Wes Flanigan - a solid hire

I think the promotion of Wes Flanigan to Head Coach at Little Rock was a solid hire. If not a home run, it was at least a solid extra-base hit. There are several factors that make it so.

First, Wes is ready to become a head coach. He played at a high-D1 level and has been an assistant at two high-D1 programs and also at UAB, which is similar to our situation. Not to mention the fact that he also was an assistant here in Little Rock. He has seen a wide spectrum of college basketball and learned what to do (and not to do) from a number of head coaches at different levels. He has been involved in successful and not-so-successful years. He has recruited from the deep South, the Southwest, and the Great Plains. No, he has not had head coaching experience, but then at one point neither had Adolph Rupp, John Wooden or any of the great head coaches. You have to start somewhere.

 Second, Little Rock is poised to rachet our program up a notch. We have been mired in the so-so region of basketball for a good many years, and then we had the break-out this last season. It is IMPERATIVE that we maintain that momentum. Right now continuity is of paramount importance. We do not need anything rocking the boat right now. Chasse Conque has had a year to watch Wes in action as an assistant. If Wes were unqualified (in any way) to be the head coach, then the AD was under no obligation to promote him and no one would have thought much about it if he had not. The fact that he did means that he was well satisfied that Wes is ready for the responsibility, and he is the person in the best position to know. We saw last year that Chasse is his own man, and if he hired Wes, it was because he was personally convinced that it was the best thing for the program.

Third, the players seem to be in favor of Wes being the new coach. Now, it would be suicidal to let players choose their boss, but if they do already like the incoming coach, that is a big plus.

Could we have hired someone with more impressive credentials than Wes Flanigan? Possibly. But I do not think we could have gotten someone with a great deal better resume. Plus, whoever we hired would not have been able to provide a seamless transition, which we  badly need right now. No doubt recruiting has already begun to replace the very large class that will be leaving after next season, and if we are to avoid a big drop-off, that recruiting MUST be a success.

Is this the best candidate we could have gotten in absolute terms? Probably not, although I doubt we would have gotten anyone a great deal better. To his credit, Chasse resisted the ego trip of getting to say he was conducting a national search following a 30 win season, made the decision, and moved ahead. However, taking under consideration the factors in play, Flanigan was a good choice, and probably the best choice. And we now can hit the ground running.