If Coach Fox is in-deed our new men's basketball coach who do you think he will hire or what are your recommendations for assistant coaches?

The last time time App State hired a new head coach they partnered then with someone with head coaching experience (Coach Capel and Rick Scruggs) and When the school hired a football coach last season they then turned and hired a big splash assistant in Nate Woody. So there is good reason to think the school will try and good for a big splash assistant too.

Here are some suggestions to get to get the ball rolling:

Matt McMahon - former App State assistant and friend of Coach Fox.

Tim Sweeney - associate head coach at Elon and served along side Coach Fox as an assistant at Davidson.

Nate Summers(or someone else off of Georgia State's staff) - currently the director of Basketball operations, Georgia State has perhaps the best basketball program in the Sun Belt.

Mike Jarvis - recently fired from FAU coached in the Sun Belt for a number of years.

(this one is probably not going to happen)
Matt Doherty: former assistant at Davidson, he went on to coach at UNC-Chapel Hill and Notre Dame. He currently works for ESPN. This one is probably not going to happen but it would be rather interesting if it did.

Jarvis isn't going to happen, he only took the FIU job to give him a paycheck while he prepared for retirement in South Florida, he basically been in semi retirement since he was hired by FIU.

spong wrote:I
(this one is probably not going to happen)
Matt Doherty: former assistant at Davidson, he went on to coach at UNC-Chapel Hill and Notre Dame. He currently works for ESPN. This one is probably not going to happen but it would be rather interesting if it did.

Matt was a couple / few years behind me at Chapel Hill. He has more Chapel Hill / Long Island arrogance (my opinion) than could possibly fit in a town like Boone. He's been on Wall Street; his head coaching efforts at his alma mater were a bit less than stellar. ESPN is a great place for him - again, my opinion.

Would think our new coach Fox, if he is our new coach, would never
choose Matt Doherty as an assistant. If so, would immediately
question he's being here.

Buzz Peterson's available!

Seriously, I can't see any coach with much name recognition coming to Boone as an assistant.

GoApps70 wrote:Would think our new coach Fox, if he is our new coach, would never
choose Matt Doherty as an assistant. If so, would immediately
question he's being here.

Not to worry, anyone. Doherty would want a salary in the mid-to-high six figures. That isn't going to happen. I do think there will be at least one Long Islander selected by Fox. He'll depend on his old stomping grounds for some of his recruits. And we do have to admit that many of those NYC and Long Island players are both skilled and mentally tough.

Doherty's an NBA scout now. Not sure what that pays but I have to think it's more than an assistant at App, and probably better future opportunities too given his track record. Also, I don't think there's much on his resume that would recommend him other than signing one good recruiting class at UNC.

Other than that, seems like a perfect fit.

Summers is very realistic. Sweeny is possible. Don't know why McMahon would come back here. Murray State pays better and if he stays he will probably be the top assistant in a power conference when if the HC moves on. Maybe he would even have a shot at becoming Murray State's next HC.

wataugan03 wrote:Summers is very realistic. Sweeny is possible. Don't know why McMahon would come back here. Murray State pays better and if he stays he will probably be the top assistant in a power conference when if the HC moves on. Maybe he would even have a shot at becoming Murray State's next HC.

I think Matt is making around $86,000 or $87,000. If we offered him $100,000 (which based off what most Sun Belt teams spend on basketball and that Coach Fox's salary should be on the lower side since he is has no head coaching experience should be do able if the athletic department is serious about building this program) to come back and be the associate head coaching job it would be a step up from where he is now (being the 2nd assistant on staff) and it would mean he could return home. It might take him out of the discussion or it could help him when the head job comes open at Murray State.

I don't know if Matt would do it or not but Coach Fox and him are friends and it is not much different than what Coach Satterfield did when he left Florida International to become the Associate Head Coach here in 2012.

spong wrote:I don't know if Matt would do it or not but Coach Fox and him are friends and it is not much different than what Coach Satterfield did when he left Florida International to become the Associate Head Coach here in 2012.

Two big differences:

1) Satterfield was not passed over and basically ignored twice for the HC position when he would have been an obvious choice, or at least a sensible one.

2) Satterfield came back to be AHC under a 72 year old HC who was clearly nearing the end of his run. It was pretty clear the head job would be open soon, and he'd be in prime position for it. MM would be coming in under a 41 year old who's just starting, and even if the job did open up, why would Matt assume he'd be given any more consideration for it than he was the last two times?

What about Steve Shurina?

Former assistant at Davidson and Vanderbilt he was the head coach at Western Carolina for 5 years. I think him and coach Fox missed each other and Davidson so I don't know how well they know each other and I don't think Steve Shurina has coached since being leaving at Western. He only when 27 and 60. I don't know what he has been up to since 2005.

Consider this March/April Madness App State style. Whoever can guess the coaching staff next year wins the pot.

spong wrote:If Coach Fox is in-deed our new men's basketball coach who do you think he will hire or what are your recommendations for assistant coaches?
(this one is probably not going to happen)
Matt Doherty: former assistant at Davidson, he went on to coach at UNC-Chapel Hill and Notre Dame. He currently works for ESPN. This one is probably not going to happen but it would be rather interesting if it did.

You have to be really weird to "aspire" to that.

What about Houston Fancher as an assistant?

appgrouch wrote:What about Houston Fancher as an assistant?

Who was it that said, "You cannot be serious!!!!"

spong wrote:What about Steve Shurina?

Former assistant at Davidson and Vanderbilt he was the head coach at Western Carolina for 5 years. I think him and coach Fox missed each other and Davidson so I don't know how well they know each other and I don't think Steve Shurina has coached since being leaving at Western. He only when 27 and 60. I don't know what he has been up to since 2005.

Consider this March/April Madness App State style. Whoever can guess the coaching staff next year wins the pot.

Appalachian State's history with marijuana is well documented.....but I don't think we need to be giving it away to the winner of same guessing game.

asu66 wrote:

appgrouch wrote:What about Houston Fancher as an assistant?

Who was it that said, "You cannot be serious!!!!"

John McEnroe

asu66 wrote:

appgrouch wrote:What about Houston Fancher as an assistant?

Who was it that said, "You cannot be serious!!!!"

Tell me why this is so out of line:
1) We need someone that can help recruit to build back up the team
2) We need someone that can help get the APR mess cleaned up
3) We need someone that can go out in the area and talk people into the building

Houston checks off each of those boxes. I'm not saying him as a head coach in waiting, but we need some good experienced assistances with a skill set, Houston has them.

appgrouch wrote:

asu66 wrote:

appgrouch wrote:What about Houston Fancher as an assistant?

Who was it that said, "You cannot be serious!!!!"

Tell me why this is so out of line:
1) We need someone that can help recruit to build back up the team
2) We need someone that can help get the APR mess cleaned up
3) We need someone that can go out in the area and talk people into the building

Houston checks off each of those boxes. I'm not saying him as a head coach in waiting, but we need some good experienced assistances with a skill set, Houston has them.

Of all the suggestions this might be the hardest to defend....if you know anything about the proximity of the two households when Houston was let go. Cobb and Houston shared a property line. Now while the two boys involved might have looked at it like it was just business....I would think that Houston's wife might put her foot down in this case.....if she has any input at all! I am pretty open minded and I do not know if I could return under these circumstances.

asutrnr81 wrote:

appgrouch wrote:

asu66 wrote:

appgrouch wrote:What about Houston Fancher as an assistant?

Who was it that said, "You cannot be serious!!!!"

Tell me why this is so out of line:
1) We need someone that can help recruit to build back up the team
2) We need someone that can help get the APR mess cleaned up
3) We need someone that can go out in the area and talk people into the building

Houston checks off each of those boxes. I'm not saying him as a head coach in waiting, but we need some good experienced assistants with a skill set, Houston has them.

Of all the suggestions this might be the hardest to defend....if you know anything about the proximity of the two households when Houston was let go. Cobb and Houston shared a property line. Now while the two boys involved might have looked at it like it was just business....I would think that Houston's wife might put her foot down in this case.....if she has any input at all! I am pretty open minded and I do not know if I could return under these circumstances.

See that is the thing, If we offered the job to Houston, he might find anyone of many valid reasons to turn us down. But as far as reasons we wouldn't offer him a job, besides W/L which as an assistant would not be his job, can we find a valid reason that he wouldn't be good for the program. All that could happen is he says no, which he would be well within his right to do, but it would get the program back on track and help to ease the pain that are in the toes of some alumni, supporters, and backers of the program over the choices made in the last 5 years.

People who are realistically proposing the idea of McMahon or Fancher don't have much of a sense of pride or timing.....
McMahon has been passed over for this job TWICE, watching people without the resume that he has get the job. Fancher was a relatively successful head coach here, but he was fired by the AD that is still in charge.