BOULDER — A Tad in the hand is worth two in the bush. Be careful what you wish for, Ralphie.
As the NCAA Tournament is underway with Nique Clifford dancing and with Tad Boyle frozen out for the third March in four years, some on Buffs Xwitter are once again looking to turn the page on their longtime men’s basketball coach.
Hey, it’s your money. It’s a free country. But before you pass the hat, keep two things in mind.
First, as Boyle reiterated on Tuesday at the Champions Center, he’s not planning on going anywhere.
“I don’t know why, I just feel the fire in the belly still,” the veteran Buffs hoops coach, who turned 62 at the start of the year, said during a news conference after his first-ever 20-loss (14-20) season at CU. “And as long as that’s burning, I’m going to try to fight and scratch and claw and give everything I have to this university and this program.”
Second, I’ve heard the loudest arguments for ending The Tad Era all before. Heck, I’ve even seen the revolutionaries get their wish. It didn’t end well for anybody.
A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, there was a men’s hoops coach at Iowa by the name of Tom Davis. After 13 seasons, ones that usually ended with 20-ish victories and a lot of second-round exits in the NCAA Tournament, the natives got restless. They wanted more. A faction of boosters and bigwigs were certain a refresh would make things better. Dr. Tom had turned 60, after all, and it was time. The Hawkeyes had gone a decade without a Sweet 16 berth, and good was no longer good enough.
Then-athletic director Bob Bowlsby hired the hottest mid-major coach in the country — Steve Alford, a Big Ten legend with Big Ten roots. What could possibly go wrong?
Bowlsby posted a pretty good batting average at Iowa, as he later did at Stanford, and with Big 12 after that. But Stevie Wonder turned into a gigantic swing-and-miss. Alford never got the Hawks in the Sweet 16. He did, however, recruit kids who ran afoul of local law enforcement. He also clashed with local reporters and, strangely enough, Chicago radio hosts.
It’s not a perfect analogy, granted. But for those banging the drum to get Tad out to pasture, remember: The grass isn’t always greener.
“And the ship has sailed as far as me going somewhere else or trying a new start (somewhere else),” Boyle said. “So, I don’t even think about that anymore.”
He has, though, contemplated retirement. Boyle was reared on Big Eight hoops with Big Eight bushido, but that conference, and that strike zone, feel like quaint throwbacks now. Peers such as Villanova’s Jay Wright and Virginia’s Tony Bennett recently walked away at ages 60 and 55, respectively, and neither seemed thrilled with a world of transfer portals and Name/Image/Likeness contracts. Nor were enamored of a paradigm in which agents, boosters, lawyers and television executives had more power than coaches.
“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about (retirement),” Boyle noted.
“But I don’t want to let this game chase me out. I’d like to go out on my own terms. I’d like to go out strong, not limp out. But the fire is still there. And I wish I could tell you why. I don’t know why, but I’m glad it is. I want to play some golf this spring and summer, but I don’t want to play every day yet.”
Rather than fight the system, Boyle says he’s willing to adapt. He’s willing to adjust, to evolve, in order to fit the kids and parents who are now funneling through it.
“I think that’s really important … that we have a program that you want to coach, you want to be around,” Boyle said. “And as long as I can do that and I’ve got the energy and the health and everything that it takes to do it, I’m going to do it.”
Tad has been rolled into something of an awkward position at CU — on several fronts. He wears old-school principles on his sleeve in a collegiate game that’s running away from most of them. Boyle more or less represents what big-time NCAA sports was, and what many fans and administrators still think it should be. Meanwhile, Buffs football coach Deion Sanders represents where big-time NCAA sports are — and, until either national or interleague reforms roll in, where it’s headed.
Because now that the horse is out of the barn, good luck getting it back. Tell a talented 17-year-old they can get paid now or get paid later, 99.1% of them are going to take the former, and will chase that bag from coast to coast.
Look, watching Clifford soar in FoCo hurts. You might contend that Tad doesn’t have the spunk or the cool factor to roll in the mud with the new-money operatives who are slinging it. KJ Simpson, Cody Williams and Tristan da Silva, three Buffs NBA draft picks last year, would probably disagree, though. As would Derrick White and Spencer Dinwiddie, to name but a few NBA pros who’ve thanked Boyle at every turn.
Still, CU newbies on social media look at Tad and wonder why, say, Chauncey Billups isn’t coaching this team. If Sanders could work for football, why not run the same playbook to bring some zip back to the Events Center?
And Billups, to cite that hypothetical, might do a great job. But that premise has problems. For one, if you find that coach and it isn’t a legacy hire such as Billups, there’s a decent chance they won’t stay. The Big 12 is too brutal unless you’re ridiculously compensated, and you’re never going to be ridiculously compensated at CU while Sanders and football take up most of the oxygen in the room.
For another, you’re comparing apples to oranges. Buffs football was irretrievably broken three years ago. Buffs hoops has been anything but.
Let’s put it this way: CU has posted 14 20-win seasons in its entire men’s hoops history. Boyle’s been at the helm for 10 of those 14. Conversely, the Buffs have lost 19 or more games on 12 different occasions, and Boyle’s only been responsible for one of those years.
It’s OK to be skeptical. Give it a year. Anybody can have a stinker in a league as deep as this Big 12 turned out to be. If it’s two stinkers in a row, then some harder questions will need to be asked next winter — by everybody.
“You have to change. You have to adapt,” Boyle said. “If you’re not willing to adapt and change, this business will eat you up.”
And those who don’t learn from the history of this business are usually doomed to repeat it.
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.