Ellis a Solid Hire, But Kachmarik Deserved a Chance

It’s official. Cliff Ellis is the new head men’s basketball coach at Coastal Carolina University. And it’s hard to argue with a resume that includes 534 career wins, three ACC Coach of the Year honors, two SEC Coach of the Year awards, and a national Coach of the Year honor.

But at the risk of being a bit of a party pooper, I will – to make this point:

Jamie Kachmarik deserved better.

Kachmarik was one of five finalists being considered for the vacancy created by Buzz Peterson’s departure to the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, along with Florida assistant Lewis Preston, USC Upstate coach Eddie Payne and former Kentucky assistant David Hobbs. He wasn’t the sexy, big-name option; in-house assistants never are.

But Kachmarik earned the chance to prove himself at the next level. Sure, it’s easy to say “just ask his current players” – the lion’s share of whom he recruited, and seemingly all of whom had come to trust Kachmarik and his acumen for the game. For them it would have been the smoothest possible transition, and eased the fears of veteran players like senior Jack Leasure, who will now be playing for their third coach in four seasons. You’d expect that from teenagers and early 20-somethings who might have a natural fear of change.

And it’s also easy to say “just ask Buzz Peterson,” Ellis’ predecessor who enthusiastically endorsed Kachmarik to succeed him. You might dismiss Peterson’s support as “Buzz just trying to take care of one of his guys.”

But you’d also be ignoring the fact that Kachmarik wasn’t one of “Buzz’ guys” when Peterson came to Coastal in 2005. Like Ellis now, Peterson inherited Kachmarik from the previous regime. Kachmarik earned Peterson's endorsement. So when the man who restored Coastal men’s basketball to respectability and dramatically raised the program’s bar of expectation – and who had no previous connection to Kachmarik – says “Give Jamie a chance” …

OK, so Ellis was saying the exact same thing in referring to himself at today’s presser: “Give me a chance.” Fair enough – after all, that’s not asking much coming from a coach with his credentials.

But the irony here is that – considering Coastal lost only two seniors from the 2006-2007 roster, returns four starters from last year, and faces perennial Big South champion Winthrop without the guy who got them there (Gregg Marshall left this offseason to take the Wichita State gig) – the less accomplished coach would have arguably had the greater short-term burden of expectation. Given the aforementioned factors, Kachmarik would have been under immediate pressure to bring home a conference title and the school’s first NCAA tournament bid in 15 years.

As it stands right now, Ellis faces the daunting task of aiming just as high – but without the luxury of his own hand-picked staff; without the ability to fully implement his own system right away (as he mentioned in his presser); and without the immediate assurance that some potentially disgruntled players won’t transfer, as Leasure suggested might happen in the Sun News piece from June 24. Ellis has his work cut out for him, and though he and other Coastal backers might vehemently disagree, I find it hard to reasonably expect that kind of lofty achievement in Year 1 of his Coastal tenure.

I wish Cliff Ellis luck and nothing but success at Coastal Carolina. I really do. I just also hope that Jamie Kachmarik gets the same kind of opportunity - somewhere, and sooner than later.

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