Basketball: Rawlyk in for Jockims, Clark to TRU

A couple of men's basketball loose ends to wrap up. Notably, Greg Jockims, head coach of the reigning CIS champions and seen here counting the number of media members who showed up to Scotiabank Place in March and then rounding up to the nearest 10, is out for a year for...well, let's let Darren Zary tell you:

Barry Rawlyk will step in to become the interim head coach of the University of Saskatchewan men's basketball team while Greg Jockims exercises a 12-month professional leave-of-absence term beginning July 1.

[...]

Rawlyk plans to continue his job at St. Joseph High School, but in a part-time capacity, given approval by the school board.
--Saskatoon StarPhoenix


One would think that will be very, very part-time...the immutable laws of physics don't allow Rawlyk to be in two places at once, and CIS coaches aren't known for having free time.

Who knows what this means for Saskatchewan in 2010-2011. This year's Huskies didn't come of nowhere in Canada West, necessarily, but they didn't come out of a place we were watching all that closely. They weren't one of the 20 teams we previewed, which mostly shows how little we know about this university sports thing. Despite that, they were a legit team when the calendar turned to 2010 and were far from an upset winner in both the conference final and the Final 8. (An interesting thing, anecdotally, about the 2009-10 Huskies is that their four main players didn't come straight out of Canadian high schools. How many teams find a core that way?)

And as for now-former SFU coach Scott Clark, he says the move to the interior is about fishing and golfing and returning to his roots (and possibly a salary increase, hints Wayne Thomas). There's also mention of relishing the challenge of improving the not-yet-there WolfPack, and we'll see how Clark handles that.

But, of course, there's another big potential reason for his departure from the NCAA-bound school. Was Clark originally in favour of going D-2 until he wasn't, or was he never really that keen on it to begin with?

Whatever the outcome, at least Canada West coaches can change teams without this site blowing up...
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20 comments:

  1. Does anyone outside of Ontario know you exist? j/k... On a serious note, it will be interesting to see who SFU hires to replace Scott. There will be an awful lot of fundraising to be done, in addition to all the coaching stuff. Scott's a good guy, he's mellowed a great deal, but I get the sense (from afar, very very afar) that he's not the type that would be entirely comfortable with that amount of gladhanding and fundraising.

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  2. What this means for Sask is no repeat in 2011...
    not like they were going to contend with Jockims anyway.
    They lose Linklater...without him they were 10-12 the year previous...
    Gottselig, one of the Unsworth boys and maybe even Glover, as well.
    That's a sizable chunk of roster to replace for sure.
    I can tell you one thing, with Calgary and Sask taking heavy grad losses
    and SFU pursuing its D2 folly...er, dream, Kevin Hanson must be laughing.

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  3. Glover is long, long, long gone from 'Toon Town. He desires to play-for-pay in Europe next year.

    However, Rawlyk is the man who found Glover. Maybe he can find one or two more Americans...

    As for teams building cores with players who largely didn't come to them straight out of high school it is becoming increasingly common in Canada West. UBC 2009-10 is a prominent example.

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  4. Hanson has reached the point with recruiting where he is able to get away with only bringing in a few new guys every year, with those mostly being high level transfers who can contribute right away. Not a bad system, so long as you can manage the new guys expectations and not piss off the returning vets. So far, has been consistent but with his ability to recruit and dominant regular season, they need a title to make it really worthwhile. Although, would you rather be a top 5 team for a decade (ish..) or win once and go back to being average which is what Sask is going to do? Tough call.

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  5. Considering UBC's overwhelming budget (to my knowledge the only men's basketball team in the CIS with a full-time school-funded assistant coach for instance. And he reportedly makes more than a number of CIS head coaches), not to mention the fact it's a fantastic world-class school, in an amazing location, one would think expectations there would include a CIS national championship - or many. Especially since Hanson has won national titles at the CCAA and Canada Games level.

    However, it's not easy. Americans and Canadians who have played prep or post-secondary hoops in the States are turning up in increasing regularity in the CIS - especially Canada West. That clouds the issue.

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  6. Scott Clark, with the exception of his final year, was never really all that
    successful in his decade and a half at SFU.
    For the most part, SFU's record in the CIS was pretty unremarkable, and
    even less so in the NAIA under Clark.
    I think going D2 was a lose-lose proposition for Clark.
    Undoubtedly the Clan are in for a rough ride in their inaugural season and maybe well beyond.
    That and the stepped up pressure to recruit and fund raise....neither
    an acknowledged strength of Clark's,,,without apparently, a corresponding increase in pay...is it any wonder he said adios?
    And I believe Bruce Langford may not be far behind.
    Unlike Clark, Langford's record in the CIS has been outstanding.
    He has been women's basketball's counterpart to Dave Smart, winning multiple titles including the last two years.
    But he was the only SFU varsity coach to publicly state he wasn't in favour
    of the move to D2 from the CIS.
    I would have to think he would be much in demand if he ever left SFU.

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  7. From credible reports Langford may make half of what UBC pays their (outstanding) women's B-ball head coach. Perhaps less than half.

    However, maybe SFU really does have the bucks to pay more now if they want to. It appears they've gone from two full-time football coaching staff to six this off-season for example.

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  8. I had to check. Yes, from the SFU site they now have a football coaching staff of six. This was a coaching announcement about six weeks ago:

    (SFU head coach) Johnson had to sift through over 400 applications for both the offensive and defensive coordinator position during the hiring process. The addition of Barnes and Malone brings the SFU football program’s full-time staff up to six, with Andrew Dubiellak serving as an offensive assistant, Beau Davis working as a defensive assistant and Kevin Phillips on board as the full-time recruiting coordinator.

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  9. Your credible reports are not credible

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  10. Are you trying to tell me Langford makes anywhere near what UBC pays for the same position?

    If you believe that, good for you.

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  11. the three guys for the uottawa job are Darrell Glenn, Brad roots and James Druin

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  12. When is the final decision for the Ottawa u Job going to be made. It was said by the atheltic director that it was going to be annonced June 1 and i cant find anything not even good leads for the job.
    I think it is disapointing for ottawa u basketball that no hype or names are being mentionned the way Macmaster coaching position has been. Ottawa is a legit top 10 team in the country for a good while now, does no one care about their future?
    I think Darell Glenn will be a great choice but thats just my opinion.

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  13. So Brad Rootes is up for the Ottawa job?...interesting.
    Of these three names mentioned, Glenn is the one I would have most confidence in.
    Rootes is only a couple years removed from his playing days and
    in all honesty, I don't know a blessed thing about James Druin.

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  14. James Derouin was an assistant a few seasons ago to Dave D., then relocated west and was a UBC asst. coach a few seasons ago.

    Darrell Glenn would be my pick.

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  15. Derouin has been at UBC the last two years as an assistant. Played under Hanson back in the day which is why he came back West to coach.

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  16. Brad Roots has been named Uottawa Head Coach

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  17. Where did you hear/read this?
    Is there a link confirming this?

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  18. I actually did call Brad just to check it out; he says he applied at Ottawa but has not heard anything. It is tough to tell how long this will take, some schools move fast.

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  19. Cantankerous6/04/2010 5:12 pm

    I'm asking this of everyone who posts here but especially anon 1:15....
    Look, for the sake of all persons concerned, unless you are dead certain of
    the facts and have sufficient confirmation, PLEASE DO NOT
    throw out a rumour and pass it off as fact.
    It is not fair for the university, the applicants or any other interested parties.

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  20. Last I heard (and that was a few days ago) Rootes is going to be taking over at Brock when Murray announces his "retirement" before next season. No time frame on when this announcement will be. I have to believe Rootes will hold out for his alma mater before moving on somewhere else.

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