might leave even earlier than that. Hinson is safe in my opinion.

Hinson is more than safe. Mid-Major caliber, and a quality coach. SIU fanbase loves him and he gets his players to play hard which can be hard at sometimes. SIU has everyone returning besides Smithpeters and Wiley. Two of SIU's better players (Bol and McGill) will be returning as well from season ending injuries.

If there is anyone who thinks Lusk is being fired before the seasons ends, you just don't know how MSU works. The school will absolutely not fire a coach mid-season short of moral/criminal issues. Now he might quit (Not likely considering the buyout they owe him if they fire him), but that is a loooong shot.

I said last year before they retained him and I've been saying it for the last couple of weeks: I have doubts they'll fire him at the end of the season. Kyle Moats is in too good with him and Clif Smart is a total clown who has no clue how D1 athletics are supposed to work. He's too damn busy creating bobbleheads of himself and taking selfies at football games.

Simmons and lusk are the only two on red hot seats. If anyone thinks Lansing is getting canned you're crazy. They can't pay that buyout and for the first time in awhile they have amassed some young talent

I think you can tell from responses from MSU fans that there is zero confidence or understanding of the decision making process of our AD and President. Most thought this was a no-brainer last year and look what happened. And what makes it worse is even if they feel compelled/pressured to finally make a decision, their ability to manage the process towards the next hire is just as concerning. Shouldn't have to be that way.

SalukiHoops wrote:I have a feeling that Lusk, Lansing, Simmons are all headed out the door after this season.

Lansing isn't going anywhere this off-season unless it's under his own accord. Since Odum has left, Lansing hasn't produced much, but this season has given the Sycamore fans a little hope that maybe he is capable of producing a consistent program without Odum running the show. ISU can't afford his buyout at this point and with one of the lowest budgets in the conference; the return on investment isn't that awful with 1 NCAA and 2 NITs to his name. And with no up and comer that ISU can afford it looks like Lansing is safe for at least another year (maybe 2-3).

The Sycs will miss the production from Brenton Scott, Brandon Murphy, and Qiydar Davis next season, but with Jordan Barnes, Emondre Rickman, Tyreke Key, and Clayton Hughes returning with a lot of experience and newcomers Da'Veion Washington, Blake Brinkmeyer, Iowa transfer Christian Williams, and Butler transfer Cooper Neese Lansing has infused the program with talent and will boost (at least on paper) one of the best backcourts in the Valley for a few seasons. If we can get some solid bigs, Sycamores could be in the thick of things again under Lansing.

Just want to point out how this relates to the expansion discussion. Not only do resources allow you to hire coaches with better resumes, they allow you to fire underperforming coaches earlier by buying out their contracts. It took a lot of money to fix the Geno debacle, but Bradley got it done and we're better for it. Whereas if we had to ride out Geno's contract we'd be in year 1 of a total rebuild.

Attendance? Budgets? Current coach's salary? Donor base? Endowment? You have to look at all of this when considering expansion candidates. That's why I always thought Loyola was a great addition. While their attendance sucks, they don't need to rely on gate revenue. It's a sleeping giant-- a school with deep pockets just lacking a commitment.

Mikovio wrote:Just want to point out how this relates to the expansion discussion. Not only do resources allow you to hire coaches with better resumes, they allow you to fire underperforming coaches earlier by buying out their contracts. It took a lot of money to fix the Geno debacle, but Bradley got it done and we're better for it. Whereas if we had to ride out Geno's contract we'd be in year 1 of a total rebuild.

Attendance? Budgets? Current coach's salary? Donor base? Endowment? You have to look at all of this when considering expansion candidates. That's why I always thought Loyola was a great addition. While their attendance sucks, they don't need to rely on gate revenue. It's a sleeping giant-- a school with deep pockets just lacking a commitment.

Well stated!

Mikovio wrote:Just want to point out how this relates to the expansion discussion. Not only do resources allow you to hire coaches with better resumes, they allow you to fire underperforming coaches earlier by buying out their contracts. It took a lot of money to fix the Geno debacle, but Bradley got it done and we're better for it. Whereas if we had to ride out Geno's contract we'd be in year 1 of a total rebuild.

Attendance? Budgets? Current coach's salary? Donor base? Endowment? You have to look at all of this when considering expansion candidates. That's why I always thought Loyola was a great addition. While their attendance sucks, they don't need to rely on gate revenue. It's a sleeping giant-- a school with deep pockets just lacking a commitment.

Well, maybe, but at the same time, had Bradley given Geno another year, they would have likely won 16 to 18 wins the next year against a pretty murderous schedule and continued to move forward from that as the program stabilized. So a rebuild may not have even been necessary.

But don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly happy that we went the way we did, and was OK embracing 2-3 brutal years to get it fixed the right way, without shortcuts.

troutangler wrote:If there is anyone who thinks Lusk is being fired before the seasons ends, you just don't know how MSU works. The school will absolutely not fire a coach mid-season short of moral/criminal issues. Now he might quit (Not likely considering the buyout they owe him if they fire him), but that is a loooong shot.

I said last year before they retained him and I've been saying it for the last couple of weeks: I have doubts they'll fire him at the end of the season. Kyle Moats is in too good with him and Clif Smart is a total clown who has no clue how D1 athletics are supposed to work. He's too damn busy creating bobbleheads of himself and taking selfies at football games.

I'll disagree. Anything is possible but it's obvious Lusk won't be retained after his contract runs out next year. So I doubt we leave him in as a lame duck coach. That's disastrous for recruiting. At least I hope they are smart enough to realize that.

Regarding our Prez Smart I agree he isn't oriented towards athletics. But he's not a clown. On his watch MSU has undergone tremendous growth. And the campus is a showplace. Lots to be proud of regarding msu but unfortunately our mens basketball program isn't one of them.