Coach Majors approves of John Currie

[ksgovols]

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/262/320/021.gif

 

[butchna]

Conspiracies done got all complicated! :blink:

 

[KBVol]

Could you give a link for your statement in paragraph 1 and it be something other than its your learned opinion?

Oh yeah, there's a public link where Haslam and Davenport were quoted as saying, "first thing everyone, especially all vol fans must know, is we're about to screw over the two leading candidates that you want, so forget that, I don't want either, so they have no chance".

Come on dude. As Doug Mathews has said, it was obvious. The moment that Davenport said the minimum qualifications were has to be a sitting P5 AD guess which two candidates were effectively eliminated? This ain't brain science, nor is it rocket surgery.

 

[82_VOL_83]

Oh yeah, there's a public link where Haslam and Davenport were quoted as saying, "first thing everyone, especially all vol fans must know, is we're about to screw over the two leading candidates that you want, so forget that, I don't want either, so they have no chance".

Come on dude. As Doug Mathews has said, it was obvious. The moment that Davenport said the minimum qualifications were has to be a sitting P5 AD guess which two candidates were effectively eliminated? This ain't brain science, nor is it rocket surgery.

I can see your point but still believe it's a stretch. I can't believe Currie was a target. Even though there is a lot of good with him, there is still a lot of bad. UT doesn't need a money raiser in the ADs office, it's called football. They need someone that can hire coaches. No proof any of the 3 candidates could do that either.

 

[butchna]

The job was Bubba Cunningham's until he turned it down. What dirt we got on him?

 

[KBVol]

I can see your point but still believe it's a stretch. I can't believe Currie was a target. Even though there is a lot of good with him, there is still a lot of bad. UT doesn't need a money raiser in the ADs office, it's called football. They need someone that can hire coaches. No proof any of the 3 candidates could do that either.

I was mainly with you until your last sentence.

It's been widely reported that while at Tennessee, Currie pushed for hiring Lane Kiffin after helping build the support for firing Fulmer.....while Blackburn was a loud voice against hiring Derek Dooley, which is supposedly one of if not the primary reason why he's earned Haslam's ire.

At UTC, Blackburn has hired 3 very good/outstanding basketball coaches......

-women's bball coach Jim Foster......in his fourth season as the Mocs' head coach, led UTC to its fifth straight Southern Conference regular season championship, fourth since his arrival, and 21st overall. He's 103-26 at UTC. 4 straight NCAA tourney appearances, first time since 2001-2004.

-men's bball coach Will Wade....was 40-25 in 2 seasons there before being hired at VCU to replace Shaka Smart.

-Then hired Wade's replacement Matt McCall, who won SoCon coach of the year in 2016....he's 48-18 in his first 2 seasons

-he didn't hire former football coach Huesman, who just left for Richmond, but after Blackburn was named AD in 2013, the UTC football program had unprecedented program success, winning 4 straight SoCon titles his first 4 years there, after not having won a conference title since 1984.


So actually, 1 of the 3 has indeed shown he can successfully hire coaches.....David Blackburn. Conversely, Currie pushed to hire Lane Kiffin before he left Tennessee for KState, and his only major hire as AD has been basketball coach Bruce Webber (99-67) who he hired after pretty much running off Frank Martin (117-54). Add to that, that Currie while pushed for the firing of Fulmer and hiring of Kiffin while still at Tennessee, Blackburn is known for reigning in Lane/protecting UT from even more NCAA sanctions and he was a loud voice against the hiring of Derek Dooley.

 

[KBVol]

The job was Bubba Cunningham's until he turned it down. What dirt we got on him?

Dirt.....or legit concerns/track record? 😳

 

[butchna]

I was mainly with you until your last sentence.

It's been widely reported that while at Tennessee, Currie pushed for hiring Lane Kiffin after helping build the support for firing Fulmer.....while Blackburn was a loud voice against hiring Derek Dooley, which is supposedly one of if not the primary reason why he's earned Haslam's ire.

At UTC, Blackburn has hired 3 very good/outstanding basketball coaches......

-women's bball coach Jim Foster......in his fourth season as the Mocs' head coach, led UTC to its fifth straight Southern Conference regular season championship, fourth since his arrival, and 21st overall. He's 103-26 at UTC. 4 straight NCAA tourney appearances, first time since 2001-2004.

-men's bball coach Will Wade....was 40-25 in 2 seasons there before being hired at VCU to replace Shaka Smart.

-Then hired Wade's replacement Matt McCall, who won SoCon coach of the year in 2016....he's 48-18 in his first 2 seasons

-he didn't hire former football coach Huesman, who just left for Richmond, but after Blackburn was named AD in 2013, the UTC football program had unprecedented program success, winning 4 straight SoCon titles his first 4 years there, after not having won a conference title since 1984.


So actually, 1 of the 3 has indeed shown he can successfully hire coaches.....David Blackburn. Conversely, Currie pushed to hire Lane Kiffin before he left Tennessee for KState, and his only major hire as AD has been basketball coach Bruce Webber (99-67) who he hired after pretty much running off Frank Martin (117-54). Add to that, that Currie while pushed for the firing of Fulmer and hiring of Kiffin while still at Tennessee, Blackburn is known for reigning in Lane/protecting UT from even more NCAA sanctions and he was a loud voice against the hiring of Derek Dooley.

Forgetting Jeff Mittie as women's coach. He's been a huge improvement. K-State's men are back in the tourney incidentally.

 

[butchna]

Dirt.....or legit concerns/track record? 😳

Tomatoes potatoes.

 

[TNnative]

I can see your point but still believe it's a stretch. I can't believe Currie was a target. Even though there is a lot of good with him, there is still a lot of bad. UT doesn't need a money raiser in the ADs office, it's called football. They need someone that can hire coaches. No proof any of the 3 candidates could do that either.

In this economy? Yes, they DO need a fund raiser, and a fund manager for an AD. Football can roll in money all year long, but if you are paying out more than you are bringing in, you are peeing into the wind.

Did someone say Hamilton was a great fundraiser? I want proof of that.

 

[BanditVol]

Well la-de-da. I'll drink a toast to that tonight when I get home. (hic)

 

[KBVol]

Forgetting Jeff Mittie as women's coach. He's been a huge improvement. K-State's men are back in the tourney incidentally.

Forgetting Jeff Mittie as women's coach. He's been a huge improvement. K-State's men are back in the tourney incidentally.

Huge improvement my good friend Butchna? With all due respect.....Mittie, after 3 years is winning at a .618 clip, his predecessor was at .608.....looks more like a wash, especially since he's got a sub .500 record in conference.

As far as Weber goes, snuck into the tourney for the first time in 3 years, as an 11 seed who's gotta win the Tuesday night play in game in Dayton to move on/actually play in the actual tournament. Finished 32-33 the previous 2 seasons and came into 2016-17 on a hot seat.....and I'd venture to say that not much of what happened this season made the natives any less restless.

So to sum up.....hired a new women's bball coach who's pretty much doing what the last coach did. And after pissing off and ultimately running off a very good men's bball coach, hired a recently fired coach in Bruce Weber, who has been a significant downgrade and will surely be coaching for his job next fall/winter.

 

[butchna]

Huge improvement my good friend Butchna? With all due respect.....Mittie, after 3 years is winning at a .618 clip, his predecessor was at .608.....looks more like a wash, especially since he's got a sub .500 record in conference.

As far as Weber goes, snuck into the tourney for the first time in 3 years, as an 11 seed who's gotta win the Tuesday night play in game in Dayton to move on/actually play in the actual tournament. Finished 32-33 the previous 2 seasons and came into 2016-17 on a hot seat.....and I'd venture to say that not much of what happened this season made the natives any less restless.

So to sum up.....hired a new women's bball coach who's pretty much doing what the last coach did. And after pissing off and ultimately running off a very good men's bball coach, hired a recently fired coach in Bruce Weber, who has been a significant downgrade and will surely be coaching for his job next fall/winter.

Frank Martin was and is a notorious hothead...two sides to that story. And if you're going to go merely on decimals of a winning percentage in women's BB, you miss the big picture on their comparison. Took over a losing team and went to the tourney. Had to upgrade the recruiting to his level and in the process lost some games. Point is his predecessor was descending and he's ascending...clear upgrade. You can allow for some points on Currie...won't ruin your overall narrative. Currie simply hasn't made enough hires over a period of time to judge his acumen. Same story applies to Blackburn. At a smaller level, he's been able to take chances on his hires and so far they look good. Neither Will Wade or McCall are proven entities just yet. Just ain't. And FULMER sucked at hiring! He inherited Cut and Chavis. Tanked at hiring replacements. So by that criteria, we dodged a disaster.

 

[chargervol]

Stay away for days and still the sos. "But he's a great fundraiser".

The only way that impresses me is if it's because the sports programs are doing so well, fans can't help but contribute, purchase gear and fill seats.
If it's because he's a bs artist when talking, I hope someone slaps him in the nads.

 

[butchna]

It's gettin violent in herrr! :whistling:

 

[chargervol]

It's gettin violent in herrr! :whistling:

Nah, I used "if".
Still hoping he works out. I just can't pretend I'm excited. Was just hoping for a person known for building sports programs.

 

[IknoxvolsI]

Has anybody mentioned Majors as a possible AD? Might have and I just missed it. Or, is he too old? After all, he was assistant AD was he not?

Then, Dooley was also experienced as an AD. But, that school was not a P5 school either.

 

[Behr]

Didn't like the way Fulmer got the HC position. Got over it.
Didn't care for Kiffin. Got over it.
Did not want Dooley. Got over it. For a minute.
Did not want Jones. Got over that too.

Don't like Currie, or Davenport for that matter, and don't care for the way everything was handled, but it is what it is. I was so looking forward to finally getting someone at UT (football related) that I was excited about. In all honesty, I hope he does well with all of his responsibilities, but when it's time to hire a new Head football coach, I want him to "kick it out of our coverage". Hope it's a while before he needs to.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Has anybody mentioned Majors as a possible AD? Might have and I just missed it. Or, is he too old? After all, he was assistant AD was he not?

Then, Dooley was also experienced as an AD. But, that school was not a P5 school either.

Good grief!!!

 

[KBVol]

Frank Martin was and is a notorious hothead...two sides to that story. And if you're going to go merely on decimals of a winning percentage in women's BB, you miss the big picture on their comparison. Took over a losing team and went to the tourney. Had to upgrade the recruiting to his level and in the process lost some games. Point is his predecessor was descending and he's ascending...clear upgrade. You can allow for some points on Currie...won't ruin your overall narrative. Currie simply hasn't made enough hires over a period of time to judge his acumen. Same story applies to Blackburn. At a smaller level, he's been able to take chances on his hires and so far they look good. Neither Will Wade or McCall are proven entities just yet. Just ain't. And FULMER sucked at hiring! He inherited Cut and Chavis. Tanked at hiring replacements. So by that criteria, we dodged a disaster.

A friendly retort:

1. Agree that Martin is a "notorious hothead", that's self-evident, many high-achieving, successful head coaches are. However, Bill Snyder is the anti-Martin, and he couldnt get along with Currie either, he's reported to despise Currie, especially after multiple reports that Currie recently told him to "sit down and shut up" at a meeting earlier this year.

One of the most important aspects of an AD's job is to hire and manage successful coaches, especially those of his most prominent, money-making programs. Currie seems to be poor at both. He ran off Frank Martin, a basketball coach that had great success at KState, was coming off 3 straight (and 4 of 5) NCAA appearances and, as we saw last night, just took freaking South Carolina to the Sweet 16.

2. Mittie may wind up being a good hire, your point was well taken regarding him taking a program that had fallen on hard times with a poor 11-19 in Deb Patterson's last season. Yet, she had taken KState to post season play each of the 3 previous years (2 NCAA, 1 WNIT), took KState to 9 NCAA appearances and 4 WNITs in 18 seasons and, as I wrote earlier, had virtually the same win % over 18 seasons as Mittie has now after 3. KState women's bball team just got bounced in the first round of the tourney by Drake....his predecessor took the team to the second round just 2 years before she was fired.

3. At a smaller school, you can't "take chances" on your hires, budgets are tight, you actually have to be extra careful, do even more due diligence, make sure you have the right guy, can't absorb wrong choices as easily as larger schools with much larger budgets can. In Foster, Wade and McCall, DB has made 3 very good hires which has led to unprecedented success at UTC. His arrival also led to unprecedented success in the football program....didn't make the hire of Huesman, he was already there.....but when looking at W-L records and achievements of UTC football, the correlation of their success to Blackburn's arrival jumps off the page.

4. Fulmer didn't inherit Cut and Chief....Cut was on staff in 1992, under Majors, as the QB coach. Fulmer had the good sense to hire Cutcliffe in 1993 as his Offensive Coordinator. Similarly, Chavis was on Majors' staff as a DL/LB coach....Fulmer kept Chief on staff and then hired Chavis as his Defensive Coordinator in 1995, in his 3rd year as head coach. So, indeed, those were 2 very good hires by Fulmer.

Also, off the top of my head, I can think of some other pretty good hires Fulmer made.....Dan Brooks, Kippy Brown, Trooper Taylor, all outstanding hires.....there are surely many others I'm not thinking of right now. In fact, only truly bad one I can think of was Dave Clawson, and even that one looked good then, and looks good now based on the success Clawson has had after he left Tennessee....just didn't work the one year he was there.

5. Finally, a last, quick thought. South Carolina's current AD is Ray Tanner, been there since 2012....SCar hired him, their former iconic baseball coach, despite the fact he had no AD experience, at any level. Things are going well at SCar right now, across a lot of sports in Columbia.....perhaps things are quite so "complex" over there.

 

[butchna]

A friendly retort:

1. Agree that Martin is a "notorious hothead", that's self-evident, many high-achieving, successful head coaches are. However, Bill Snyder is the anti-Martin, and he couldnt get along with Currie either, he's reported to despise Currie, especially after multiple reports that Currie recently told him to "sit down and shut up" at a meeting earlier this year.

One of the most important aspects of an AD's job is to hire and manage successful coaches, especially those of his most prominent, money-making programs. He ran off Frank Martin, a basketball coach that had great success at KState, was coming off 3 straight (and 4 of 5) NCAA appearances and, as we saw last night, just took freaking South Carolina to the Sweet 16.

2. Mittie may wind up being a good hire, your point was well taken regarding him taking a program that had fallen on hard times with a poor 11-19 in Deb Patterson's last season. Yet, she had taken KState to post season play each of the 3 previous years (2 NCAA, 1 WNIT), took KState to 9 NCAA appearances and 4 WNITs in 18 seasons and, as I wrote earlier, had virtually the same win % over 18 seasons as Mittie has now after 3. KState women's bball team just got bounced in the first round of the tourney by Drake....his predecessor took the team to the second round just 2 years before she was fired.

3. At a smaller school, you can't "take chances" on your hires, budgets are tight, you actually have to be extra careful, do even more due diligence, make sure you have the right guy, can't absorb wrong choices as easily as larger schools with much larger budgets can. In Foster, Wade and McCall, DB has made 3 very good hires which has led to unprecedented success at UTC. His arrival also led to unprecedented success in the football program....didn't make the hire of Huesman, he was already there.....but when looking at W-L records and achievements of UTC football, the correlation of their success to Blackburn's arrival jumps off the page.

4. Fulmer didn't inherit Cut and Chief....Cut was on staff in 1992, under Majors, as the QB coach. Fulmer had the good sense to hire Cutcliffe in 1993 as his Offensive Coordinator. Similarly, Chavis was on Majors' staff as a DL/LB coach....Fulmer kept Chief on staff and then hired Chavis as his Defensive Coordinator in 1995, in his 3rd year as head coach. So, indeed, those were 2 very good hires by Fulmer.

Also, off the top of my head, I can think of some other pretty good hires Fulmer made.....Dan Brooks, Kippy Brown, Trooper Taylor, all outstanding hires.....there are surely many others I'm not thinking of right now. In fact, only truly bad one I can think of was Dave Clawson, and even that one looked good then, and looks good now based on the success Clawson has had after he left Tennessee....just didn't work the one year he was there.

5. Finally, a last, quick thought. South Carolina's current AD is Ray Tanner, been there since 2012....SCar hired him, their former iconic baseball coach, despite the fact he had no AD experience, at any level. Things are going well at SCar right now, across a lot of sports in Columbia.....perhaps things are quite so "complex" over there.

Appreciate you being gentle. Allow me to tread water whilst formulating a response.

1. Never disputed Martin being a quality coach...so was Bob Knight, but some tactics don't work anymore...I think Currie not bowing down to him benefitted his long term outlook and approach...has been relatively tame in Columbia and simply coached. Hasn't met the definition of instant success there tho with 12th,13th and 11th place finishes in his first 3 seasons :wink2: Disagree on Snyder being warm and fuzzy. Not faulting him for it, but he achieved the majority of his success later in life and isn't built on consensus. Anybody with a hardworking proud older relative can relate. Would be difficult to suggest any change to what is perceived as a successful routine so Currie changing up his scheduling of cupcakes was bound to get his grouchy reaction.

2. Currie replaced a descending coach with one going the opposite direction...gets kids named after you on this board.

3. STRONGLY disagree! At UTC's level there is no such thing as a splash hire. Every hire is at best an educated leap of faith in an assistant,lower level rising coach or a coach who flew too close to the sun on a bigger stage and is reinventing. This doesn't include the Dave Bliss's who sold their soul way too long ago. You can't vett unproven track records so it's the literal definition of "risk". We hear about the Archie Miller's but only remember the Dick Fick's for obvious reasons. When your base salary as a newbie is around $300 k, the flak for a bad guess is minimal to none.

4. You don't exactly "hire" someone already on staff...we call it a promotion. Butch wouldn't get an iota of credit if Larry Scott comes up aces as OC, even tho he did HIRE him from outside the staff. Kippy Brown was a proven coach with previous tenures at the school. We could go down the list of position coaches and quibble over the legacy of Trooper, but ultimately it's about Fulmer's coordinators. He couldn't replace Cut...failed twice.

5. Don't think I ever iterated that you HAD to have experience as an AD...Dickey didn't...but it's hard to argue that it's a plus if you're hiring for the position. He was national coach of the year the season before his last and was obviously tied in to administrative goings ons. Pretty short sample size to declare him a success with 4 years canvas size, but if so inclined I'd say going from NC level coach to running things is less steep than nine years of virtual inactivity for our example? :dunno: Will reissue that I'm not declaring Currie a successful hire...just as I wouldn't with Blackburn or Fulmer. Facts just aren't in evidence. I do feel confident...that hasn't changed.

 

[KBVol]

Think I'll leave this here.....


Former President Jon Wefald comments on Currie-Martin situation

Wednesday at 6:04 PM

“Frank should still be at K-State,” Wefald said. “John Currie wanted to hire his own coach, and they didn’t get along. It’s too bad. Frank told me many times that he wanted to coach here until he retired. Indeed, he told me that for a year or two after he left here.
“Now, of course, Frank is a Gamecock and he loves his job completely. But if someone like Tim Weiser, for example, had been the athletic director at K-State or someone like him in 2012 and in the years to come, Frank Martin would still be K-State’s head basketball coach."


And this...


Final Four 2017: Gonzaga-South Carolina is tale of trust, loyalty and one costly mistake
By Bill Reiter 13h ago • 5 min read

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- On Saturday, when South Carolina and Gonzaga face each other in each program’s first Final Four appearance, they will owe a deep and lasting level of gratitude to men behind the scenes who made it possible.
For Gonzaga fans, a good portion of love and respect should be extended to the program’s hidden hand: Mike Roth, Gonzaga’s athletic director, who for 20 deliberate years has built a basketball powerhouse through patience, ingenuity and -- most important -- loyalty.


For South Carolina fans, send some special thoughts and deeply felt thank yous to another, albeit different, hidden hand: That of John Currie.
Don’t know who John Currie is?


He’s the man -- through a lack of loyalty and a catastrophic mistake of arrogance and short-sightedness that could damage Kansas State athletics for a very long time -- most responsible for it being South Carolina here at the Final Four.
Because Frank Martin, the Gamecocks head coach, should have been up at the dais representing Kansas State on Thursday in front of the national media. Or some Thursday like it in the years before now. K-State was the school that gave him his big break, the place he took to an Elite Eight in 2010, the program that he carved with the same will and defensive excellence and unique infusion of his unique personality.
And with all respect to South Carolina, nobody -- nobody -- leaves a program they’ve built the way Martin did at Kansas State for South Carolina.
Unless some pedantic AD like Currie wreaks havoc.

Which is just what happened five years ago, when Currie, at the time Kansas State’s athletic director, did everything in his power to make Martin miserable and force the coach out of Manhattan, Kan. It didn’t matter Martin was one of the few coaches capable of giving that phenomenal fan base the basketball tradition they deserve. Currie got his way, and South Carolina got a miracle maker now two wins from cutting down the nets.


I get it if you don’t give two hoots about Kansas State, its troubles or its missed opportunity. I care because I wrote about that program extensively when I was a newspaper reporter in Kansas City, and I think it deserves better. But more than that, there’s this: In sports we are so quick to go over-the-top with our rage toward referees (especially you, Kentucky fans), toward the players on the floor, and toward the head coaches we want fired if they haven’t brought nearly immediate salvation.

Yet we rarely if ever focus on the administrators -- the, you know, actual decision makers -- who may not be on TV but control the fates of the athletic departments they lead.

Currie’s brazen mismanagement of that athletic department and self-interested decision he was more important than his basketball coach was so obvious that, when it happened, I wrote a column that reads like a roadmap of what was to come. Not because I was some far-seeing seer. Because any person on Earth -- except John Currie -- should have known the score.


And while that disaster was unfolding -- or, from South Carolina’s perspective, a gift was being given -- Gonzaga was quietly and successfully building the anti-Currie approach to turning a program into a powerhouse: Through trust, loyalty and an understanding that you build greatness not through the shiny things but thorough the reliable ones.
By knowing how good you have it when it’s right in front of your face.
Mike Roth, Gonzaga’s AD, has been in that position since 1997. A year later, in 1998, the Zags made an improbable run to the Elite Eight, the program’s first. When Dan Monson, who was with the program for 11 years, left as head coach a short time later, Roth did what Currie couldn’t: He had the guts and vision to give the job to a supposed no-name assistant coach.
That guy? Mark Few, who turned the Zags from a nothing-school to a new-age blue blood.

The assistant coach Currie passed over after he forced out Martin? Brad Underwood, now the coach at Illinois.
It’s not the shiny things. It’s the reliable ones. Roth got it. Currie just got it all wrong.
So Few was installed and Roth and Gonzaga tripled-down on their belief and loyalty in a coach many thought would be another anonymous mid-major coach. They changed the team’s logo to a fierce bulldog, believing young recruits would prefer it. They changed the school’s colors to a darker, cooler blue. They started scheduling difficult opponents most mid-majors shied away from. They paid their own money -- rather than the other way around -- to get on national television.
Loyalty. Belief. Patience. Investment. And an allure to the solid things around you rather than the shiny things across the way, where the grass is greener.

Two cases in point here.
For Gonzaga, and Roth: Tommy Lloyd is the new Few, the coach-in-waiting who’s been at the school since just after that Elite Eight run, starting as an unpaid part of the staff. He’s a walking reminder of what this program is about, and that how the Zags got here is still the very DNA of where they’re going.
For Kansas State, unfortunately, it’s this: John Currie left recently to be the AD at Tennessee -- but not until after he’d forced out Martin and, just us unacceptable, maintained a poisoned relationship with football coach Bill Snyder, according to multiple sources. Snyder just happens to be the man who built that program from scratch and whose name is literally on the stadium there.
Loyalty, competence and some perspective matter.

Roth had it, and that means Gonzaga is in the Final Four.
Currie didn’t, and that means South Carolina is here, too.
Names like Roth and Currie aren’t sexy or shiny or often held accountable one way or the other. But they matter. They shape the programs that thrive, and those that will never be the same.
Congrats, Gonzaga.

Good luck, Tennessee.

 

[butchna]

Articles and former presidents. Science.

 

[LocoVol]

Articles and former presidents. Science.

More reliable than one liners and smiley faces!

 

[flatiron]

Think I'll leave this here.....


Former President Jon Wefald comments on Currie-Martin situation

Wednesday at 6:04 PM

“Frank should still be at K-State,” Wefald said. “John Currie wanted to hire his own coach, and they didn’t get along. It’s too bad. Frank told me many times that he wanted to coach here until he retired. Indeed, he told me that for a year or two after he left here.
“Now, of course, Frank is a Gamecock and he loves his job completely. But if someone like Tim Weiser, for example, had been the athletic director at K-State or someone like him in 2012 and in the years to come, Frank Martin would still be K-State’s head basketball coach."


And this...


Final Four 2017: Gonzaga-South Carolina is tale of trust, loyalty and one costly mistake
By Bill Reiter 13h ago • 5 min read

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- On Saturday, when South Carolina and Gonzaga face each other in each program’s first Final Four appearance, they will owe a deep and lasting level of gratitude to men behind the scenes who made it possible.
For Gonzaga fans, a good portion of love and respect should be extended to the program’s hidden hand: Mike Roth, Gonzaga’s athletic director, who for 20 deliberate years has built a basketball powerhouse through patience, ingenuity and -- most important -- loyalty.


For South Carolina fans, send some special thoughts and deeply felt thank yous to another, albeit different, hidden hand: That of John Currie.
Don’t know who John Currie is?


He’s the man -- through a lack of loyalty and a catastrophic mistake of arrogance and short-sightedness that could damage Kansas State athletics for a very long time -- most responsible for it being South Carolina here at the Final Four.
Because Frank Martin, the Gamecocks head coach, should have been up at the dais representing Kansas State on Thursday in front of the national media. Or some Thursday like it in the years before now. K-State was the school that gave him his big break, the place he took to an Elite Eight in 2010, the program that he carved with the same will and defensive excellence and unique infusion of his unique personality.
And with all respect to South Carolina, nobody -- nobody -- leaves a program they’ve built the way Martin did at Kansas State for South Carolina.
Unless some pedantic AD like Currie wreaks havoc.

Which is just what happened five years ago, when Currie, at the time Kansas State’s athletic director, did everything in his power to make Martin miserable and force the coach out of Manhattan, Kan. It didn’t matter Martin was one of the few coaches capable of giving that phenomenal fan base the basketball tradition they deserve. Currie got his way, and South Carolina got a miracle maker now two wins from cutting down the nets.


I get it if you don’t give two hoots about Kansas State, its troubles or its missed opportunity. I care because I wrote about that program extensively when I was a newspaper reporter in Kansas City, and I think it deserves better. But more than that, there’s this: In sports we are so quick to go over-the-top with our rage toward referees (especially you, Kentucky fans), toward the players on the floor, and toward the head coaches we want fired if they haven’t brought nearly immediate salvation.

Yet we rarely if ever focus on the administrators -- the, you know, actual decision makers -- who may not be on TV but control the fates of the athletic departments they lead.

Currie’s brazen mismanagement of that athletic department and self-interested decision he was more important than his basketball coach was so obvious that, when it happened, I wrote a column that reads like a roadmap of what was to come. Not because I was some far-seeing seer. Because any person on Earth -- except John Currie -- should have known the score.


And while that disaster was unfolding -- or, from South Carolina’s perspective, a gift was being given -- Gonzaga was quietly and successfully building the anti-Currie approach to turning a program into a powerhouse: Through trust, loyalty and an understanding that you build greatness not through the shiny things but thorough the reliable ones.
By knowing how good you have it when it’s right in front of your face.
Mike Roth, Gonzaga’s AD, has been in that position since 1997. A year later, in 1998, the Zags made an improbable run to the Elite Eight, the program’s first. When Dan Monson, who was with the program for 11 years, left as head coach a short time later, Roth did what Currie couldn’t: He had the guts and vision to give the job to a supposed no-name assistant coach.
That guy? Mark Few, who turned the Zags from a nothing-school to a new-age blue blood.

The assistant coach Currie passed over after he forced out Martin? Brad Underwood, now the coach at Illinois.
It’s not the shiny things. It’s the reliable ones. Roth got it. Currie just got it all wrong.
So Few was installed and Roth and Gonzaga tripled-down on their belief and loyalty in a coach many thought would be another anonymous mid-major coach. They changed the team’s logo to a fierce bulldog, believing young recruits would prefer it. They changed the school’s colors to a darker, cooler blue. They started scheduling difficult opponents most mid-majors shied away from. They paid their own money -- rather than the other way around -- to get on national television.
Loyalty. Belief. Patience. Investment. And an allure to the solid things around you rather than the shiny things across the way, where the grass is greener.

Two cases in point here.
For Gonzaga, and Roth: Tommy Lloyd is the new Few, the coach-in-waiting who’s been at the school since just after that Elite Eight run, starting as an unpaid part of the staff. He’s a walking reminder of what this program is about, and that how the Zags got here is still the very DNA of where they’re going.
For Kansas State, unfortunately, it’s this: John Currie left recently to be the AD at Tennessee -- but not until after he’d forced out Martin and, just us unacceptable, maintained a poisoned relationship with football coach Bill Snyder, according to multiple sources. Snyder just happens to be the man who built that program from scratch and whose name is literally on the stadium there.
Loyalty, competence and some perspective matter.

Roth had it, and that means Gonzaga is in the Final Four.
Currie didn’t, and that means South Carolina is here, too.
Names like Roth and Currie aren’t sexy or shiny or often held accountable one way or the other. But they matter. They shape the programs that thrive, and those that will never be the same.
Congrats, Gonzaga.

Good luck, Tennessee.

Probably about time to get over it. Blackburn and Fulmer aren't coming