Big 4 Hoops Blogger

That's an overly vague statement that doesn't include a lot of context. Sure, there's plenty of former great recruiters that didn't pan out to be good head coaches. There's also a ton of great teachers, developers and game managers that didn't turn into great head coaches because they couldn't recruit the level of players needed to be successful. There are plenty of different skills needed to be a successful head coach at the D1 level. To diminish any skillset as non-important is wrong. Ideally, you want someone well rounded but that's not always possible at the mid-major level.

I truly feel bad for Toledo fans. To win three straight regular season titles and fall short in Cleveland each time is absolutely brutal.

I'm going to assume that most of our roster will look to transfer out and seek other opportunities. It's not necessarily a bad thing for a new coach with the current state of the transfer portal. You can guarantee newcomers immediate playing time which should help land some decent recruits. St. Bonaventure had to reconstruct their entire roster last season and while they had an overall down season this year, they're set up to be somewhat successful in the upcoming years with some of their quality younger players.

Hiring a guy like Hodgson to be head coach would certainly come with some risks but it would be worthwhile in my opinion. If he flops and can't handle the job, you can easily move on after three seasons and start over. From my past experience covering other mid-major programs, the ones that had the highest upside were schools that specifically targeted high level recruiters. It's probably the riskiest path because you need to surround yourself with a skilled staff to make up for your shortcomings. I think UB still has enough to offer as a mid-major to allow him to recruit at a high level. He would certainly be more limited recruiting as a head coach but I still think his skillset would still come in handy. He was bringing in high 3-star, borderline 4-star guys to UB and 5-star, All Americans to Alabama. That's absolutely unreal recruiting ability. The issue with X & O's guys is that they need talent to develop and coach up. The MAC is a very top heavy with Akron, Kent, Toledo and Ohio. You need 3-star guys to compete with them. If you can't keep up with them recruiting wise, you're toast. If you do out-recruit them, you can win in spite of being a below average X & O guy if you have other talented coaches on your staff. So to wrap up, it's definitely a risk. Hodgson could go 24-8 or 8-24 depending on how things come together if he were to get the job. An X & O guy might consistently go 18-12. You could be solid every year but never good enough to go dancing. Essentially, I'm saying to take to risk to go after the highest ceiling rather than settle for a safe hire. The other candidates mentioned are certainly good options as well.

Being a good recruiter doesn't mean you'll be a good coach. It's an important skillset but not the only one. Some people are X & O guys, other coaches specialize in developing players and some focus on recruiting. The key is to have a solid staff that can excel in each category. WKU wasn't winning at the level expected when they hired Rick Stansbury. He had tremendous recruiting classes but couldn't guide them to the tournament during his seven seasons. Despite that, he still was winning at a very high rate and won 20+ games 14 times in his career including his time at Mississippi State. I'm not a supporter of Hodgson because he can recruit. I'm a fan of his because he's an ELITE recruiter. If he ends up being their choice, I'll be happy but I'm also content with the other guys mentioned on the lists being leaked to the media.

The three names that make the most sense are Cohen, Hodgson or Hartman. Cohen knows the game, can recruit and has local ties. He would be a perfect hire and would likely use UB to catapult his career. Hodgson brings elite recruiting ability, local ties and familiarity with the UB program. He'd instantly bring higher level players to Buffalo (transfers, 3 and possibly 4 star recruits). He'd need to surround himself with a strong staff to make up for his shortcomings. Hartman is a Buffalo local that has put his time in as a major assistant. He'd bring familiarity with WNY, someone appreciative of the opportunity that could potentially stay longterm at UB and certainly knows the game. I'm open to other names not listed as well. It's safe to say we'll likely lose a good portion of our roster in the upcoming weeks so whoever gets hired will need to have solid roster building skills because it'll likely be a brand new squad next year.

2. Jeff Boals was overlooked for jobs twice at Ohio before being hired. 3. Many assistants coach for 10+ years before getting their first head coaching job. That's not uncommon at all. 4. He wasn't the head coach because it didn't fit his schedule at Alabama in terms of recruiting and events. He was originally supposed to be the head coach and stepped down prior to TBT beginning the first year. He was responsible for the entire roster of guys playing. 5. The players at TBT came back because they wanted to play together. He was the one that convinced them. He has built great relationships with players which is why he's a tremendous recruiter. Hodgson might not get the job or be a top candidate but some of your speculation is slightly off base. I personally know about the TBT info from talking with former players and people within the UB athletic department that let Blue Collar practice at UB.

The story that got out and the truth of what actually happened don't line up. Hodgson was told they weren't considering him for the job so he moved on. Bad look on his part but it didn't play out the way many on this board discuss the incident and I know that for a fact.

Take this for what it's worth but a group of donors are pushing Alnutt to hire Hodgson. That certainly means something after he wasn't considered four years ago when Oats departed. While he certainly has his detractors, there's a large portion of the fanbase that wants UB to hire him. Out of all the potential candidates, he'll have the largest backing heading into the process. I'm not against the idea of Josh Pastner but don't think that's likely. Mike Anderson is a nice name but could be viewed similarly as Whitesell as a retread head coach that's a short term fix despite a much more impressive resume. All of that said, I think UB is more likely to target a young, rising assistant in my opinion.

My apologies. Obviously, we understand why Bona and UB have vastly different budgets.

Mark Schmidt has a long track record of success and built that program from a laughing stock in the A10 coming off probation to a school that has made three NCAA Tournaments (should be four), a NIT Final Four and a perennial contender in a Top 10 conference in college basketball during his tenure. One year doesn't destroy his reputation, especially when they didn't have one returning player from his team last season. So while both teams were especially awful this year (Bona 200, UB 204 in KenPom), I'm more inclined to give Schmidt a pass than Jim Whitesell. Whitesell has been a D1 head coach for over a decade and hasn't made a NCAA Tournament at this level. Spending money doesn't guarantee success but it certainly helps.

It was a big responsibility filling your void!

I'm on the same page with you on all of that and typically don't post during games for that reason. Believe me, I'm not a doom and gloomer with UB basketball. I still think they have the building blocks to be a successful program. It's just been a frustrating year.

And to add to my previous point, Ohio fans are upset that they're 18-13 (10-8) and don't believe they have any shot in Cleveland despite being 134th in KenPom. Some of the posters on this board are content because we're entertaining and finished where we were projected before the season. UB is 15-16 (9-9) and 198th in KenPom. Ohio has not been consistently great in the MAC over the past decade while UB had one the best five years runs in the history of the conference not too long ago. Why is it that Bobcat fans have higher expectations for their program than Buffalo fans? That's a problem.

Not sure why you're calling me out or saying that Jeff Boals is my idol. I've been critical of Boals all season in my other circles regarding his rotations and stubbornness at times. I have been far from the most critical UB fan on this board. The only thing I've been hard on them is that they've decided to settle for being average rather than striving to be great.

Respect UB for coming back and getting the win when they could've easily given up down double digits. I'll be down in Cleveland for the MAC Tournament. Not expecting much but hoping they can at least give Akron a game in the quarterfinals.

I think this year is proof that many of Whitesell's critics over the past few years weren't pessimists but instead people who had the vision to see where the program was headed under him. Unless his recruiting magically improves, we're staring down mediocre basketball for the foreseeable future.

That's a good point. A lot of people have this perception that UB's strength is on the offensive side of the court because of their quick tempo but the metrics don't back that up. Truth is, Buffalo is average on both sides of the court. Their defense is near the top of the conference during MAC play while their offense is closer to the bottom group of teams in the league. It's pretty easy to point out some of the problem areas for this squad when you look at their deeper numbers.

While I understand your reasoning, I'm not sure I completely agree. Kent doesn't have a good track record in Cleveland under Rob Senderoff either. I think winning the MAC Tournament is a combination of talent, getting hot at the right time and a little bit of luck. I've seen Ohio and Buffalo win the MAC Tournament seven times since I was a freshman at OU in 2009-10. Some of those teams were great but many just clicked when it mattered the most. While defense is certainly important, the reason Kent/Akron win at a high level is because they have quality offenses to go along with their defensive ability. Toledo is very average defensively but they are ELITE offensively, 14th in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency. No one in the MAC can touch their offense. The issue for the Rockets is if they have an off night, they're vulnerable. That doesn't happen often though. At the current moment, I think there's five teams that have a shot at a run in Cleveland. Kent/Akron/Toledo are the favorites but Ball St. and Ohio could be sneaky. If UB wants to have any shot in the MAC Tournament, they'll need to continue their recent focus defensively like you mentioned.

It's never easy to win on the road in the MAC. UB's first game against Toledo was competitive but I think it'll be much more difficult this afternoon. Hope I'm wrong and watch Buffalo come out strong!

It was wrong of me to throw that last part out there. I'll delete that because I don't want to go down that rabbit hole.

Nate Oats has handled this entire situation horribly. From getting Ray Lewis involved to letting Brandon Miller continue playing and now saying "wrong place, wrong time." It's clear the only thing he cares about is winning and it doesn't matter at what cost. The moment Alabama found out about Miller's involvement, he should've been indefinitely suspended pending a review and investigation. Now, it's clear that their program didn't truly care about the murder that took place. There's a valid argument to be made that Oats and Miller should be suspended the rest of the year. I doubt that'll happen but there's people calling for Oats to be fired. I was always a huge supporter of Nate while he was in Buffalo. I've met him numerous times and got to talk to him following a few practices. He's a tremendous basketball coach but you really have to question him as a person now.

Very odd game but I'll take it any time UB holds an opponent to only 35 points! Next two games will be difficult tests at Toledo and NIU.

So, that was a tough week for UB... It wasn't unexpected but never good to get blown out in back-to-back conference games in mid-February. The Bulls are struggling and they don't exactly have freebies remaining on their schedule. Buffalo already lost to three of their four remaining opponents. Siting at 12-15 overall, it looks like they could have their first losing season since Reggie Witherspoon's final year with the program in 2012-13 when they went 14-20. John and I addressed the current state of the Big 4 and if UB is capable of making a run in Cleveland. Fast-forward to the 17:30 mark for UB talk.

We took a look at the Bulls recent play and whether or not they're capable of making a run in the MAAC Tournament this year. While not directly addressing Jim Whitesell, we did discuss some of the problems UB is facing as a program starting at the 17:30 mark.