Coaching Carousel 2 - A New Dawn

Peacone36

Helluva Engineer
Messages
10,328
Location
Maine
You know I'm a Syracuse fan, right? All it takes is one example for me to make flippant statements about the Hoyas. And then Victor Page post-college to drive it home.

Oh, and Patrick Ewing can't read. I think he's still taking an untimed test.

;)

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RyanS12

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,076
Location
Flint Michigan
Dayton needs to look at Greg Kampe at Oakland. The guy has done nothing but win there. Unfortunately I think he's hit his ceiling. Consistent 20 win years and a couple NCAA bids. Great coach but he's been there 30 years.
 

tbglover

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
716
You know I'm a Syracuse fan, right? All it takes is one example for me to make flippant statements about the Hoyas. And then Victor Page post-college to drive it home.

Oh, and Patrick Ewing can't read. I think he's still taking an untimed test.

;)
I had no clue. Delusional hatred of another team. I'm a fan of Chicago professional sports teams. I understand.
 

YlJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,163
Georgetown's fall from grace is a long and complicated story. First, despite their success under JTSr, they are really not structured or funded to be a top BB program. It is a tightly landlocked, totally white campus with a small enrollment trying to play major league sports without the facilities or money to really compete with the big boys. They are running the same number of sports as Duke or UNC and they don't have a track, baseball or softball field on campus. This with a conference check something like $5M as opposed to a P5 check. And no one can really understand the level of involvement and control JTSr has on that program - it is like nothing anywhere else in the country. He still rules the roost there.

Start with facilities. Until last year's opening of the JTSr. Athletic Building there was only one basketball court on campus that was shared by men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball. VB was not allowed to play a home match in the pre conference season because it would interfere with basketball. Weight rooms and other training facilities were DII level at best. With the opening of the new building this has been rectified but too little too late for JTIII. As an aside, every new building on GU's campus has to be approved by the local zoning board made up of residents from the area surrounding the campus. They are adamantly opposed to any growth on the campus. It took almost 10 years to get the approval to build the new athletic building - which has no increase in student population.

Beyond facilities, the BB team is a true island unto itself on campus - both racially and academically. And while DC is noted as a "black" city, the area around GU is not. It is way too expensive to keep a car there and there really isn't a lot of public transport to get from GU to the rest of DC. And while GU is not really as STEM school, they don't have a ton of places to put athletes who are way below the academic level of their peers. Point of all this being that JTIII really was recruiting kids to GU based almost entirely on the strength of his personality and the now aging mystique of the JTSr Big East days. With the diminished status of the Big East, the facilities and other issues of environment caught up with JTIII on the recruiting trail - not entirely but enough to make a significant difference.

Beyond the above, JTIII also made a decision to move away from the Princeton style attack he knew and had relied on for years. I didn't follow them recently as much as I used to but there was a lot of talk among folks who do follow the program that the assistants were not as good as they used to be and that they were not the right folks to help make this transition. Plus the normal discussion that the pieces being recruited did not fit with the scheme - or the scheme wasn't adjusted to fit them.

Now to the influence of JTSr. He still went to campus every day, was involved in all activities for the team - including recruiting and management by the University. On the upside, he was the primary driver for the fundraising for the new athletic building. He told the players during his time to contribute and they did. Though several were quoted anonymously that they were scared of him if they didn't contribute and scared to say they thought JTIII's time should be up. He also set up that JTIII reported to the President of the University and not the AD. The AD had nothing to do with the BB program but write the checks. This reporting relationship is the main reason I am still surprised they fired him.

How much JTSr's influence remains over the team will lead to who the next coach is. As it stands right now the main facilities issue has been fixed but I doubt anyone legit would look at the job unless JTSr was somehow pushed aside. But that will be really tough given the link between JTSr and "his" players who are the funding source for the program. The program literally would not survive financially without the support of these guys. Thus, the focus on Ewing as a bridge between JTSr and a new era for GU basketball. He is about the only one I know of who played for JTSr who has any coaching pedigree at all. Not a big tree. His bona fides are not bad but he hasn't been a head man and has no experience on the college side. I think he would be a lot better choice than say Mullen at St Johns but a lot riskier than say Wade. But given the realities of the program, there may not be a better choice.
 

kg01

Get-Bak! Coach
Featured Member
Messages
14,330
Location
Atlanta
Couldn't he have waited for a better job to open? He could land the UGA gig next year. Clem could be open. If I were him, I would've waited.

 
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