Name the next head coach (a GMUJim tribute album)

[gmutom]

So this raises another question. How much will we pay? Remember, we went cheap once and now we drink from the floor.

We also went expensive after going cheap, and we are drinking off the same floor. I just want a good coach who wants to be here for a long time. It does us no good to hire another Rick Barnes who is going to jump ship after a year for a better position.

 

[Walter]

So this raises another question. How much will we pay? Remember, we went cheap once and now we drink from the floor.

We might be forced to go cheap because we overpaid for the Fluffer of Fairfax.

 

[gmujim92]

We also went expensive after going cheap, and we are drinking off the same floor. I just want a good coach who wants to be here for a long time. It does us no good to hire another Rick Barnes who is going to jump ship after a year for a better position.

Tom, I'd hope we could agree that our program -- despite its recent struggles -- is on another level than it was when Barnes was here.

Chances are good that whoever we hire is going to stay for more than one season.

But if our new coach only needs 3 seasons to pick up the pieces of Hewitt wreckage and turn our program into a big-time winner, which is most likely what it would take to go up another rung on the ladder, that would be a huge success for Edwards.

Then he'll just have to do it again.

Unless we get lucky like vcu and are willing to make program investments, I doubt we'll be able to hire and keep a successful coach for more than 3-4 seasons. That's just reality.

 

[GMUSSTN]

Unless we get lucky like vcu and are willing to make program investments, I doubt we'll be able to hire and keep a successful coach for more than 3-4 seasons. That's just reality.

I really feel like we don't have to worry about this as much anymore now that we're in the A-10, which should have at least 3 teams in the NCAA this year and has proved it can get as many as 6. This could be a destination job for a lot of coaches who want a little more flexibility/control from their schools than they'd get in the ACC or Big 12.

 

[gmujim92]

This could be a destination job for a lot of coaches who want a little more flexibility/control from their schools than they'd get in the ACC or Big 12.

We have a long way to go to make this a "destination job" for a coach who has an offer from ACC/Big 12 schools.

Not saying it can't happen, necessarily, but Edwards will need to make incredible progress on fundraising and Cabrera will have to let him spend those funds on men's basketball.

Neither is a given at this point.

 

[GMUSSTN]

We have a long way to go to make this a "destination job" for a coach who has an offer from ACC/Big 12 schools.

Not saying it can't happen, necessarily, but Edwards will need to make incredible progress on fundraising and Cabrera will have to let him spend those funds on men's basketball.

Neither is a given at this point.

I really think it depends on the ACC or Big 12 school, plus how competent this new Coach X is in the A-10. Would he leave a perennial contender Mason team to go coach at a Texas-Tech style bottom feeder? There'd have to be more factors in play there than money.

I'll give you were a long way from a "destination job" but we're also a long way from "stepping stone" which is a good thing. And even if our new coach does get poached that's presumably after several years of success, which I would welcome happily at this point.

 

[GSII]

If we had to hire a guy today, who do u go with?

My pick = Bobby Hurley.

Why? Price and upside. Proven winner as player and young coach. Can ask Coach K, or dad...heck, can add dad to staff, intense on both sides of the ball. Northeast guy which is our target for new students. Probably not a polished ambassador, and public speaker, but he can grow into that. With solid assistants he can rise to the top of the league.

 

[Dawgs99]

We have a long way to go to make this a "destination job" for a coach who has an offer from ACC/Big 12 schools.

Not saying it can't happen, necessarily, but Edwards will need to make incredible progress on fundraising and Cabrera will have to let him spend those funds on men's basketball.

Neither is a given at this point.

It seems like BE understand the facilities arms race that has been going on for years and also understands that our current facilities for basektball are sub par. I think BE has his eyes on a bigger AD job down the road and to do that he needs to put his stamp our our athletic program...ie shiney new facilities and impressive fundraising numbers. The fact that he has already put together a committee to study either massive improvements to the Pat Center or a whole new building shows me he knows we need major facility upgrades.

 

[mkaufman1]

I really think it depends on the ACC or Big 12 school, plus how competent this new Coach X is in the A-10. Would he leave a perennial contender Mason team to go coach at a Texas-Tech style bottom feeder? There'd have to be more factors in play there than money.

I'll give you were a long way from a "destination job" but we're also a long way from "stepping stone" which is a good thing. And even if our new coach does get poached that's presumably after several years of success, which I would welcome happily at this point.

Well said. While Mason isn't even half the destination job when Larranaga left, there are certainly plenty of advantages for a guy coming in to want a job like Mason. Its not a slam dunk to have success immediately, but its not truly a full rebuild of a program either in my opinion especially with the big vision that AC and BE have going forward.

 

[gmujim92]

Well said. While Mason isn't even half the destination job when Larranaga left, there are certainly plenty of advantages for a guy coming in to want a job like Mason. Its not a slam dunk to have success immediately, but its not truly a full rebuild of a program either in my opinion especially with the big vision that AC and BE have going forward.

Gonna have to disagree. We are currently one game out of the A-10's cellar, which is incidentally where we finished last season. It's looking pretty likely at this point that we're not even going to reach last season's pitiful victory total.

If this isn't a "full rebuild," I'd hate to see what that would look like.

 

[gmujim92]

I really think it depends on the ACC or Big 12 school, plus how competent this new Coach X is in the A-10. Would he leave a perennial contender Mason team to go coach at a Texas-Tech style bottom feeder? There'd have to be more factors in play there than money.

Larranaga left for an ACC bottom-feeder. Would he have stayed if we were already in the A-10? Who knows?

Regardless, we have to step up our game significantly in program support and infrastructure if we want to be anything more than a stepping stone.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

If most of the young talent remains, I don't think a turnaround will take nearly as long as it would for a full rebuild. Danny Hurley went 8-24 his first two years at Rhodey, I don't think it would take that long to get Mason humming a little bit. Again, as long as most of the young talent stayed.

Honestly, just having one guard who can play would go a really long way.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

I have to agree with that. It's amazing how talent suddenly appears from the same old mediocre players when a new coach that's worth his salary takes over a team.

 

[mkaufman1]

Gonna have to disagree. We are currently one game out of the A-10's cellar, which is incidentally where we finished last season. It's looking pretty likely at this point that we're not even going to reach last season's pitiful victory total.

If this isn't a "full rebuild," I'd hate to see what that would look like.

I can respect why one would think its a rebuild too. From my viewpoint, a full rebuild would mean basically needing a coach to gain a full roster, teach his style/system, and go from there. In my viewpoint , while Hewitt has torn down anything built, I do think the players (if many were to stay), are pretty talented and can win within a few years (possibly immediately) if they were lead correctly.

In addition, showing a coach that committed leadership is in charge and talented players is where it starts, and I think anyone coming in would notice that, amongst many other advantages, even though Mason is in the cellar. That's why I think a job like Mason isn't a full rebuild but somewhere in between a rebuild and "win now" job.

It really doesn't matter, because I could bet that a new coach will win more in his first year than Hewitt did last year or this year.

 

[Vurbel]

Tom, I'd hope we could agree that our program -- despite its recent struggles -- is on another level than it was when Barnes was here.

Chances are good that whoever we hire is going to stay for more than one season.

But if our new coach only needs 3 seasons to pick up the pieces of Hewitt wreckage and turn our program into a big-time winner, which is most likely what it would take to go up another rung on the ladder, that would be a huge success for Edwards.

Then he'll just have to do it again.

Unless we get lucky like vcu and are willing to make program investments, I doubt we'll be able to hire and keep a successful coach for more than 3-4 seasons. That's just reality.

If in 3 years we say "man, this coach has been too good, what are we going to do now that he's leaving?" then something is going right. It means he was a success, the program won, we are healthy again. So he did his job. We've built our way back to 2011.

 

[GMUgemini]

If in 3 years we say "man, this coach has been too good, what are we going to do now that he's leaving?" then something is going right. It means he was a success, the program won, we are healthy again. So he did his job. We've built our way back to 2011.

I think we try to retain him for at least another cycle by getting him to at least 900,000

 

[Quentin Daniels]

If in 3 years we say "man, this coach has been too good, what are we going to do now that he's leaving?" then something is going right. It means he was a success, the program won, we are healthy again. So he did his job. We've built our way back to 2011.

Yup.

At any rate, beats after 4 years saying, "Enough already! Buy the guy out of that fifth year, this dumpster fire has burned too long as it is."

 

[GSII]

hell, just bring in a shooter and good PG. Assuming most guys stay we are middle to upper tier in year one. Hmmmm....reminds me of Miskiri a d Herring splashing onto the scene.

 

[gmujim92]

If in 3 years we say "man, this coach has been too good, what are we going to do now that he's leaving?" then something is going right. It means he was a success, the program won, we are healthy again. So he did his job. We've built our way back to 2011.

Nobody is arguing that.

If that happens, though, the question becomes "Willl we make the required financial investments to the program to try and keep the coach, or do we just let him walk and assume we can hire the next great up-and-comer?"

Schools obviously have had success with both approaches, so I'm not saying one is more worthwhile than another.

My bigger point was, if we want to become truly a destination job for a quality coach, it's going to take a significant commitment of dollars because we are nowhere near where we need to be.

 

[phoenix-arizona]

Take the Tark off the list too. He has passed on to the basketball heavens.