Dave Paulsen
- Thread starter GMURaider
- Start date
DAK
Preferred Walk-On
Good point. It does allow us to sell stability to recruits. I can see how having any additional advantage during this critical two year stretch is important. These players will be the foundation for the turnaround.
I'm not upset about the extension at all, just surprised at the timing. That is probably a result of me being more guarded post-Hewitt and my own professional experience in sales. Every promotion/raise in my field is earned and only when there is significant quantitative data to justify it. That data isn't the number of visits, attempts, or baby's kissed, it's the number of sales made. Hard results. Now, I know sales and college coaching don't exactly go hand-in-hand, but they are both businesses at the core of it all.
While going from an overall win/loss percentage of .290 (2014-15) to .343 (2015-16) and .222 (2014-15) to .278 (2015-16) in A-10 play, with the same early tournament exit is certainly a slight improvement, it's nothing that screams "give that man an extension!". I fully expect that upward trend to continue and would not have been surprised at all if this happened mid or post season of this upcoming year, after continued success both on the court and off.
I think this extension may speak more to the current state of our program than anything else. Again, I love DP and am not angry at the move at all, just a little surprised and curious. What have we seen now that we didn't know we would get when DP was first hired? Why didn't we just give him six years right off the bat? I can't imagine extensions are common in college basketball after the first year of a contract, unless there is substantial results in the Win/Loss columns.
I'm certainly on board giving the 1 yr extension to Paulsen--he's given the fan base a sense of hope.
However, this seems to be criticizing TOC for not giving similar extensions, which clearly would not have been appropriate for Hewitt. And my sense is that extensions were commonly given to Larranaga, including just before he left, during his tenure. While there may be many factors for preferring Edwards to O'Connor as an AD (and I think that's the essence of your post), I don't think his handling of extensions is one of them.
Love the extension! This coming year will be the first in many that we won't have to read about suspensions for academic or behavioral reasons. I doubt we will have players quit mid stream. The foundation is being established. The winning 20+ games and competing for A10 championships may be a year or two off (after the coming campaign) but I have confidence that we will get there.
My rule of thumb on extending a coach is, Did he exceed expectations or did he fail to meet expectations. I know there are so many other factors, but that is just my rule of thumb.
Now, with The Virus, I expected we would just continue to get worse the longer he stayed. He certainly met my expectations.
Now, with The Virus, I expected we would just continue to get worse the longer he stayed. He certainly met my expectations.
I think we all know DAK's favorite movie:
And his favorite SNL skit:
DAK
Preferred Walk-On
My comment was about the general state and welfare of the entire athletic program. It seems Edwards has been able to implement plans that TOC was only able to talk about (and granted, I know he was hamstrung a bit by our last president), but also as a reminder that there were some posters who were skeptical of his hire. He's done a pretty great job so far, in my opinion.
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Best news all summer! He inherited a mess and the extra time gives recruits the safety of knowing his job is secure.
Don't be surprised if DP gets another extension after the upcoming season, too, even if our record is pretty much the same or a little worse than last season.
Unlike other new A10 coaches who have opted for the quick fix with transfers and JUCOs, DP is building exclusively with 4-year players.
It's a more sustainable model over the long haul, but we have to give him time to make it work.
Re building with 4 yr guys, I like that. But can you stay competitive (top 4 of A10) consistently? With the transfer situation looking like a syrian refugee crisis, other programs have dibs on guys that can catapult them to the next level. I guess thats the landscape and DP wants no part which I can respect. However, Tony Skinn, Jason Miskiri, transferred in with 3 yrs left and had lots of success. 3 yrs is better than 2.
I could be wrong, but I suspect that DP is looking exclusively at 4-year guys now because he knows it's going to take time (and multiple recruiting classes) to fully install the principles and culture he desires for our program.
Instead of bringing in a guy who has 1 or 2 years less eligibility, and thus that much less time to "get with the program," he is looking for guys he can coach up as freshmen and still have 3 more years to work with.
Signing transfers also can hurt in the long run because you take away valuable playing time that a young guy might need to prove he can play on our level.
Once the culture is fully in place and our guys learn how to police themselves in terms of effort and accountability, I could see DP taking the risk to bring in a transfer -- especially if we are one big-time immediate contributor away from having a Sweet 16 team.
But barring some unforeseen circumstances, I don't see us in a situation where we would need one. Our staff is recruiting their asses off. We already have a bunch of very talented young guys and more are on the way.
ephoops
Starter
I believe that DP had one transfer during his time at Bucknell. He transferred in after his freshman year at Penn and spent 4 years in the Bucknell program (1 year sitting out immediately after transferring and three years playing). He was a kid that DP had recruited when he was playing at a prep school in Mass. He turned out to be a solid rotation player in the front court for Bucknell.
The bigger question I have is will these new guys and our soph's prove they belong in this conference. Last year Otis was a liability on defense and that will magnify itself this upcoming year, Grayer was inconsistent but showed flashes, etc etc. Usually, if a kid is worth his stars, you can tell right away. The one I believe that will show us that, and at the same time put some perspective into DP's recruiting success or lack thereof, is Boyd. We aren't in the CAA or Patriot league and you can tell that when we play conference foes. Some of these A10 players look grown up compared to any player on our roster.
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