Jim Whitesell and UB Part Ways

[BrooklynBull]

1 hour ago, UB Horns Up said:

New York Times propaganda machine that will screw it up for the other UB Donors and UB Bulls fans will be stuck with another Jim Whitesell type of coach again that checks all the political cover boxes for UB because they fear the corrupt New York Times propaganda machine

You assume that the New York Times has a normal sports section.  It does not.  Which is a shame because some of their columnist, who are rarely published any more are great writer.

[121Merrimac]

6 hours ago, BrooklynBull said:

You assume that the New York Times has a normal sports section.  It does not.  Which is a shame because some of their columnist, who are rarely published any more are great writer.

I enjoy the writing style of Bill Pennington. 

[promotherobot]

On 3/13/2023 at 12:24 PM, Tee4three said:

A lot of the college football vs pro football in my opinion is the culture of bills football, you plan your entire weekend around a bills game. You get to the stadium at 8am. It's tough doing that let alone having 2 full days of it on a weekend. Then add in the cost it's not an easy thing to do. Even add in the weather being outside especially in the fall/winter months. If there ever is an opportunity to build a roof or dome for football they should do it. I think attendance would jump big time but that's not happening 

Basketball should and can run circles around the sabres though. You start winning basketball games again attendance will be there. Price for a game is great and the style they have been playing is enjoyable to watch 

Uhhhh, you should crack open the local sports section once in a while, maybe catch up on how the Sabres are doing?

Edited March 14, 2023 by promotherobot

[promotherobot]

On 3/12/2023 at 8:04 PM, DooleyBull06 said:

What I don’t get and understand is why can’t the bulls exist with or despite or along with the bills? I’m a down stater and I don’t understand why it’s the bills and nothing else.  Makes no sense to me. This isn’t giants/jets or Mets/Yankees. From what it sounds like is that Buffalonians can only invest in one.

There is no reason. Especially when the Bills have or have had former Bulls on the roster.  The problem with UB Athletics is it's practically invisible in WNY. WGR almost never talks about it. The Buffalo News and Rachel Lenzi do a fabulous job but newspapers are going the way of buggy whips. The UB Athletic department has minimal social media outreach. And don't get me started on Bulls merchandise.

The price of attending a Bulls game is more than reasonable. I don't know if it's by choice but there is usually only one weekend where the Bulls and Bills are home. When I drive in for Bills games, I always attend the Bulls game IF one is available. How about having a few more and promote them as two-for-one tailgate weekends? 

Edited March 14, 2023 by promotherobot

[bullsbball]

Article from the Buffalo News. Since it's behind a paywall, I've posted it here.

UB men's basketball: Where it went wrong for the Bulls in the last four seasons, and what should be next

Rachel Lenzi Mar 14, 2023

Jim Whitesell’s promotion to head coach of the University at Buffalo men’s basketball team nearly four years ago was a move that was made to assure consistency in a program that had quickly become one of the nation’s most accomplished mid-majors.

Whitesell was Nate Oats’ associate head coach at UB for four seasons, and after Oats left to for Alabama, Whitesell and his staff had an expectation: Maintain UB’s ways as winners, a standard that Oats and former UB coach Bobby Hurley set in the previous six seasons

Instead, the Bulls regressed in four seasons under Whitesell, quickly falling from among the Mid-American Conference’s top teams. The Bulls made the MAC final once, in 2021; there was no tournament in 2020. 

Without winning the conference tournament, it is highly unlikely a MAC team can get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The MAC hasn't had a team receive an at-large bid since 1999. 

As their competitive level dropped, the Bulls became just another mid-major team that couldn’t score enough, and couldn’t win enough to keep the program viable as a potential NCAA Tournament team.

As a result, UB’s athletic department fired Whitesell on Saturday, two days after a 101-77 rout by Akron in a MAC Tournament quarterfinal in Cleveland. At first glance, the firing seemed like a knee-jerk reaction, as Whitesell was 70-49 in four seasons, with only one losing season: this season, as the Bulls finished 15-17, its first losing season since 2012-13. But there was a culmination of events that led to UB's dismissal of Whitesell.

Q: Was this a slow burnout, or something that happened suddenly?

A: It is a surprise to see a coach with a winning record get fired, but this wasn’t just about one losing season. This was a change that was long in the making. Alarms should have sounded three years ago, when the Bulls, the No. 5 seed in the MAC Tournament – which then included all 12 teams in the conference – were knocked out in the first round by No. 12 Miami (Ohio) at Alumni Arena.

While it seemed shocking, by numerical standards, it wasn’t for a program that was in transition and struggled to create consistency under a new head coach. But that struggle continued through the next three seasons.

Statistically, UB’s offense per game plummeted from the 2018-19 – Oats’ final season – to this season. In 2018-19, the Bulls averaged 84.4 points per game, while allowing opponents 70.8 points per game – the Bulls won the MAC Tournament and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament that season. Three years later, the Bulls averaged 79.9 points and allowed opponents 72.3 points. This season, scoring dropped to 77.5 points per game – about what the Bulls scored against Akron. But then there was that defense, or lack thereof, against the Zips, the second time UB had allowed more than 100 points in a game in the final two weeks.

A few more stats to chew on from this season: UB’s offense (77.5 points per game) was 50th in the nation and third in the MAC, but its defense (77.7 points per game) was 331st in the nation and 10th in the MAC.

Additionally, the Bulls tied for 53rd in the nation and were second in the MAC with 7.9 steals per game, but were tied for 312th in the nation and third in the MAC in turnovers per game (14.1).

Instead of building off defense, which became a hallmark of Oats’ tenure, UB survived on its defense and worked – sometimes labored – to create offense. 

Q: Was it just the wins and losses and lack of consistency that plagued the program?

A: UB’s issues weren’t just on the court during the last four years. There were questions about the culture of the program, and two specific incidents brought those questions to light.

In April 2020, the NCAA penalized UB for violating ethical conduct legislation, which stemmed from former UB assistant Hunter Jenkins forging a written statement in support of the transfer residence waiver request of former UB forward Josh Mballa. The NCAA's 10-page report stated Jenkins “knowingly” forged a written statement, in order to get a waiver from the NCAA that would allow Mballa to play immediately after transferring from Texas Tech prior to the 2019-20 season.

UB agreed to one year’s probation from April 2020 to April 2021 and recruiting restrictions, and paid a $5,000 fine.

Then, in September 2020, former UB basketball player Malik Zachery was arrested after stabbing former Canisius College player Scott Hitchon in the leg when a fight broke out during a pickup basketball game in North Tonawanda between players from the two schools. Zachery was initially charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Zachery pled guilty in May 2021 to a lesser charge, a Class A misdemeanor charge of assault in the third degree. Zachery was suspended for the entirety of the 2020-21 season, and was dismissed from the basketball program following the plea agreement.

Q. Did recruiting and retention factor into the last few seasons?

A: In the last three seasons, UB brought in small recruiting classes, and there were few four-year players. That wasn’t just a byproduct of the transfer portal, either. There were disciplinary issues, and players who found that UB wasn’t the right fit, or vice versa. Only one four-year player was on the roster by the end of Whitesell’s four seasons at UB: forward LaQuill Hardnett, who joined the Bulls as a transfer from Cincinnati when Whitesell and his staff were rebuilding UB’s roster for their first season.

As of Tuesday morning, four players from this year’s roster have already entered the transfer portal: Zid Powell, a junior-college transfer whose only season at UB was this year; Kuluel Mading, a 2021 signee who enters after two seasons; Kidtrell Blocker, who signed out of prep school in the spring of 2021; and Devin Ceaser, who signed out of high school in November 2021.

The Bulls did not have any players sign for the incoming 2023 class during the early signing period in November. That gave the impression that recruiting was not a priority, and it begged a few questions: Would UB use the transfer portal to assemble next season’s roster? Prioritize junior-college transfers? Focus on high school recruiting during the offseason? Was there any personnel plan for the 2023-24 season?

Now, a new coach and staff will not only have to re-recruit players who are on the current roster, but also bring in new players, whether it’s from the portal, or from the juco and high school ranks.

Q: What else happened that may have changed things for the Bulls?

A: The landscape of college basketball and college athletics changed, particularly with the transfer-portal waiver that allowed players a one-time transfer without penalty. This impacted the Bulls both ways, particularly after last season – they had five players join the program prior to this season as transfers from Division I programs, including Isaiah Adams, a forward from UCF who averaged 11.6 points and five rebounds.

But the Bulls lost players such as Mballa and David Skogman, who transferred to Ole Miss and to Davidson, respectively, which created a gaping hole in the middle on a team that was already guard-heavy, and had to heavily rely inside on Isaac Jack (a true freshman) and Jonnivius Smith (whose forte was defense).

The extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic also played into the ongoing transition, in that players with an extra year of eligibility – including Jeenathan Williams and Ronaldo Segu – decided not to use it and turned pro after the 2021-22 season. It’s hard to say if Williams and Segu, in particular, would have made a continuing impact this season, but the sentiment was that they’d outgrown the college game. Williams is now playing for Salt Lake City of the G-League and Segu is playing professionally in Greece.

Q: What’s the impact of all this on the program, besides the coaching change? And what’s next for a new coach and a new staff?

A: All of this has cost UB’s athletic program – on top of a payout of $500,000 to Whitesell, according to the terms of his contract extension from June 2021. Attendance has plummeted in the last four seasons at Alumni Arena, a building that quickly became one of the more raucous mid-major atmospheres during Hurley and Oats’ combined six seasons. UB averaged 5,290 fans a game in 2018-19, Oats’ last season, and averaged only 2,858 this season.

Clusters of empty seats were the norm, and UB’s ticket revenue dropped nearly $100,000 from the 2018-19 fiscal year ($234,800) to the 2021-22 fiscal year ($139,460).

UB played plenty of big games, but had few, if any, marquee wins in the last four seasons and wasn’t ever considered a serious contender for another NCAA Tournament berth.

The new coach will be facing a reclamation project. Find new players, from the transfer portal, from the junior-college ranks and from the high school ranks. Install a new system. Reinvigorate a disinterested and disappointed fan base.

Then, the wins will start coming again. 

[bullsbball]

Just now, bullsbball said:

The Bulls did not have any players sign for the incoming 2023 class during the early signing period in November. That gave the impression that recruiting was not a priority, and it begged a few questions: Would UB use the transfer portal to assemble next season’s roster? Prioritize junior-college transfers? Focus on high school recruiting during the offseason? Was there any personnel plan for the 2023-24 season?

Upsetting!! 

[UBinMD]

20 minutes ago, bullsbball said:

Article from the Buffalo News. Since it's behind a paywall, I've posted it here.

UB men's basketball: Where it went wrong for the Bulls in the last four seasons, and what should be next

Rachel Lenzi Mar 14, 2023

Jim Whitesell’s promotion to head coach of the University at Buffalo men’s basketball team nearly four years ago was a move that was made to assure consistency in a program that had quickly become one of the nation’s most accomplished mid-majors.

Whitesell was Nate Oats’ associate head coach at UB for four seasons, and after Oats left to for Alabama, Whitesell and his staff had an expectation: Maintain UB’s ways as winners, a standard that Oats and former UB coach Bobby Hurley set in the previous six seasons

Instead, the Bulls regressed in four seasons under Whitesell, quickly falling from among the Mid-American Conference’s top teams. The Bulls made the MAC final once, in 2021; there was no tournament in 2020. 

Without winning the conference tournament, it is highly unlikely a MAC team can get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The MAC hasn't had a team receive an at-large bid since 1999. 

As their competitive level dropped, the Bulls became just another mid-major team that couldn’t score enough, and couldn’t win enough to keep the program viable as a potential NCAA Tournament team.

As a result, UB’s athletic department fired Whitesell on Saturday, two days after a 101-77 rout by Akron in a MAC Tournament quarterfinal in Cleveland. At first glance, the firing seemed like a knee-jerk reaction, as Whitesell was 70-49 in four seasons, with only one losing season: this season, as the Bulls finished 15-17, its first losing season since 2012-13. But there was a culmination of events that led to UB's dismissal of Whitesell.

Q: Was this a slow burnout, or something that happened suddenly?

A: It is a surprise to see a coach with a winning record get fired, but this wasn’t just about one losing season. This was a change that was long in the making. Alarms should have sounded three years ago, when the Bulls, the No. 5 seed in the MAC Tournament – which then included all 12 teams in the conference – were knocked out in the first round by No. 12 Miami (Ohio) at Alumni Arena.

While it seemed shocking, by numerical standards, it wasn’t for a program that was in transition and struggled to create consistency under a new head coach. But that struggle continued through the next three seasons.

Statistically, UB’s offense per game plummeted from the 2018-19 – Oats’ final season – to this season. In 2018-19, the Bulls averaged 84.4 points per game, while allowing opponents 70.8 points per game – the Bulls won the MAC Tournament and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament that season. Three years later, the Bulls averaged 79.9 points and allowed opponents 72.3 points. This season, scoring dropped to 77.5 points per game – about what the Bulls scored against Akron. But then there was that defense, or lack thereof, against the Zips, the second time UB had allowed more than 100 points in a game in the final two weeks.

A few more stats to chew on from this season: UB’s offense (77.5 points per game) was 50th in the nation and third in the MAC, but its defense (77.7 points per game) was 331st in the nation and 10th in the MAC.

Additionally, the Bulls tied for 53rd in the nation and were second in the MAC with 7.9 steals per game, but were tied for 312th in the nation and third in the MAC in turnovers per game (14.1).

Instead of building off defense, which became a hallmark of Oats’ tenure, UB survived on its defense and worked – sometimes labored – to create offense. 

Q: Was it just the wins and losses and lack of consistency that plagued the program?

A: UB’s issues weren’t just on the court during the last four years. There were questions about the culture of the program, and two specific incidents brought those questions to light.

In April 2020, the NCAA penalized UB for violating ethical conduct legislation, which stemmed from former UB assistant Hunter Jenkins forging a written statement in support of the transfer residence waiver request of former UB forward Josh Mballa. The NCAA's 10-page report stated Jenkins “knowingly” forged a written statement, in order to get a waiver from the NCAA that would allow Mballa to play immediately after transferring from Texas Tech prior to the 2019-20 season.

UB agreed to one year’s probation from April 2020 to April 2021 and recruiting restrictions, and paid a $5,000 fine.

Then, in September 2020, former UB basketball player Malik Zachery was arrested after stabbing former Canisius College player Scott Hitchon in the leg when a fight broke out during a pickup basketball game in North Tonawanda between players from the two schools. Zachery was initially charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Zachery pled guilty in May 2021 to a lesser charge, a Class A misdemeanor charge of assault in the third degree. Zachery was suspended for the entirety of the 2020-21 season, and was dismissed from the basketball program following the plea agreement.

Q. Did recruiting and retention factor into the last few seasons?

A: In the last three seasons, UB brought in small recruiting classes, and there were few four-year players. That wasn’t just a byproduct of the transfer portal, either. There were disciplinary issues, and players who found that UB wasn’t the right fit, or vice versa. Only one four-year player was on the roster by the end of Whitesell’s four seasons at UB: forward LaQuill Hardnett, who joined the Bulls as a transfer from Cincinnati when Whitesell and his staff were rebuilding UB’s roster for their first season.

As of Tuesday morning, four players from this year’s roster have already entered the transfer portal: Zid Powell, a junior-college transfer whose only season at UB was this year; Kuluel Mading, a 2021 signee who enters after two seasons; Kidtrell Blocker, who signed out of prep school in the spring of 2021; and Devin Ceaser, who signed out of high school in November 2021.

The Bulls did not have any players sign for the incoming 2023 class during the early signing period in November. That gave the impression that recruiting was not a priority, and it begged a few questions: Would UB use the transfer portal to assemble next season’s roster? Prioritize junior-college transfers? Focus on high school recruiting during the offseason? Was there any personnel plan for the 2023-24 season?

Now, a new coach and staff will not only have to re-recruit players who are on the current roster, but also bring in new players, whether it’s from the portal, or from the juco and high school ranks.

Q: What else happened that may have changed things for the Bulls?

A: The landscape of college basketball and college athletics changed, particularly with the transfer-portal waiver that allowed players a one-time transfer without penalty. This impacted the Bulls both ways, particularly after last season – they had five players join the program prior to this season as transfers from Division I programs, including Isaiah Adams, a forward from UCF who averaged 11.6 points and five rebounds.

But the Bulls lost players such as Mballa and David Skogman, who transferred to Ole Miss and to Davidson, respectively, which created a gaping hole in the middle on a team that was already guard-heavy, and had to heavily rely inside on Isaac Jack (a true freshman) and Jonnivius Smith (whose forte was defense).

The extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic also played into the ongoing transition, in that players with an extra year of eligibility – including Jeenathan Williams and Ronaldo Segu – decided not to use it and turned pro after the 2021-22 season. It’s hard to say if Williams and Segu, in particular, would have made a continuing impact this season, but the sentiment was that they’d outgrown the college game. Williams is now playing for Salt Lake City of the G-League and Segu is playing professionally in Greece.

Q: What’s the impact of all this on the program, besides the coaching change? And what’s next for a new coach and a new staff?

A: All of this has cost UB’s athletic program – on top of a payout of $500,000 to Whitesell, according to the terms of his contract extension from June 2021. Attendance has plummeted in the last four seasons at Alumni Arena, a building that quickly became one of the more raucous mid-major atmospheres during Hurley and Oats’ combined six seasons. UB averaged 5,290 fans a game in 2018-19, Oats’ last season, and averaged only 2,858 this season.

Clusters of empty seats were the norm, and UB’s ticket revenue dropped nearly $100,000 from the 2018-19 fiscal year ($234,800) to the 2021-22 fiscal year ($139,460).

UB played plenty of big games, but had few, if any, marquee wins in the last four seasons and wasn’t ever considered a serious contender for another NCAA Tournament berth.

The new coach will be facing a reclamation project. Find new players, from the transfer portal, from the junior-college ranks and from the high school ranks. Install a new system. Reinvigorate a disinterested and disappointed fan base.

Then, the wins will start coming again. 

Thank you for sharing. I am too cheap to pay my $1 for 3 months 😂 I really enjoy her writing a lot. She has good perspective and insight, leans towards the local teams, but calls it like it is. I respect that and it's necessary.

[DooleyBull06]

To me, the move to fire Whitesell was a realization that the program was spiraling. And they axed him before it got worse and out of control. Right now as the article said, we are a reclamation project. We all could see that this needed to be done. Perhaps maybe a year sooner, but it was done sooner rather than later. And now we look forward. 

Edited March 14, 2023 by DooleyBull06

[UBinMD]

Just now, UBinMD said:

Thank you for sharing. I am too cheap to pay my $1 for 3 months 😂 I really enjoy her writing a lot. She has good perspective and insight, leans towards the local teams, but calls it like it is. I respect that and it's necessary.

Yeah, hoping for a little more social media presence from the next staff, radio silence sucks. BB and staff as well as Mo's team is good about see what interest is out there. It really does help with recruiting too I think. If players see Buffalo popping up all over, they may get interested too and look for a call.

[MuchMany]

33 minutes ago, bullsbball said:

Upsetting!! 

We had one guy with expiring eligibility on the roster, kind of hard to recruit to spots that don't exist. But I've always preferred recruiting HS kids and developing them as the foundation of a program. Transfers and JUCO are nice, but there's less consistency year-to-year and less connection with the fanbase.

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

I recently gave my thoughts on UB firing Jim Whitesell on Trainwreck Sports. Fast forward to the 12:20 mark for our coaching discussion.

[yussi1870]

On 3/13/2023 at 2:42 PM, UB Horns Up said:

The sad thing is Bryan Hodgson should be the new UB Bulls basketball coach but you will get a few UB Donors not from Western New York that whole life is the words of the New York Times propaganda machine that will screw it up for the other UB Donors and UB Bulls fans will be stuck with another Jim Whitesell type of coach again that checks all the political cover boxes for UB because they fear the corrupt New York Times propaganda machine what a joke that is why UB athletics will never be big time nor will Western New York unfortunately the ship sailed long ago which is unfortunate. 

It’s a little hard to follow your screed but I believe you’re referring to those promoting Mike Anderson from St John’s. It is the NY Daily News that would push that, not The NY Times, but no matter, I agree with your point, local coaches for a local school.

[John]

On 3/14/2023 at 2:33 PM, bullsbball said:

Upsetting!! 

Correct me if I am wrong but at the time didn’t Whitesell only have two players from the roster leaving in Foster and Hardnett??? How many openings did they have with only two players leaving??

[DaBulls99]

1 hour ago, John said:

Correct me if I am wrong but at the time didn’t Whitesell only have two players from the roster leaving in Foster and Hardnett??? How many openings did they have with only two players leaving??

Correct. And word was Hardnett was planning to return unless he got pro opportunities overseas. 

[MuchMany]

Full basketball junkie mode today, listening to a podcast with Oats from last year. From the 15 minute mark and a bit before, the story of how Oats got the job after Hurley and how Whitesell came to be on his staff. Danny White said one guy with D1 HC experience, an NBA guy, and one of Oats' choice.

About five minutes of good history on his time and exit here. Oats talked to Brad Stevens and Mark Few hoping to get them to talk him into staying, but they pushed him the other way. 🤯 Stevens suggested a football school. Not sure if we knew any of this before? 

https://spotify.link/xNBDQ7xEnyb

Edited March 22, 2023 by MuchMany

[UBlearns]

16 minutes ago, MuchMany said:

Full basketball junkie mode today, listening to a podcast with Oats from last year. From the 15 minute mark and a bit before, the story of how Oats got the job after Hurley and how Whitesell came to be on his staff. Danny White said one guy with D1 HC experience, an NBA guy, and one of Oats' choice.

About five minutes of good history on his time and exit here. Oats talked to Brad Stevens and Mark Few hoping to get them to talk him into staying, but they pushed him the other way. 🤯 Stevens suggested a football school. Not sure if we knew any of this before? 

I mean it kinda makes sense.  Stevens and Few are/were elite coaches who've reached the pinnacle of what you're going to be able to achieve in small-school college basketball.  Stevens went to the NBA, and Few has managed to parlay his success into a coaching salary and perks on par with any major college coach in the country.  Oats is an elite coach too, and they knew that the long-term viability is not the same at a mid-major state school than in the pros or at a private school with a supreme devotion to college basketball success.  He's already been more successful at Alabama than he was at UB, and makes 4x as much.  Stevens and Few were right.

Edited March 22, 2023 by UBlearns

[Kevin]

On 1/5/2020 at 7:05 PM, dutchcountry7 said:

I stopped reading here since this post is clearly nonsense.  
 

Loyola was not a good program before Jim.  They had one winning season in the 15 years before they hired him Jim.  That was three different coaches tried to win at Loyola in that time. 
 

Jim has three winning seasons in his seven years there.  He also was playing in the Horizon Conference with Butler who made the NCAA finals. 
 

Jim made the program respectable and lates the groundwork for the promotion to the Missouri Valley Conference.  
 

 

Is there an update to this nonsense post?

[Kevin]

On 1/6/2020 at 2:41 PM, Reverend_Goose said:

Everyone just keep in mind that this is the guy who freaked the fuck out three games into Oats' first season.

He'll be sucking up to the Whitesell era a year or two from now when they're back in tourney form. Maybe even this year. Like clockwork.

Update?

[Tee4three]

Kevin coming for the receipts 

I'm kind of scared 

[Kevin]

1 hour ago, Tee4three said:

Kevin coming for the receipts 

I'm kind of scared 

I'm mad that I removed the original points because I really liked it. 

I'll never come for you Tee4three

[dutchcountry7]

On 3/25/2023 at 5:50 PM, Kevin said:

Is there an update to this nonsense post?

Nothing changed.  Everything I said there is a fact.  And Whitesell was the correct hire for UB at the time given the field of candidates and dynamics within the program. 

I know you want to beat the dead horse that your buddy Hodgeson should have got the job but it was the correct decision to not hire him.  That hasn't changed.

Curious you dig up this old comment and want to circle back on it.  Is it your attempt to discredit me after I posted the following about your boy?

There is a reason not one write up about the hiring at Arkansas State has mentioned player development or game management.  It's all about recruiting.  And recruiting (as in keeping the team together) is what Whitesell accomplished when he given the head coach position.  His teams did not reach their potential but the more important thing is that the program didn't experience a freefall and mass rebuild after Oats left and his recruiter told the players UB recruited to go elsewhere.

A freefall and mass rebuild is the norm when losing a coach of Oat's caliber.  The fact the team didn't have a mass exodus of players is significant.  Whitesell's KenPom and winning percentage in his first three years are indicative of the stability he brought to the program (2020: #148/.625; 2021: #77/.640; 2022: #130/.633).  This year was the drop off (#211/.469) and the admin made the change based on that fact.  

Everyone's criticism is that Whitesell didn't do enough with the players he had.  But somehow people think hiring a recruiter with basically no applicable coaching experience is a panacea?   

 

 

 

 

[Kevin]

1 hour ago, dutchcountry7 said:

Nothing changed.  Everything I said there is a fact.  And Whitesell was the correct hire for UB at the time given the field of candidates and dynamics within the program. 

I know you want to beat the dead horse that your buddy Hodgeson should have got the job but it was the correct decision to not hire him.  That hasn't changed.

Curious you dig up this old comment and want to circle back on it.  Is it your attempt to discredit me after I posted the following about your boy?

There is a reason not one write up about the hiring at Arkansas State has mentioned player development or game management.  It's all about recruiting.  And recruiting (as in keeping the team together) is what Whitesell accomplished when he given the head coach position.  His teams did not reach their potential but the more important thing is that the program didn't experience a freefall and mass rebuild after Oats left and his recruiter told the players UB recruited to go elsewhere.

A freefall and mass rebuild is the norm when losing a coach of Oat's caliber.  The fact the team didn't have a mass exodus of players is significant.  Whitesell's KenPom and winning percentage in his first three years are indicative of the stability he brought to the program (2020: #148/.625; 2021: #77/.640; 2022: #130/.633).  This year was the drop off (#211/.469) and the admin made the change based on that fact.  

Everyone's criticism is that Whitesell didn't do enough with the players he had.  But somehow people think hiring a recruiter with basically no applicable coaching experience is a panacea?   

 

 

 

 

Talk about beating a dead horse with "my boy". We can go circles here, but when he boarded that plane, he wasn't my top choice for the job. It's Hodgson by the way, it's not really that hard to spell that right (as you used to knock me for calling him "coach B"). 

I said it three years ago, Whitesell would be a failing head coach, so much so that the university fired him early and took another 100k hit.  You can send me all that you want on the team's "rebuild". He was a terrible hire that set the team back many years. A freefall is not a must. What happened to the Kent State freefall? 

I knew I could count on you to circle back to try your best to call it the right hire. After all, being paid by UB athletics has its duties on here. 

[Kevin]

On 1/8/2020 at 9:34 AM, dutchcountry7 said:

Yes, your reaction isn't logical.  We were spoiled the last year but all college basketball teams have head scratching losses and inconsistencies.  Just last night UVA lost to BC.

The program that the OP says is so great just lost last night to Drake and is no better than UB right now despite not having the turmoil our Bulls have faced.  I don't know a single program where the fans haven't said they lost a head scratcher of a game they shouldn't have this year.  It's not like we have more history and better recruits than UConn where Hurley is in his second year and suffered a confusing lose to St. Joe's.   All teams have a few of these.  There is a reason why we didn't run the table last year in the MAC despite being significantly better than every team.

The team took a step back as they rebuild and they are still one of the best teams in the conference.  That is what happens when you've got a great program and your coach is doing a good job.

Seriously, last year's team finished the OOC slate with one win over an NCAA at-large team.  And it looks like this year's team could do the same (DePaul is in the running for an at-large).  The only difference is a few setbacks early in the season. 

The sky isn't falling.  The program is in good hands. 

"the sky isn't falling. The program is in good hands"

LOL

I'd take your losses or no one takes you seriously. 

[Kevin]

On 1/8/2020 at 6:49 AM, Jeseph said:

Can somebody please talk me down the ledge on this hire?

We kept JW largely for continuity - - players stayed and I commend him for that but what else has been positive?

This team plays undisciplined, often uninspired basketball and the defense is atrocious in almost every facet.

Roster changes happen and there are “growing pains” with a new coach but we now have 4 inexplicable, losses. There is NO excuse to get blown out by a MAC opponent after the 5 years of growth in this program.

As a fan and a recurring donor I am, to say the least, incredibly disappointed to see our momentum fizzle our and I am getting concerned about the future.

Please tell me that this is a knee-jerk reaction. I don’t like our trajectory.

Desperately hoping this post gets saved and thrown in my face when things get “fixed”...

Jeseph was right back on 1/8/2020

[Jeseph]

36 minutes ago, Kevin said:

Jeseph was right back on 1/8/2020

This is why "just give him a chance" doesn't play out. Mediocrity left us with no donor base, no energy from the department and no interest in the job. What a travesty of a hire (they I desperately wanted to defend)