SB Nation Houston - Texas A&M Introduces Billy Kennedy As New Basketball Coachhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46691/houston-fave.png2011-10-28T12:40:12-05:00http://houston.sbnation.com/rss/stream/19265352011-10-28T12:40:12-05:002011-10-28T12:40:12-05:00Thoughts And Prayers With Texas A&M's Billy Kennedy
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<p>Ever since he stepped down for health reasons, I was waiting to hear what was going on with Billy Kennedy. It was't that I was worried about the state of the program. Far from it, since the Aggies had assistant head coach Glynn Cyprien in charge and he'd keep the recruiting class together.</p>↵<p>No, the longer it went before he revealed what was wrong, I assumed worse and worse. So, it's with mixed relief that we all found out Kennedy had been diagnosed with early-stage Parkinson's. He'll continue to coach and Athletic Director Bill Byrnes expects him to be around for a long time.</p>↵<p>It's still a tough blow for a man still in his prime. Kennedy is only 47 and finally landed a job on a big stage. Having been around neurological diseases personally, I can only imagine what kind of battle he's in for. </p>↵<p>Luckily for him, he's in a great place for support. There was a reason I stuck around Aggieland as long as I did. The students, the professors, the administrators and the community are all conscientious and very, very welcoming. They care about the teams and they care about the people involved. You can expect they will be respectful and supportive of Kennedy and the men's team this season and in years to come.</p>↵
https://houston.sbnation.com/texas-a-m-aggies/2011/10/28/2521086/thoughts-and-prayers-with-texas-a-ms-billy-kennedyDavid Coleman2011-05-17T23:17:12-05:002011-05-17T23:17:12-05:00Texas A&M Men's Hoops Has A New Coach, And Hopefully A New Direction
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<p>Mark Turgeon is at Maryland now, a place that admittedly has more basketball prestige than A&M, but will definitely have higher expectations. A warning to Coach Turgeon: Maryland fans will not tolerate middle of the conference finishes and early tourney exits nearly as well as the much maligned Aggie fans did; you're about to see just how good you had it in College Station. Maryland fans will not be nearly as understanding about 50 point scoring outputs and blowout losses against rivals Texas and Baylor... uh, I mean Duke and North Carolina. Maryland fans will not patiently hope for that one sweet sixteen run that might happen another two or three or four years down the road. Maryland fans will likely show up in hordes for a non-conference game against Pittsburgh State Veterinary College during the middle of Christmas break, so you won't have to constantly whine about attendance, but they will be expecting championships, and not just tournament appearances. Coach Turgeon, if you win just like you did at A&M, they're gonna run you off in four years. I hope you can step it up.</p>
<p>Now that I've gotten that off of my chest, on to the new direction, the Bill Kennedy direction. Mark Turgeon was a good coach. He wasn't great, but he was solid. I am not now, nor was I ever 100% on the Turgeon bandwagon, but he did impress me at times. I felt jilted once again when he left, but I wasn't completely broken up about it. I saw this as an opportunity for A&M basketball to get over the hump that Turgeon came close to, but could not quite conquer. I saw this as an opportunity for Athletics Director Bill Byrne to make a national statement about the program. Big name coaches were being thrown about as possible replacements, even NBA lifer Jeff Van Gundy was rumored to have been contacted. Marquette head coach, and former Billy Gillispie disciple Buzz Williams seemed like the top target, and a great fit for Aggieland. But, that didn't happen. It was rumored that money was a sticking point, and that Byrne and the major Aggie donors were unwilling to drop enough cash for the program to take that next step.</p>
<p>Then the final rumors were squeezed out of the mill. It became clear that the next A&M basketball coach would be Murray State's Bill Kennedy. He seemed like a solid choice, but not nearly the kind of splash that A&M needed. He had a solid record at a solid mid-major program. He was a lot like Turgeon. A little too much like Turgeon. He was described as a low-key personality, as someone who could put you to sleep during his press conferences. His coaching style was described as defensive oriented, with a slow and plodding offense (oh, no... not again). I was not thrilled with the hire.</p>
<p>Then I heard his press conference. He talked with a noticeable, down-home, Louisiana accent. He had jokes. He made people laugh. I thought, "wait a minute, this guy DOES have some personality". He sounded dynamic, like he could be the kind of coach that could galvanize the fan base the way Gillispie had. He talked about recruiting the top players in Texas. He talked about scoring within the first seven seconds of the shot clock on offense, and about playing stifling defense. I thought that maybe I had been too hasty in my judgement. Then he talked about winning National Championships... plural... as in multiple times. I thought that maybe I could give this guy a shot.</p>
<p>The new coach will have some work to do. Mainly hitting the recruiting trail hard, and pulling in the type of players that Turgeon never could, the type of players that make it to the NBA. That is how the A&M program will take the next step. It remains to be seen if Kennedy can do this, but my first impression is that he knows what it will take to make it happen. His first big challenge will be to lure prized Bryan, TX recruit J-Mychal Reese to A&M over offers from Texas, Kansas and other top national programs. Reese is the kind of player that can single-handedly bump a program into the upper echelon, the way Kevin Durant did for Texas. Kennedy has already locked down the two top recruits that had committed to Turgeon before his departure and will have a good roster of returning starters to work with in his first season. If he can manage to add Reese to that mix, I will be 100% on the Bill Kennedy bandwagon.</p>
<p>I have hopes and dreams for the future of Aggie Athletics, just as most do, but I will have to sit back and wait to see if they come to fruition. One thing is for certain though, the Aggies have a new basketball coach, and he seems to fit into that maroon blazer pretty well. Welcome aboard Aggie Bill Kennedy, and here's to winning championships, the Aggie way.</p>
https://houston.sbnation.com/2011/5/17/2176762/texas-a-m-mens-hoops-has-a-new-coach-and-hopefully-a-new-directionJoseph Crew2011-05-17T08:12:01-05:002011-05-17T08:12:01-05:00Report: Billy Kennedy Will Make About One Million Annually As New Aggies Coach
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<p>According to Brent Zwerneman of The Houston Chronicle, new Texas A&M Aggies coach Billy Kennedy will have a million reasons not to go back on his statement that he wants to stay at A&M. Per a connected source within the program, <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkc/men/7567398.html#ixzz1McAumOvv" target="new">the Aggies new head man will make about a million annually on the original terms of a new five-year deal</a>.</p>
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<p>Kennedy, who had recently agreed to a contract extension worth $225,000 annually at Murray State, will make about $1 million annually over five years at A&M, a program insider said.</p>
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<p>Not that a million a year is chump change, but that seems like a pretty fair price for the university. If A&M actually reaches the Sweet 16 that outgoing coach Mark Turgeon couldn’t deliver to them the last couple of years, look for Kennedy to get a nice raise as other schools attempt to steal him from the Aggies. Whether he keeps his word about A&M being his dream job or not will determine if those bigger checks come to an address in College Station or elsewhere.</p>
https://houston.sbnation.com/texas-a-m-aggies/2011/5/17/2175198/report-billy-kennedy-salary-aggies-texas-a-mRivers McCown2011-05-16T17:49:33-05:002011-05-16T17:49:33-05:00Texas A&M A 'Destination Job' For New Coach Billy Kennedy
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<p>The Texas A&M Aggies unveiled new coach Billy Kennedy to the College Station press today, <a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/05/16/3079214/texas-am-a-dream-destination-for.html" target="new">and he minced no words</a> in separating himself from Maryland coach Mark Turgeon.</p>
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<p>“I believe in this place,” Kennedy said. “This is a destination job for me. There’s no Maryland, Kansas or Carolina. I plan on retiring here.”</p>
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<p>Hope those tire treads on your back don’t hurt too much Turgeon. Although really they aren’t too dissimilar from the ones on your players, so I wouldn’t be complaining if I were you. Kennedy has ties to the A&M program as an assistant coach in the early 90’s.</p>
<p>What exactly will Kennedy do different on the floor? There may be a few tactical changes.</p>
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<p>Kennedy said his basketball philosophy starts with defense, playing pressure man-to-man. Offensively, he’d like his team to score within the first seven seconds of the shot clock, either going inside or taking an open 3-pointer from the wing or corner.</p>
<p>“We’re going to build this thing on defense,” Kennedy said. “You’ve got to be able to guard people.”</p>
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<p>A&M played a very slow pace (326th fastest out of 345 teams) last season, and had it not been for their rebounding, probably would’ve had a below average offense. Interestingly, Kennedy’s Murray State squad finished 294th, so he wasn’t exactly letting the horses run. Building the team on defense, given the current roster, seems to be a no-brainer.</p>
https://houston.sbnation.com/texas-a-m-aggies/2011/5/16/2174312/texas-a-m-a-destination-job-for-new-coach-billy-kennedyRivers McCown2011-05-15T11:40:51-05:002011-05-15T11:40:51-05:00Aggies Appear To Have Their Man: Murray State's Billy Kennedy
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<p>After being officially <a href="http://houston.sbnation.com/texas-a-m-aggies/2011/5/14/2170742/jeff-van-gundy-declines-texas-a-m-coaching-job">turned-down by former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy</a>, the Texas A&M Aggies are apparently poised to hire Billy Kennedy away from Murray State to become their next basketball coach.</p>
<p>This <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkc/men/7565346.html">Houston Chronicle report</a> claims it's all but a done deal, and that the Aggies will announce Kennedy as the school's 22nd head coach in a Monday press conference. </p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px;">It's a solid hire for the Aggies, who are looking to continue the program's forward momentum that begun when Billy Gillispie took over for Melvin Watkins in 2004. Since then the program's profile has been raised considerably, and Mark Turgeon kept A&M moving forward until he springboarded to the Maryland job on May 9th.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px;">While Kennedy wasn't the Aggies' first choice, but he's a coach on the rise, and with good talent returning to College Station for the 2011-2012 season, the Aggies may not miss a beat.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px;"><b>Coaching history:</b></p>
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<p>Billy Kennedy has amassed a 211-179 record as a head coach in stints with Centenary (1997-99), Southeastern Louisiana (1999-2005), and Murray State (2006-11). At Murray State he has logged a 105-73 record, with the last two seasons going extremely well at 31-5 (2009-10), and 23-9 (2010-11).</p>
<p>Kennedy has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament twice, resulting in a first-round exit (2004-05 with SE Louisiana), and a second-round exit (2009-10 with Murray State) where his 13th-seeded Racers defeated 4th-seeded Vanderbilt 66-65 before getting taken out by eventual Tournament runner-up Butler by a score of 54-52.</p>
https://houston.sbnation.com/texas-a-m-aggies/2011/5/15/2172075/aggies-appear-to-have-their-man-murray-states-billy-kennedyHoustonDiehards2011-05-14T09:42:23-05:002011-05-14T09:42:23-05:00Jeff Van Gundy Declines Texas A&M Coaching Job
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<p>Current Houstonian and former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy has officially turned Texas A&M down after he was offered their vacant coaching job earlier in the week.</p>
<p>It would have been hard to imagine Van Gundy as a college coach. His brand of basketball and coaching manner certainly are better fits for the NBA. He's also seen his "celebrity profile" raised quite a bit since he became an analyst for ESPN. For some, Van Gundy will always be the guy <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slGmTABZtZ8">clinging to Alonzo Mourning's leg</a>, but he's put a little bit of distance between himself and that incident now that he's quite an excellent, funny analyst.</p>
<p>Van Gundy will coach again, but it will be a shock if the job isn't in the NBA. That said, it would be interesting to see how he'd react if one of the big-time college jobs came calling.</p>
<p>Unless they expand their coaching search, the Aggies appear to be down to Murray State's Billy Kennedy, and Northern Iowa's Ben Jacobson. </p>
https://houston.sbnation.com/texas-a-m-aggies/2011/5/14/2170742/jeff-van-gundy-declines-texas-a-m-coaching-jobHoustonDiehards2011-05-13T07:31:49-05:002011-05-13T07:31:49-05:00Wave Two Of Candidates For Aggies Job Includes Van Gundy, Jacobson
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<p>Texas A&M’s search to replace ex-head coach Mark Turgeon, who fled College Station for the basketball-loving shores of Maryland, has officially entered phase two. After the initial group of Buzz Williams, Tad Boyle, and Gregg Marshall all appeared to be out, <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkc/men/7563025.html" target="new">the Aggies contacted some new candidates on Thursday, including ex-Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy</a>. Van Gundy is not really likely to accept a college job, but the fact that the Aggies reached out to him shows how deep their search is right now.</p>
<p>Ben Jacobson of Northern Iowa, who authored one of the more stunning upsets in <span class="caps">NCAA</span> Tourney history when his Panthers knocked off the top-seeded Jayhawks in 2010, has emerged as a serious candidate according to Brent Zwerneman. Meanwhile, another option that could be considered is keeping the job in-house and letting assistant coach Scott Spinelli take over the team. <a href="http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/katz_andy/id/6533363/will-aggies-stay-house-hire" target="new">ESPN’s Andy Katz argues voraciously that Spinelli has earned a shot at the job</a>, and while he may have done that, is it enough to overcome actual good head coaching experience?</p>
<p>We’re still a long way from the finish line, and a number of other candidates are in play, including Murray St. coach Billy Kennedy, North Texas coach Johnny Walker, Louisiana-Lafayette coach Bob Marlin, and holdovers from the earlier list including Boyle and Nebraska’s Doc Sadler.</p>
<p>Athletic director Bill Byrne clearly has done a good job of expanding the pool, now comes the part where he has to suss out exactly which of his candidates is the right fit for the job.</p>
https://houston.sbnation.com/texas-a-m-aggies/2011/5/13/2168992/texas-am-coach-search-turgeon-van-gundyRivers McCown2011-05-12T10:56:09-05:002011-05-12T10:56:09-05:00Texas A&M Coaching Search Continues To Have More Questions Than Answers
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<p>It’s definitely looking like it’s going to be a slow process for the Aggies as they try to find a coach to replace the departing Mark Turgeon, who wound up in Maryland. The latest from Brent Zwerneman is that, well, <a href="http://blog.mysanantonio.com/aggies/2011/05/coaching-search-continues-in-aggieland/" target="new">just about everyone on the original list for the Aggies is unlikely to join them</a>. Buzz Williams’ buyout is too prohibitive, Gregg Marshall doesn’t have much interest, and Tad Boyle will likely use A&M’s interest to get a raise from Colorado.</p>
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<p>Here’s what I know three days into the search for a new basketball coach at Texas A&M: It won’t be Buzz Williams. He simply makes too much at Marquette.</p>
<p>It might be Colorado coach Tad Boyle, but apparently he’ll parlay any A&M interest into a decent raise in Boulder, Colo. Keep an eye on Nebraska’s Doc Sadler, although he’s been described as more of a “safety net” in the whole process, according to a coaching contact. Sadler, too, owns an excellent reputation among Texas high school coaches.</p>
<p>Fans can forget about Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall – if any fans were hoping for him in the first place. North Texas coach Johnny Jones might factor into the mix at some point.</p>
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<p>Jones is the first real slip of a name that wasn’t on the original list, and could be an intriguing hire given how he helped turn the Mean Green into perennial 20 game winners in the Sun Belt Conference.</p>
<p>Jerome Solomon of The Houston Chronicle <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/solomon/7561168.html" target="new">says that if anyone can be trusted to lead this process</a>, it’s A&M athletic director Bill Byrne. He also thinks A&M isn’t completely out on Doyle yet. We shall see. I think it’s more likely they wind up with someone like Jones.</p>
https://houston.sbnation.com/texas-a-m-aggies/2011/5/12/2167497/texas-a-m-coaching-search-tad-boyleRivers McCown