masonjoe
Starter
Is this true?
Q&A with Coach Hewitt?
- Thread starter GMURaider
- Start date
Is this true?
Yes, but if Edwards REALLY wants Hewitt gone now and can make a convincing business case for making that move, I can't imagine Cabrera would shut him down so soon after hiring him.
As to letting go of our incoming recruits, the timing of this whole thing would actually work in our favor. Most schools have already filled their scholarship spots for the 2014 class, so it's not like they could just dump us and have their pick of suitors.
I'm honestly more concerned about our 2015 class. If we let Hewitt and his staff hit the trail this summer and sign players -- knowing the coaches are probably at best a 70-30 bet to be gone after this season -- we could conceivably waste an entire year of recruiting.
When you're already working from the bottom of a conference as deep as the A-10, I don't think you can afford to do that.
If we're going to fire Hewitt anyhow -- and the vast majority of the time, that's what happens when a new AD is hired -- we'd do ourselves no favors IMHO by waiting a year.
I had been against all the football talk, but suddenly I realize that the 12-hours of football optimism were a nice respite away from the Hewitt firing countdown clock.
If it were up to me, there'd be no countdown. He'd have been gone 3.7 seconds after the final buzzer of the A-10 play-in game.
Sorry if my looking forward to getting rid of a lousy coach bothers you.
Vurbel
Hall of Famer
32-4 did it for me. Humiliating.
I'm surprised we haven't compiled a thread devoted specifically to the most humiliating moments of Hewitt's tenure at Mason.
It would be a long one.
As bad as that was (my wife left about 10 minutes into the game), when we started to rally I was looking forward to breaking the news to her that she missed the greatest comeback in school history. Alas, it was too much to hope for.
Oh man, that is a very painfull memory. Had we had some urgency and if Pearson had woken up, combined with Cornelious' effort at the PG spot, I think we could of pulled it out. I think JA missed a trey to cut it to six. Oh well, one of many humiliating games in the Hewitt era.
A.-Siegfried
Starter
JA and VV both missed on 3's that would have cut it to a one possession game. I firmly believe had either shot gone down Mason wins. And remember just before that, Morrison blew a lay up that would have cut it to 4.
This!
So, what does it take for him to keep his job after next year? I would hope the measuring stick is something along the lines of an NCAA tourney appearance. Except for coach Hewitt, I mean GMURaider, I don't know of anyone that expects to see significant improvement next year, if any at all, given what we lost, and that we will have so many freshmen on the roster.
So after his fourth year, you really need to make a decision to fire him or renew him or we are stuck with a lame duck situation (similar to JMU). Most agree the odds are stacked against him saving his job in year four. So, why are we waiting any longer and prolonging the pain. Let the rebuilding start.
Everyone seems to think it is OK to come in and clean house of the staff (assistant AD's and below) when it is likely the new guy knows very little about them and it is very possible that they were just marching to their orders. Contrast that with the coach, where he is given almost total control of the team and the results of his work are on tape for all to review. So, if it is OK to fire the staff summarily, why isn't it OK to come in and fire a coach as well?
As other mentioned, it could actually work to our favor from the standpoint of keeping this years players and not losing out on next years recruits. It would be, primarily, a matter of whether there is a good coach available to hire at this time. I would think up-and-coming type assistant coaches would be.
KAOriginal
All-American
CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY
Hall of Famer
Clearly the new AD should have read these boards and come to a decision by now.
I don't see a problem with buying out the remainder of his contract for the paltry sum of more than the Patriot Club raises in an entire year.
We can always instead of paying the new coach just give him the Mason Inn. I personally think the new coach should live on campus anyway, so if and when he loses a HC game by 20 I can drunkenly hurl bags of Mikey s### at his window.
I don't see a problem with buying out the remainder of his contract for the paltry sum of more than the Patriot Club raises in an entire year.
We can always instead of paying the new coach just give him the Mason Inn. I personally think the new coach should live on campus anyway, so if and when he loses a HC game by 20 I can drunkenly hurl bags of Mikey s### at his window.
If Edwards has huge balls, he will fire him July 1st and not think twice of the cost. Why? B/c he probably already has dan synder on speed dial to fund our massive athletic project known as SEAT........Stanford of the East in Athletics Too.
This line of reasoning is weak. First off, we have to pay him the remainder of his contract whether he is doing nothing for us on the court or he is doing nothing for us sitting at home. The school has already budgeted for this expense. What we have to pay for is the new coaches contract.
With the ridiculous retention clause in Hewitt's contract, he makes about 800k without achieving anything. Let's say we get a new up and coming assistant, maybe we get him for 400k a year. We have to find the money for year one and two, but we would make it all back in years three and four (the 400k we save not paying Hewitt his 800k). So, we have already broken even if the new coach is just as bad as Hewitt. There is a chance, though, that he turns things around by year three or four and we have some other money. You could structure the new coaches contract to be rear loaded, with lots of performance clauses and make it even better. A guy that is confident in his abilities should not have a problem with a lot of his pay being performance based.
Then there is the bonus money in Hewitt's current contract. Mason has to have budgeted for that in case he made the other bonus clauses, so there is money there as well. Some of that would be a wash with the new coaches bonus clauses, but he is unlikely to make that in the first year or two of rebuilding from the Hewitt debacle.
Then there is the Edwards factor. We finally appear to have a real fund raiser for an AD instead of one that practically discourages big donors. Edwards might really light up our donations, making it that much easier.
Hell, they might even be able to turn Hewitt into a professor for the last two years of his contract and pay some of the money out of educational funds.
Those are just a couple ideas off the top of my head. I am sure a smart guy like Edwards who knows his way around an AD could figure out even better ways to do it if he chose to do so. So, I see no reason why Mason couldn't replace Hewitt immediately from the financial aspect (assuming the right coach is available right now).
Sorry. I am not saying it will happen. I am just saying that there is no reason (even financial) that Edwards can't do so if that was his decision. And, there are good reasons to do it now instead of waiting if Edwards is not 100% confident that Hewitt is the right coach for the foreseeable future.
Here's a question for anyone who cares to respond: If money was not an issue, has Hewitt done enough on the court to warrant a fourth season?
The reason I ask is, as both GS and wijg have pointed out, Mason's athletic department has to have set aside extra basketball money in the budget for the past 3 seasons just in case Hewitt managed to hit any of the incentives in his deal.
To do otherwise would be irresponsible. So it's clear that, since Hewitt hasn't hit any major performance incentives, we do have the money to get rid of him without bankrupting the university.
Whether we want to pay a coach $1.5 million not to coach is up to Cabrera.
IMHO, it's a no-brainer. He's getting the money regardless -- let's get somebody in here who can get the program headed back in the right direction.
The reason I ask is, as both GS and wijg have pointed out, Mason's athletic department has to have set aside extra basketball money in the budget for the past 3 seasons just in case Hewitt managed to hit any of the incentives in his deal.
To do otherwise would be irresponsible. So it's clear that, since Hewitt hasn't hit any major performance incentives, we do have the money to get rid of him without bankrupting the university.
Whether we want to pay a coach $1.5 million not to coach is up to Cabrera.
IMHO, it's a no-brainer. He's getting the money regardless -- let's get somebody in here who can get the program headed back in the right direction.
I think everyone needs to just face the fact that Hewitt isn't going to get fired in the middle of the summer.
As for "rebuilding" I don't think it's a talent problem we have. So there should be no need to rebuild anything (unless his firing leads to a mass exodus -- which I doubt will happen).
As for "rebuilding" I don't think it's a talent problem we have. So there should be no need to rebuild anything (unless his firing leads to a mass exodus -- which I doubt will happen).
I'll face the fact if you can convince me why it's a fact. Deal?
I will hold out hope until Edwards or Cabrera makes a statement that it won't happen or we get to Mason Madness and it hasn't happened yet.
Given how young our bench is, I think you have to expect some to transfer, plus not every coach is going to want a team made up of almost entirely ~6'7" wing men that create match up problems (evidently only for our team).
Rebuilding the roster (potentially)
Rebuilding the fans confidence in the program
Rebuilding donor interaction
Rebuilding student and community outreach (both of the last two have almost completely died since Hewitt took the helm)
Rebuilding lofty plans of ideas like a practice facility
So yes, I would say that rebuilding is an appropriate term.
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