Confirmation BG Will Be Retained

RamblinRed

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Now after venting for 24 hours I will say I will move on and focus on Spring recruiting and next season, but not quite there yet.
I will say I would not be surprised if the following scenario happens.
Next year's team is frankly better set up to score and win than this year - so say it rebounds and wins 18 games. There will be 2 yrs left on Gregory's contract at that point - basically a decision point for an AD - you either have to fire or extend. After a big improvement, MBob extends 2 more seasons (hopefully not repeating his buyout blunder). Then the following year we stink again and make a move after that season. But in the meantime, we've allowed a short term coach to build a roster for the future under extreme recruiting duress - not a great combo.

That feels like a pretty realistic scenario to me.
 

Bruce Wayne

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I had thought that we were always going to have the next coach until the incomprehensible, utterly insane, worst contract ever given to a men's basketball coach was paid off?

I thought that was both understood pretty overtly and the consensus amongst the fan base after Hewitt was finally fired. Am I just mis-remembering or was that belief just dropped or faded away at some point?
 
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Bruce Wayne

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Also, if one recognizes that the situation is caused by finances then boycotting one's normal support of the program/team only prolongs the problem doesn't it? Note well, I am not at all talking about offering to make extra "buyout" donations to the program. I just mean buying tickets and going to games, cheering on the student-athletes, etc. Increasing the operating costs by boycotting as a fan has never made sense to me.

If you do enjoy the sport, and love the team (meaning the name on the uniform) then it is simply a fun way to spend a few hours even if the coach sucks and you expect the team to lose. I loved every chance I had as a kid to go watch the Braves play even though I expected them to lose (80's here). Just because I loved the game, and had favorite players to root for.

Clearly casual fans would dry up and not go to the games so the finances will move downward anyway. But it seems to me like "fanatic" fans would be able to compartmentalize, and just enjoy the experience and turn off the emotional aspect and have fun even with lowered expectations. Kind of like what Mets fans have to do almost every year they have existed. And yet they still get a decent enough turnout (so they can blow money on bad free agents and contracts) and are very knowledgeable fans at the same time. Now, there is an extreme the other direction as I am convinced that the reason the Cubs perennially suck is that they sell out every game no matter how many they lose. There has never been any real incentive for the owners of the team to care about results.

But maybe I am thinking about the experience of going to see a Tech game if you have kids, who will be indelibly marked by the experience win or lose. Or maybe as I got older I see the possibility of compartmentalizing the emotions of being a fan (well except for the Tech-UGA football game, that is always just brutal).
 

sidewalkGTfan

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Now after venting for 24 hours I will say I will move on and focus on Spring recruiting and next season, but not quite there yet.
I will say I would not be surprised if the following scenario happens.
Next year's team is frankly better set up to score and win than this year - so say it rebounds and wins 18 games. There will be 2 yrs left on Gregory's contract at that point - basically a decision point for an AD - you either have to fire or extend. After a big improvement, MBob extends 2 more seasons (hopefully not repeating his buyout blunder). Then the following year we stink again and make a move after that season. But in the meantime, we've allowed a short term coach to build a roster for the future under extreme recruiting duress - not a great combo.

That feels like a pretty realistic scenario to me.
Next year it should be NCAA tourney or bust. We sucked monkey ball this year, so just any improvement in the record shouldn't be enough to keep him.

As I said earlier, if CBG stinks it up next year, we will be playing walk-ons in the 2016-2017 season.
 

awbuzz

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I had thought that we were always going to have the next coach until the incomprehensible, utterly insane, worst contract ever given to a men's basketball coach was paid off?

I thought that was both understood pretty overtly and the consensus amongst the fan base after Hewitt was finally fired. Am I just mis-remembering or was that belief just dropped or faded away at some point?

I think you remember correctly. The CPH hangover is the fruit of the ridiculous contract given to him. we are being punished for it. Plain and simple.
 

Bruce Wayne

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I think you remember correctly. The CPH hangover is the fruit of the ridiculous contract given to him. we are being punished for it. Plain and simple.
I think that contract helped kill the program by keeping Hewitt for a couple years too long (or however long he lasted after losing at Kennesaw State when I would have fired him on the bus ride back). I haven't been paying near the level of attention as others though so wanted to check my memory. If I can get what I consider foolproof info on what Bobinski has been up to then I will form a firmer opinion of him. I still have the ambivalent view that @cyptomcat expressed. But I still thought it was always a given that whomever the post-Hewitt coach was would have serious job security just because of that Hewitt contract.

In fact, we basically were under the same impression about football during the relatively leaner years of CPJ due to the Gailey contract. And it is easier to get big donors to give money to hire and fire coaches in football. So from that wider perspective the result is I am not really surprised at the retention of Gregory. It seemed like a coin flip at best.

Especially when you add in the oddity of close losses. He has to be blamed for all those losses but it is almost surreal to have a team that can play its way into that many close games and yet lose them all.
 

Northeast Stinger

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I have been reluctant to post anything, and what I am about to type will probably not be very popular.
What I like about this site is that everyone is individualistic enough that we never quite settle into group think. Thank you for your opinion. It gives one more perspective which might help us figure out the big picture.
 

Northeast Stinger

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ANYONE could have just fired CBG.

Who here knows what was said in their talk?

How do we know a greatly reduced payout is not now in place?

How do we know he was only given 1 year?

How does anyone here know CBG has not received a great commitment from some star recruits?

What if a majority of this team transferred if CBG was fired?

How does anyone know that those close loses this year will not be wins next year?

How do we know MBob has not been doing legwork already and saw we could not do better with what we could offer?

We do know that we have too many guys complaining instead of standing behind the coach and players, but willing to bet they stood behind a goof ball loser like ccg.

Many just need to stay home and whine next year, many of us are going to stand by our program and our S/As.
Strong stuff. Your questions are important and, to my mind, are not necessarily an apologia for Gregory but a plea to not settle on an easy interpretation of the events that have transpired.
 

Northeast Stinger

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Help take some of the pressure off him and pull for him and the team! Maybe send him an encouragement letter...
Wait a minute that sounds like a class act, something someone might do at an elite academic institution, someplace where the whole community acts like they are part of the same team, whether you are teaching physics or rowing, leading a public forum on infrastructure development or practicing with the musicians. As a matter of fact that is something I would expect at Harvard or Cambridge or Oxford or . . . . .
any place where people respect great efforts, pull for their colleagues and always act like gentlemen until the last round is called.
 

forensicbuzz

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Now after venting for 24 hours I will say I will move on and focus on Spring recruiting and next season, but not quite there yet.
I will say I would not be surprised if the following scenario happens.
Next year's team is frankly better set up to score and win than this year - so say it rebounds and wins 18 games. There will be 2 yrs left on Gregory's contract at that point - basically a decision point for an AD - you either have to fire or extend. After a big improvement, MBob extends 2 more seasons (hopefully not repeating his buyout blunder). Then the following year we stink again and make a move after that season. But in the meantime, we've allowed a short term coach to build a roster for the future under extreme recruiting duress - not a great combo.

That feels like a pretty realistic scenario to me.
I really don't care how long they extend the contact as long as it's not guaranteed money. Give him a 5-year extention without changing the payout. That's pretty transparent, but CBG hasn't shown that he's earned what he got 2 years ago. He should be excited about the opportunity to bolster his body of work.
 

Northeast Stinger

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I loved every chance I had as a kid to go watch the Braves play even though I expected them to lose (80's here). Just because I loved the game, and had favorite players to root for.
Not to sidetrack the thread but I remember those years well. The few thousand fans who were in the stands loved baseball and we enjoyed every unexpected win and every great play. Hope always sprang eternal, as they say. Plus you got to sit in really good seats. When the Braves became winners I loved the winning, no question about it, but I hated the fair weather fans who started taking away the best seats, the people who went to games not to discuss baseball and dissect strategy, but went to be seen, wear fancy clothes and spent more time with the party going on around them than they spent watching the field. Ticket packages were less available and more expensive while my seats slowly got moved from behind home plate, to 3rd base side field level to outfield to upper deck, I watched the general level of fan support also slowly drying up even as the stadium filled up.

No point to this side bar conversation, just remembering my first revelation in my youth that the words "fan" and "support" have multiple meanings that are sometimes contradictory.
 

collegeballfan

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I would think that the decision on Gregory going forward will depend very much on who he signs in the early signing period next November. He has a handful of
openings. That will be an indication of the future of the program much more than simply wins and losses.

Again, Gregory may need to take a look at his staff or how he hands out staff responsibility during games. In game coaching needs to improve IMO.
 

jeffgt14

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What sucks the most about this is I really think we are going to end up missing the ball on some really good up and coming coaches. It just doesn’t seem like the coaching pool will be as good next year as it is right now. Maybe they’ll be someone who gets fired but I think the quality, young coaches will be gone.
 

kg01

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What sucks the most about this is I really think we are going to end up missing the ball on some really good up and coming coaches. It just doesn’t seem like the coaching pool will be as good next year as it is right now. Maybe they’ll be someone who gets fired but I think the quality, young coaches will be gone.

There are a few that will stick where they are. Pitino is one as MN had a bit of a middling season.

I wonder how many actually good jobs are out there this year though. They're all kinda 'meh' if you ask me. We could see most of the hot candidates stick.
 

jeffgt14

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There are a few that will stick where they are. Pitino is one as MN had a bit of a middling season.

I wonder how many actually good jobs are out there this year though. They're all kinda 'meh' if you ask me. We could see most of the hot candidates stick.
Yea, we may get lucky too that La Tech keeps losing in their conference tournament every year (this actually worries me if Michael White were to come here).

I'm not sure Pitino would have any desire to come here and play against his dad twice a year.
 

LawTalkin Jacket

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Strong stuff. Your questions are important and, to my mind, are not necessarily an apologia for Gregory but a plea to not settle on an easy interpretation of the events that have transpired.
ANYONE could have just fired CBG.

Who here knows what was said in their talk?

How do we know a greatly reduced payout is not now in place?

How do we know he was only given 1 year?

How does anyone here know CBG has not received a great commitment from some star recruits?

What if a majority of this team transferred if CBG was fired?

How does anyone know that those close loses this year will not be wins next year?

How do we know MBob has not been doing legwork already and saw we could not do better with what we could offer?

We do know that we have too many guys complaining instead of standing behind the coach and players, but willing to bet they stood behind a goof ball loser like ccg.

Many just need to stay home and whine next year, many of us are going to stand by our program and our S/As.


I don't "know" if much of the above is true, but I KNOW that there is no "greatly reduced payout now in place." No one gives away millions for nothing, especially coaches. I hope that something logical occurred for it to make sense that CBG should stay, but I doubt it. I am seriously on the fence about renewing my season tix, although I probably will. To me, without more facts from MBob or GT, I am left to conclude that we made a big avoidable mistake in extending CBG with a new extended buyout before the season. Perception equals reality when GT doesn't communicate well. CBG had no leverage to get that extension and had to take what we offered so long as it wasn't a pay cut- where else could he have earned $1m in 2014-15? I hate to be negative, but we should be a bit better next year, and that could mean he gets 2 more years, but also could mean that with the depleted roster and no recruits coming after this next season, we won't be able to get a good replacement. Ugh.
 
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