by GoldenWarrior11 » Thu Feb 17, 2022 3:18 pm
Eh, this might be a hot-take, but I view Mike Anderson as a much more superior coach than Bobby Hurley (at least at this point in time).
Bobby Hurley, for reasons unknown, took a very odd job in ASU (a program that has limited historical basketball success, plays behind Arizona in-state and is in the bottom-half of the PAC in terms of job prestige - behind UCLA, Arizona, Washington, USC and Stanford, IMO). ASU has never really sustained any level of high-level success, despite having a beautiful campus and being near one of the top prep school locations for basketball in the country. Hurley has finished near the bottom of the PAC four times (2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021) and has not won a single NCAAT game. Hurley had zero west coast ties or coaching experience, and appears to be a lock to finish near the bottom fo the PAC once again. Hurley's value is in his name, being the son of a legendary HS coach and leading Buffalo to first-place finishes in back-to-back years. Nate Oats performed better at Buffalo, and he is enjoying much more success at Alabama than Hurley is in Arizona.
Conversely, Mike Anderson - across over 20 years as a head coach at the high levels of college basketball - has only ever had one non-winning season (2007-08, Missouri). He has never had a losing season as a head coach. He has taken three different programs to the NCAAT and won at least one game with them. He plays an exciting brand of basketball and always seems to overachieve given its roster (which also can be argued as to his own undoing). They underperformed, IMO, this year given preseason projections, but still have a trajectory going upwards.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Hurley somewhere else this Spring.