Perspective on Josh Pastner

[tbglover]

The early signing period was worse than a swing and a miss. I would take rolling all the scholarships over wasting one on a kid who has no chance of ever being an ACC caliber player. And yes, I know Cremins did that routinely but he was recruiting elite level talent and promising minutes was a big part of his pitch. Our program is in no position to be wasting 'ships - effectively putting us on self-inflicted probation.

Giving that scholarship up could be a waste but they're only good for a year so if it doesn't work out he could just go elsewhere. Also whether or not Vess is back next year or leaves as a grad transfer will have an impact on this whole thing.

 

[vadimivich]

The biggest problem is that we know what Pastner's strengths and weaknesses were coming into the job. He's not a player development master or a strategic guru, he's a guy who built his career on being a monster recruiter.

His complete inability to this point to recruit to even a mid-tier ACC level is extremely worrying. If you can't do the thing you built your career on, then ... yeah, you are likely going to fail.

 

[orientalnc]

Pastner is doing a pretty decent job with this team. I wish we had signed a couple of those 4* and 5* guys we were chasing last Fall, but they were always a long shot given the competition. I have to wonder what Pastner (or his staff) sees in the kid from Florida, but this latest transfer is someone we recruited and would have been happy to sign out of high school.

Pastner says wants us to "get old and stay old." We currently have, in our starting lineup, two freshmen, two sophomores, and a junior. Our only two seniors are coming off the bench! Losing JO unexpectedly (after the recruiting season was over) hurt this team's chances and caused us to miss on signing a another member of the current freshman class.

 

[GT11]

Pastner is doing a pretty decent job with this team. I wish we had signed a couple of those 4* and 5* guys we were chasing last Fall, but they were always a long shot given the competition. I have to wonder what Pastner (or his staff) sees in the kid from Florida, but this latest transfer is someone we recruited and would have been happy to sign out of high school.

Pastner says wants us to "get old and stay old." We currently have, in our starting lineup, two freshmen, two sophomores, and a junior. Our only two seniors are coming off the bench! Losing JO unexpectedly (after the recruiting season was over) hurt this team's chances and caused us to miss on signing a another member of the current freshman class.

Well said

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I think my biggest concern is the empty recruiting class this year. He did good things with last year's class and if he'd built on that I'd feel pretty optimistic

I like Pastner. I give him a pass for this year with the bogus charges brought up against him.

But to get to the top, you have to be good AND lucky. Pastner was not lucky last year. He has to get the recruits this year so we can have some hope of being relevant in the ACC.

 

[Connell62]

The biggest problem is that we know what Pastner's strengths and weaknesses were coming into the job. He's not a player development master or a strategic guru, he's a guy who built his career on being a monster recruiter.

His complete inability to this point to recruit to even a mid-tier ACC level is extremely worrying. If you can't do the thing you built your career on, then ... yeah, you are likely going to fail.

Funny that since he came here he’s both developed players and gotten the most out of them, and he has also showed his coaching chops by turning otherwise marginal defensive players into very good defensive teams (excellent in year one).

Personally, I think that your comments about recruiting are a bit dramatic. You’re not too worried about short changing our kids, huh? I see guys like Jose, Devoe, Banks coming along and even Haywood, Cole, and Moore beginning to contribute, and I really scratch my head by this comment.

Just sounds like someone looking for a reason not to support our coach.

 

[ramblinjacket]

Just sounds like someone looking for a reason not to support our coach.

Pretty sure he’s just a Wake fan and apparently a little vindictive.

 

[Peacone36]

Pretty sure he’s just a Wake fan and apparently a little vindictive.

Nah, V goes waaaaaaayyyyyyyy back on the GT boards.

 

[msargent1]

I've seen a decent amount of talk about Josh Pastner over the past month and how people are already ready for him to go. Let this stat give people a moment to put into perspective how difficult it is to bring a team to prominence in the ACC. It also requires time. Other than Okogie and sort of Lammers, the cupboard was about as possibly empty as it could have been when Pastner started. I find it hard to believe any of the other coaches on this list had a tougher start than he did.

I got tired of all the negativity, and ended up blocking most of the trolls/whiners. That goes for both Pastner and Alston haters.

 

[MWBATL]

Nah, V goes waaaaaaayyyyyyyy back on the GT boards.

Yup, Vad is a long time GT fan who simply hasn't been posting much recently.

 

[scotts]

I don’t evaluate our overall recruiting class in November. You need to look at the high school recruits plus the transfers. Last year we added Devoe and Banks. This year we may add Usher plus tbd. Let’s wait until April before we roast Pastner.

 

[vadimivich]

Nah, V goes waaaaaaayyyyyyyy back on the GT boards.

I made my position clear on Pastner way before he was hired, and he's done nothing to change my mind. I will be flat out surprised if he ever gets us to the NCAA tournament.

As for recruiting, he's brought in a few ACC level players. Every ACC program has that as the bare minimum and brings in similar players. At GT you should easily exceed that, and Pastner hasn't shown he can get top end talent even interested, let alone to sign.

We had classes with multiple McDAA's just a few years back, what Pastner is doing on the recruiting trail is a flat out failure and there's no way to sugar coat that turd.

 

[vadimivich]

Yup, Vad is a long time GT fan who simply hasn't been posting much recently.

Well, our BB program is basically dead. We had back to back simply awful coaching hires and we'll be lucky to see the toilet paper roll from the bottom of the toilet before the mid-2020s at this rate. Not much to say outside of that, really. And everyone got tired of me pointing out what trash hires we were making, so I stopped.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

I don’t evaluate our overall recruiting class in November. You need to look at the high school recruits plus the transfers. Last year we added Devoe and Banks. This year we may add Usher plus tbd. Let’s wait until April before we roast Pastner.

Two things....you can’t deny that we missed out on all of our A list guys this year and making a living off of transfers is a recipe for disaster. And I really hope we get the Usher kid.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

Well, our BB program is basically dead. We had back to back simply awful coaching hires and we'll be lucky to see the toilet paper roll from the bottom of the toilet before the mid-2020s at this rate. Not much to say outside of that, really. And everyone got tired of me pointing out what trash hires we were making, so I stopped.

Our last two hires have been dictated by money more than anything.

 

[crut]

If Jordan Usher does indeed come, here is what the starting lineup may look like based on Rivals recruiting rankings:

1. Jose Alvarado; Class - 2017 (Jr); Overall Class Rank - 130
2. Michael Devoe; Class - 2018 (So); Overall Class Rank - 45
3. Jordan Usher; Class - 2017 (Jr); Overall Class Rank - 114
4. Khalid Moore; Class - 2018 (So); Overall Class Rank - 214
5. James Banks; Class - 2016 (Sr); Overall Class Rank - 83

That would begin the get old/stay old era in my opinion.

 

[dtm1997]

Two things....you can’t deny that we missed out on all of our A list guys this year and making a living off of transfers is a recipe for disaster. And I really hope we get the Usher kid.

I generally agree with you, but I would have no problem if we took in 1 quality transfer in each class. Tbh, Banks should've been back home sitting out last season with us, but he gave it a go.

The trick is to be bringing in transfers that can be here for 2-3 years, not live off of 1 & done grad transfers.

We've watched a lot of good players leave the state of GA, instead of signing with us in the first place. I've got no problem cherry picking opportunities for kids to come home.

Banks & Usher are perfect case studies. Kids we were interested in to begin with and have multiple years to be here and make an impact.

 

[THWG]

I generally agree with you, but I would have no problem if we took in 1 quality transfer in each class. Tbh, Banks should've been back home sitting out last season with us, but he gave it a go.

The trick is to be bringing in transfers that can be here for 2-3 years, not live off of 1 & done grad transfers.

We've watched a lot of good players leave the state of GA, instead of signing with us in the first place. I've got no problem cherry picking opportunities for kids to come home.

Banks & Usher are perfect case studies. Kids we were interested in to begin with and have multiple years to be here and make an impact.

This is my opinion as well. Ideally, we would bring in 2 or 3 freshmen every year and then a transfer who can play 2 or 3 years. This year is kind of unusual in that we missed on a lot of targets, so give me Didenko, Usher, and one of Baugh/Jankovic. I'm hoping Didenko will get a RS year, so I'm considering him a "freshman" if that makes sense.

 

[YlJacket]

FWIW Vad wasn't the only one who wasn't thrilled with the Pastner hire. He wasn't my favorite and Red has stated he wrote emails to the AA asking he not be hired. There was a reason Memphis paid to get Pastner to GT and why Bobinski made it a point to take over the assistant hiring process.

He came with a rep as a top notch recruiter who ran a really loose program at Memphis. At Tech he has been the opposite. An OK recruiter by ACC standards who has mostly maximized the potential of his players. He has had a major issue with his decision making in the Ron lawsuit and fallout from that - plus I think he mismanaged Lammers injury but that is certainly debatable. But he gets full credit for an ACC COY honor.

Striking out on the kids he targeted for this year's class is big and a problem any way you look at it. He can recover to some degree with transfers and hitting a home run with next year's class - but an ACC level coach/recruiter shouldn't strike out like that.

Regardless, he and the AA agreed on a contractual structure that gives him at least 4 years and likely 5 to get old/stay old. Buzz hasn't needed that in VT and he started at a point at least as bad as GT. But that is the reality of GT and I find CJP "likeable" so might as well deal with the reality of the situation that this year will suck and hopefully next year we at least are in the discussion. For that to happen Devoe has to become the scorer we hoped he would be and at least one of the many projects we have has to come to fruition as an ACC level player - or we get a grad transfer type who can score from the 4/3 spot.

 

[Mojo71]

Always remember this fellas,
1. Men lie, women lie, but the numbers don't lie! And the the survey says... that if CJP doesn't get 4 playmakers for the 2020 class, then Tech has to move on from him, regardless of what the contract says. This is a BIG and I mean BIG recruiting year. I'll also add that I'm glad Tech made the change in football(homerun hire) when it did. At least I can say Tech football is back!.