[Husker] Basketball: Tim Miles vs John Groce

[Don Mares]

Illinois hired Groce for a 5 or 6 year deal for 1.2 million per year.
Terms weren't immediately disclosed.  Groce made $307,985 last year at
Ohio.  They had a hiccup in their negotiations when Groce demanded a
similar salary for his head assistant at Ohio to current Illinois Assistant
Jerrance Howard who makes $180,000 and is signed through next year.  It's
believed they came to terms on that.  Groce initially asked for 1.375
million over 8 years.

Tim Miles is getting 1.4 million per year over 6 years at Nebraska.  Plus
he has $720,000 to spend on his assistants.

If there was a chance, why wouldn't Nebraska wait an extra day or two to
interview and talk to Groce?  I don't get it but if you like a guy I guess
you go with him.

Don

reference...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-0329-illinois-basketball--20120329,0,7926313.story


2012/3/29 Mike Jaixen <mikejaixen at yahoo.com>

> I certainly hope Osborne contacted Groce.  Both Omaha papers indicated
> that Groce was high on Nebraska's list, for what it's worth.
>
> However, many Ohio sources indicated that Groce had showed no interest in
> coming to Lincoln.  The long-standing perception that you can't win at
> Nebraska appeared to be the downfall here, reality or not.  Could Groce
> have been "money bombed" as Gregg Doyel from CBS had suggested?  Maybe.
> I'll be interested in what Illinois hired Groce at, as I would have hoped
> that Nebraska would/could have offered something similar...if not more.
>
> I was really high on Groce, and was disappointed at first when Nebraska
> hired Miles before even trying to change Groce's mind.  But then when the
> Bobcats took North Carolina to overtime, it finally sunk in that even if
> Osborne offered $5 million a year, Groce was not coming to Lincoln.
>
> Mike Jaixen
> http://huskermike.blogspot.com
> http://www.cornnation.com
>
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Don Mares <donmares at gmail.com>
> *To:* “Husker List“ <husker at tssi.com>
> *Sent:* Thursday, March 29, 2012 12:10 PM
> *Subject:* [Husker] Basketball: Tim Miles vs John Groce
>
> I'm curious if anyone has any reaction to the John Groce hire at Illinois
> and how that compares to the Tim Miles hire at Nebraska?
>
> Illinois went after VCU coach Shaka Smart first and then Butler's Brad
> Stevens but both publicly turned Illinois down.  Groce is their third
> option to lead the basketball program. At this point, most are pretty
> apathetic with the choice.
>
> Personally, I didn't think we could get Smart at Nebraska but I was hoping
> Nebraska would try and send out feelers and compete with Illinois for his
> services.  I expected Nebraska to interview and talk to and hopefully hire
> John Groce who coached Ohio to the sweet 16 this year.  Instead, Nebraska
> hired Tim Miles from Colorado State who lost by 17 points in the first
> round of 64 (I'm old school) - his first visit to the tourney as a coach.
> I think it will be interesting to watch the progress of each of these
> coaches through the next few years.
>
> Initial opinions?  Does anyone feel Nebraska came out ahead and why?
>
> Personally, I was not excited about the Tim Miles hire since he didn't have
> much of a resume to me.  But he seems like a really nice guy who cares
> about the players, is excited to be here and give it his best shot. I
> thought John Groce was young and passionate with a lot of success and would
> do a good job.  Overall, we probably did get that with Tim Miles.  Neither
> have a lot of experience with big successful programs or top recruits.
> Although Groce was an assistant to Thad Matta at Ohio State for 4 years.  I
> agree Osborne knows how to identify a good coach better than I do and I'm
> willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
>
> Does anyone know if Osborne even considered John Groce?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Don
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