Coaching Search Thread

[Mason32]

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?

Lamar sucks and hates all fans who wanted Hewitt out, we are all racist to him, it's sad

 

[Masonfan3]

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?

What other former star do you see publicly saying that about his alma mater? Like I said, he is probably right but he needs to be an advocate for his school unless he wants to see Mason fail. A lot of people have said he would be a good assistant at Mason and I think he would. But, let’s say he becomes an assistant next year, does his mindset then change? Does Mason now become a good spot for recruits because he is there? How do you then sit in a room with a recruit and try to sell Mason? Mason has a lot to offer recruits but TBH his tweet should piss you off because he could easily have said that Mason has a passionate fan base but no he didn’t. He literally could not think of anything that we can offer a recruit compared to other A10 schools. I don’t like getting into things on social media but wish someone would ask him publicly what HE is doing to help

 

[gmulion]

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?

Early on it would be playing time and the chance to turn the program around.

 

[Pablo]

What other former star do you see publicly saying that about his alma mater? Like I said, he is probably right but he needs to be an advocate for his school unless he wants to see Mason fail. A lot of people have said he would be a good assistant at Mason and I think he would. But, let’s say he becomes an assistant next year, does his mindset then change? Does Mason now become a good spot for recruits because he is there? How do you then sit in a room with a recruit and try to sell Mason? Mason has a lot to offer recruits but TBH his tweet should piss you off because he could easily have said that Mason has a passionate fan base but no he didn’t. He literally could not think of anything that we can offer a recruit compared to other A10 schools. I don’t like getting into things on social media but wish someone would ask him publicly what HE is doing to help

I think that your criticism is valid. But, interestingly, Lamar was a terrific recruiter when he played at Mason. If I'm not mistaken, players that he was instrumental in convincing to sign with Mason included Folarin Campbell and John Vaughan. He also envisioned a Final Four run before the start of that season.

It's time for Mason to improve its relationships with Lamar and other former players. Why not re-launch the Mason Athletic Hall of Fame and start properly honoring them? The only basketball player ever inducted played at Mason nearly 50 years ago.

 

[gmubrian]

Lamar rubbed me the wrong way during the Hewitt years. He actually thought Hewitt was a good coach. I got to talk to him at length during a game and it was absolutely baffling. He just seemed to like the one on one, beat your man, screen based offense without any set plays and switching at every opportunity on defense that left horrid mismatches. To me, his Hewitt fandom disqualifies him from ever being involved at Mason as a coach. If you couldn’t see how bad Hewitt’s coaching was, maybe basketball coaching shouldn’t be your profession.

I get the impression he really didn’t like Paulsen’s coaching much, which, baffles me even more since Paulsen seemed to have very similar offense, somewhat similar defense, better results and a cleaner overall program. The only thing, Hewitt seemed to do better was recruiting. I’d like to know how he can explain that logical inconsistency. So, if is Lamar running his mouth, talking trash, it doesn’t surprise me, it doesn’t concern me in the least and I’d be happy if he walked into the sunset and we never heard of him again.

Now, if other players are suggesting there is an issue, that concerns me, and hopefully it gets fixed under the next coach. I’d like to see a resurgence in Alumni involvement in the program, minus Lamar.

 

[Masonfan3]

I think that your criticism is valid. But, interestingly, Lamar was a terrific recruiter when he played at Mason. If I'm not mistaken, players that he was instrumental in convincing to sign with Mason included Folarin Campbell and John Vaughan. He also envisioned a Final Four run before the start of that season.

It's time for Mason to improve its relationships with Lamar and other former players. Why not re-launch the Mason Athletic Hall of Fame and start properly honoring them? The only basketball player ever inducted played at Mason nearly 50 years ago.

I agree with everything you said here. I just don’t understand his negative comments made publicly or wish he had worded it differently to highlight the positives about Mason. There is no arguing that the product on the court has been bad but the university, including the basketball facilities is worlds better than it was when he was a student athlete. Even if he doesn’t believe it, start selling the school to these recruits.

 

[gmujim92]

Lamar rubbed me the wrong way during the Hewitt years. He actually thought Hewitt was a good coach. I got to talk to him at length during a game and it was absolutely baffling. He just seemed to like the one on one, beat your man, screen based offense without any set plays and switching at every opportunity on defense that left horrid mismatches. To me, his Hewitt fandom disqualifies him from ever being involved at Mason as a coach. If you couldn’t see how bad Hewitt’s coaching was, maybe basketball coaching shouldn’t be your profession.

I get the impression he really didn’t like Paulsen’s coaching much, which, baffles me even more since Paulsen seemed to have very similar offense, somewhat similar defense, better results and a cleaner overall program. The only thing, Hewitt seemed to do better was recruiting. I’d like to know how he can explain that logical inconsistency. So, if is Lamar running his mouth, talking trash, it doesn’t surprise me, it doesn’t concern me in the least and I’d be happy if he walked into the sunset and we never heard of him again.

Now, if other players are suggesting there is an issue, that concerns me, and hopefully it gets fixed under the next coach. I’d like to see a resurgence in Alumni involvement in the program, minus Lamar.

It’s not my job to defend Lamar — we’re not buddies or anything like that, but I do acknowledge how frustrating it must be to feel shut out of a program you had a large role in building.

For all of his obvious shortcomings, Hewitt did go out of his way to connect with L’s players and made them feel welcome.

Dave pissed off a lot of those guys with the way he treated the holdover Hewitt players and his reluctance to engage with the alumni ... Lamar was just the most willing to call it out on social media.

And we wonder why Erik Reynolds chose a crappy St Joe’s program over Mason? Having one of our most famous former players harboring ill feelings about our coach while coaching high-level HS and AAU in the area is not a good place for us to be.

 

[Patriot8]

What other former star do you see publicly saying that about his alma mater? Like I said, he is probably right but he needs to be an advocate for his school unless he wants to see Mason fail. A lot of people have said he would be a good assistant at Mason and I think he would. But, let’s say he becomes an assistant next year, does his mindset then change? Does Mason now become a good spot for recruits because he is there? How do you then sit in a room with a recruit and try to sell Mason? Mason has a lot to offer recruits but TBH his tweet should piss you off because he could easily have said that Mason has a passionate fan base but no he didn’t. He literally could not think of anything that we can offer a recruit compared to other A10 schools. I don’t like getting into things on social media but wish someone would ask him publicly what HE is doing to help

I didn't take the comment as "why would anyone ever play at Mason?" ... I took it as "if a recruit is deciding between Mason and Rhode Island, why would they pick Mason?"

It's a legit question.

 

[gmujim92]

I didn't take the comment as "why would anyone ever play at Mason?" ... I took it as "if a recruit is deciding between Mason and Rhode Island, why would they pick Mason?"

It's a legit question.

And it’s one Mason hopefully is ready to start answering

 

[GMUgemini]

I didn't take the comment as "why would anyone ever play at Mason?" ... I took it as "if a recruit is deciding between Mason and Rhode Island, why would they pick Mason?"

It's a legit question.

Cox is trash! Here’s to having a better coach than Rhody (get it done BE).

 

[GSII]

To me it's sounds like his stance recently has been Mason isn't good bc DP was there. So he isn't going to sell Mason. Before, it was The Virus, which he liked, but I didn't see him steer any recruits his way then either. Maybe just ill-advised arrogance.

 

[By George.]

At this level, it’s incredibly hard to find a coach who can recruit well, groom his players and make mid game adjustments. Assistant coaches are incredibly important and think that was obvious once Fischer left. Not only was Dave responsible for all the above, he also had to rebuild our fan base without a strong alumni association or good ideas from the athletic department. Pizza parties and donut giveaways are so 1992.

It’s why some of us wanted to give Hewitt more time to recruit in the A10, with the updates Dave got. It’s why many of us made excuses for DP and wanted to give him time to establish pipelines. It’s why we think Cox sucks and why McCall can’t retain his players. Everything has to hit just right. But there’s one thing we can all agree on, the floor for talent has to be higher. We have to recruit hoopers and build from there. Not that we need to get into it, but DP’s offense was no different than Hewitts and isn’t different than most coaches. A majority of coaches enter their offense with a high ball screen but the issue is (outside of Otis, who was undersized) we didn’t have a dog who we trusted to get a bucket on his own. Kier sure but early on he made his money working without the ball. Dave’s motion offense relied on guys being able to create yet he couldn’t land a guy to create. Kier and Otis were close but needed time and grooming and were immediately thrown into 32+ minutes. Basketball is fairly simple, the bigger, faster, more athletic team is probably going to win.

When DP played 5 guards and wings but didn’t press...it was a red flag, one that probably crippled Mar’s and Grayer’s careers here as they had to bang with A10 forwards and centers as freshmen. This led to boring, uninspired basketball. We weren’t aggressive, gave up a ton of open 3s and once the 3s fell then it was layup line time. DP BOTCHED the center position until Oduro and even he was supposed to redshirt if not for Jarred leaving before his senior year.

Point being - Talent > everything else

 

[By George.]

Does Paulsen generally have a problem with AAU coaches?

No, it’s just a hard circle to crack around here, and business is boomin for these top AAU programs. That’s why Kim English, who’s been drafted and played professionally, is so appealing to me. He can recruit on that, he would be unique in the A10 coaching group.

Honestly, DP recruited his a** off, would take separate flights from the team after games to go recruit kids. He just didn’t win em, Mason didn’t win em. It’s a full program issue. Brad thinks with the updated facilities, we should be able to recruit better talent. Did Dave find diamonds? Absolutely, but the question is, doesn’t every coach find some hidden gems?

 

[Pikapppatri8]

No, it’s just a hard circle to crack. Honestly, DP recruited his a** off, would take separate flights after games to go recruit kids. He just didn’t win em, Mason didn’t win em. It’s a full program issue. Brad thinks with updated facilities, we should be able to recruit better talent. Did Dave find diamonds? Absolutely, but the question is, doesn’t every coach find some hidden gems?

Well facilities are important and Brad got the improvements done that were long overdue. The other piece is getting engagement with alumni then community. There should be more advertisement and events. As an alum - I would donate more to specific causes and goals. If there was a marketing campaign that got exposure for the program and excitement - I would be write a check. If there was a strategy to get talent with specific milestones - people would donate towards those milestones.

 

[gmubrian]

Point being - Talent > everything else

While it is not technically wrong, I think your equation emphasizes Talent a little too much. That is almost an exact quote from Hewitt. It was his overall coaching philosophy. He recruited, arguably, some of the best raw talent ever for Mason. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t coach to save his life. Yes talent is probably the most important single element, but it doesn’t outweigh everything else combined, and bad coaching can negate talent, too. We need a coach that can recruit, and can hold his own in teaching, game planning and making competent in game decisions.

 

[mkaufman1]

While it is not technically wrong, I think your equation emphasizes Talent a little too much. That is almost an exact quote from Hewitt. It was his overall coaching philosophy. He recruited, arguably, some of the best raw talent ever for Mason. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t coach to save his life. Yes talent is probably the most important single element, but it doesn’t outweigh everything else combined, and bad coaching can negate talent, too. We need a coach that can recruit, and can hold his own in teaching, game planning and making competent in game decisions.

couldnt agree more. We need a good recruiter but we also need at least an average x and o guy. In a league like the a10 where you have coaches who do both, various styles, you really have to be at your best. Schmidt and McKillop do both, some do more recruiting than x and o, but most are at least average in both in my opinion and above average in one.

 

[Pikapppatri8]

While it is not technically wrong, I think your equation emphasizes Talent a little too much. That is almost an exact quote from Hewitt. It was his overall coaching philosophy. He recruited, arguably, some of the best raw talent ever for Mason. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t coach to save his life. Yes talent is probably the most important single element, but it doesn’t outweigh everything else combined, and bad coaching can negate talent, too. We need a coach that can recruit, and can hold his own in teaching, game planning and making competent in game decisions.

Solid point - Hewitt could recruit - but watching him develop talent was as frustrating as watching a puppy trying to hump a football.

 

[mkaufman1]

Well facilities are important and Brad got the improvements done that were long overdue. The other piece is getting engagement with alumni then community. There should be more advertisement and events. As an alum - I would donate more to specific causes and goals. If there was a marketing campaign that got exposure for the program and excitement - I would be write a check. If there was a strategy to get talent with specific milestones - people would donate towards those milestones.

there has been more of “we are fundraising for x, here’s the plan”, for a while now. There’s the baseball fence project and the be a patriot campaign as examples.

 

[GMUgemini]

Lamar rubbed me the wrong way during the Hewitt years. He actually thought Hewitt was a good coach. I got to talk to him at length during a game and it was absolutely baffling. He just seemed to like the one on one, beat your man, screen based offense without any set plays and switching at every opportunity on defense that left horrid mismatches. To me, his Hewitt fandom disqualifies him from ever being involved at Mason as a coach. If you couldn’t see how bad Hewitt’s coaching was, maybe basketball coaching shouldn’t be your profession.

I get the impression he really didn’t like Paulsen’s coaching much, which, baffles me even more since Paulsen seemed to have very similar offense, somewhat similar defense, better results and a cleaner overall program. The only thing, Hewitt seemed to do better was recruiting. I’d like to know how he can explain that logical inconsistency. So, if is Lamar running his mouth, talking trash, it doesn’t surprise me, it doesn’t concern me in the least and I’d be happy if he walked into the sunset and we never heard of him again.

Now, if other players are suggesting there is an issue, that concerns me, and hopefully it gets fixed under the next coach. I’d like to see a resurgence in Alumni involvement in the program, minus Lamar.

I think Hewitt was a relationship guy, a player's coach, while Paulsen isn't really, so even though they had similar philosophies around offense and defense, they were vastly different on a personal level. So, I can see Paulsen rubbing some people the wrong way, he just didn't have Hewitt's charm.

 

[By George.]

While it is not technically wrong, I think your equation emphasizes Talent a little too much. That is almost an exact quote from Hewitt. It was his overall coaching philosophy. He recruited, arguably, some of the best raw talent ever for Mason. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t coach to save his life. Yes talent is probably the most important single element, but it doesn’t outweigh everything else combined, and bad coaching can negate talent, too. We need a coach that can recruit, and can hold his own in teaching, game planning and making competent in game decisions.

Hewitt has a pretty impressive career. Say what you want about him at Mason, I won’t fight it. Outside of Mason, he’s worked in the NBA and now the G League, coached for team USA basketball as an assistant and head coach. Been to the finals with GAtech and was in the tourney in 2010. His coaching strategy worked at times, guy landed one of the best stretch forwards of all time. But F it, keep hating him, doesn’t matter anymore. Talent > everything.