Rob Lanier Is Back To UT Basketball

Meh.

Really? Meh?
 
You wanted Phil Jackson?

Tex Winter.

So this is Kenton Paulino’s replacement?

As long as Rick Barnes is going back to the “known,” this was about as good a hire as you can get. He’s got the Texas roots, the recruiting pedigree, and the HC experience. Plus, he’s now worked under Billy Donovan, which is a plus for any coach. I doubt he’s coming back to the staff to just be a Barnes lackey.

As Scip mentions, he’s not the offensive X&O guru that everyone was craving. So he doesn’t have that going for him, which isn’t nice. But he should have the overall coaching package, bringing substantial experience and a HC mentality to an assistant’s role. That did wonders for Steve Lavin at St. John’s.

I’m just speculating, but I think Barnes turns the Findlay/Grassroots CA keys over to Chris Odgen. I’ll be interested to see if Lanier can leverage any of his East Coast recruiting contacts to make headway over there. It’s possible Lanier has some ties or knows of Ro Russell at Christian Faith in Creedmoor, NC. Donovan does have a commitment from ‘12 PG Braxton Ogubeze from nearby United Faith in Charlotte, NC, so it’s possible that Lanier spent time in the NC area. If anyone knows, that would be a nice plus.

Meanwhile, Donovan has brought on ex-HC John Pelphrey as well as ex-HC Norm Roberts to replace Lanier, Richard Pitino (going to work for his dad at Louisville) and Larry Schyatt (took the HC gig at Wyoming). The speculation is that Donovan is going to hire an ace recruiter to fill the 3rd spot. That’s not a bad turnaround for Billy D. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Gator program continues its upswing.

He’s one R away from being a former NBA center or a mayor of Houston. Me likey.

They should forget about recruiting for awhile and focus on staycruiting.

I’m sure Rob’s a fine coach and a fine guy, but it’s not a “change the culture, change the approach” hire.

I would love to be proven wrong.

When was Rorb Lanier a mayor of Houston?

I’m coming to the position that we don’t need as much of a schematic offensive guru as we need a skills development guru. We need guys like Mason and Balbay to develop the threat of a jumpshot over the course of 4 years. We need bigs to develop credible post moves.

Losing freshman sensations will hurt us a lot less if we get more development out of 4 year program guys. Having a relatively simple offensive philosophy is alright if you have more complete players executing it.

Rob was strong enough when he was here to talk back to Barnes — at least a little bit. I would think the experience he picked up at Seina and Florida will not inhibit his willingness to tell Barnes when the Emperor has no clothes.

Agree with GigoloJoe, with an assist to HoyaHorn..

I got nothin’ against Rob Lanier. He’s been places and done things since he left, and all that should be good. In some respects, it will be an advantage to have someone who has been here, knows the coach, knows the state (to the extent that is required), and can evaluate talent. There’s much less of a learning curve, if any.

What concerns me is the same pang I had when Barnes had the best defense in the nation, and when asked how the team could get better, he said they could get better defensively.

Recruiting is at a high level, and at a time when the strategy side of the equation could use a boost, Barnes opted for the great recruiter — and not only that, but also the great recruiter he knew.

This team was limited because the bench was limited, and that was on Barnes. Rob Lanier’s best abilities don’t appear to fix that.

how is he coaching the free throw department?

I don’t think anybody “learns” to shoot in college.

Some guys get a bit better, but I’m having a hard time thinking of one really bad shooter who turned into a really good shooter after high school.

I wasn’t expecting Phil Jackson. I was hoping for a change from someone outside the family. Only thing I see here is that the basketball program will be exactly the same as it was. Which isn’t bad, of course, but when you want to grow as a company or program you don’t hire people you had before. It can work, I suppose, but it doesn’t work all that often.

It’s entirely possible Lanier’s time since he left Texas has allowed him to grow into a coach that can effect that change, I’m just not confident of it.

Hopefully Lanier can provide some “Zen” to the team and cancel out any bad Barnes juju/mindfuck games because I really think that carries over to the free throw line. There are plenty of college big men that couldn’t hit 50% of their mid range jumpers but can shoot 75%+ from the line.

Specific UT examples include TJ Ford and Wangmene. I don’t think you could say either one of them are “good” shooters but they’re both great free throw shooters. Hopefully a combination Kabongo coming in and bringing back Lanier will create a “calm” over the team, similar to the TJ squads….those were the most mentally tough yet relaxed/tight teams Barnes has ever had.

Any thoughts on the Billy Donovan comments that Lanier was being brought in as HCIW? Sounded like sour grapes to me from Donovan.

“Texas officials strongly denied an Associated Press report Tuesday, quoting Florida coach Billy Donovan as saying that Lanier left to become the head coach-in-waiting to Barnes. “Texas has done this before in football,” Donovan told the AP. “There’s a strong possibility — I don’t know all the details — that he could be possibly be coach-in-waiting at Texas. They’ve talked about that."”

HCIW for 10-20 years? For a guy that was fired from Sienna?

Of the last eight coaches at Siena, Lanier’s record was better than one. It’s not like Bob Knight taking Army to the NIT semifinals and then going under .500 his last year there.

They need to keep those options open.

Well the Gators owe us for Muschamp, so it does make sense on a certain level.

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