Winds of Change: A look at Big 12 basketball coaching changes

By Big12-Fans Writer Jason Brooks

Here in Big 12 land most, if not all of us, are used to the wind blowing through the treetops, through our hair, or through our open windows. It is often said that along with the wind comes a change. A change in weather, temperature, or even our perceptions change. It is often said that these winds are winds of change. These last few months the winds of change have been blowing throughout Big 12 land. Out with the old and in with the new, the landscape of Big 12 basketball has changed dramatically. Four new head coaches will be walking the sidelines at four different Universities. A third of our conference will have a new face.

Lets start in Norman, Oklahoma. Kelvin Sampson fled a program that is on the verge of NCAA Sanctions. Ironically these violations are eerily similar to the ones that Quin Snyder fessed up to and was forced to face the consequences for. Nonetheless, Joe Castiglione went out and got (what I feel) is going to be the most underrated hire this year in Jeff Capel. Capel is a Duke grad, and yes, a product of Mike Krzyzewski. The 31-year-old head coach got his start in coaching as an assistant at Old Dominion for the 2000-01-basketball year. He then became an assistant at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) for the year of 2001-02. The very next year Jeff Capel was promoted to head coach at VCU. His teams have yielded a NCAA Tournament berth in 2003-04, and a NIT Tournament berth in 2004-05 and his career coaching record is 79-41 (.658). The big thing about is Jeff is simply this; he’s been through adversity at Duke. Yes that’s right, at Duke is where Capel endured adversity. Coach K had back surgery in 1996 and the team suffered greatly; they didn’t even make a postseason tournament. While this was bad enough, the press and fans were putting most of the blame on Jeff Capel saying he was underperforming. The next year Coach K returned and the team made it back to the big dance. While Jeff continued to improve under Coach K he learned a very valuable asset; to never give up when the times look bleak. Given a couple of years, and getting the players in that he wants to get in, Oklahoma will be an even better team than what Sampson could’ve ever produced.

From the Dust bowl the wind carries us up to Ames, Iowa, where the Cyclonic winds blew a man by the name of Gregg McDermott in to resurrect this once tough and mighty program. The 41-year-old McDermott got his start in coaching as an assistant at the University of North Dakota in 1989. He later became the Head Coach at Wayne State University in 1995. During his 14 year tenure at Wayne St. Gregg led them to a 116-53 record, four 20 win seasons, one Northern Sun Conference Title, and two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances. In 2000 Gregg was introduced as the Head Coach at North Dakota State. His stay was short-lived as his Alma mater came calling his name for a head coaching position. In 2001 the University of Northern Iowa hired Gregg and went on to have a 90-63 record, three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, and one Missouri Valley Conference Championship. Gregg’s career record is 221-127 (.635) which proves that he knows how to win. While this next year might be a little bit painful for Cyclone fans, the following years will be joyous.

After taking this short interlude in Ames the cyclonic winds swirl and throw us all the way down to Manhattan, Kansas. After firing Jim Woolridge the Athletics Department at Kansas State knew they had to hire someone special. Tim Weiser landed a whopper of a coach. When I first heard the news on Kansas State's new head basketball coach I had to do a double-take to make sure I was hearing everything correctly. Tim hired a coach that is just as controversial (recently), as he is a winner. The fans are left scratching their heads, and yet they are also looking forward to next season. I don’t know how he did it, but Tim Weiser hired Bob Huggins.

Bob Huggins played basketball for West Virginia. A a son of a coach, Huggins knew that he was destined to coach basketball himself. So in 1977 he was hired on as an assistant at West Virginia, and then in 1978 he became an assistant at Ohio State. In 1980 Bob Huggins was hired on as the Head Coach at Walsh College. In three years he lead Walsh College to a 71-26 (.732) record, two postseason trips including a trip to the NAIA National Tournament (which also landed him a conference title). In 1983 Bob Huggins moved down south, he was hired on at Central Florida as an assistant. After spending a year in the swamplands of Florida Bob was hired on as the Head Coach at Akron. From 1984 to 1989 Bob went on to post a record of 97-46 (.678), one Ohio Valley Conference regular season Championship, one Conference Tournament Championship, four 20+ win seasons, and three postseason trips. Cincinnati came calling and Bob would spend the next 16 seasons as Head Coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats. During that 16-year career he led the Bearcats to 10 Regular Season Conference Championships, 8 League Tournament Championships, two NIT Tournament appearances, 14 straight NCAA Tournament appearances including three trips to the Elite Eight, and a Final Four appearance.

The strong prairie winds pick and soon they’re carrying us across the countryside, and soon we find ourselves in Columbia, Missouri. “The future is in the air, you can feel it everywhere, blowing with the wind of change.”* This sentiment is felt especially hard in Columbia. Out with Quin Snyder, and in with Mike Anderson. Quin Snyder made his mistakes and wasn’t able to overcome them. Mike Alden, Missouri's Athletic Director, released Quin rather unceremoniously and made the hire that will bring Missouri back to glory, while in the process of saving his job. Here is what Mike Anderson brings to the table.

Mike Anderson started his coaching career at Tulsa where he volunteered for two years under then Head Coach Nolan Richardson. When Nolan Richardson moved to Arkansas Anderson followed. He was then given an assistant coaching spot, and the duo were inseparable until Arkansas and Nolan Richardson went their separate ways. In 2002 Mike Anderson was announced as the new Head Coach of UAB. The 2001-2002 season had been unkind to UAB as they went 13-17. In the 2002-2003 year UAB won 21 games en-route to a NIT Tournament appearance. That 8 game turnaround is the greatest turnaround in the history of the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Mike Anderson posted an 89-41 (.685) record, one Co-Regular Season Championship, four straight post-season appearances, which includes: one NIT Tournament, three straight NCAA Tournaments and a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.

Of all of the new faces that the Winds of Change have blown in this year, there are two names that really stick out as far as immediate impact on the face of the Conference. Mike Anderson and Bob Huggins both have their work cut out for them, but both have proven to be immediate winners. For ,Huggins he returns a plethora of members from last year’s squad. With a little more tutelage they have the potential to be a NCAA Tournament team this year. While Anderson has his work cut out for him, he has already gotten started on his returning core of players with conditioning. While this team probably won’t make the NCAA Tournament this year, they have the potential to become big-time spoilers in the league.

Gregg McDermott is another guy who has his work cut out for him this upcoming year. Iowa State will more than likely have a down year this year thanks to all of the players that have left. But look out for the Cyclones in the coming years. Meanwhile, Jeff Capel is in the same boat at OU as Gregg McDermott is at ISU. OU will be good next year, but I don’t think they will be NCAA Tournament-bound next year. While I am not taking anything away from these two very good coaches, I just think that there has been too much change at these schools for them to be able to make the amazing immediate impact that many fans crave.

With this wind of change changing the landscape of Big 12 basketball it causes a reason for excitement. Four of the biggest names in College Basketball have landed in a league that is already loaded with big-name Coaches. The Big 12 has become even more of a basketball powerhouse almost overnight. It might take a couple of years to show up, but the winds will change the national view on a conference that is perceived to have been built on the needs of football. Within a couple of years the conference will no longer be perceived as just a football conference, and now be considered a powerhouse in basketball as well. Change can be good, and in this case I say it’s been very good to us.

*Line from “Wind of Change” written and performed by the Scorpions.

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