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The Search for a New Head Coach


Jeseph

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Whoever comes in as our next coach needs to have a grasp of the situation and know what they’re walking in to. The up tempo offense needs to stay, so while I like Turner Battle a lot as a person, his offense just won’t get the job done here.

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10 minutes ago, 961819 said:

Whoever comes in as our next coach needs to have a grasp of the situation and know what they’re walking in to. The up tempo offense needs to stay, so while I like Turner Battle a lot as a person, his offense just won’t get the job done here.

One question...why do I keep reading “Turner’s offense?” Last I checked he’s an assistant and never been a head coach. Therefore he is assisting in implementing someone else’s offense. Yes the staffs he’s been on have been run by coaches whose offensive style and pace are awful but they are in no way Turner’s offense. We have no idea what kind of offense he will run as a first time coach. 

Are we that jaded by Reggie that we automatically associate Battle with him and think Battle will operate as Reggie did?

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14 minutes ago, 961819 said:

Whoever comes in as our next coach needs to have a grasp of the situation and know what they’re walking in to. The up tempo offense needs to stay, so while I like Turner Battle a lot as a person, his offense just won’t get the job done here.

Every time I think of Reggie's offense, all I can think of is French Pastry.  Turnovers ran rampant, or so it seemed anyway.

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2 minutes ago, ChubbyHubby said:

Every time I think of Reggie's offense, all I can think of is French Pastry.  Turnovers ran rampant, or so it seemed anyway.

Everytime I think of Reggie's offensie I just think of handing the ball off behind the 3 point line constantly.

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1 hour ago, MuchMany said:

Murray's Louisville profile quotes Chris Mack calling him a "superstar" and states he's been the lead recruiter for Xavier and Louisville. That's appealing.

And Bill Murray at UB games would make us forget the Blue Collar schtick fast. I'm really rooting for this now.

That's a fact Jack.

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1 minute ago, SGBull said:

Everytime I think of Reggie's offensie I just think of handing the ball off behind the 3 point line constantly.

This.  I see other teams do this sometimes and I am so, so, so thankful that I don't have to watch that anymore.

I think this may be why some people have some trepidation about Battle.  While we don't know what he will run, we know what he's played in and (assistant) coached in.   It is reasonable to assume that this would be the case.

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4 minutes ago, UB92 said:

I think this may be why some people have some trepidation about Battle.  While we don't know what he will run, we know what he's played in and (assistant) coached in.   It is reasonable to assume that this would be the case.

Then this is why you don’t hire a first timer.  IDK just because a guy coaches under someone doesn’t mean he will operate like that person. Furthermore when Battle was under Spoon he was very young and probably like a 4th assistant. By this logic the best candidate is Fife because Michigan State is in the final 4. But is he the next Izzo? 

But I agree with you, ppl automatically link Battle with Reggie. That’s unfair to Battle and more of a reason why he shouldn’t coach here until he’s head coached elsewhere.

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I wonder if the tenure of an assistant under a strong coach is correlated to success...

Do you want an assistant who has clearly been on the rise and gets a HC gig fairly early because they're clearly over-qualified to be an assistant? Conversely - they may not have been groomed for the job.

Do you want an assistant who has been groomed for the position for years? Conversely - they may not have their own identity and will falter without their mentor.

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14 minutes ago, Jeseph said:

I wonder if the tenure of an assistant under a strong coach is correlated to success...

Do you want an assistant who has clearly been on the rise and gets a HC gig fairly early because they're clearly over-qualified to be an assistant? Conversely - they may not have been groomed for the job.

Do you want an assistant who has been groomed for the position for years? Conversely - they may not have their own identity and will falter without their mentor.

It’s all a crap shoot. Look at Belichek assistants. I know that’s football but his guys have never panned out. 

Relating it back to college it’s even trickier bc of some many things outside of just Xs and Os. I also think that’s why Alnutt is taking time. We as a program are hanging on the edge of continuing a great run or falling back into mid major mediocrity. He wants a coach who can keep this train on the tracks. Who knows who he will get and if he will have to settle. But I think what you target is someone who checks off as many boxes as possible. Can recruit, reasonable price, can keep this team together, coaching style, experience level and so on. All boxes that need to be checked. And I’m missing many more. Either way whoever is hired we all won’t like it. We all will nitpick but if this person wins this thread won’t be relevant until we do it all over again in 4-5 years lol.

Edited by DooleyBull06
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8 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

It’s all a crap shoot. Look at Belichek assistants. I know that’s football but his guys have never panned out. 

Relating it back to college it’s even trickier bc of some many things outside of just Xs and Os. I also think that’s why Alnutt is taking time. We as a program are hanging  on the edge of continuing a great run or falling back into mid major mediocrity. He wants a coach who can keep this train on the tracks. Who knows who he will get and if he will have to settle. But I think what you target it someone who checks off as many boxes as possible. Can recruit, reasonable price, can keep this team together, coaching style, experience level and so on. All boxes that need to be checked. And I’m missing many more. Either way whoever is hired we all won’t like it. We all will nitpick but if this person wins this thread won’t be relevant until we do it all over again in 4-5 years lol.

4-5 years? I absolutely love your optimism lol 

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40 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

One question...why do I keep reading “Turner’s offense?” Last I checked he’s an assistant and never been a head coach. Therefore he is assisting in implementing someone else’s offense. Yes the staffs he’s been on have been run by coaches whose offensive style and pace are awful but they are in no way Turner’s offense. We have no idea what kind of offense he will run as a first time coach. 

Are we that jaded by Reggie that we automatically associate Battle with him and think Battle will operate as Reggie did?

I can't speculate any better than anyone about Battle as a potential coach, but considering he was known as Mr. Textbook, I wouldn't expect the high tempo free flowing play that we've recently grown accustomed to. Anything is possible, and I loved him as a player but I'd be very skeptical. 

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Agreed. Take a look at coaching trees of even the titans of college basketball- most have one really impressive name and a series of mediocre disciples.

Also agree that coaching is more than X’s and O’s. Maybe Oats wasn’t the brains, as some suggested, but his overall system worked and he must have had some strengths. Sign me up for another guy who doesn’t do X’s and O’s but wins 32 games next year.

 

 

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I don't think there's anything wrong with the offense that Witherspoon ran.  The dribble handoff motion is an effective way to generate offense.  My only problem was the people that were running it.  Witherspoon usually had his big who couldn't shoot all the way out to the 3 point line as the guy handing off.  Well, that was not hard to guard because Idbihi, Watt, McCrae, Fedotov, (fill in the blank), none of these guys could shoot from 3, so there was no defender on them.  That player all the way out there was useless in the offense.

It would have worked with Montell McRae and Perkins.  

Now a better coach would have either recruited bigs who can run this system or would have changed his system that matched his personnel.  

There are two types of recruiting philosophies A) Just get the best athletes or B) Get guys that fit your system.  I think Witherspoon went with A, but failed to change his coaching style to match his personnel.

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I don't know enough about any of these other names - how they would coach - to prefer one over another.  What I appreciate about Turner Battle is simply that coaching here might be more than just "a job" to him, and that he was a good leader with good character as a player here.  Those things alone aren't the only qualifications however.  I appreciate that Whitesell might be something of a continuation of what's been working well the past couple years, and thus perhaps the best chance to keep enough of the returning team intact.

I don't care what style anyone plays, as long as the ball goes through the hoop more times than the other team.  You could throw it underhanded like Rick Barry for all I care.  I'm entertained by winning games and championships, whatever works.  I realize that a lot of other people see things differently and the style matters as much or more.

Deng Xiaoping - "It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice."

Edited by enrique14150
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Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Whitesell run defense for Oats? So while hiring him would bring a sense of continuity, his hiring would still leave us in the dark about style and pace of play offensively.

I agree with @enrique14150 that it’s doesnt matter what style as long as we win. TTU is defensive oriented, Auburn plays no defense, Virginia is the slowest paced team in the country and Michigan State plays in the boring Big 10. There’s several ways to skin the aforementioned cat.

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6 minutes ago, UB05 said:

My guess is Dane Fife will be the next head coach, and they’re waiting until after the final 4 to announce it with mich st obviously still in it 

Let's hope he's better than .413% Mark Montgomery. He's been terrible there after coming from MSU. If it wasn't for German, that team would be unwatchable. 

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It’s all about recruiting. Whoever has the best recruiting chops hopefully will land the job. And I have no clue who that is. But I do hope Whitesell and Quarles are retained by whomever gets the job. I can’t imagine being left behind by a coach that you helped you go from a paltry 300k or whatever to a kings ransom of 2.5 M without any apparent concern by that coach. And whoever it is I hope they can do right by the players Oats stiff armed by high tailing it outta town. 

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3 minutes ago, UB85 said:

It’s all about recruiting. Whoever has the best recruiting chops hopefully will land the job. And I have no clue who that is. But I do hope Whitesell and Quarles are retained by whomever gets the job. I can’t imagine being left behind by a coach that you helped go you from a paltry 300k or whatever to a kings ransom of 2.5 M without any apparent concern by that coach. And whoever it is I hope they can do right by the players Oats stiff armed by high tailing it outta town. 

best recruiter get the job, period. Whitesell and coach Q can hold down the coach

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3 hours ago, SGBull said:

Everytime I think of Reggie's offensie I just think of handing the ball off behind the 3 point line constantly.

I went to a Canisius game this season. They were doing the same “hand off” thing. It was as boring as I remembered.

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4 minutes ago, ubfan75 said:

I went to a Canisius game this season. They were doing the same “hand off” thing. It was as boring as I remembered.

That style of offense is terrible and breeds .500 basketball, no matter what anyone thinks.

I love Battle the guy, but he's the only candidate I dont want. 

If we are sticking with associate HCs from non-P5 schools, just go with the Whitesell/Coach Q combo and hire a main recruiter as your associate HC. 

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4 hours ago, Jeseph said:

As much as we want somebody to stick and it should be mentioned during the interview process we need to hire somebody who is ready to win, and win now. We'll worry about departure when we get there.

I can live with 2 years and out, as long as we dance and win a few in those two years. Just don't make promises you ain't keeping.

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32 minutes ago, promotherobot said:

I can live with 2 years and out, as long as we dance and win a few in those two years. Just don't make promises you ain't keeping.

Exactly. With Hurley we all knew it was coming

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