Monday, April 9, 2012

Monday's sparse WAC hoops listings

Matt Sonnenberg continues with his Aggie player ratings -- Mitch Bruneel is in the hot seat today.

+++++

Not WAC-related but what a series of very intriguing coaching moves at Texas Christian University. Jim Christian departs after an 18-15 and 7-7 season (his best record there but still 56-73 overall) in the Mountain West Conference, just prior to a jump to the Big 12.

He lands at Ohio University in the Mid-American Conference (he used to coach at Kent State). It seems like a step down in prestige although his new and old salaries are supposed to be similar. There had to be some heat for the earlier records so maybe he was getting ahead of any move by his Horned Owl AD.

Now, Trent Johnson (who was certainly under fire), departs LSU (67-64 record in four seasons) and the Southeastern Conference for TCU (and the Big 12). That is a step down but he obviously felt the ejection seat was approaching.

Christian had great success earlier while at Kent State so the attraction from the Bobcats is understandable.

Johnson was so-so (79-74) at Nevada but much more successful at Stanford. He departed The Farm after some sort of difficulty with the AD there. TCU will always be a football school and life in the Big 12 (Kansas, Baylor, Texas, Missouri, et al) doesn't appear to be more amenable. Plus, it was certainly much easier to recruit to Baton Rouge than it will be to Fort Worth.

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