I went to bed about 9pm last night, because I had to be at work at 5:30am this morning. When I went to sleep, Jeff Capel was the lead candidate for the Arizona coaching vacancy. I'm not much of a Duke fan, but Capel has proven he can coach, so I was pleased to hear that he was being looked at as "the guy" for the job.
Imagine my suprise when I got up this morning at 4:30am and turned on Sportscenter in time to hear that Tim Floyd was going from USC to Arizona! I thought maybe I was just hearing things, so I turned to the TV and actually read it "Tim Floyd to take Arizona job."
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
What changed from the time I went to bed to the time that I woke up? Did Capel turn the job down? Did every other good coach in America hit the IGNORE button when their BlackBerry lit up with Jim Livengood's name on the caller id? Why Tim Floyd?
I'm not saying he is a bad coach, but Tim Floyd isn't quite the guy I had envisioned taking over Arizona and restoring some pride in that program. He can recruit, just look at what he has done at USC, but his teams never do much come March, mostly due to his players having a huge lack of discipline on the basketball court. Just look at their most recent collapse against Michigan State. Kept it close for most of the game and then when it came crunch time, Floyd was out-coached and his players were out-played. If Arizona just wants a coach to continue the streak of 25 straight tournament appearances, then they have their guy, Floyd can do that. But, if they want a guy to help win them a championship, I just don't think that Timmy is the man for the job.
Beyond his coaching, I have a beef with the guy's appearance. He gets paid a crap ton of money and he constantly looks like he is a traveling salesman at a convention that just left the strip club. Is that ring around your collar or lipstick? Why is your tie never tightened? I swear, if you saw this guy in a park, wearing a sweat suit, you probably wouldn't take your kid anywhere near him.
Maybe this is an extended April Fool's Day joke and Jeff Capel will really be taking the job after all the dust is settled.
|
Comments
Ya, I didn't really want to get into his tactics, because I will just get really pissed about that, but you are correct. To pull OJ Mayo and then have DeRozan this year, he is just trying to give himself up. It can work at USC, but not at Arizona. He'll get caught soon enough I fear.
I think he's dirty. All the stuff surrounding O.J. Mayo and the rumors that swirl around USC athletics in general just make me really wonder about ANY coach that comes out of there. The "traveling salesman" appearance doesn't give me any reason to think otherwise either. Arizona could do a lot better than Tim Floyd and I think hiring him will just help maintain the downward spiral the program has been in since Lute started taking leaves of absence.