Rush To Judgement

[BrooklynBull]

Two quick points on the length of time since Oats left.

First it is less than two weeks.  To some it may seem like an eternity.  It is not, especially with the world's largest basketball coaches networking event this weekend, aka the Final Four.

Second, hiring quickly is not always the best.  If you do not fully investigate a potential coach you can end up being embarrassed.  Remember the George O'Leary era at Notre Dame, it lasted all of 5 days.

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/15/sports/notre-dame-coach-resigns-after-5-days-and-a-few-lies.html

UB will have a coach.  A full staff of assistants and a full roster for the 2019-20 season.  In other words (invoking the father a rumored candidate's father's movie):

 

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by BrooklynBull

[UB05]

You’re absolutely right, I’m guilty myself of being too impatient. We’re not the only school that hasn’t hired yet. Also notice they list us as a “power conference team” 😎

[McBulls]

BB, usually I agree with your thoughts. Every coaching search is a bit different, however. In this case, all administration had to do was aim for continuity. There was nothing broken about the current trajectory of Buffalo basketball. Our roster, even assuming Hawkins selecting Alabama, was loaded for next season again. Gonzaga, Xavier, and Butler weren't built through intermittent rebuilds. IMO, Alnutt should have known months ago: Whitesell or Hodgson, Hodgson or Whitesell. Take your pick. Salvage the talent you have in place, continue winning, continue attracting recruits to Buffalo.

Our commits, save Allen, seem to have been ok waiting for a coach to be named... to a point. We've surpassed that, and lost an entire recruiting class in the interim. We've had a candidate seemingly (who knows if this is spin or truth) pass given the tempo of our search. 

https://twitter.com/BillyWilliford/status/1114300249345089536

But if you read the comments below, it worries me to see Larry Regan (Will's father) describe this search as a "dumpster fire." He usually is an avid UB supporter. I think this is an AD trying to make his name/mark on the program instead of making the simple but less sexy move. I would gladly be mistaken, but I fear we'll look back in two years just as Akron does now wondering, "where did our dynasty go?"

[961819]

1 hour ago, UB05 said:

You’re absolutely right, I’m guilty myself of being too impatient. We’re not the only school that hasn’t hired yet. Also notice they list us as a “power conference team” 😎

Other than Tulane I will gladly be a part of that crowd of schools

 

13 minutes ago, McBulls said:

BB, usually I agree with your thoughts. Every coaching search is a bit different, however. In this case, all administration had to do was aim for continuity. There was nothing broken about the current trajectory of Buffalo basketball. Our roster, even assuming Hawkins selecting Alabama, was loaded for next season again. Gonzaga, Xavier, and Butler weren't built through intermittent rebuilds. IMO, Alnutt should have known months ago: Whitesell or Hodgson, Hodgson or Whitesell. Take your pick. Salvage the talent you have in place, continue winning, continue attracting recruits to Buffalo.

Our commits, save Allen, seem to have been ok waiting for a coach to be named... to a point. We've surpassed that, and lost an entire recruiting class in the interim. We've had a candidate seemingly (who knows if this is spin or truth) pass given the tempo of our search. 

https://twitter.com/BillyWilliford/status/1114300249345089536

But if you read the comments below, it worries me to see Larry Regan (Will's father) describe this search as a "dumpster fire." He usually is an avid UB supporter. I think this is an AD trying to make his name/mark on the program instead of making the simple but less sexy move. I would gladly be mistaken, but I fear we'll look back in two years just as Akron does now wondering, "where did our dynasty go?"

I agree it would’ve been easy to get Hodgson in as our next coach to keep the recruiting class intact. Key word: Easy. I would much rather have any of the current candidates taking that position over a coach who’s only involvement in UBs recent success was recruiting. 

 

The head coach is the guy that makes substitutions, the guy that makes the final call on things. The guy that calls timeouts when we need them and is strategic with this so that if it’s a close game in the last minute we still have a timeout or two to burn to get organized. Hodgson is completely underqualified and lacks enough experience to continue our programs recent success. 

Edited April 6, 2019 by 961819

[McBulls]

All true. But lack of experience (not just Hodgson) shouldn’t entirely disqualify a candidate. Nate Oats only head coaching experience was at the high school level. Hurley had never been a head coach prior to his stop here.

Further, having experience doesn’t mean that the coach is necessarily good at game management. Whitesell had a losing record every year at Loyola in the MVC. Lanier was fired after four disappointing years at Siena. I’ll leave my thoughts on Fife alone, as we’ll have to agree to disagree on the success of his tenure as a head man. I guess I’m just saying I think that prior HC experience is simply one variable to consider, and I don’t think it is the most important one.

Xavier: Skip Prosser- Mack, total experience before taking over: one HC season.

Butler: Barry Collier through Brad Stevens: no prior HC experience.

Gonzaga: Monson and Few- no prior experience.

Either way, I’m sure once I hear the name and our new coach says all the right things at the press conference I’ll come around.

[dutchcountry7]

20 hours ago, McBulls said:

Nate Oats only head coaching experience was at the high school level.

He coached at a national high school level.  He produced many D1 players as a head coach. He developed talent over many years and he managed high level games for many years. 

We aren’t talking about a ymca coach here. Elite high school coaches are on par with college coaches. 

And being a head coach is a different responsibility than an assistant.  Especially when the assistant is a low level assistant who has only done recruiting and spent very little time at practice because they are out recruiting.