Butler promoted Brad Stevens from assistant to head coach and he took Butler to back-to-back championship games. Gonzaga promoted Mark Few from assistant to head coach and everyone knows that story. It is worth noting that the two biggest recent success stories for non-Power Conference schools have come from internal promotions. My conclusion? Promoting from within is NOT a defective or ill-advised method of procedure for an athletic director to use when filling a vacancy. Sure, he is gambling that the assistant becomes what he thinks he can become, but he knows the assistant well, so it is at least a calculated risk.
Wes Flanigan had a rough first year. He may prove not to have been the right answer. I have no idea about that. But if, two years from now, the Trojans are on the right track, Conque will be looking like a genius - again. He is the one who has the responsibility. He is the one in the best spot to know the answers to the questions that have to be asked. He may have made the wrong choice this time, but I see nothing to indicate that his methodology was wrong.
A year ago Conque hired a man without ANY Division 1 head coaching experience. To be honest, I sort of wondered about that. If Josh Hagins has been lost for the year to an injury and our season had come apart at the seams, we might all have been questioning the Beard hire on that basis. It was a risk, but it paid off handsomely. EVERY hire is a risk. Good ADs will beat the average on their hires, but none of them will be right every time. Time may prove that Conque was wrong on his second hire, but I am thinking that he will be right more often than not.
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