I like Terry, I think nearly all of the fans do. He will get the job. I hope he succeeds and will root for him, like all Texas fans.
Terry did a great job winning and keeping the team together following Beard's suspension and dismissal. That is an event that could have derailed the team completely. That said, unfortunately, my confidence in Terry succeeding moving forward is low.
The reason for low confidence is that while Terry has an outstanding track record as an assistant, his head coaching record was just okay. He does have Fresno's State's only NCAA appearance since 2001, which is an accomplishment. Other than a few good seasons there, he did not have sustained success at Fresno or UTEP and ended up back as a top assistant. Beard put this team and staff together (including hiring Terry). Beard also coached 20% of this season. It is not like Terry even coached the team the entire year. A lot of people will refuse to admit it, but given Beard put the team together, hired Terry and the staff, and beat Gonzaga and Creighton while still here showing he built the team into at least an elite 8 team, Beard deserves more than 50% of the credit for the success this season.
Terry is just an unproven commodity as a head coach. The most likely scenario is one good season next year then the wheels fall off. How many of the staff will leave for other jobs (going to Ole Miss or otherwise)? How many players will transfer (going to Ole Miss or otherwise)? Can Terry build and sustain his own program? Terry will be hired, and we will find out. The Big XII may be better than the SEC in basketball, but facing Rick Barnes and Chris Beard every year will be no easy task. I shall hope for the best and root for the Horns!
I will note that I do think Terry is better than Smart. Terry's 3 tournament wins this year are 1 more than Smart's 2 tournament wins his last 10 seasons (not even including the no postseason covid 2020 season). Even if Terry does not succeed the way Penders, Barnes or Beard did, I am confident Texas will do better than it did the 6 seasons we had to endure Shaka Smart or the 6 seasons Texas had to endure Kaiser Bob.
Edit: fixed a "hilarious" autocorrect typo.
Last edited: Mar 27, 2023