Mike White's contract is officially approved

Ethan Conley writes about the details of Coach Mike White's contract.

Thursday's WAC basketball morning edition

Coach Mike White has added a frontcourt transfer with three years to play (maybe an Olu clone if he adds some pounds?) from Ole Miss to the Louisiana Tech roster. He doesn't appear in the 2010-12 Mississippi stats so maybe he redshirted last season.

+++++

Colorado State is the winner of the Daniel Bejarano (the transfer from Arizona) sweepstakes. Nevada got a visit and PTW thought Fresno State might be in the mix but that was never mentioned in any of the media reports.

Here's another report that makes it appear it was between CSU and Nevada.

+++++

Ferd Lewis writes that UH, the Stan Sheriff Center specifically, is getting a new bell or whistle (take your pick).

Thursday's world of WAC hoops

Tony Jones writes about Coach Stew Morrill's plans to go all 'Hey Marcel' at the point.

+++++

Jason Jones talks with LT Coach Mike White about recruiting and playing style -- look for the Bulldog 'Fast Five' to be the norm.

+++++

Jonathan Ford writes that Appleby's coming to Ruston (a Rivals sub is required). Don't know if the 6-foot-2 backcourter is bringing the 2 for 20 menu with him. Here's a YouTube video of the young man.

Your Wednesday a.m. WAC basketball report

Mike White has lured his second recruit to Ruston, a 6-foot-3 backcourter out of Florida. Jonathan Ford has video. Jonathan also has a writeup on the signing (a Rivals sub is required).

Here is another video courtesy of Ryan Pannone. 

+++++

A.W. Prince has a new recruiting feature up on Nevada hoops (a sub is required).

+++++

The Fresno Bee offers more on new Bulldog signee Daquan Brown. 

Tuesday and the world of WAC hoops

Ethan Conley has a feature about the direction Coach Mike White wishes to take Louisiana Tech recruiting.

+++++

Dayton Morinaga has more on prep point Shaquille Stokes (shouldn't the original Shaq get a monetary dividend for those named after him?) who apparently will be visiting the islands as part of his recruiting journeys.

+++++

Geez, what's the deal with Gib Arnold's contract? Brian McInnis and Ferd Lewis fill us in on the matter. It's starting to take on Jarndyce v Jarndyce proportions of Dickens' "Bleak House" infamy.

+++++

Bleed Crimson's Sam Wasson is first again with the locating of another Coach Marvin Menzies commit.

+++++

George Hostetter is back with a followup to his Friday blog entry about the funding of Fresno State athletics.

+++++

Shawn Harrison offers a personal feature about Coach Stew Morrill.

Grading the new coaching hires

First, off nobody knows how any new coaching hire is going to turn out. Indications can be 'read' and history 'interpreted' but any predictions of how a new hire -- especially an assistant coach moving three feet over -- will turn out is simply for fun only and to be taken with the proverbial grain of salt.

PTW is typing this because Jeff Goodman, who knows many things basketball, offers a C for the hiring of Rodney Terry at Fresno State:

"I’m just not quite sold on this one. Terry has strong ties in Texas, but heading all the way to Fresno, Ca. didn’t make that much sense to me. He has been on Rick Barnes’ Texas staff for a while and had spurned a couple of opportunities in the past"

Worth noting is that Terry also has ties to Canadian basketbal, plus connections in North Carolina and Virginia -- the latter from previous coaching stops. Being in one of the states (California) that annually produces large numbers of D-1 players is also quite a plus.

In PTW's book (if we ever write one), landing a position with a soon-to-be Mountain West Conference program is a notch on the belt for Terry.

By the way, Mike White's hire earned LT's AD an A- with this Goodman note:

"White may be young, but he’s got quality bloodlines (his father is Duke athletic director Kevin White), and is extremely savvy. This one was outside the box, but I love it"

Let's all meet here in five years.

Friday's a.m. WAC basketball report

Ethan Conley talked with new Louisiana Tech mentor Mike White, who surprisingly kept two existing assistant coaches when the 'norm' is to bring out the broom.

The Shreveport Times offers a Q-and-A with Coach White.

+++++

Westwind Prep point Kiwi Gardner became the anti-Horace Greeley and is taking his game east to Providence. His addition certainly would have perked up the WAC had he gone with Fresno State or New Mexico State but it seems like Providence was it some time ago -- this despite a change in head coaches there.

Mike White completes his staff

Jonathan Ford has the scoop in an article at his Bleed Tech Blue site (a Rivals sub is needed to read it) about the assistant coaches and director of basketball operations hired by new LT Coach Mike White.

PTW on LA TECH hoops

Louisiana Tech is a program that needed an infusion of energy and a fresh direction -- any new coach is awarded a period of time to get it going, usually two to three seasons, and that's what LT required and has purchased in hiring Mike White.

As for anyone who says White will succeed or fail, well, does anyone really know? Really?

Digging into that, X's and O's are generally not the dramatic difference in athletic outcomes in college basketball -- although it's true some coaches are more proficient than others in this aspect.

It all really starts with getting talent. Without that, all the coaching in the world will hit a ceiling unacceptable to donors, fans and athletics directors. Label this the basketball skills and the running and jumping -- call it a raw material of sorts and the foremost building block in any program.

The best mentors also 'develop' what they have to work with although it's never a one way street. The players must be willing to make the effort necessary to deepen and broaden their skills sets, something that unfortunately doesn't happen as often as we think.

As for Kerry Rupp, he cast his lot with a mix of D-1 transfers, some JC-ers, a bit of inherited talent (the pantry was beyond bare when he arrived) and a few newcomers.

Magnum Rolle came over from Louisiana State and Kenneth Cooper from Oklahoma State, although the latter was nowhere near as successful as the former and was booted off the team. LSU signee D.J. Wright almost arrived in Ruston but that's a whole 'nother story. Steady Kyle Gibson was already there. Olu Ashaolu came in as a freshman and leaves as a success story. Nebraska transfer Jamel White and junior college transfer J.C. Clark were dismissed after spending time as Bulldogs as was JC-er DeAndre Brown late this season, a period where senior leadership was absolutely critical but absent.

Rupp did enjoy a couple of seasons in which he had a solid core of talent that was on the court for most of the minutes but it was upperclassmen and the ranks behind this group, for multiple reasons, never coalesced into being ready to assume the roles of their elders.

A major issue was there were too many forced departures which prevented any maintenance of continuity. Plus, there weren't enough high school signees who progressed.

The current roster has one or two starting calibre players. The remainder are either 15 minute a game reserves or actually lacking in WAC level contributional talent. White has to change that level.

He has deep South and in-state recruiting connections and that's where the core of Louisiana Tech's roster must come from. The current Bulldog roster already has such an identity but White must bring in higher caliber raw material.

Playing time will obviously be available and he'll need two or three junior college frontcourters to come in right away in order to stabilize a below par situation. He also needs a 15 points a night wing and a solid prospect at the point.

Getting back to being competitive is his initial task but just as crucial will be landing, in his first pair of recruiting classes, the foundation that will carry LT forward once the eligibility of his initial bunch of junior college upperclassmen is completed.

Rupp wasn't able to do that and paid the price.

Thursday's a.m. WAC items

Jason Jones writes about what the LA TECH athletics administration now must do.

Ethan Conley and Jason Pugh report on the news conference for the announcement of Mike White's hire.

Don't be surprised is an MWhite appears on the Bulldog roster next season -- the new coach sure looks like he can still play and even pass for say a fifth-year senior.

+++++

Dayton Morinaga has photos and print of what the Rainbow Warriors are working on now that spring break has concluded. It sure is different when you are at a destination and don't need to travel to one.

+++++

Chris Murray writes about the Wolf Pack schedule for next season.

+++++

Daniel Lyght reports Montana Coach Wayne Tinkle has been chummy this week with Fresno State officials.