Pat SummittFernando Gallo

The departure of Jerome Jenkins leaves a big hole for the Sac State men’s basketball team, but improving on what Jenkins started shouldn’t be terribly difficult. Jenkins had some success on the bench, but he never led the team to a finish that was better than .500. The Hornets need someone with a proven track record who can revitalize a program that has failed to generate much excitement on campus throughout the years.

So who is the perfect man for the job? A woman: Tennessee coach Pat Summit. Now you might be saying to yourself, that’s ridiculous. But Summit is the winningest basketball coach in NCAA history (among men or women) and she has the tenacity and knowledge of the game to lead any team, regardless of gender. With a career record of 974-182, 14 SEC titles, seven Coach of the Year awards and 7 NCAA Championships, there’s really not much else for the Hall of Famer to accomplish at Tennessee. Competitors love a challenge, and taking over our men’s basketball program would certainly be that.

Two big questions probably remain in your head right now: First, why should Sac State Athletic Director Terry Wanless make this decision? And two, would the men listen to her?

The first one is easy: respectability and national attention. In some of our sports, like golf and women’s soccer, the coaches want to make the programs nationally relevant. The media circus alone would make this hiring national sports news, and ESPN would set up a permanent base of operations right next to Yosemite Hall. Every sports fan from Las Vegas to New York City would know about Sac State’s “revolutionary” and “groundbreaking” men’s basketball program.

And why would the players come to Sac State and listen to Summit? Well, if a bunch of your games were nationally televised on ESPN and ESPN2, you might be inclined to come to Sacramento and pay attention.

Will Summit ever agree to come to Sac State? Probably not. But if I’m Wanless, I might just make a call to Tennessee’s Athletic Department anyway. After all, it sure sounds good on paper, doesn’t it?

Mike KrzyzewskiMichael Calvillo

Now that the search is on for a new Sac State men’s basketball coach, the school needs to stop thinking small-time and go after the big dogs of the college coaching ranks. The perfect candidate for the job is none other than Mike Krzyzewski.

In over 28 seasons at Duke, Coach K has amassed some of the most impressive numbers in the history of college basketball: over 800 career victories, three NCAA championships, 10 Final Four appearances and an NCAA record nine 30-win seasons. This guy’s teams are a lock for a deep run in the tournament, especially given the fact that 61 of the 65 four-year players he has coached since 1986 have competed in at least one Final Four.

However, in recent years his teams have not done so well in the tournament. Although not a long drought for most average coaches, he has not won a championship since 2001. Some say that Coach K is losing his magic touch, even though he has a career average of 25 wins per season.

A change of scenery is just what Krzyzewski needs. There’s almost nothing left for him to accomplish at Duke, especially since North Carolina looks to be the dominant power for years to come in the ACC.

If he were to coach at Sac State, he would undoubtedly be treated like royalty. He wouldn’t have the constant pressure he faces at his current school, where anything less than a Final Four appearance is considered a failure. The Sac State community would be eternally grateful for just an NCAA tournament appearance, let alone a tournament win.

His success wouldn’t have to be immediate either. Coming off a dismal season this past year, the Hornets finishing above .500 would be a huge turnaround. Eventually, Sac State would be the perennial powerhouse of the Big Sky Conference.

Having such a big-name coach would create a buzz on campus never seen before. Alumni would suddenly show an interest in Hornet Athletics and give Coach K top-of-the-line facilities, including a gym that actually looks like it’s supposed to be on a college campus.

It’s a win-win proposition for everybody. Students would start caring about their basketball team and the school would gain national recognition, not to mention huge amounts of revenue.

At age 61, Krzyzewski isn’t too old to start thinking about his immediate future. Sure, he could just retire from Duke as one of the all-time greatest coaches. But why not show the world that he is the greatest coach ever by leading a lowly team from Sacramento to college basketball prominence?

Bobby KnightJordan Guinn

I want to go to Knight School. No disrespect to Jerome Jenkins, who did the best job he could with the situation he was given, but Bobby Knight would create a nationwide buzz and serve as a powerful recruiting tool for Sacramento State. Even though I can only shoot threes and dribble right-handed, I would sign-up for the team just to get yelled at by the legendary coach.

Ailene Voisin wrote earlier this week that he is, “a brat and a bully.” Really? Is that how you describe a coach who does his best to ensure his players not only graduate but play the game the right way as well? Knight’s history includes incidences of him cutting players who skip class. According to slate.com the national average graduation rate for Division I schools is 42 percent; at Indiana Knight graduated 80 percent. He is rough around the edges and insensitive, but he gets the job done. Knight doesn’t produce NBA players, but his teams always compete. He encourages teamwork, reliability and cohesion.

He is candid and quotable. Covering Knight as a sports beat at a collegiate newspaper would be something I could tell my grandkids about. One of my favorite quotes by Knight is, “All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things.”

The main reason I want Knight to come to Sac State is because his attitude is exactly what this campus needs: no nonsense, no excuses. If we fail, it is because we didn’t prepare properly or try hard enough. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Imagine that.

I know that Bobby Knight would never come to Sac State. Knight has no incentive to leave a comfortable television studio to come coach at a campus with no history of success and a facility that is out-shined by public high school gyms around the nation. Even if the school were to park a garbage truck filled with cash in his driveway, Knight wouldn’t budge.

The State Hornet Sports Department can be reached at [email protected]