Amy Vachon

[basketball_guy]

Walsh is out as far as I am concerned. After that I would say all bets are off, but I would be shocked if they brought back Barron as Head Mens Basketball Coach.

Obviously the only one who knows is Karlton Creech at this point. Best to wait and see what he decides...

[billzfan34]

I'm not sure Markwood would be the right answer either,Cim. I do suppose we could do worse though.

[bcbc55]

I'm not sure Markwood would be the right answer either,Cim. I do suppose we could do worse though.

billzfan34: Where have you been, missed you.

Markwood would have been a better choice 4 years ago, he certainly couldn't have been any more worse then the 24-95 for the past 3 plus years. 4 years ago Markwood applied but only got a skype interview. But look where he is right now in a top major 100 ranked D-1 programs.

Former South Portland high player, Notre Dame player and UMaine player and assistant coach at UMaine also.

Associate head coach at Vermont and you how good their program has been the past 6 years.

The past 2 years has been the associate head coach at Northeastern who this year is currently ranked 75th in team RPI and 112 in SOS (strength of schedule ranking) of the 351 D-1 teams in realtimerpi.com rankings.

They play in Colonial Conference the 12th ranked RPI conference of the 32 D-1 conferences and has a 13th SOS rankings.

From Maine, will stay and will recruit Maine high school players and also has great recruiting contacts for being at a Major D-1 division program.

[Linguist]

bcbc55,

Just so you have all of the information available in this discussion.

Richard Barron's coaching resume includes a 4 year stint as an assistant with a men's basketball team at University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He left that position to become the head coach of the women's team. So it's not unprecedented (even in his career) to move from one gender to the other at the same University.

So he has coached men at the college level. He does have head coaching experience.

Remember in the last search one of the primary requirements was head coaching experience which is why Chris Markwood was not brought in for a formal interview, he was given a token chat on skype as a "thanks for reaching out, we appreciate when our Alums want to come home, but you aren't qualified for the job at this point" interview.

And perhaps that will not be a requirement in the search to replace Walsh, but it is the same Athletic Director and same administration so one would assume it will be at least a consideration. Which would again disqualify Chris Markwood.

So don't dismiss the Richard Barron moving to the men's head coaching staff just because you haven't heard it (and admittedly you don't go to Maine games so you wouldn't hear it anyway) and just because you can't envision someone who coached women being able to coach men. This may become a reality.

[thebam]

Obviously bam has some inside info.

MJ: No offense to the bam but I don't think the bam has got any inside information. I think that is just a guess or hope on his part.

I would not favor that move at all. It is a lot different coaching D-1 men then D-1 women. Women at far more coach able and the Maine men's program has got to be started up from scratch. How much experience has BARRON HAD AS A MEN'S COLLEGE COACH?

Not going to get a D-1 head coach to come to Maine so will need to get an associate head coach at a top 100 D-1 school.

There is an associate head coach currently coaching at the 85th team out of the 351 D-1 teams in the men's Realtimerpi.com's RPI team rankings that has a SOS (strength of schedule ranking) of 122 out of the 351 D-1 teams ranked. His D-1 team is playing in the 12th ranked RPI ranked conference out of 32 conferences that also has an SOS Conference ranking of 13th of the 32 D-1 conferences.

He is a former outstanding Maine high school player, outstanding player at UMaine at Orono and also coached there as an assistant at UMaine at Orono. AND HE IS AVAILABLE.

HE IS WHO MAINE REALLY NEEDS AS HE WILL NOT USE MAINE AS A STEPPING STONE FOR ANOTHER JOB FOR HIS CAREER. HE WILL STAY FOR THE LONG HALL. HE HAS OUTSTANDING RECRUITING CONTACTS BECAUSE OF THE HIGH RANKING THE SCHOOL HE IS CURRENTLY AT IS.

AS GOOD A PLAYER AS HE WAS AND AS GOOD AS AN ASSOCIATE AND ASSISTANT COACH HE HAS BEEN AND IS, HE IS AN EVEN BETTER HUMAN BEING.

How is that for a resume? When he applied 4 years ago when the job was opened he only got a skype interview.

Maine made a mistake last time when they didn't hire this candidate they sure can correct it by hiring this outstanding young D-1 associate head coach this time around.

BUT JUST MY BASKETBALL OPINION; and like noses everyone has one.

.

A couple of things. I have no inside info. Someone mentioned it to me as a possibility, so I just threw it out there for discussion. Nothing more to it than that. Second, you mention in your comment that the Men's team needs to start from scratch, yet in another thread you dismissed my calling for every player to be replaced saying some should stay. So which is it? I would submit that if you have a successful program and are winning games, players become much more " coachable" than if you are going 6-25 every year. Despite having no inside info, and no clue whatsoever if Barron would even be interested in such a venture, I would wager he would be highly successful in taking over the Men's program if it ever came to that.

[bcbc55]

Obviously bam has some inside info.

MJ: No offense to the bam but I don't think the bam has got any inside information. I think that is just a guess or hope on his part.

I would not favor that move at all. It is a lot different coaching D-1 men then D-1 women. Women at far more coach able and the Maine men's program has got to be started up from scratch. How much experience has BARRON HAD AS A MEN'S COLLEGE COACH?

Not going to get a D-1 head coach to come to Maine so will need to get an associate head coach at a top 100 D-1 school.

There is an associate head coach currently coaching at the 85th team out of the 351 D-1 teams in the men's Realtimerpi.com's RPI team rankings that has a SOS (strength of schedule ranking) of 122 out of the 351 D-1 teams ranked. His D-1 team is playing in the 12th ranked RPI ranked conference out of 32 conferences that also has an SOS Conference ranking of 13th of the 32 D-1 conferences.

He is a former outstanding Maine high school player, outstanding player at UMaine at Orono and also coached there as an assistant at UMaine at Orono. AND HE IS AVAILABLE.

HE IS WHO MAINE REALLY NEEDS AS HE WILL NOT USE MAINE AS A STEPPING STONE FOR ANOTHER JOB FOR HIS CAREER. HE WILL STAY FOR THE LONG HALL. HE HAS OUTSTANDING RECRUITING CONTACTS BECAUSE OF THE HIGH RANKING THE SCHOOL HE IS CURRENTLY AT IS.

AS GOOD A PLAYER AS HE WAS AND AS GOOD AS AN ASSOCIATE AND ASSISTANT COACH HE HAS BEEN AND IS, HE IS AN EVEN BETTER HUMAN BEING.

How is that for a resume? When he applied 4 years ago when the job was opened he only got a skype interview.

Maine made a mistake last time when they didn't hire this candidate they sure can correct it by hiring this outstanding young D-1 associate head coach this time around.

BUT JUST MY BASKETBALL OPINION; and like noses everyone has one.

.

A couple of things. I have no inside info. Someone mentioned it to me as a possibility, so I just threw it out there for discussion. Nothing more to it than that. Second, you mention in your comment that the Men's team needs to start from scratch, yet in another thread you dismissed my calling for every player to be replaced saying some should stay. So which is it? I would submit that if you have a successful program and are winning games, players become much more " coachable" than if you are going 6-25 every year. Despite having no inside info, and no clue whatsoever if Barron would even be interested in such a venture, I would wager he would be highly successful in taking over the Men's program if it ever came to that.

thebam: I meant from starting from scratch that it was the
building of the program from what it has become the past 3 plus seasons, not the players. For lack of a good big man their current talent is good enough to be competitive in AE.

Also losing players like Vann, Little, Eke, Myers, Howard, Harewood, has been a major problem and that is not the current players fault.

It is going to take a coach who knows how to rebuild a program from scratch and how to coach the players that they have.

Sorry if you misunderstood me.

[bcbc55]

bcbc55,

Just so you have all of the information available in this discussion.

Richard Barron's coaching resume includes a 4 year stint as an assistant with a men's basketball team at University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He left that position to become the head coach of the women's team. So it's not unprecedented (even in his career) to move from one gender to the other at the same University.

So he has coached men at the college level. He does have head coaching experience.

Remember in the last search one of the primary requirements was head coaching experience which is why Chris Markwood was not brought in for a formal interview, he was given a token chat on skype as a "thanks for reaching out, we appreciate when our Alums want to come home, but you aren't qualified for the job at this point" interview.

And perhaps that will not be a requirement in the search to replace Walsh, but it is the same Athletic Director and same administration so one would assume it will be at least a consideration. Which would again disqualify Chris Markwood.

So don't dismiss the Richard Barron moving to the men's head coaching staff just because you haven't heard it (and admittedly you don't go to Maine games so you wouldn't hear it anyway) and just because you can't envision someone who coached women being able to coach men. This may become a reality.

Lindquist: Thanks for answering my question about Barron's experience as a men's college coach as a 4 year assistant coach at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.

Thanks also for letting me know that last time around candidates for the Maine men's job had to have head coaching experience to be considered as a candidate.

[Linguist]

bcbc55 wrote :
It is going to take a coach who knows how to rebuild a program from scratch and how to coach the players that they have.

bcbc55, in a previous post you wrote the above quote.

I can't think of a person better than Richard Barron to do just that. He's done it before after the train wreck that was Cindy Blodgett and he did it at Maine. He recruited for the region, for the university, for the area, he found a couple of Maine kids (which you like), and he brought in players who changed the culture to fit what he wanted and he turned it into a winning program....quickly.

He would be the perfect fit to readjust the men's program. Perfect.

Clearly it makes too much sense, so the Athletic Department at UMaine will never consider it. Kreech will open up a national search to replace Walsh, and hire someone who flounders. He will ask Amy Vachon to slide back in to her associate head coach role and go back to her previous salary, and she will leave UMaine for another job some where burning bridges along the way.

Fun to be a UMaine hoops fan.

[fromthebench]

Lol, it does make too much sense for Maine to consider it. As long as Barron's health checks out, he would be perfect.

[Blackbear28]

thebam: I meant from starting from scratch that it was the
building of the program from what it has become the past 3 plus seasons, not the players. For lack of a good big man their current talent is good enough to be competitive in AE.

Also losing players like Vann, Little, Eke, Myers, Howard, Harewood, has been a major problem and that is not the current players fault.

It is going to take a coach who knows how to rebuild a program from scratch and how to coach the players that they have.

Sorry if you misunderstood me.

Of the 6 players you mentioned only 3 of them have played a D1 game since transferring. Eke is averaging 9 minutes per game at Rider. Wes Meyers is scoring 7 ppg and broke one of his teammates jaws last year so I don't think he would be much help. Vann is the only player you mentioned who's having any success since leaving Maine.