A $1.2M buyout is roughly 70% as much as a $1.75M buyout. Given the above, could you honestly say that Ryun Williams has been 70% as successful as Kevin McGuff prior to the latter being hired at OSU?
All the numbers comparing getting McDonald's All-American and HoopGurlz Top-100 players is a bit disingenuous. I wouldn't expect a coach taking a job at a Div-II school like South Dakota, to take on the considerable task of transitioning to Div-I, to be able to get a player like that. Think about it, the school isn't even eligible for postseason play the first two years of Div-I play anyway. Why would top players go to a school they know they can't go to the post-season with for half their playing eligibility? To play for an unproven Div-I coach in a mid-major in a conference absolutely dominated by in-state rival SDSU Jackrabbits. That's akin to a Div II school in Wisconsin transitioning to Div-I joining the Horizon League and thinking they can knock Green Bay off the block within eight years as the conference power? For the record the South Dokota 'yotes did actually lose to SDSU Jackrabbits today, 61-55. They beat SDSU both times this season, 63-58 & 80-75 to win the regular season Summit conference championship. However, when it mattered most in the Summit conference Finals the 'yotes lost. That's a very competitive conference rivalry that should be very interesting trying to recruit the same ground in-state. However, the point is the same. The fact that Ryun built up that program in-state from Div-II to the point that they actually did knock off SDSU for the regular season championship, and were winning at the half, that's a heck of a building line item on the coaching resume for ANY coach.
That was my thought. Assistants at top schools like Baylor, Notre Dame, UCONN, Louisville, Tennessee may come from marque programs but they can't recreate the success because they have zero experience building a program. Being able to stay on top is completely different from building from scratch to get on top. Ryun Williams built South Dakota from scratch, literally from Div-II to winning the Summit regular season championship and being up one point in the Summit Conference Finals before losing a close game in the latter two periods:
http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/recap?gameId=400870489
So the idea that Ryun didn't recruit McDonald's All-American and HoopGurlz Top-100 players to South Dakota just feels disingenuous, to me. My thought is really? What Mid-Major in a conference similar to the Summit Conference, with a Women's program that is only in its 8th year of Division-I is pulling down McDonald's All-American players and HoopGurlz Top-100 players? Let's not be throwing out straw men arguments, it is WOMEN'S basketball.
Ryun wasn't eligible for the post season the first two years. Year three he got that program to the WBI, Year four to the WNIT. What really could one possibly expect building a Div-I program up from Div-II in four years beyond at 76-47 record and 28-14 in conference? The 'yotes finished 2nd to SDSU his last year. They surpassed every single team in the conference except the powerhouse, in four short years. Ryun left for CSU following the 2011-12 season, but the program he built and the PROCESS he left behind is successful. Since Ryun left South Dakota the 'yotes are:
Year Overall Rec (Conf Rec) Conf. Finish Conf Tournament Postseason
2012-13 17-15 (10-6) 3rd Lost in Final WBI, L - SemiFinals - McNeese St. 71-63
2013-14 19-14 (7-7) 1st Champions NCAA, L - 1st Rd - Stanford 81-62
2014-15 25-7 (13-3) 1st Lost in Final WNIT, L - 2nd Rd - N. Colo. 59-58
2015-16 26-6 (15-1) 1st Lost in Final ?? (61st RPI, 2nd Summit school in NCAA?)
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87-42 45-17
So after building a program from Div-II to Div I, and a power to give SDSU all it can handle in the Summit Conference every season, Ryun transferred to CSU. Leaving the Summit Conf mid-major program at South Dakota for the CSU job in the Mountain West, we really expect an unproven MW coach to get McDonald's All American's and HoopGurlz Top-100 players, pulling them away from the Pac-12, Big-12, ACC, SEC and Big-10? I think, again, that would be disingenuous.
Ryun Williams has a proven process, and is a proven coach that can take middling level recruits and talent and get the absolute best out of them. When/if Ryun gets a chance to coach in a power-5 conference, he's going to disrupt the hierarchy of that conference the same manner he has done it in the Summit and the MW conferences.
Unless the argument that Ryun can't replicate his process and acumen with actual good players he'll finally have access to? Let's evaluate Ryun getting McDonald's All-Americans and HoopGurlz Top-100 players when he's at a top school. Okay?
Ryun will be more successful in a Div-I power-5 conference than anyone currently realizes. Ten years from now, everyone will see the progression was obvious. That $1.2 million buyout would give CU a legitimate coach who absolute has an acumen for the games, intimately understands how to recruit in contested regions, is an Xs Os ball coach, and who will build any legitimate conference program into a perennial Top-25 Women's power. Ryun Williams can do that just with his international players. When he actually gets to a program that can reasonably recruit McDonald's All-American players and HoopGurlz Top-100? Watch out.
RG don't screw this up.
