2021 Coaching Carousel

[JPgmuswim]

NCAA berth by year 4 or bust. Season 3 I expect 20 wins

I feel like those are reasonable expectations

 

[JPgmuswim]

I’d love to see our OOC schedule improve. Dave loved cupcakes.

 

[mkaufman1]

NCAA berth by year 4 or bust. Season 3 I expect 20 wins

honestly, if English is supposed to be an up and comer and hot shot recruiter and all that.

those are perfectly good expectations and I’m in agreement. This shouldn’t be that long of a fix.

If you’re going to hire who you think is the next big thing, expecting big results is perfectly reasonable.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Hell I want NIT next year, NCAA the year after. Final 4 in year 3 and an NCAA championship in year 4.

 

[gmujim92]

I don't see the point in criticizing the hire that we all expect is coming. But I do think there is room to talk about what we want to see from Kim English.

A step up in recruiting and and effort to bring the former players back into the fold should be a focus, and I think that is what we are getting.

What I don't know is the identity and style that Kim would bring to the team. Is he a "positionless" basketball disciple? Will he try to establish a Mason version of havoc? Will he take a more inside-out approach?

When's the ByGeorge interview?

Can we get a weekly coaches spot somewhere to capitalize on having a more charismatic coach?

If the recruiting isn’t significantly better almost immediately I will be shocked.

Beyond that, though, I’m looking forward to finally having a coach who played at the highest level of college basketball (and however briefly in the NBA) and is young enough to relate to the pressures, insecurities and anxieties 18-23 year-olds experience in an uber competitive environment.

Not saying our other coaches haven’t connected with their players because I think most do to some degree, but when Kim says he knows how one of his players is feeling at a given moment, he’ll mean it. He has been there. And that should help him get the best out of his team.

Regardless of wins and losses, I predict the guys wearing Mason uniforms will eagerly run through a brick wall for our soon-to-be new coach.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

All the recruits English was talking to the last year or so - Imagine if somehow he convinces one of those 4 star guys to come with him to Mason.

Not likely but it would be huge if he could.

 

[gmujim92]

All the recruits English was talking to the last year or so - Imagine if somehow he convinces one of those 4 star guys to come with him to Mason.

Not likely but it would be huge if he could.

One of the Tennessee message board posts I read speculated that English will be bringing along at least one current player ... that would put him one ahead of Dave when he took the Mason job

 

[gmujim92]

Personally I think 5-star PG Kennedy Chandler should decommit from Tennessee and sign with Mason instead. He’d have a chance to do pretty well in the A-10.

 

[JPgmuswim]

Personally I think 5-star PG Kennedy Chandler should decommit from Tennessee and sign with Mason instead. He’d have a chance to do pretty well in the A-10.

I’m betting Jay wasn’t able to work that into the deal

 

[Petey Buckets]

If the recruiting isn’t significantly better almost immediately I will be shocked.

I wrote about this but parents and players read the stuff we post so I soft-pedaled a little bit. Recruiting has SUCKED for like four years now and is somehow getting worse. Do people realize how bad the offer sheets were for everyone from the Hartwell class on down? Do they realize how many players the staff brought in (Haidara, Gadsden, debatably more) that had zero other executable D1 offers? That's MEAC level incompetence on the trail. Whoever comes next is going to look like a freaking wizard in recruiting after the Paulsen era.

 

[tblack33]

I wrote about this but parents and players read the stuff we post so I soft-pedaled a little bit. Recruiting has SUCKED for like four years now and is somehow getting worse. Do people realize how bad the offer sheets were for everyone from the Hartwell class on down? Do they realize how many players the staff brought in (Haidara, Gadsden, debatably more) that had zero other executable D1 offers? That's MEAC level incompetence on the trail. Whoever comes next is going to look like a freaking wizard in recruiting after the Paulsen era.

The recruiting threads are about to get WILD. I really think some folks on here are gonna have their eyes opened to the type of talent a school like Mason can really pull in.

 

[GMUgemini]

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All the recruits English was talking to the last year or so - Imagine if somehow he convinces one of those 4 star guys to come with him to Mason.

Not likely but it would be huge if he could.

Several A10 schools have 4 stars on their roster (not counting transfers):

Davidson: Kellan Grady
Dayton: Dwayne Cohill, Zimife Nwokeji (have Lynn Greer, Kaleb Washington, DaRon Holmes in 2021 class)
Fordham: Onyinyechi Eyisi (this rating seems suspect by ESPN)
La Salle: Sherif Kenney
URI: Jermaine Harris
SLU: Jordan Goodwin, Hasahn French (3 star in one, 4 star in another), Terrence Hargrove Jr.
vcu: Jarren McAllister, Mikeal Brown-Jones (same as French)

(that's half the conference with at least one 4 star recruit on their team)

I think I said my hope for the future is that offer sheets like Tyler Kolek become the baseline for our recruits (he was rated 77 (3 stars) by ESPN -- had offers for Richmon, St. Bonaventure and Us in the A10 plus some good mid-major programs). If we can also get a few who are more reaches with P5 offers once in awhile, that's great. If that happens, I have no problem taking some under the radar types who may or may not pan out.

I want to see the players who stay for four years consistently get better every year.

I want to see a team that knows how it wants to play and knows how to make the other team adjust to them.

I want to see a coach who has a plan b when plan a isn't working.

 

[patriotchild]

I’d love to see our OOC schedule improve. Dave loved cupcakes.

They’re only cupcakes if you expect to and actually win them, right? I forget what that’s like.

 

[Pablo]

https://hoopdirt.com/kruger-named-head-coach-at-unlv/:

"Former Runnin’ Rebel student-athlete and assistant coach Kevin Kruger has been appointed the new head coach of the UNLV’s men’s basketball program, Director of Athletics Desiree Reed-Francois announced Sunday.

Kruger will be formally introduced via a virtual press conference on Monday at 10 a.m."

 

[Pablo]

https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/...-fired-after-seven-seasons-as-LU-16042520.php:

"Tic Price, who led the Lamar University men’s basketball program back into conference contention but never reached the ultimate goal of a Southland championship, will not return as the Cardinals’ head coach next season.

Price was fired from his position Sunday after seven seasons on Lamar’s sideline. The decision comes after the Cardinals went 10-18 overall this year — one of only two losing seasons for Lamar under Price."

 

[Mason32]

I wrote about this but parents and players read the stuff we post so I soft-pedaled a little bit. Recruiting has SUCKED for like four years now and is somehow getting worse. Do people realize how bad the offer sheets were for everyone from the Hartwell class on down? Do they realize how many players the staff brought in (Haidara, Gadsden, debatably more) that had zero other executable D1 offers? That's MEAC level incompetence on the trail. Whoever comes next is going to look like a freaking wizard in recruiting after the Paulsen era.

Some of you guys fall in love with the individual players too much, it's college basketball they come and they go

 

[GMUgemini]

I wrote about this but parents and players read the stuff we post so I soft-pedaled a little bit. Recruiting has SUCKED for like four years now and is somehow getting worse. Do people realize how bad the offer sheets were for everyone from the Hartwell class on down? Do they realize how many players the staff brought in (Haidara, Gadsden, debatably more) that had zero other executable D1 offers? That's MEAC level incompetence on the trail. Whoever comes next is going to look like a freaking wizard in recruiting after the Paulsen era.

I'd say it's been more of a mixed bag with players like Kolek and Gray on the high end and Gadsden and Dady on the low end.

I'm not sure quite sure how to read Frazier or Henry's offer sheets (like would you consider LA Tech, Oral Roberts [now that they're in the Sweet 16], Murray State, and Southern Illinois as good mid-major offers for Henry? Do you count UMass's 2019 offer to Frazier? Was that still a viable scholarship when he took a prep year?)

XJ and Polite are in a class all on their own, because it's pretty obvious they were good to great high school players who just didn't get a lot of offers (similar to Jordan Miller who, like Polite, was all-met first team).

If you take a sweep at the entire 7 recruiting classes you've only got a handful of players in all of that time who had A-10/P5 level offers: AJ, Mar, Calixte, Kolek, Frazier, Gray (I was able to name them all off the top of my head).

If you've got a bunch of Koleks on your team, then the occasional "we think this guy is being underrecruited -- Jordan, Oduro, Otis, Grayer, Polite" makes sense. Those guys might blow up and if not they either transfer or become practice players at then end of your bench. It's also not the end of the world when you get a guy like Goanar (who had offers from Nebraska, Iowa State, and DePaul, and he doesn't work out [think Jermaine Harris at URI], because you've got a bunch of Koleks on your team killing it.

 

[Pablo]

Jon Rothstein
@JonRothstein
·
1h

Sources: Eastern Washington's Shantay Legans finalizing deal to become the next head coach at Portland.



Sources: Eastern Washington's Legans finalizing a deal to head to Portland - College Hoops Today
Eastern Washington’s Shantay Legans is finalizing a deal to become the next head coach at Portland, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. An official announcement is expected...
collegehoopstoday.com

 

[Pablo]

Jon Rothstein
@JonRothstein
·
1h


Sources: Charleston has officially hired Winthrop's Pat Kelsey as its next head basketball coach. Official announcement expected soon.

 

[allhailme]

He turned down the A-10 job in a multi-bid league but accepted a CAA job whose champion was just a 16 seed? Either he really likes South Carolina or UMASS just sucks.