[NU Sports] Tommy Amaker

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> Somebody is going to get a terrific coach now that U
> of M was dumb enough to can Tommy Amaker.  NU had a

I dunno - I'm still not sold that Amaker wasn't one of
these "flavor of the month" coaches who had a huge rep
and no delivery. And I'm not sure he would have been
able to work magic at NU or if he'd have even stayed
here long enough to try. Regardless, his star has
fizzled fast ... maybe he'll find a right fit, but he
certainly had many, many chances at Michigan. Bottom
line is that he left both Seton Hall and Michigan in
rather mediocre shape - his resume won't jump to the
top of many lists anymore.

> Michigan suffers by comparison to Michigan State
> when it comes to basketball just as it is the
> reverse for football.  State of Michigan basketball

Maybe a little, but it's not nearly as wide a gap as
football. For one, U of M fans don't have the Sparty
Inferiority Complex that MSU does in football. Also,
Michigan has a rich basketball history that certainly
rivals MSU's -- and their recent history is strong as
well, albeit now wiped from the record books. The
scholarships were no doubt a hinderance when he got
there, but those went away and Amaker still couldn't
take a regular Sweet Sixteen team from the '80s and
'90s back to the NCAAs.

Further hurting him, I believe, was seeing OSU,
Purdue, Indiana each recover from their recent bumps
in the road and get back in the dance in recent years
while his senior-laden team could not.

It will be interesting to see who Michigan gets,
because the Maize and Blue are certainly a sleeping
basketball giant that could be awaken fairly easily
with their pipeline to Detroit (MSU may have Flint,
but U of M still has Motown) and presence nationally.

Sadly, if they find the right person, we might just
have Minny and PSU to keep us company come postseason
in the Big Ten as all of the other programs seem to
have righted their ships and found some great coaches
to keep building programs with (except for Iowa
perhaps, as Alford may be the new ex-wunderkind on a
hot seat now).

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


 
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