Steve Lutz Strong Candidate in Oklahoma State Coaching Search

Ugh

Zach Lancaster said:

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RodeoPoke said:

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Ugh

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He's been to three-straight NCAA tournaments, turning both programs around immediately, including the first tournament appearance for WKU since 2013 and the first appearance for TAMU CC since 07. He won the regular season conference title and two conference tournament championships with TAMU CC and the conference tournament with WKU. He's a defensive minded coach and was a long-time assistant at Creighton and Purdue, two programs with great head coaches a lot of success. Why ugh?

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I read the article...

only 3 years as a HC at some places that anybody should win.

3 of our last 4 HCs had more pedigree than that, Sean didn't last a minute, Ford was good but got run out of town anyway, Underwood wasn't going to put up with our bad support ...

maybe the powers that be know more about the sad shape of our program than I, but we should be dumping big bucks to get a HOF level coach in here.

so.. UGH - settling for another potential flash-in-the-pan while hoping that he might work out in the B12 mix-master that chews coaches up. Maybe that's where were at these days, take the pittance we can offer and hope for something good to happen.

that's where we seem to be these days.... hope as the only strategy

NJAggie said:

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Zach Lancaster said:

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RodeoPoke said:

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Ugh

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He's been to three-straight NCAA tournaments, turning both programs around immediately, including the first tournament appearance for WKU since 2013 and the first appearance for TAMU CC since 07. He won the regular season conference title and two conference tournament championships with TAMU CC and the conference tournament with WKU. He's a defensive minded coach and was a long-time assistant at Creighton and Purdue, two programs with great head coaches a lot of success. Why ugh?

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Thanks for the update Zach. You're right on that he's not flashy. There were no flashy options in the pool this year. He seems solid and I would think if he's the one he'll have a real chance to own this job and get us back to being competitive.

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Devries was the one I was hoping for, but I agree, there are no slam dunk options available (at least not that are leaving their current situation to put out this dumpster fire). I'm fine with Lutz, just give him more NIL support and let's see what happens. Need to hire someone ASAP.

Gregg Marshall is a Final 4 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Chris Mack is an Elite 8 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Will Wade has taken 3 teams to the tournament and made the Sweet 16.

We decided to hire someone that's never beaten a good team in his entire career. It feels like we passed up quality in favor of fit. I hope it works out, but I'm not excited about this hire.

"this hire"???

Has something been announced?

WichitaCowboy said:

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"this hire"???

Has something been announced?

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The official announcement hasn't come out yet, but all reports are that he's the guy. I guess I should change my terminology until it actually happens. Sometimes things fall through.

What HoF coach do you think is coming through the doors? Here is the facts. Sean was a DISASTER, Ford was inconsistent and Boynton was as bad as Sean. Holder handicapped the program by giving Ford and Boynton those ridiculous extensions making the next guy not being able to be paid what he deserves (namely Underwood). Brad wanted to get paid and OSU wasn't in a position to do so yet. The support will be there with an HC who knows what the heck they're doing. Lutz's success is a small sample but he's already got a better resume than Boynton had in 7 years at OSU.

Mrdeeds26 said:

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What HoF coach do you think is coming through the doors? Here is the facts. Sean was a DISASTER, Ford was inconsistent and Boynton was as bad as Sean. Holder handicapped the program by giving Ford and Boynton those ridiculous extensions making the next guy not being able to be paid what he deserves (namely Underwood). Brad wanted to get paid and OSU wasn't in a position to do so yet. The support will be there with an HC who knows what the heck they're doing. Lutz's success is a small sample but he's already got a better resume than Boynton had in 7 years at OSU.

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yeah, that's pretty much what I said...

not hardly fair to compare Boynton's 7 years - he got fired.

I did not include Boynton in my list (I said 3 of the last 4), and I said pedigree AT THE TIME THEY WERE HIRED, not how they performed afterwards, that's the whole point, we don't have any idea how this guy might perform in a high pressure job.

Mrdeeds26 said:

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What HoF coach do you think is coming through the doors? Here is the facts. Sean was a DISASTER, Ford was inconsistent and Boynton was as bad as Sean. Holder handicapped the program by giving Ford and Boynton those ridiculous extensions making the next guy not being able to be paid what he deserves (namely Underwood). Brad wanted to get paid and OSU wasn't in a position to do so yet. The support will be there with an HC who knows what the heck they're doing. Lutz's success is a small sample but he's already got a better resume than Boynton had in 7 years at OSU.

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Well all indications are that the money was there to pay Brad, but Holder tried to bargain him down just because you know lets save a few bucks.

RodeoPoke said:

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Mrdeeds26 said:

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What HoF coach do you think is coming through the doors? Here is the facts. Sean was a DISASTER, Ford was inconsistent and Boynton was as bad as Sean. Holder handicapped the program by giving Ford and Boynton those ridiculous extensions making the next guy not being able to be paid what he deserves (namely Underwood). Brad wanted to get paid and OSU wasn't in a position to do so yet. The support will be there with an HC who knows what the heck they're doing. Lutz's success is a small sample but he's already got a better resume than Boynton had in 7 years at OSU.

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yeah, that's pretty much what I said...

not hardly fair to compare Boynton's 7 years - he got fired.

I did not include Boynton in my list (I said 3 of the last 4), and I said pedigree AT THE TIME THEY WERE HIRED, not how they performed afterwards, that's the whole point, we don't have any idea how this guy might perform in a high pressure job.

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You didn't answer his question? What HOF coach would take this job? I'm sure Chad reached out to several and was politely told to go away. Like was mentioned in the national articles, the OSU job was basically at the very bottom of the P5 openings. Chad swung and missed, that happens when a program has been this bad, combined with little NIL support and non-existent crowds. Hopefully Lutz, if he's the guy, will start to right the ship.

NJAggie said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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Gregg Marshall is a Final 4 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Chris Mack is an Elite 8 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Will Wade has taken 3 teams to the tournament and made the Sweet 16.

We decided to hire someone that's never beaten a good team in his entire career. It feels like we passed up quality in favor of fit. I hope it works out, but I'm not excited about this hire.

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Yeah lets hire someone that is really questionable as a human being.

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How did you feel about Eddie Sutton being hired right after he was fired for a cheating scandal?

Sometimes if you want to win, you have to hire someone with baggage. I can understand not hiring Marshall because he has a ton of baggage, but Mack has very little, and what Wade did is now legal with NIL.

PokeSmot75 said:

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You didn't answer his question? What HOF coach would take this job? I'm sure Chad reached out to several and was politely told to go away. Like was mentioned in the national articles, the OSU job was basically at the very bottom of the P5 openings. Chad swung and missed, that happens when a program has been this bad, combined with little NIL support and non-existent crowds. Hopefully Lutz, if he's the guy, will start to right the ship.

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I answered it previously, and I also said perhaps the program is in such bad shape that would couldn't afford to attract a Matta, or similar potential HOF coach.

I seriously doubt that Weisberg contacted anybody with HOF pedigree.

Underwood was high potential and we landed him. It can be done.

Lutz? I thought we were strong after the Indiana State coach who is still playing in the NIT.

no matter....

LS1Z28 said:

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NJAggie said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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Gregg Marshall is a Final 4 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Chris Mack is an Elite 8 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Will Wade has taken 3 teams to the tournament and made the Sweet 16.

We decided to hire someone that's never beaten a good team in his entire career. It feels like we passed up quality in favor of fit. I hope it works out, but I'm not excited about this hire.

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Yeah lets hire someone that is really questionable as a human being.

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How did you feel about Eddie Sutton being hired right after he was fired for a cheating scandal?

Sometimes if you want to win, you have to hire someone with baggage. I can understand not hiring Marshall because he has a ton of baggage, but Mack has very little, and what Wade did is now legal with NIL.

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Samsung is coaching at Houston Cougars, after being kicked out of the NCAA for 3 years with a "show cause" order to return.

what he was "convicted" of doing is no longer illegal.

I thought maybe the lack of news was because we were chasing Indiana State coach who is still alive in NIT.

RodeoPoke said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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NJAggie said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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Gregg Marshall is a Final 4 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Chris Mack is an Elite 8 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Will Wade has taken 3 teams to the tournament and made the Sweet 16.

We decided to hire someone that's never beaten a good team in his entire career. It feels like we passed up quality in favor of fit. I hope it works out, but I'm not excited about this hire.

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Yeah lets hire someone that is really questionable as a human being.

---

How did you feel about Eddie Sutton being hired right after he was fired for a cheating scandal?

Sometimes if you want to win, you have to hire someone with baggage. I can understand not hiring Marshall because he has a ton of baggage, but Mack has very little, and what Wade did is now legal with NIL.

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Samsung is coaching at Houston Cougars, after being kicked out of the NCAA for 3 years with a "show cause" order to return.

what he was "convicted" of doing is no longer illegal.

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Yep, and I don't think there are a lot of Houston fans regretting his hire. It will be interesting to see if he can make a run at the National Championship this year.

I've come to the conclusion that its going to take a TON of Energy and Skill to bring Oklahoma State's basketball program back to life. Money is very helpful, but money without the first two will most likely be waisted.

It would be great to get Bill Self, but that's a low probability outcome (although maybe higher than its been in years).

At this point, a guy like Coach Lutz is the most likely candidate. I'm as happy with him as any of the candidates in the "probable" pool. He's won at multiple schools that didn't have recent traditions of winning. The experiment will be to see if he can do it on the Big 12's stage. Oklahoma State doesn't seem to have the money to do anything but experiment. Are our alumni that "poor", or are we all descendants of depression era agricultural folks who've passed along the "hand me downs" mentality?

What do you all think?

A quick "good ol days" sidetrack: I was at Oklahoma State from 99-03. I remember GREAT basketball, and learning to be hopeful about football. I went to the last bedlam inside old GIA. I sat on the top row. I could reach up and grab the steel rafters. It was hot, sweaty, and freaking loud. I was screaming at the person sitting next to me and they couldn't understand me. It's one of the best sports memories I had at OSU (along with the final fours, beating Kansas, etc). Conversely, my "stretch goal" for the football team was to have a winning season. I didn't know what it was like to go to a bowl game. ....translate that to the current state of OSU. I'm looking for a guy that can start by consistently winning and getting the basketball team regularly back to the NCAA tournament. Once he does, we're going to need to pony up the money to keep him...or maybe Bill Self will be ready to come back to Stillwater by then.

OSU has created a mess of basketball. The millions spent on two buyouts of coaches who had recently received great extensions is expensive monetarily and emotionally on supporters. Handing over more money after these poor money/contract management will be tough.

We almost have to settle for a coach on the rise with energy and motivation.

What's the status of Boone Picken's money? Did we spend/lose it all?

DaGreat918 said:

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What's the status of Boone Picken's money? Did we spend/lose it all?

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I believe the last bit we got from his final estate was just used on the renovation of BPS seating.

LS1Z28 said:

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NJAggie said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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Gregg Marshall is a Final 4 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Chris Mack is an Elite 8 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Will Wade has taken 3 teams to the tournament and made the Sweet 16.

We decided to hire someone that's never beaten a good team in his entire career. It feels like we passed up quality in favor of fit. I hope it works out, but I'm not excited about this hire.

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Yeah lets hire someone that is really questionable as a human being.

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How did you feel about Eddie Sutton being hired right after he was fired for a cheating scandal?

Sometimes if you want to win, you have to hire someone with baggage. I can understand not hiring Marshall because he has a ton of baggage, but Mack has very little, and what Wade did is now legal with NIL.

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Totally different because we all knew it was UK and not Eddie that was cheating. He was their fall guy.

RodeoPoke said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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NJAggie said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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Gregg Marshall is a Final 4 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Chris Mack is an Elite 8 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Will Wade has taken 3 teams to the tournament and made the Sweet 16.

We decided to hire someone that's never beaten a good team in his entire career. It feels like we passed up quality in favor of fit. I hope it works out, but I'm not excited about this hire.

---

Yeah lets hire someone that is really questionable as a human being.

---

How did you feel about Eddie Sutton being hired right after he was fired for a cheating scandal?

Sometimes if you want to win, you have to hire someone with baggage. I can understand not hiring Marshall because he has a ton of baggage, but Mack has very little, and what Wade did is now legal with NIL.

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Samsung is coaching at Houston Cougars, after being kicked out of the NCAA for 3 years with a "show cause" order to return.

what he was "convicted" of doing is no longer illegal.

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Cheaters will just find new ways to cheat. It's not specific rules they won't abide by it's the current rules.

NJAggie said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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NJAggie said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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Gregg Marshall is a Final 4 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Chris Mack is an Elite 8 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Will Wade has taken 3 teams to the tournament and made the Sweet 16.

We decided to hire someone that's never beaten a good team in his entire career. It feels like we passed up quality in favor of fit. I hope it works out, but I'm not excited about this hire.

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Yeah lets hire someone that is really questionable as a human being.

---

How did you feel about Eddie Sutton being hired right after he was fired for a cheating scandal?

Sometimes if you want to win, you have to hire someone with baggage. I can understand not hiring Marshall because he has a ton of baggage, but Mack has very little, and what Wade did is now legal with NIL.

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Totally different because we all knew it was UK and not Eddie that was cheating. He was their fall guy.

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Eddie Sutton had an assistant coach paying players at Kentucky. If he didn't know about it, he should have. Plus he had well documented problems with alcoholism. He checked into rehab while at UK.

I loved Coach Sutton, but he definitely came with baggage. Despite it, he still ushered in the most successful era of Cowboy basketball since the 50's. I hope we aren't passing up another great coach now simply because he has baggage as well.

I wanted to hire a proven coach that would generate excitement and sell tickets. I don't think we're getting that with Lutz. Most fans I know didn't even know who he was until he was mentioned for our job. I'll support whoever we hire though. Hopefully he turns out to be a great coach.

LS1Z28 said:

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NJAggie said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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NJAggie said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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Gregg Marshall is a Final 4 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Chris Mack is an Elite 8 coach sitting out there unemployed.
Will Wade has taken 3 teams to the tournament and made the Sweet 16.

We decided to hire someone that's never beaten a good team in his entire career. It feels like we passed up quality in favor of fit. I hope it works out, but I'm not excited about this hire.

---

Yeah lets hire someone that is really questionable as a human being.

---

How did you feel about Eddie Sutton being hired right after he was fired for a cheating scandal?

Sometimes if you want to win, you have to hire someone with baggage. I can understand not hiring Marshall because he has a ton of baggage, but Mack has very little, and what Wade did is now legal with NIL.

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Totally different because we all knew it was UK and not Eddie that was cheating. He was their fall guy.

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Eddie Sutton had an assistant coach paying players at Kentucky. If he didn't know about it, he should have. Plus he had well documented problems with alcoholism. He checked into rehab while at UK.

I loved Coach Sutton, but he definitely came with baggage. Despite it, he still ushered in the most successful era of Cowboy basketball since the 50's. I hope we aren't passing up another great coach now simply because he has baggage as well.

I wanted to hire a proven coach that would generate excitement and sell tickets. I don't think we're getting that with Lutz. Most fans I know didn't even know who he was until he was mentioned for our job. I'll support whoever we hire though. Hopefully he turns out to be a great coach.

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Being aware of it and being the perpetrator of it are 2 different things. There is no evidence of any cheating in Eddie Sutton's other stops. Kentucky was a well known center of cheating and point shaving from the times of the most corrupt Rupt through his successors. Eddie had to accept the corruption, but he wasn't the man who did it.

Interesting post that popped up today saying a guy took the JMU job, he had been waiting to get an interview at WKU, but Steve Lutz to OSU is not done so he went ahead and took the JMU job.

This is a really good hire by JMU.

Spradlin has done a hell of a job at Morehead State with VERY limited resources.

Spradlin has gone to a pair of NCAA tourneys. https://t.co/vLcOhuEwFA

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 29, 2024

It's odd to go this long between the unofficial hiring announcement and the official announcement. They are stuck on some point of the contract, or someone else has started knocking on Steve Lutz's door.

DaGreat918 said:

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It's odd to go this long between the unofficial hiring announcement and the official announcement. They are stuck on some point of the contract, or someone else has started knocking on Steve Lutz's door.

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Yes it is. I agree on why.

DaGreat918 said:

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It's odd to go this long between the unofficial hiring announcement and the official announcement. They are stuck on some point of the contract, or someone else has started knocking on Steve Lutz's door.

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Monday is April 1st. This is the date that Boynton's buyout was set to drop. I wonder if he's still technically employed until then and they're just waiting to make the change official?

LS1Z28 said:

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DaGreat918 said:

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It's odd to go this long between the unofficial hiring announcement and the official announcement. They are stuck on some point of the contract, or someone else has started knocking on Steve Lutz's door.

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Monday is April 1st. This is the date that Boynton's buyout was set to drop. I wonder if he's still technically employed until then and they're just waiting to make the change official?

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I'm sure his lawyer or his agent would have something to say about that, unless that was part of the total buy-out agreement. (take cash up front and avoid pay-out over several years, where the amount could drop, if there was a "new employment" clause).

it's probably more like Robert said, Weiberg is playing it close to his vest, and none of these speculating yahoo's have a clue what is next.

RodeoPoke said:

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LS1Z28 said:

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DaGreat918 said:

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It's odd to go this long between the unofficial hiring announcement and the official announcement. They are stuck on some point of the contract, or someone else has started knocking on Steve Lutz's door.

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Monday is April 1st. This is the date that Boynton's buyout was set to drop. I wonder if he's still technically employed until then and they're just waiting to make the change official?

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I'm sure his lawyer or his agent would have something to say about that, unless that was part of the total buy-out agreement. (take cash up front and avoid pay-out over several years, where the amount could drop, if there was a "new employment" clause).

it's probably more like Robert said, Weiberg is playing it close to his vest, and none of these speculating yahoo's have a clue what is next.

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No doubt CW is keeping things very quiet. But, we have ESPN reporting last night this deal was being done. We're not talking about certain voices out of Tulsa making wild claims because they don't have any info. So we're not talking about anonymous voices or uninformed locals, but major sources that wouldn't have said it if they hadn't heard something from multiple reliable sources. So the fact no announcement has come today could mean they were wrong, or that something is holding up the deal.

Coach Sutton didn't know what he was in for when he arrived at UK. The boosters were completely out of control and had intimate access to the players and were known for coming into the locker room after games and handing cash. Eddie tried to shut all of that down and get them banned from the locker room but with his drinking problems and team struggles at the same time, they wanted him gone and set him up to be the scapegoat. Sending an envelope full of cash that just accidentally breaks open and the person who finds it immediately contacts the media. UH HUH. We all know assistant coaches do all kinds of stuff the HC are unaware of, especially ones that predated the new head coach.