Topic: DAILY MAIL: BASKETBALL: D’Antoni settles into job with Thundering Herd

[biggreenarms]

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — New Marshall men’s basketball coach Dan D’Antoni, during his three-decade tenure as head basketball coach at Socastee High in Myrtle Beach, S.C., had a slogan for his squad: “Organized Chaos.”

He wants to revive that concept with his Thundering Herd.

Eschewing patterned offenses and defenses, D’Antoni said Thursday he plans to employ a read-and-react strategy on both sides of the court. He hopes it will lead to an NCAA title, a lofty goal, but one he said will be Marshall’s every season.

“You want to go write that I’m loopy and crazy, go write it, that’s fine,” he said. “But we’re going to go try to win the NCAA. Every time we line up, we want to win that last game. If we get in the tournament and win that last game, we’ll win the championship.”

Winning postseason championships ­— be it Conference USA, the NIT or the NCAA — will mean a boost in D’Antoni’s paycheck, according to his contract, furnished by Marshall to the Daily Mail. D’Antoni, in his first stint as a college head coach at age 66, will make a base annual salary of $200,000 over the next five seasons. He’ll also receive $70,000 for television and radio appearances and $30,000 for fundraising appearances on behalf of the Big Green Scholarship Foundation.

The contract also lists several incentives. He’ll earn $10,000 if named conference coach of the year and $20,000 if named NCAA coach of the year. He’ll earn $10,000 if Marshall finishes in the top 25 of either the final coaches or media poll. A regular season conference title nets him $20,000, as would a conference tournament title.

D’Antoni would get $5,000 if Marshall makes the NIT and $20,000 if the Herd wins it. An NCAA tournament berth would be worth $40,000 and winning the title would earn him $50,000. If D’Antoni leaves for another head coaching job any earlier than 15 months left on his deal, Marshall gets $200,000. If Marshall fires D’Antoni without cause any earlier than the last 12 months of his contract, it owes him $200,000. If he’s fired within the last 12 months, he’ll receive a pro-rated portion of his current annual salary.

Both Marshall’s offense and defense will call for smart, multifaceted players to succeed, D’Antoni said. Offensively, all players on the floor will have to watch the defense’s movements and react accordingly.

“It’s a fast-paced game,” he said. “It creates different scenarios from the defense and you take advantage of it. And if you’ve got smart players who have skills, you can be pretty daggone good.

“The player I’m looking for is a smart player that has skills — especially shooting skills and a little ball handling skills — who love basketball and want to play hard and want to listen and want to be coached,” he continued. “If we can get those five ingredients, then we’ll put a good team on that floor.”

His defensive philosophy also is based on capitalizing on opponent’s mistakes. It’s also a defense where D’Antoni never wants the opposition to know what’s coming.

“When I was coaching high school there were two things I’d tell them: one, I don’t want them to know whether we’re playing a zone or man, and I don’t want them to run a play the entire game,” he said. “If we go into halftime, and they practice for a year trying to run this patterned offense and they can’t run it, we’ve done our job. If they’re in that offense, we’re doing something wrong.

“We’re going to make it chaotic and force them into a chaotic game,” he added. “We’re going to try to take advantage of the mistakes they make.”

The staff that will help him teach those philosophies is a mixture of familiar and new faces. Mark Cline remains from former coach Tom Herrion’s staff. D’Antoni feels he and Cline mesh well and that Cline will be a good representative entering recruits’ homes around the region.

D’Antoni said Cline will be joined by another veteran, Scott Rigot, who has stops as an assistant coach at South Carolina, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Hawaii, Kentucky and Duquesne. The first four teams each made the NCAA tournament when he coached there and Duquesne made the NIT.

“(Former South Carolina head coach) George Felton and (Texas Tech coach) Tubby Smith, who I respect as coaches, went to bat for him heavily,” D’Antoni said. “He was in Europe last year and Asia the year before that. He has ties where I want to establish a recruiting base. And he had the perfect portfolio.”

First-time coach Chris Duhon, who just finished a nine-year NBA career, rounds out the staff. D’Antoni coached Duhon, a former Duke standout, with the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers when he served on younger brother Mike’s staffs for both teams. He knew then Duhon could make the transition to the coaching ranks.

“When we would sit on the bench, he would tell me what’s going on and I could tell he knew,” D’Antoni said. “He had all the ingredients of reading the floor. He had the persona to be a coach.”

As he’s settled into his new job, D’Antoni said the reception he’s received is the one he expected. He sees many who want to feel the excitement for basketball that Marshall fans experienced in year’s past, and he wants to do his part in bringing it back.

“What I want to do is begin the fire in young people and re-establish it in people my age,” he said. “I hope that people my age get up out of their seats and support this team with the passion they had when I was here. I think they can. If they need somebody their age to talk them into it, I’m here.”

Contact sportswriter Derek Redd at derek.redd@dailymailwv.com or 304-348-1712. His blog is at blogs.charlestondailymail.com/marshall. Follow him on Twitter @derekredd.

http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20140515/DM03/140519469/1311

[svherd]

Yeah, Tubby went to bat for Jirsa as well. Jirsa was a great guy, easy to talk to but not a good HC. Lets hope and pray this staff can get it turned around. This year will be tough. I like what he has to say. Good luck to DD and crew!

[FlyHawk98]

I'm so excited for Marshall basketball. From the sounds of it, we are going to be running a very similar style as West Liberty. I know I talk about them a lot on here, but its because that brand of basketball is the most fun to watch. I think Marshall fans are in for a treat coming up. It's also the only way I think we have a shot at winning a National Championship. We get some shooters in here who get hot at the right time and the sky is the limit imo.

[MUonium]

it appears DD won't be looking for how many stars are next to a players name, he'll be looking at your GPA  ;D  also doesn't appear to be anything complicated about his approach...get in top condition, master fundamentals then simply play BB.  sweet and simple.

[whf]

I liked his comments about getting people his age back as energetic supporters of the program and team.  Many of them are still in the arena, but not very aggressive. Maybe they'll become loud like we all were in the Memorial Field House; and teach the younger fans how basketball can be exciting and fun when you participate in the game.

[The Right Stuff]

Good ole Tubby still influencing MU hoops. :o

TRS
MU 71

[_sturt_]

Satisfied with the DD hire itself.

Was reassured by the implication at the presser that there would be someone on the bench with previous NCAA head coaching experience.

So, I get the Cline thing b/c it's routine that you hold over someone from the previous staff, and besides MC is Mingo County born and bred... I get the Duhon thing b/c you want someone on staff who knows how you think as a coach... but I just don't get the Rigot thing, given that DD clearly didn't know him before... given that Tubby obviously didn't think all that highly of him, having not taken him to Minny... and given that the word on the street is that his international linkages rep turned out to be an empty claim, bearing no actual results for UK.

Hope Rigot forces me to eat some crow someday, but count me for now among the unimpressed by the "perfect portfolio."

[FlyHawk98]

I don't think he helped UK get international players because they are already getting the top players here in the US. They are not the type of school who typically needs to go the International route.

Mid major schools such as our selves can make really benefit from international recruiting.

[_sturt_]

I don't think he helped UK get international players because they are already getting the top players here in the US. They are not the type of school who typically needs to go the International route.

Mid major schools such as our selves can make really benefit from international recruiting.

Arguing the point with myself, I thought of that... if Tubby was getting the quality of player he wanted from US schools, then perhaps it wasn't that Rigot was ineffective, but just that any European players he may have otherwise gotten to UK weren't good enough.

But then... why even have him on staff then, if that's his only real calling card?... and, just as telling, why not take him to Minny which might have benefited from the international route in ways that UK couldn't/didn't?

On balance, I have to believe that Rigot had some success somewhere along the line before UK, or he wouldn't have been there in the first place.

But at this point, I believe DD, convinced of the need to establish a place in international recruiting (no doubt, furthered by his brother's European experiences and connections), has bought some sizzle... a guy living off laurels earned several moons ago... betting that there will be some steak. Time will tell... at the risk of exhausting the metaphor... whether it was all blowing smoke.

Ending on a positive...

DD's ego is huge. But I like that. It's Rick Huckabay huge. And there's something to be said for someone who doesn't feel he needs to have that seasoned NCAA HC voice sitting somewhere down the bench.

[parshall2marshall]

Heck I'd be happy with our 1st NCAA tnmt. win, ecstatic over a Sweet-16 appearance.

At least 2 teams had their games-with-a-3-pt-FG streaks broken in this years tnmt. 0-fers. I am very proud of MU's streak although it is only a footnote matched or exceeded by many.

Salient point being it takes more than outside shooting to win at that level. It can be shut down.

p2m

[goherd24]

I'm so excited for Marshall basketball. From the sounds of it, we are going to be running a very similar style as West Liberty. I know I talk about them a lot on here, but its because that brand of basketball is the most fun to watch. I think Marshall fans are in for a treat coming up. It's also the only way I think we have a shot at winning a National Championship. We get some shooters in here who get hot at the right time and the sky is the limit imo.

Exactly. On amy given night, a team that has the ability to shoot well can get hot and become unbeatable. A team of just athletes that can't shoot may have a decent game, but not like Creighton or WL, etc. Those guys shoot well on many just decent shooting nights