What'd you Expect!

[Mr X]

Maybe it's just my convenient memory, but I like that MR was admitting after the JU game that the buck stops with him. I think reality is settling in. He looked stressed. Hopefully between now and tournament time we can put it together. We got the tools, we just keep hammering until the nail goes in straight. It will come down to 3 (maybe 4) days in March. The real season begins 12-31-22. A record of 12-6 should get us a top 4 with the strength (lack thereof) of the league this year. I would hope that MR uses the rest of the OOC to experiment for conference season.

At this point, the players just need to play, or quit and suck.

This is what is boils down to.

 

[Mr X]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that basically why we are all on here? To be able to vent and complain to each other about the state of VCU basketball. That's essentially exactly what this is for. I haven't really seen anyone "losing their poope" but we are all a part of this community and are all frustrated and we basically only have each other to b*tch to because no one else gives a rip about VCU basketball.

You may choose to internalize things whereas other posters may be more outspoken. Either way, that is what this forum is designed for.

You joined yesterday and already have 90 posts? Jesus man!

 

[RESRam]

Brevity is a virtue.

It’s the soul of wit.

 

[Havoc2Ut2]

You joined yesterday and already have 90 posts? Jesus man!

Even the insidous MudKat couldn't have managed to match 2016's rampage. LOL

 

[Ramdog]

Didn’t expect to be watching Louisville/ Florida St with combined record of 1-17

 

[Half-baked Mcbride]

It’s the soul of wit.

.

 

[Mistachill]

If we are being completely honest... It's real simple.... MR had a great coaching career at RMC... a D-3 school. And he was an assistant at VCU during Shaka's tenure for a couple years before getting the HC gig at Rice.... a school that had not made the NCAA Tourney in 40 years at the Time of MR's hiring there. So it was a school with little to no expectations on the D1 level, which is a great place for a new D-1 HC to go & get their feet wet & prove themselves.

MR was at Rice for 3 seasons.... only 1 of them was a winning season, and resulted in any sort of a postseason (CBI)... the other 2 seasons... he finished 12-20 both seasons & finished no higher than 7th in C-USA.

You're telling me that short history of him as a D1 coach & what he did at RMC was good enough to give him a HC job at VCU? Why? Because he knew the area from his days at RMC? Because he was on Shaka's staff at VCU?

Be honest for a second... act like no one outside of RMC fans knew who MR was, and that he was never on VCU's staff under Shaka. Do you honestly believe MR still gets hired? And if so why?

But you can't fairly separate him from Shaka's staff, that is part of his resume. A big part in fact. An assistant (or associate) coach on a final four staff is something a lot of coaching candidates don't have.

Anthony Grant being on Donovan's championship staff was a big part of him getting hired here.

 

[AHEF]

Question about the total wins per season. Is the A10 a more talented league than the CAA?

 

[Celticguy]

Question about the total wins per season. Is the A10 a more talented league than the CAA?

Probably but to a lesser degree than when we moved and narrowing annually.
Not ALL Bernadette's fault. The NCAA has been hard at work to make being non-P6 a tougher row to hoe. And there have some less than successful changes in programs around the league.

Not sure what she can even do to change the paradigm.

 

[VCU Heel]

Question about the total wins per season. Is the A10 a more talented league than the CAA?

The A10 in 2022 is better than the CAA the last few years we were there. But the difference isn’t as big as most people would expect or hope.

 

[RowdyPkunk]

But you can't fairly separate him Shaka's staff, that is part of his resume. A big part in fact. An assistant (or associate) coach on a final four staff is something a lot of coaching candidates don't have.

Anthony Grant being on Donovan's championship staff was a big part of him getting hired here.

And maybe so... but here's the difference. Neither Grant, not Shaka were in house hires or previous employees of the Univ.... so for them you can't say "well they were here when this happened at VCU".

No... they were all hired after we had an actual coaching search. Or at least Grant was.... who knows if Teague & co. said "well Grant came from florida & worked well... lets go get another UF guy" in which Donovan then gives us Smart.

I don't know exactly how Grant & Smart fell into our laps.... I assume we did an actual coaching search & determined the best fit from there. And we knew we were taking a chance on both of those hires...

Did we do the same with WW & MR? Or did we just hire them because we needed someone to come in & keep everything operational & afloat. Interestingly enough MR was the Associate HC over WW... yet WW was hired as our HC first... prob due to the fact he had 2 years as a HC under his belt on the D1 level and was coming off a 22 win season, where as MR had 1 year of HC experience on the D1 level & a 12 win season... nothing really to write home about from either in all honesty. MR then gets hired after WW leaves.... when in 3 years at Rice MR had 1 winning season.

When either Will Wade or MR was hired... did anyone hear about other coaches/asst. coaches from P5's being considered?

My point being.... based off MR's resume & even WW's resume... if neither of them were on VCU's staff during the Final 4 run... we likely go out & find another Top level assistant (like we did with Shaka & Grant) instead of hiring those guys based on the rest of their resumes.

No chance we hire WW with 2 years of HC experience with a 40-25 record, and the only post season he made it too was the CIT first round
No chance we hire MR with 3 years of HC experience (on the D1 level) with a 47-52 record, 1 winning season & a trip to the CBI.

WW & MR only got hired because of their VCU ties.... you can't say that about Shaka & Anthony Grant... because neither of them had any ties to VCU prior to their hire.

Also it's different times because when Grant was hired.... VCU was still relatively unknown to most. We were for all intents & purposes... just another mid major. We had a good year here & there but nothing consistent. We were no gonzaga or whoever else was a consistent force among mid majors at the time. Grant helped put us on the map with "the Dagger" & Eric Maynor.... and a close loss to UCLA in 2009. Shaka then firmly put us on the map after the Final 4 run & the years that followed.

Sure Grant & Shaka were hired with the intent of making VCU a winning program.... but the expectations by fans when they were hired pale in comparison to the expectations of the fans & the school when WW & MR were hired. The risk/reward when Grant & Shaka were hired versus WW/MR's hires are completely different levels imo. When Grant & Shaka were hired... VCU had little to nothing to lose. We had no BDC, we had no Sellout Streak. When WW & MR were hired.... now all of a sudden we had EVERYTHING to lose.

And maybe that's why Ed & co. went with what he thought were "safe hires"

 

[Mistachill]

And maybe so... but here's the difference. Neither Grant, not Shaka were in house hires or previous employees of the Univ.... so for them you can't say "well they were here when this happened at VCU".

No... they were all hired after we had an actual coaching search. Or at least Grant was.... who knows if Teague & co. said "well Grant came from florida & worked well... lets go get another UF guy" in which Donovan then gives us Smart.

I don't know exactly how Grant & Smart fell into our laps.... I assume we did an actual coaching search & determined the best fit from there. And we knew we were taking a chance on both of those hires...

Did we do the same with WW & MR? Or did we just hire them because we needed someone to come in & keep everything operational & afloat. Interestingly enough MR was the Associate HC over WW... yet WW was hired as our HC first... prob due to the fact he had 2 years as a HC under his belt on the D1 level and was coming off a 22 win season, where as MR had 1 year of HC experience on the D1 level & a 12 win season... nothing really to write home about from either in all honesty. MR then gets hired after WW leaves.... when in 3 years at Rice MR had 1 winning season.

When either Will Wade or MR was hired... did anyone hear about other coaches/asst. coaches from P5's being considered?

My point being.... based off MR's resume & even WW's resume... if neither of them were on VCU's staff during the Final 4 run... we likely go out & find another Top level assistant (like we did with Shaka & Grant) instead of hiring those guys based on the rest of their resumes.

No chance we hire WW with 2 years of HC experience with a 40-25 record, and the only post season he made it too was the CIT first round
No chance we hire MR with 3 years of HC experience (on the D1 level) with a 47-52 record, 1 winning season & a trip to the CBI.

WW & MR only got hired because of their VCU ties.... you can't say that about Shaka & Anthony Grant... because neither of them had any ties to VCU prior to their hire.

Also it's different times because when Grant was hired.... VCU was still relatively unknown to most. We were for all intents & purposes... just another mid major. We had a good year here & there but nothing consistent. We were no gonzaga or whoever else was a consistent force among mid majors at the time. Grant helped put us on the map with "the Dagger" & Eric Maynor.... and a close loss to UCLA in 2009. Shaka then firmly put us on the map after the Final 4 run & the years that followed.

Sure Grant & Shaka were hired with the intent of making VCU a winning program.... but the expectations by fans when they were hired pale in comparison to the expectations of the fans & the school when WW & MR were hired. The risk/reward when Grant & Shaka were hired versus WW/MR's hires are completely different levels imo. When Grant & Shaka were hired... VCU had little to nothing to lose. We had no BDC, we had no Sellout Streak. When WW & MR were hired.... now all of a sudden we had EVERYTHING to lose.

And maybe that's why Ed & co. went with what he thought were "safe hires"

We got Grant via Villa 7.

Ironically as I think back, MR name had surfaced during that search. I can't remember if it was just some poster putting his name out there or if it was reported by the media as a possible candidate. I just remember thinking at the time "h#ll no! We can't hire a D3 coach!" I think people may have thought we did well with a young, inexperienced Capel so why not?"

Yeah, you're right about WW and MR, but I don't necessarily think that has to be considered a negative. Mark Few got hired with zero head coaching experience mainly because he was Dan Monson's assistant. Kyle Neptune got the Villanova job with one relatively mediocre year at Fordham (though considering how bad their program has been I guess it was a great year for them) primarily because he was Jay Wright's assistant for about eight years and was on the staff of two of their championships. I don't think what we did with WW or MR was uncommon or particularly wrong on paper (unless the candidate himself doesn't work out).

And considering Ed's background and having no experience with hires of this importance, maybe the safe route was the way to go in hindsight. I could totally see him making a Dave Paulsen-like hire, reaching back to his American and Niagara days to pull the trigger on bringing us a successful Metro Atlantic Conference coach.