Cravens Out! Now What?

As first posted at The Good in Ogden:

Local sports reporter Randy Hollis said it best this morning in the Standard-Examiner: "Nice guys finish last." Joe Cravens has one of the greatest personalities around. His interviews on local sports talk radio were very entertaining at worst, spectacular at best.

However, I do have to give the folks on the bench credit for this one. W.S.U. has struggled a lot lately. The past two years have been losing seasons. The mark of a good season in college basketball is usually the twenty win plateau---something Cravens did only once in his tenure at Weber State. The year they won 26 games and made the NCAA tournament was awesome, but alas, that seemed to be a statistical outlier for the Cravens Cats, not the norm.

Weber State has a proud basketball tradition. In a state full of good basketball, Weber State has the reputation of walking the walk in big situations. Except for the U of U, who has been stellar in basketball for some time now, the 'Cats have the most wins in the Big Dance dating back to 1995 of any team in the great state of Utah. Weber's victories over North Carolina in 1999 and Michigan State in 1995 are the only victories in the NCAA Tourney for Big Sky teams since 1981. Obviously Joe Cravens had a lot to live up to, and didn't do it. Once the Purple Palace (otherwise known as the Dee Events Center) is completely empty, as it has been for a couple of years now, it becomes painfully obvious that a change is coming. Weber needs the revenue too badly.

Luckily for the Wildcats, the cupboard is not empty. The first, and I mean this jokingly, choice has to be W.S.U. grad Ben Howland. What? You think the current U.C.L.A. head man wouldn't choose Ogden over L.A. or the Big Sky over the Pac-10?

Okay, now seriously speaking, the 'Cats do have some good options here. Former W.S.U. guys who are still around include Dick Hunsaker, who has done a marvelous job of taking U.V.S.C. from a JUCO program to a D-I program (even to the point of beating Arizona State this year), and Snow College Head Coach Roger Ried. Ried, the former coach at B.Y.U., may be best known for his "you're letting down 9 million Mormons" comment. But it should be remembered that he had a 152-77 record at the "Y" and led them to five Big Dance appearances; something B.Y.U. hasn't been able to come even close to since Ried's departure.

Other candidates, according to the Standard-Examiner and reporter Jason Asay, include Jeff Judkins and former W.S.U. coach Ron Abegglen. Judkins is the Lady Cougars head coach and another all-around good guy who gets lots of media exposure in this state. He has the Lady Cougs nationally ranked and seems to be just waiting to step into a head coaching role on the men's side of things. Abegglen is Weber's former coach that led them to their Tourney wins against North Carolina and Michigan State. He was a good recruiter. Unfortunately he had some off the court issues that got him dismissed from Weber.

For my money, I like a number of these coaches. If Abegglen has been forgiven, he could get another opportunity. However, many in the community still remember his problems, and that could cause some controversy. Abegglen is a good coach, though. Ried deserves another chance to coach D-I ball and was a winner at B.Y.U. who got screwed when Shawn Bradley decided to return from his mission and immediately turn pro (which didn't turn out so well).

Like I said earlier, I give Weber State credit for making a change now. Cravens is a good guy, but hasn't won enough for Ogden. We want our team to be at the top of the Big Sky, and beat some of the higher profile teams in the state. This is no small task at a school like W.S.U., but it seems to be what we expect. I look forward to good games, winning, and seeing the Purple Palace full again. There is nothing like a packed, raucous crowd at the Dee Events Center.

What do you think?