IF Pastner is fired, who would be a good hire to replace him?

[mstranahan]

Virginia is a powerhouse now but they were terrible in between Terry Holland and Tony Bennett, which was about 20 years.

In the 19 years between Holland and Bennett, UVA won two ACC titles, made 7 NCAAT appearances, and were 70 games above .500. If a GT coach did that, we would build a statue of them, rename the arena and generally be ecstatic.

 

[Peacone36]

I hoped that was the case, otherwise you are simply wrong about GTAA not being interested in winning. This team has issues with its roster makeup and three players we thought would be contributing this year are not currently playing. But the team is competing and playing decent basketball.

You were once a respected contributor on the Swarm, but the constant negativity has gotten old.

I once respected the crowd at the swarm, but the constant excusing of the true issues within the program and acceptance of a garbage product have gotten old

 

[ESPNjacket]

In the 19 years between Holland and Bennett, UVA won two ACC titles, made 7 NCAAT appearances, and were 70 games above .500. If a GT coach did that, we would build a statue of them, rename the arena and generally be ecstatic.

Jones, Gillen, and Leitao were all below .500 in ACC play and won no ACC championships. The ecstasy is in your imagination.

 

[Ramble1885]

Darian DeVries is another solid coach... and I know I've been putting a lot of people's names out. It doesn't hurt to consider the options. If we fire JP, we will need to NAIL this next hire.

DeVries was a longtime assistant at Creighton from 2001-2018. Since then he's been the head man at Drake. He's had ZERO losing seasons and has won 20+ games every year at Drake. Only one losing record in conference play. This year Drake is 24-6 and first in their league so they likely go to some postseason tournament. He's 49 years old, so he's not young but he still can coach a few years.



The good thing is that unlike football basketball coaching hires give you a LOT of options to choose from. More schools = more candidates.

 

[mstranahan]

My mistake, they won the then-mythical regular season championship twice. Once under Leitao and once under Jones.

And, Going by memory, I don’t think Tech has any coaches in its history other than Cremins with a winning AAC record (again, not looking up stats, but pretty sure that’s right)

 

[ESPNjacket]

My mistake, they won the then-mythical regular season championship twice. Once under Leitao and once under Jones.

And, Going by memory, I don’t think Tech has any coaches in its history other than Cremins with a winning AAC record (again, not looking up stats, but pretty sure that’s right)

That's going out on a limb. To put it into context, it was very difficult to have a winning ACC record prior to the recent expansion. It was close to being the same as being nationally ranked.

 

[MWBATL]

We’re basically quibbling over inaccurate box score attendance. I watched the FIT game. There’s no way on earth there was over 3000 people actually there. Box reports 4890 I think. Even if that was accurate, which it’s not, that’s not even 60% of capacity. Which has been the case all season. So we’re basically arguing over crappy attendance vs. extremely crappy.

Actual attendance has (I'm sure) been much lower than what is reported. Reported figures are tickets sold, not butts in the seats.

 

[Connell62]

C62, I love your support, but come on. First of all, capacity at McCamish is 8600. Second, attendance is terrible right now. Sections 108, 109, and 110 (all sideline season ticket holders) have been about 80-90% empty at tip-off for the last several games by my estimation. They fill in a little after the game starts, but a lot of those people are just cherry picking better seats than what they paid for. If Duke is not a sellout, you’ve got major problems.

I'm just giving you my perpective from being there. Trust me, I am not scared to call it both ways with respect to attendance.

I was really impressed with the crowd for Florida Tech. It was a much bigger crowd than many of the early non-conference games.

I'm not sitting here telling you that the ThrillerDome is packed, but to act as if it has been a graveyard is misleading.

Considering we lost 9 in a row, the crowd has been decent all season.

 

[AUFC]

I'm just giving you my perpective from being there. Trust me, I am not scared to call it both ways with respect to attendance.

I was really impressed with the crowd for Florida Tech. It was a much bigger crowd than many of the early non-conference games.

I'm not sitting here telling you that the ThrillerDome is packed, but to act as if it has been a graveyard is misleading.

Considering we lost 9 in a row, the crowd has been decent all season.

Saturday afternoons generally churn out the best crowds. The Thrillerdome was a morgue for a Saturday afternoon.

One of the more embarrassing aspects of our games is we started putting students courtside for that Cameron Crazies vibe around the same time I think a lot of other schools were starting to do it. It’s supposed to come off as a crazy and intense environment at the game and for viewers/recruits on television, but we don’t even fill the courtside seating anymore.

 

[Techster]

I just want GT basketball to be fun again. Even though we didn't make the NCAA tournament Pastner's first season, we made it to the NIT final with Ben Lammers and a freshmen Okogie...and GT basketball was fun. There was a feeling of hope in our program. Sure, we didn't do well the following seasons (Okogie suspension, Pastner off the court drama, etc), there was still a feeling that GT basketball had better days ahead.

Then came Alvarado, Usher, Devoe, Wright. We had two seasons of fun, even though we had a post season ban the year before we won the ACCT and went to the NCAAT. Yes, we lost in the first round, but how much fun did we have that season, and during the off season talking about the future of this team?

Now it seems we are slow walking the inevitable. Pastner is not long for GT...let's be honest. Everyone sees it. If this program had a war chest, I don't think it would be any question what Pastner's fate is. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much to sell recruits or the fanbase anymore.

I still have a strong suspicion that this will be Pastner's last season. We'll see...the end of the season isn't too far away. I think we'll know within weeks of the season ending.

 

[Ramble1885]

I just want GT basketball to be fun again. Even though we didn't make the NCAA tournament Pastner's first season, we made it to the NIT final with Ben Lammers and a freshmen Okogie...and GT basketball was fun. There was a feeling of hope in our program. Sure, we didn't do well the following seasons (Okogie suspension, Pastner off the court drama, etc), there was still a feeling that GT basketball had better days ahead.

Then came Alvarado, Usher, Devoe, Wright. We had two seasons of fun, even though we had a post season ban the year before we won the ACCT and went to the NCAAT. Yes, we lost in the first round, but how much fun did we have that season, and during the off season talking about the future of this team?

Now it seems we are slow walking the inevitable. Pastner is not long for GT...let's be honest. Everyone sees it. If this program had a war chest, I don't think it would be any question what Pastner's fate is. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much to sell recruits or the fanbase anymore.

I still have a strong suspicion that this will be Pastner's last season. We'll see...the end of the season isn't too far away. I think we'll know within weeks of the season ending.

Recent seasons where we were truly FUN:
2015-16 (Gregory last year)
2016-17 (Pastner's debut Okogie/Lammers)
2019-20 (year we were banned/covid happened)
2020-21 (they could make a 30 for 30 on this season)

yeah....... only four. So not great. But piggybacking off of what he said. Win or lose, I just want to see a passionate, gritty, watchable team. Since the Louisville game we've had that. Problem is... it took that long for us to look that way. So it's kinda too little too late.

 

[Ramble1885]

I just want GT basketball to be fun again. Even though we didn't make the NCAA tournament Pastner's first season, we made it to the NIT final with Ben Lammers and a freshmen Okogie...and GT basketball was fun. There was a feeling of hope in our program. Sure, we didn't do well the following seasons (Okogie suspension, Pastner off the court drama, etc), there was still a feeling that GT basketball had better days ahead.

Then came Alvarado, Usher, Devoe, Wright. We had two seasons of fun, even though we had a post season ban the year before we won the ACCT and went to the NCAAT. Yes, we lost in the first round, but how much fun did we have that season, and during the off season talking about the future of this team?

Now it seems we are slow walking the inevitable. Pastner is not long for GT...let's be honest. Everyone sees it. If this program had a war chest, I don't think it would be any question what Pastner's fate is. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much to sell recruits or the fanbase anymore.

I still have a strong suspicion that this will be Pastner's last season. We'll see...the end of the season isn't too far away. I think we'll know within weeks of the season ending.

I think that if we have a better win total than last year (last year we went 12-20) Pastner gets ONE more chance. If we win 12 or under he's likely gone.

 

[CEB]

I just want GT basketball to be fun again. Even though we didn't make the NCAA tournament Pastner's first season, we made it to the NIT final with Ben Lammers and a freshmen Okogie...and GT basketball was fun. There was a feeling of hope in our program. Sure, we didn't do well the following seasons (Okogie suspension, Pastner off the court drama, etc), there was still a feeling that GT basketball had better days ahead.

Then came Alvarado, Usher, Devoe, Wright. We had two seasons of fun, even though we had a post season ban the year before we won the ACCT and went to the NCAAT. Yes, we lost in the first round, but how much fun did we have that season, and during the off season talking about the future of this team?

Now it seems we are slow walking the inevitable. Pastner is not long for GT...let's be honest. Everyone sees it. If this program had a war chest, I don't think it would be any question what Pastner's fate is. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much to sell recruits or the fanbase anymore.

I still have a strong suspicion that this will be Pastner's last season. We'll see...the end of the season isn't too far away. I think we'll know within weeks of the season ending.

Since you mentioned it, let’s give props to Pastner and whoever else was responsible for the most brilliantly managed post season ban ever.
So he’s got that going for him!

 

[Ramble1885]

Since you mentioned it, let’s give props to Pastner and whoever else was responsible for the most brilliantly managed post season ban ever.
So he’s got that going for him!

**** Ron Bell.

 

[Root4GT]

I think that if we have a better win total than last year (last year we went 12-20) Pastner gets ONE more chance. If we win 12 or under he's likely gone.

I don't think win totals will be a factor. It comes down to money and only money. We are 11-17 right now with the likelihood of 1 win and 2 losses. Frankly the difference between 14 and 11 total wins or anything in between is insignificant. We are still a bottom 3 ACC team.

Money will decide if we move on or not this offseason.

 

[lv20gt]

I think that if we have a better win total than last year (last year we went 12-20) Pastner gets ONE more chance. If we win 12 or under he's likely gone.

I really hope this isn't the way the AD is viewing it. The fire/hire process shouldn't be looked at as punishment for poor performance. It should be looked at as an opportunity for improvement. Pastner should be replaced if the AD believes he can bring in someone who will be better. Regardless of how Pastner does the rest of the way. Likewise, if the AD is not confident that he can bring in someone that there is a good reason to believe is better then he shouldn't make a move regardless. Pastner, at least to me, isn't Gregory where there was effectively no hope of success. We've seen Pastner put it together, and the dynamics of those successful teams wasn't all that different than what we have going forward. To me there is a very real chance that Pastner can ride the core of Smith, Kelly, Coleman, and Moore to some success. It's not guaranteed, and the success may not be high enough to justify keeping him over bringing in a good candidate, but I think it should be enough to dissuade us from just firing Pastner and then going to see what's out there.

That is especially true considering there are non head coaching factors that we also need to address that might be easier to do if we aren't also paying a buy out on top of a new coach.

 

[Techster]

I don't think win totals will be a factor. It comes down to money and only money. We are 11-17 right now with the likelihood of 1 win and 2 losses. Frankly the difference between 14 and 11 total wins or anything in between is insignificant. We are still a bottom 3 ACC team.

Money will decide if we move on or not this offseason.

I've heard the money will be there to let Pastner go. It's the money to bring the next guy in that will be a BIG piece in all of this.

 

[AUFC]

I would honestly rather see Batt fundraise 1 NIL season with Pastner if possible before we dip our toes in the coaching pool. If we prove a sustainable NIL structure, our next coach options MASSIVELY open up.

Programs recruit quality coaches as much as quality coaches recruit programs. Of course if you are a blue blood, that is the pinnacle of the coaching profession and pretty much every coach will take the job at the drop of a hat.

 

[Techster]

I would honestly rather see Batt fundraise 1 NIL season with Pastner if possible before we dip our toes in the coaching pool. If we prove a sustainable NIL structure, our next coach options MASSIVELY open up.

Programs recruit quality coaches as much as quality coaches recruit programs. Of course if you are a blue blood, that is the pinnacle of the coaching profession and pretty much every coach will take the job at the drop of a hat.

Therein lies the conundrum. It's very similar to the decision to fire or keep Geoff Collins. There were MANY donors not willing to put any more money into the football program if Collins was tasked with overseeing the money and how it was spent. Saw some of that with Paul Johnson.

We're at that point with Pastner, unfortunately. It's hard to raise NIL money, or any money, for a coach that supporters have no confidence in. It's not just a matter of what's going on court now, it's also a matter of Pastner becoming a liability with fundraising.

 

[AUFC]

Therein lies the conundrum. It's very similar to the decision to fire or keep Geoff Collins. There were MANY donors not willing to put any more money into the football program if Collins was tasked with overseeing the money and how it was spent. Saw some of that with Paul Johnson.

We're at that point with Pastner, unfortunately. It's hard to raise NIL money, or any money, for a coach that supporters have no confidence in. It's not just a matter of what's going on court now, it's also a matter of Pastner becoming a liability with fundraising.

I don’t think you’re wrong. There is an obvious difference around culture between TFG and CJP. CJP’s teams play hard (usually and especially lately) and want to win. TFG’s teams won if the uniforms looked good or they got a lot of social media likes or the playlist at practice was a banger.

I think Pastner could win (and has won) with a solid core of very good ACC players that NIL can buy. But I also understand a lot of big time donors don’t believe this and will withhold money til the new coach comes in.