No disresepct intended... this is just some guys on a message board talking... and not trying to be a jerk here. But Mac McCarthy was bad. Just plain awful, in almost every sense, and if you didn't see that while he was here, then you weren't close to the program, or weren't paying attention. To the everage guy up in the stands, he might have been.... just OK- and that would be complimentary. But for the rest of us, and the guys with the inside scoop- he was one of the worst things that could have happened to VCU bsaketball. Finance- since you ask for the perspective of those who didn't like him, I'll add my 2 cents:
1- He was the most fundamentally unsound / disfunctional coach we have ever had. Not even close.
2- His teams made the same mistakes in game 25, as in game 1. Same mistakes in year 1 & year 4.
3- His recruiting was atrocious. He landed a few studs, but they were mostly transfers / JUCOs.
4- The poor recruiting was 2-fold. First, he refused to go see certian kids that he was after, and their families. 2 examples would be Kevin Steemburge and Jai Lewis. Book it. He REFUSED to go see the parents, and said that if the parents made that as a requirement, to meet him as head-coach, then screw it- he would drop them. And they both went to our arch rivals- one to UR and one to Mason. Add to that (fact) that the coaching staff had to hide him from players they were bringing in, and they also had to hide the players' parents- b'c they would have made sure these kids did not come to VCU. This is also a fact, and I have first hand knowledge of that from staffers down at VCU, and insiders. Ask someone about the JUCO kid from the Idaho JUCO (forget the school). Ask them why the kid flew home crying on the airplane he left on. And why he ultimately could not come to school at VCU.
The second aspect to the poor recruiting was the nature / character of many of those he brought in. He had some great kids- like Dom Jones, Lamar and Bo, and others. No doubt. But he had a bunch of not-so good kids (that's really being nice) too. Hey- some of this was because Mac got players off of the junk-heap, through deals he had cultivated, etc.... rather than the old fashioned way of following them, meeting them, and signing them when they knew each other well. See the above point.
5- Mac was a terrible P/R guy. A terrible representaiton of VCU and the VCU family
6- The guy ranted, raved, and acted like an A$$ all over town, often refusing to pay for things / services, such as movie tickets, dry cleaning, etc. This I do NOT know for fact, but have been told by multiple sources. He was horrible for the VCU family.
7- His court-side demeanor was a flat-out embarrassment to the University, the team, and all of us. Period.
8- His treatment of the players was horrible. They hated his guts. Why do you think all of his teams always started off so poorly in the first half of games? Still do. Do better in the second halfs. One reaosn is because of how he had them so negatively charged going into our games. Just awful.
9- His x's and o's were bad. Probably way beyond bad. But at a bare minimum, really bad. And again, the fundamentals, and the teaching / bad habits, etc was absolutely atrocious. Only thing he was good at was defense. He did get our guys to play hard D- and good D.
0- Worse than his court-side demeanor was his off-the-court demaenor when traveling. Again, the staff had to do their best to keep him away from as many people as they could. And he treated those around him like crap most of the time, and everyone around the team got the honor of witnessing that. I would love to tell a couple stories from the Long Island trip in 02' or 03' .... but I won't. Like others said... it's not worth it to get too extreme or vulgar on this board. So I'll stop short of that.
* There are a ton of other reasons. Bottom line: The guy was HORRIBLE. Period. I really don't even see how anyone in their right mind could argue it. But again, I know a lot of people see the 20,000 ft view of things.
* Another key point- and before someone bashes me.... For the record, I thought Sonny Smith was a terrible floor coach. An OK recruiter (never got the entire stable, but usually had 3-4 excellent starters)... and Sonny was the one who started the huge JUCO trend. Mac took it out of Sonny's play-book. Anyway, Sonny was not a very good caoch. But to say that Mac resurected a dead program, and turned it around is ludicrous- at best. Sure- the team Mac inherited was not good. At all. And he had some stinkers to work with. In fact, the last 2 teams Sonny had were not good. But Mac took over in what? 1998? Or after that seaosn. Well heck- the 96' VCU team nearly went undefeated in it's innaugural season in the CAA. Ironically, ECU beat the RAMS in over-time- in Greenville. And we had one other loss- which I do not remember. That's it. Then the RAMS beat the Wainright coached UNCW Seahawks in a gruelling CAA tourney, and went on to nearly knock off Miss St in the big dance, again only losing by 1 at the buzzer.
So it was on;y 2 years later that Mac took over. Again- not a good team at all. But to say that the program was in complete wreckage, and that he turned it all around ir ridiculous. He had one good season- and that was his last. And honestly- that team, as good as it was, was still an under-performer, and existed the CA tourney way early. Mac was pathetic. Still is. I could go on and on.... but it's no use.
These are (mostly) my opinions, and if other want to disagree- that's fine. It's a message board, and a free country. But Toni- since you asked.... there it is. Multiply this post, and all its negativity by about 50- and there you have the real, brutal truth. That's why we feel the way we do.