Following the best not always best way to start a career

Eric Maynor is Virginia Commonwealth's all-time leader in points and assists, a once-in-a-decade type of Colonial Athletic Association guard who led the Rams to three consecutive regular-season titles, two NCAA tournament appearances and that etched-in-our-memory victory over Duke in 2007.

Now he's gone, off to the NBA as a possible lottery pick. Which means Anthony Grant picked a nice time to leave VCU for Alabama, because trying to keep things going at their current pace sans the best player in school history is never a simple task, particularly in a competitive, (sometimes) one-bid league.

Chris Mack steps out from behind Sean Miller to take over at Xavier. (US Presswire)

"But the fans don't care about that," said first-year VCU coach Shaka Smart. "Their deal is, 'Hey, this guy before you was winning, and we brought you in here to do the same or more.'"

Or else.

And this is the dichotomy facing Smart and fellow first-time coaches Chris Mack at Xavier and Josh Pastner at Memphis. Sure, they all landed unusually great first jobs, the three best jobs in three quality leagues. But the problem is that winning big is more expected than requested, demanded right from the start.

So never mind that Smart is down the school's best player. And that Mack inherited a team losing its top three scorers. And that Pastner lost his top four scorers and nearly an entire recruiting class. In the grand scheme of things, none of that will matter much. Because winning is what happens at VCU, Xavier and Memphis, and if that changes it won't be put on Grant (now at Alabama), Sean Miller (now at Arizona) and John Calipari (now at Kentucky).

If it changes, it'll be put on Smart, Mack and Pastner.

So good luck, fellas!

"The job is tough because I'm following one of the best -- if not the best -- in the entire game, and I'm talking high school, college or pro," Pastner said. "I think Cal is as good as any coach in the game today at any level. So I'm following in those footsteps."

Oddly, those footsteps are what allowed Pastner to land the Memphis job after a coaching search that flirted with everybody from Scott Drew to Tim Floyd to Leonard Hamilton to Mike Anderson to Derek Kellogg. Almost to a man, the candidates had concerns about "following Calipari," and it had nothing to do with NCAA allegations. Rather, it was the fact that Calipari routinely lured elite-level prospects from around the country to a Conference USA school. He regularly caused 18,000 fans to pack an off-campus arena for Tuesday night games against SMU and Southern Miss.

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He made four consecutive Sweet 16s.

He won 61 consecutive Conference USA games.

He altered reality at Memphis in an unprecedented way.

"What Cal did the past four years is not reality," Pastner said. "It's the winningest stretch in the history of college basketball. It's not realistic."

Josh Pastner got the Memphis job after a host of coaches had misgivings about following John Calipari. (US Presswire)

Of course it isn't.

I know that.

Pastner knows that.

But do Memphis fans know that?

Are they willing to let Pastner grow into the job?

Let him lose a league game or four?

Let him -- God forbid -- not make the NCAA tournament one season?

If so, he'll be fine.

If not, he'll be Bruiser Flint, i.e., the last man who replaced Calipari at the collegiate level.

Flint, you might remember, was run out of UMass after five seasons despite two NCAA tournament appearances. These days, two NCAA tournament appearances every five years for UMass would get a man a contract extension. But in the years immediately following Calipari, that wasn't good enough. The bar was too high, placed there by a rising star in the business. And though the stakes vary from school to school, this is the one thing Pastner, Smart and Mack now share as they begin their head coaching careers.

They have all inherited great first jobs. But a great first job always comes with great demands. For those who capitalize (like Mark Few at Gonzaga and Jamie Dixon at Pittsburgh), it's the best thing in the world. For those who don't (Flint at UMass and Craig Esherick at Georgetown), it's a stressful tenure that defines abilities and limits (or ends) careers.

"But I want a job with expectations," Mack said. "I'm a competitive person. I wouldn't have it any other way."

And how's it going so far?

"Ask me in January," Mack answered with a laugh. "Ask me in January."