Teams
Forum List
Toggle sidebar

***2026 NCAA MBB coaching carousel***

cyclo120 said:
I have been beating around the bush as have a lot of you. If NC targets and offers TJ he is most likely gone. I think it’s the best job in CBB. Best hope is a couple of the people are targeted before and one Accepts. (Billy Donovan, Nate Oats, Tommy Lloyd etc.)
Click to expand...

They typically stay inside the family.

TJ’s returning to Ames says a lot about his desire to be here. He didn’t have to come back, he was gonna have other D1 opportunities regardless.

UNC is gonna have 5 star aspirations and that’s a hard fit to fill for a disciple coach like TJ. Much like McDermott struggled to find higher end players to run his system here.
 
xr4ticlone said:
They typically stay inside the family.

TJ’s returning to Ames says a lot about his desire to be here. He didn’t have to come back, he was gonna have other D1 opportunities regardless.

UNC is gonna have 5 star aspirations and that’s a hard fit to fill for a disciple coach like TJ. Much like McDermott struggled to find higher end players to run his system here.
Click to expand...
Already said that’s not the case this round.

UNLV to Iowa State a no brainer for almost all coaches especially TJ.

McDermott to ISU from MVC is ancient and TJ ain’t that guy to struggle to coach talent.

Just replying to your comments, not saying he is leaving, but just being realistic.
 
Cloned4Life said:
I see this theme a lot. Where does it come from?

In any given recruiting class, at any given year of eligibility, there are 2 star talents, 3 star talents, 4, star talents, 5 star talents, guys with no talent, guys with phenom talent, etc.

Every single group has the same relative distribution/percentage of "players that want to play hard and be coached hard".

I see this weird ideology with our fans at various times, in different sports, and it always follows a pattern like...

"Give me the 3 star kid that is a grinder over the 5 star kid any day!"

LOL!

I think it's supposed to make us feel gritty and like we're "doing it the right way" or whatever. Like - we don't need your fancy money type of thing.

I hate to break it to y'all but the best teams and programs historically have 4 star and 5 star guys that also play really f*cking hard, are also great kids, are also great culture guys, and work hard daily literally just as hard as TJ demands. That's why they win a lot.

TJ wants 4 and 5 star talents. And when he gets them, you can bet your ass that they will play to his standard.
Click to expand...
It isn’t so much you can’t find 4 or 5 star guys to do it as you are given certain 4 or 5 star guys that don’t want to do it.

At those schools donors are much more involved in the day to day operations. They will interfere in how the program gets run. That doesn’t seem like something TJ would accept.

As it is I feel better about TJ than Campbell. There were always places that could ultimately lure Campbell. TJ seems to be a Cyclone all the way. His wife is one of the best women players in history at Iowa State. We also could actually have divide everything he needs here which we couldn’t for football. I think most here would be all in on shuttering basically everything to keep TJ.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xr4ticlone and Cyclonepride
Cyhig said:
Big 12 > ACC
Loves Iowa State/Ames
And most importantly, he wife loves Iowa State and Ames
Click to expand...
Agreed
There's been plenty of coaches that love where they currently are but money talks
That's a big one obviously but if the money is there and the opportunity for a, lets be honest, more prestigious job presents itself and he wants it the family will likely be uprooted

Chances are that Carolina will go for a bigger name but I do think there is a chance that T.J. takes the job if offered to him. I mean, it's North Carolina which is arguably a top 3 job in the country. That's a big temptation.
 
NYCYFan said:
Agreed
There's been plenty of coaches that love where they currently are but money talks
That's a big one obviously but if the money is there and the opportunity for a, lets be honest, more prestigious job presents itself and he wants it the family will likely be uprooted

Chances are that Carolina will go for a bigger name but I do think there is a chance that T.J. takes the job if offered to him. I mean, it's North Carolina which is arguably a top 3 job in the country. That's a big temptation.
Click to expand...
Agreeed. But the pressure to win is quite high. 4 years ago UNC was in the title game. This year they had a solid team, beat Duke, but lost their star player to an ACL injury.
I saw a stat where UNC’s winning percentage over the last 4 years was better than Izzo. But at UNC, you have to make the S16 more times than not.

Great opportunity for anyone who wants the job. But the pressure will be immense
 
  • Like
Reactions: Texbudman and xr4ticlone
Cyclonepride said:
TJ is one of the 10 best coaches in the country, and should be paid accordingly (I think he was 38th last year). I don't think we have to match every offer, but we at least need to be in the ballpark for what he could get on the open market.
Click to expand...
TJ was paid $3.5 million in 2025 at #38. I think he got bumped to $4 million this year. A bump to $4.5 million would put him at #18 which would be #5 or #6 in the Big 12. I think that is where we are going to have to land. It will take $5.2 million to get to #10.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Reactions: Jkclone15, xr4ticlone, Cyclonepride and 1 other person
rochclone said:
TJ was paid $3.5 million in 2025 at #38. I think he got bumped to $4 million this year. A bump to $4.5 million would put him at #18 which would be #5 or #6 in the Big 12. I think that is where we are going to have to land. It will take $5.2 million to get to #10.
Click to expand...
We’re all gonna need to upgrade our grain handling equipment…if you’re farmer or not.
 
Cyhig said:
Agreeed. But the pressure to win is quite high. 4 years ago UNC was in the title game. This year they had a solid team, beat Duke, but lost their star player to an ACL injury.
I saw a stat where UNC’s winning percentage over the last 4 years was better than Izzo. But at UNC, you have to make the S16 more times than not.

Great opportunity for anyone who wants the job. But the pressure will be immense
Click to expand...
Yes, and it's not like college football where the necessary resources to compete for championships can only realistically be had in a select few places.

He's got great support, a great fanbase, a program with a proud tradition, is coaching in the best conference in America, and he's arguably had a couple teams capable of competing for a national championship already.

More NIL would be nice, but are you really going to attract many more of the type of guys that compete at the level he demands with more money to spread around?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cyhig
I could swear the controlling forces of college sports, and in this case basketball, only want about 8 teams to have top coaches, players and win each championship. It's a stale discussion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Urbandale2013
xr4ticlone said:
They typically stay inside the family.

TJ’s returning to Ames says a lot about his desire to be here. He didn’t have to come back, he was gonna have other D1 opportunities regardless.

UNC is gonna have 5 star aspirations and that’s a hard fit to fill for a disciple coach like TJ. Much like McDermott struggled to find higher end players to run his system here.
Click to expand...
I don't think people were exactly lining up to hire the guy that went 29-30 at UNLV.

Jamie took a pretty big swing that worked out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cig 'em, Big Daddy Kang and Jkclone15
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Help Support Us

Become a patron
Top Bottom