MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[veragrace]

Not sure why it says volleyball though...

[sac]

2) Neil certainly is not in the position to coach for 20 plus years like GVW and Russ DeVette before him so the theory that someone like Chad Carlson could come in down the road certainly seems reasonable.

At 50 he could coach for 15-20 years if he was so inclined...

That would make Chad Carlson approx 43-48 then.


Neil is at least the third straight former player to take over the reigns/rains/reins

[NW Hope Fan]

Live from between sections 5 and 6 in the DeVos Fieldhouse...

[NW Hope Fan]

Matt Neil: "All the blazers will stay!!!"   

[ChicagoHopeNut]

No mention of the faculty position....

Anyone know if Neil will be joining the Hope faculty as well or is he just being hired as basketball coach?

EDIT: I appreciate what Neil just had to say generally. I am all for building good people, etc. but I also want some Championships and I would like Hope's coach to consider that a top priority. (For those reading this late or not listening to the press conference. Neil was just asked about winning championships and basically said he rather the team be measured by being good men and that a championship was not that important. I am sure he wants to win one but listening to his answer one would be hard pressed to hear that).

[almcguirejr]

Live video stream for the official announcement...if I did this right.


http://www.hope.edu/pr/athletics/vbchampionship/live_640.html

Thanks for the link.

[almcguirejr]

I wonder how important it was to the committee that the current staff be retained?  Neil, I thought, seemed to emphasize that Dav, Carlson and all the others would be back.

[sac]

No mention of the faculty position....

Anyone know if Neil will be joining the Hope faculty as well or is he just being hired as basketball coach?

from the Sentinel

At Hope, he will hold the academic rank of assistant professor of kinesiology.

[sac]

I wonder how important it was to the committee that the current staff be retained?  Neil, I thought, seemed to emphasize that Dav, Carlson and all the others would be back.

I don't think that entered into the equation at all.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

What's going to be different about the new Hope team?  What will Neil bring that GVW didn't have?  Maybe there won't be anything different and maybe there doesn't need to be.  Just curious what everyone thinks.

Neil talked about using more motion offense in place of set pieces moving forward. I have no idea how that will translate but a new offensive system would obviously be a pretty big change.

[Gregory Sager]

Oh I wasn't inferring that you were, its just something I through together quick off the top of my head. Just sounds like a pretty powerful athletic conference. Calvin of course missing the ultimate man sport...

Hockey?

[ziggy]

Oh I wasn't inferring that you were, its just something I through together quick off the top of my head. Just sounds like a pretty powerful athletic conference. Calvin of course missing the ultimate man sport...

Hockey?

Come on man, 2003-2004 ACHA Division III National Champions!

[almcguirejr]

Got enough sources to run with it.

http://www.d3hoops.com

Congratulations on "breaking the story"

[Gregory Sager]

I talked to Kris Korver, the head coach at Northwestern (Iowa) in the past couple days and while he did not tell me anything, on or off the record, I got the impression that he had been contacted recently by the way he avoided my direct questions.

Actually, I'm sorry, he did tell me something on the record: "I am the coach at Northwestern."

That would have been a really interesting hire, a guy with two ... whatever the NAIA uses for Walnut and Bronzes.

Plywood and Tin. And your school has to pay for it.

Oh I wasn't inferring that you were, its just something I through together quick off the top of my head. Just sounds like a pretty powerful athletic conference. Calvin of course missing the ultimate man sport...

Hockey?

Come on man, 2003-2004 ACHA Division III National Champions!

I know that Calvin has a hockey team. I was making a friendly poke at KII about what constitutes "the ultimate man sport."

[Gregory Sager]

When Scott Trost left IWU for Lewis 4 years ago, that hiring process seemed - to me, at least - to take a long time.  I just found the actual dates - Trost was hired at Lewis 4/11/06, and Ron Rose was hired at IWU 5/12/06.  So about 4 weeks.  In retrospect, that really isn't that long.  I guess it just felt like it at the time as an IWU fan.

How long has this process at Hope been going on now?  We're well past a month, right?

When Illinois Wesleyan conducted its national search 4 years ago, and had head coaches at the D2, D3, and NAIA levels apply - and that group included some really successul, highly-regarded D3 coaches - I think many questioned the hiring of Bloomington (IL) High School coach Ron Rose (an IWU grad and former player).  I remember someone saying, "They conducted a national search and ended up hiring the high school coach across town?!" 

I guess that criticism was fair, but with the kids from his first 2 recruiting classes as juniors and sophs last season, Rose took IWU to the Elite 8.  And with those kids as seniors/juniors in 2010-11, IWU might end up being a preseason Top 5 team.  I guess what I am saying is that 4 years later, I can tell you that absolutely no one associated with IWU basketball feels Rose is the wrong choice now among those candidates from 2006.

I think in some situations it is every bit about "fit" as it is about X's and O's (coaching experience).  Ron Rose walked in the door and understood Illinois Wesleyan, his alma mater, and was able to sell kids on the value of coming to Bloomington.  He also undersood all of the quirky behind-the-scenes stuff about IWU (some good, some bad).  Matt Neil will probably start with a similar "fit" at Hope.   

Congratulations to Coach Neil and best of luck at one of the nation's premier programs.

... and, in other Illinois Wesleyan-related news, a school located two states away from Illinois Wesleyan's campus in Bloomington, Illinois -- a school which, like Illinois Wesleyan, is a member of NCAA Division III -- has hired a new head coach for men's basketball, a sport in which Illinois Wesleyan could possibly be ranked in the preseason top five next fall.

This school, which, unlike Illinois Wesleyan, is not a member of the CCIW and is not scheduled to play Illinois Wesleyan next season (Illinois Wesleyan's non-conference schedule can be found here), plays in a gym that, like Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center, is very large by D3 standards. This school wears orange uniforms, as does one of Illinois Wesleyan's rivals in the CCIW. Orange, like the green worn by Illinois Wesleyan (where many outstanding basketball coaches have applied to work), is one of the three secondary colors. Finally, this school is located in a city that has an annual festival devoted to a type of flower, the tulip. The surname of Illinois Wesleyan head men's basketball coach Ron Rose, who took Illinois Wesleyan to the Elite Eight last season, is also a type of flower.

For more Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball updates, please check in regularly here on the MIAA board.