Coaching Search Thread

[GMUgemini]

The DMV has a hotbed of talent and like Lamar said Mason is an afterthought or basically ignored. If a coach can come in and make it an option it could go a long way.

Also since you brought up Coach L, take a look at that final four roster of his and where the majority of the kids came from. The starting 5 was from Maryland.

More than just the Final Four: Cam Long, Vlad, Jon Arledge, Bryon Allen, Trey Porter, Isaiah Tate, Louis Birdsong, John Vaughan, AJ Wilson, Jordan Miller...

And those are the guys who just came here.

Think of some of the A-10 guys (Petey mentioned them in his post).

Yes, we should be recruiting nationally, but the I95 corridor between NYC and (veer off a little) Virginia Beach should be your bread and butter. You literally could do nothing but recruit the crap out of the DMV and the NYC metro (do we need to bring up Marquise, Sherrod, Otis, Pearson, etc.) area and be a top A10 team.

 

[tblack33]

OH, that's my whole thing! We DON'T take basketball seriously!

WE ABSOLUTELY do not. We SAY we do, but money talks and bullshit walks, and we have not demonstrated that we're willing to ACTUALLY do what it takes to compete at the top of the conference. If we were ACTUALLY serious about basketball, we'd all know it. Instead we're talking about hoping we get lucky with an up an coming assistant we can get relatively cheap.

That's not being serious. That's bullshitting.

And that's why I was content with Paulsen. If we were SERIOUS about basketball, and we put the resources into it to be serious then Paulsen was ABSOLUTELY not good enough.

But we don't. We bojangle around, and if we're going to bojangle, I'd just as soon it have been with a guy who brought good kids into the program and didn't embarrass us.

If we want to play serious, and we act like it, and actually commit the school's resources to it, then I'll be right there with the rest of you expecting top results.

You are saying all this with no idea what the deal for the next coach will be. How do you know we aren’t throwing 900k at someone to entice them to leave? I mean hell, Paulsen was getting 750, that’s not like bottom of the barrel money. There’s more to it than just coaches salaries at this level and I’m not sure you are seeing that.

 

[GSII]

OH, that's my whole thing! We DON'T take basketball seriously!

WE ABSOLUTELY do not. We SAY we do, but money talks and bullshit walks, and we have not demonstrated that we're willing to ACTUALLY do what it takes to compete at the top of the conference. If we were ACTUALLY serious about basketball, we'd all know it. Instead we're talking about hoping we get lucky with an up an coming assistant we can get relatively cheap.

That's not being serious. That's bullshitting.

And that's why I was content with Paulsen. If we were SERIOUS about basketball, and we put the resources into it to be serious then Paulsen was ABSOLUTELY not good enough.

But we don't. We bojangle around, and if we're going to bojangle, I'd just as soon it have been with a guy who brought good kids into the program and didn't embarrass us.

If we want to play serious, and we act like it, and actually commit the school's resources to it, then I'll be right there with the rest of you expecting top results.

This is not accurate. Brad acted early and quickly in getting all this done. People that care stepped
up.


Make sure to send your $1,000 donation to The Patriot club. You can find a link on their website.

 

[Herndon]

You are saying all this with no idea what the deal for the next coach will be. How do you know we aren’t throwing 900k at someone to entice them to leave? I mean hell, Paulsen was getting 750, that’s not like bottom of the barrel money. There’s more to it than just coaches salaries at this level and I’m not sure you are seeing that.

If we do, I'll absolutely reevaluate my position

 

[mkaufman1]

For what its worth, English was making around 300k from what I saw a few years ago as an assistant coach.

If hes coming to Fairfax, its probably going to take at least 700 if I had to guess between cost of living adjustment and everything. I'd love to see them spend 8-900k.

 

[Pablo]

For what its worth, English was making around 300k from what I saw a few years ago as an assistant coach.

If hes coming to Fairfax, its probably going to take at least 700 if I had to guess between cost of living adjustment and everything. I'd love to see them spend 8-900k.

That's a significant bump up in pay plus bonuses for a first-time HC -https://www.rockytopinsider.com/2019/07/18/report-rick-barnes-staff-receive-raises/:

"In order to fill his third assistant spot on his staff, Barnes hired away Kim English from Colorado. English was given a $310,000 annual salary upon his hiring at Tennessee."

 

[Patriot8]

Our DOBO, Zack Curran, is now following Kim English.

 

[mkaufman1]

That's a significant bump up in pay plus bonuses for a first-time HC -https://www.rockytopinsider.com/2019/07/18/report-rick-barnes-staff-receive-raises/:

"In order to fill his third assistant spot on his staff, Barnes hired away Kim English from Colorado. English was given a $310,000 annual salary upon his hiring at Tennessee."

That it would be, and I only imagine they would want to pay competitively as best they could. I don't expect them to pay 1.2 or 1.5, but they might touch 1m if incentives are hit at this point.

 

[bravesfan]

Our DOBO, Zack Curran, is now following Kim English.

Yup. So is a member of the athletic department.

 

[Patriot8]

Yup. So is a member of the athletic department.

And so is that S.O.B. Joe Shannon.

 

[Old Man]

Lets hope this would change with English or whoever shows up!

If you look deeper, there is a pattern here.

Ernie Nestor - Fired after 5 seasons (1 NCAA appearance)
Paul Westhead - Fired after 4 seasons
Jim Larranaga - Highly successful and left for Miami
Paul Hewitt - Fired after 4 seasons
Dave Paulsen - Fired after 6 seasons

If you look at the coaches before Nestor, you have ....
John Linn - Gone after 10 seasons, nothing
Joe Harrington - Gone after 7 seasons,
Rick Barnes - Highly successful 1 season, set up the hapless Ernie Nestor for GMUs 1st NCAA appearance

So the pattern is ...
good, better, Best coach
good, better, Best coach
good, better, TBD ... but I like the where it's headed

 

[GMUgemini]

If you look deeper, there is a pattern here.


If you look at the coaches before Nestor, you have ....
John Linn - Gone after 10 seasons, nothing
Joe Harrington - Gone after 7 seasons,
Rick Barnes - Highly successful 1 season, set up the hapless Ernie Nestor for GMUs 1st NCAA appearance

So the pattern is ...
good, better, Best coach
good, better, Best coach
good, better, TBD ... but I like the where it's headed

We just have to hope our president is ready to pony up some real cash if the next coach actually does take us back to the promised land. Because what we don't want to have happen is be on the market again after 2-3 seasons...give me an Archie Miller-like stay here (NCAA in his 3rd season, huge bump in pay, and then 3 more seasons of glory before heading off to P5 land).

 

[gmubrian]

Do you have anymore PAULSENSATION t-shirts?

I have one in near mint condition...

 

[patriotchild]

To Herndons point. This is the most un mason thing I’ve experienced and I’m still in shock. I sat out paying attention to this season and was ready to continue doing so.

so to me the question is, does the firing of the embodiment of mason-ness, mean that we’re in for a serious culture change?

I remain skeptical, but this move is a positive sign. And if we go with the “riskier” hire with a young unproven coach, I’d also consider that a positive

 

[FreeGunston12]

Lamar isn't wrong but why do you take it to twitter. What does he think will get accomplished by saying "why would a recruit choose GMU" He is literally saying there is nothing that Mason has to offer a recruit. If he says this on his public twitter page, what do you think he is telling kids/parents that he coaches..

Exactly! Be part of the solution and not part of the problem. I've been around the WCAC basketball teams in some capacity in past years. The players listen to their coaches. Especially the coaches that played at a high level. If his players have that attitude, it's probably because he is feeding them it.

Does he have legitimate gripes? Absolutely. The school squandered his final four. He gave us the opportunity to build something, and we botched it. He is right. But he doesn't need to put that negative image out there.

Plus I feel like he is taking a big dump on Oduro.

 

[mkaufman1]

Exactly! Be part of the solution and not part of the problem. I've been around the WCAC basketball teams in some capacity in past years. The players listen to their coaches. Especially the coaches that played at a high level. If his players have that attitude, it's probably because he is feeding them it.

Does he have legitimate gripes? Absolutely. The school squandered his final four. He gave us the opportunity to build something, and we botched it. He is right. But he doesn't need to put that negative image out there.

Plus I feel like he is taking a big dump on Oduro.

I agree with you however he actually has said that schools missed out on Oduro and he’s really good. But I totally agree that if he’s not advocating it doesn’t help.

 

[Pablo]

Lamar isn't wrong but why do you take it to twitter. What does he think will get accomplished by saying "why would a recruit choose GMU" He is literally saying there is nothing that Mason has to offer a recruit. If he says this on his public twitter page, what do you think he is telling kids/parents that he coaches..

The following is Lamar's tweet that you reference. My response to Lamar is that Mason was at the bottom of the CAA when Coach L came here in 1997; and his first recruiting class included 1st Team All-CAA players Jason Miskiri and Erik Herring. He also convinced 3-time CAA POY George Evans to leave the Army and honor his commitment. They came because they believed in him, just like you did when you signed in 2001.



Lamar Butler

@Butler2two
·
Mar 17

It's going to be extremely difficult no matter who the next coach is. Why would a recruit choose GMU over the top half of the league? And how do you fix that?

 

[TweederGMU]

I think they may start off the new HC with $600K and put in lots of incentives.

 

[Patriot8]

It's going to be extremely difficult no matter who the next coach is. Why would a recruit choose GMU over the top half of the league? And how do you fix that?

I don’t see anything wrong with the question asked, or with him asking it. Why should a recruit that has multiple A10 offers choose Mason?

 

[gmubrian]

I don’t see anything wrong with the question asked, or with him asking it. Why should a recruit that has multiple A10 offers choose Mason?

Well, if the other two are Fordom and LaSalle...