Agree. Fan bases are ready to give talented guys second chances, when they're coming to their own team. I could be wrong, but at least both Royce and BDJ never publicly bad- mouthed their previous coaches on their way out. That was an extra bad look by the Lawsons. Probably all about their dad, tho.
Lawsons leave Memphis on a low note
- Thread starter SCyclone
- Start date
Agree. Fan bases are ready to give talented guys second chances, when they're coming to their own team. I could be wrong, but at least both Royce and BDJ never publicly bad- mouthed their previous coaches on their way out. That was an extra bad look by the Lawsons. Probably all about their dad, tho.
Tubby Smith isnt the victim here. He is the reason this all is happening. He preferred to give an assistant coaching job to his son, Saul Smith and demoted Keelon Lawson to an admin position even after the AD promised that Mr. Lawson would keep his assistant position.
An assistant coach's job is in part to deliver recruits and to provide an "in" into a key recruiting area. Mr. Lawson as an assistant coach GUARANTEED that Memphis would land 4 top 50 players because they were his sons and made a 5th very likely because it was his nephew.
He also was allowed access to Memphis AAU team practices that no other coach in the nation had courtesy of being the parent of a player. Memphis relies heavily on recruiting their own city. It is a hotbed of excellent recruits.
But instead, Tubby had to make sure his son had a job, despte him being a questionable coach and recruiter with zero ties to the area.
Yeah, sorry but Tubby chose his when he decided not keep Lawson on as a coach. Dumb.
It was dumb for the kid to post this but landing two transfers because they chose to leave a school after a promise to keep their father on staff was not kept feels a lot better than landing transfers who left due to behavior/legal troubles. As Adam Gray pointed out, ISU made a name for themselves doing this to the point that they were dubbed "Transfer U" and those players were greeted with open arms and cheered on as they played or ISU.
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Absolutely right. But they would still be criticized for it and plenty of Iowa State fans would be upset by it and plenty of our opponents fans would bash it. I don't see what is wrong by saying that they were kind of ******** in leaving Memphis like they did.
I for one can rest easy now that Tuco has come on here and set us all straight.
He's right, though; it is totally unethical for Tubby to demote a coach who was only given a job to land his sons as recruits but it is totally okay to give the guy a job simply on the merits of his progeny.
He's right, though; it is totally unethical for Tubby to demote a coach who was only given a job to land his sons as recruits but it is totally okay to give the guy a job simply on the merits of his progeny.
Lawson had been the head basketball coach at a top tier high school in Memphis for 11 years prior to getting that job at Memphis and won multiple state titles there . He was certainly qualified for the job.
For reference, TJ Otzelberger had been a HS coach in Wisconsin outside of Milwaukee for just 3 years and an assistant at a dinky college for 1 year prior to landing an assistant coaching position at ISU. He was hired because he was an "in" into the Milwaukee recruitung world and that resulted in ISU landing multiple players from that area.
This is no different, except that Lawson also has kids who are elite recruits in addition to the Memphis area players he had an "in" with.
So what staff position is he taking at KU?
None, but if another one of our assistants get poached for a HC gig any time soon then I would fully support hiring Lawson. In addition to his kids, the Tennessee recruiting area is loaded with talent. Five of the Rivals Top 150 for '18 are from TN, three of them from Memphis and none of them are Lawson's relatives.
