The Search Criteria

Before we start to compile a list of potential candidates for the head coaching job, it would be good to review what we want in those candidates and why.

Unlike college football, where there are a limited number of Division 1 programs, finding a candidate with head coaching experience in basketball is much easier. Hiring a basketball head coach who has been a life long assistant is a high risk and is almost never done in the better BCS conference programs. When it has been done, the results have been less than ideal. In football, where you have upwards of 100 players, many of whom need to have specialized skills and none of whom play both ways, assistant coaches have tremendous autonomy. The offensive and defensive coordinators are often head coaches of their discipline which allows them to prove they have the requisite leadership skills. In college basketball, where staff size is generally three assistants or fewer, the head coach makes virtually every decision of import and is deeply involved in all aspects of the program. Projecting a top assistant as a head basketball coach thus becomes very difficult.

Cal will want a coach who has at least two to three years as a head coach at some high level of basketball. More than simply experience is a track record of success as a head coach. If the coach has fewer years in the lead chair, you'll want to see the impact they made relative to the previous regime in terms of winning, catalyzing interest in the program and recruiting. A longer term head coach needs to demonstrate that he can build something that makes steady progress in all three aspects (winning, fan interest and recruiting).

One can discuss whether Cal prefers a coach who has a certain type of system, e.g. getting up and down on offense, full court pressure on defense, etc. While there's little doubt that some of these systems are more fan friendly than others, what's critical is that the coach has a system that is well defined, that he can recruit players to match and that they have the flexibility to modify and adapt this system as time goes on. While this may sound ubiquitous, one could easily argue that Ben Braun had no real system, recruited players of all different types and seemed to be experimenting from year to year.

Many mid major coaches who have the ingredients above have failed to make the jump to the BCS conference programs. Largely, this is the result of their inability to either recruit or manage the talent at that level. When you jump from the WCC or the MWC to the P10, where and how you recruit changes as does the manner in which these youngsters are motivated. Going from young men who were thrilled to play at D1 level and thus willing to buy into whatever the coach is selling to kids who aspire to the NBA is a jump most head coaches fail to make. One mitigant to this risk is to find a coach who’s had experience as an assistant at a top 20 program. Not only do they know what a top program looks and feels like, they have recruited and motivated (often while learning from one of the masters of the profession) the very best talent.

Berkeley is a unique place and requires a unique coach. It's an urban campus in an area laden with talent, but talent this is often not ready for the academic rigors of Cal. You have to deal with an athletic administration that is in consistently in the red and with an academic administration which often views sports as a necessary evil. Most importantly, it's not a school that is right for every student athlete. Jeff Tedford has turned scouting for this fit into an art form as evidenced by the extraordinary low transfer and academic failure rate within his football program. Understanding Cal and the type of student athletes who can succeed here is essential in our next head basketball coach.

In the nice to have category, it would be great to find a head coach who sees themselves as a west coast person. They would know the AAU and top HS programs on the west coast, have an affinity for the Pac 10 players, coaches and officiating. It would also be great to find someone who has tremendous energy and enthusiasm (e.g they are young and charismatic). Unlike Cal football, where traditional alumni booster organizations exist, there are none for basketball. Finding a head coach who can help create these groups would help overcome some of the endemic financial difficulties within the athletic program and hopefully galvanize more fan interest in the program.

The ideal candidate to me would be a younger head coach looking to build their legacy at a program with great facilities, a world class academic reputation and access to tremendous local talent while playing in one of the best basketball conferences in the country. They would have a proven track record, as a head coach, in recruiting and motivating top 50 prep prospects and would arrive at Cal with a system they understand and a plan to get to the Final Four in the next five years. Now it’s time to find that ideal.