Weber Ended Up Getting A Better Job

Kansas State president Kirk Schulz helps give Bruce Weber official welcome as Wildcats' successor to Frank Martin. (Photo courtesy of Kansas City Star)

Something like this usually never happens, but this past weekend was an example of a coach walking into a better situation after being forced out of his previous one.

Despite a 17-15 record at Illinois that precluded the Illini from postseason play, longtime coach Bruce Weber's time on the unemployment line was a relatively short one, as he landed at Kansas State just a couple of weeks later after previous Wildcats coach Frank Martin left the Big 12 for South Carolina. Weber's hire and subsequent introduction was met with an incredibly high amount of criticism, especially for a coach who came just five points short of winning a national championship at Illinois in one of the greatest title games in recent memory in 2005; but in time, the man who retained success in Champaign even if it wasn't as high-profile as it was under Bill Self, will give Manhattan, Kansas more of the same over his first five years at K-State, and most likely for a lot longer than that.

For starters, Weber brings a resume most other coaches in the nation would kill to possess as their own. Before his nine-year run at Illinois, he was the man behind the Missouri Valley's rise to prominence as one of America's best mid-major leagues when he took Southern Illinois to two NCAA Tournaments in five years, including the Salukis' first Sweet 16 appearance in 2002. Prior to that, Weber spent eighteen years as an assistant to the legendary Gene Keady at Purdue; helping develop future NBA stars the likes of Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson and Brad Miller while also working on a staff that, at one time or another, featured fellow head coaches Matt Painter, Kevin Stallings and a then-graduate assistant Steve Lavin, whom Keady now serves under as a special assistant at St. John's. Since getting the opportunity to lead a program of his own, Weber has compiled a record of 313-155. The win total may not be as gaudy as those of his competition, but his .669 winning percentage is enough to inform even the least qualified of fans that he can get it done at a high level; especially considering that ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb, one of the popular choices to replace Martin, has never coached at the Division I level before.

Some people have already questioned Weber's recruiting, and former Kansas State great Jacob Pullen publicly spoke out against the coach when tweeting that he felt Weber was unfit to lead the Wildcats after the coach passed on him at Illinois; but Weber's connections to Chicago, which are essential to survival for any coach in the Midwest, gives Kansas State more of a national presence as well as a regional one. Nine years at Illinois allowed Weber access to higher-level prospects than local rivals Northwestern and DePaul among others, and although Kansas looms large in his rearview mirror as an in-state rival, Weber knows what it takes to win and will do whatever is necessary. Bill Self may have recruited the 2005 team in much the same way that Matt Doherty recruited the North Carolina group that beat the Illini for the national championship that year, but neither Self nor Doherty won 37 games at the helm the way Weber did. Moreover, the talent of that team; with names such as Dee Brown, Luther Head, Roger Powell and James Augustine, not to mention a point guard who is arguably among the ten best players in the NBA today in Deron Williams, is still fresh in the minds of prospective recruits, most of whom watched Illinois at some point growing up, and could entice several prospects to come to Manhattan and play for a proven winner. The recent success of Weber recruits such as Brandon Paul, Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, Demetri McCamey, Meyers Leonard, and Jereme Richmond; even if he only stayed one year before prematurely turning pro when he should have stayed in school, only help Weber's cause further.

Finally, there is the state of the Big 12 Conference that Weber is the newest member of. Frank Martin's defection to South Carolina could be viewed as a lateral move to some with the level of competition in the SEC, but Weber is walking into a budding dynasty. Following five consecutive 20-win seasons under Martin that are highlighted by the Wildcats' appearance in the 2010 West regional final, Kansas State's road to conference dominance is now smoother than before with the impending defections of Texas A&M and Missouri to the aforementioned SEC. In addition, almost everyone on the Wildcat roster will return barring any transfers. Weber will lose just one senior in Jamar Samuels, but brings back guards Rodney McGruder and Will Spradling to anchor the backcourt, not to mention inheriting two exceptional freshmen in Angel Rodriguez and Thomas Gipson that will only complement big man Jordan Henriquez as the Westchester County native enters his senior campaign. Looking at the Big 12 on paper, Kansas and Baylor look like the only major threats to Kansas State at the top, whereas John Groce; the former Ohio head man who now succeeds Weber at Illinois, has to contend with Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Purdue, and even NIT runner-up Minnesota in the Big Ten next season.

Again, you don't always see a coach get a better job weeks after he gets fired, but Bruce Weber is an exception to the rule; and just as he did at Southern Illinois and Illinois before coming to Kansas State, he will only do more of the same thing the Wildcats have done in the last half-decade under Frank Martin, and that is not just win, but win consistently. It just sets up too well for him not to.