Poll Vote of Confidence: Paul Hewitt (1/11)

[Dawgs99]

Iman Shumpert is an NBA regular with the knicks, looks like he developed enough for the next level.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

Iman Shumpert is an NBA regular with the knicks, looks like he developed enough for the next level.

Yep and he has no offensive game to speak of. Was a great defender from Day 1 at GT and that's the role he fills in the NBA.

Same with Derrick Favors and Chris Bosh. Didn't develop one lick in the year they were at GT....

I'm tired of making this argument. If people choose to ignore almost 10 years of results, they're just in denial. Maybe by our 7th year with the guy we can make it to the NIT, woohoooooo.

 

[Dawgs99]

My point is that you really can't make the arguement that said player didn't develople to some degree when they are making millions in the NBA. Its obvious the Hewitt hate puts blinders on everyone. I'm not a Hewitt beleiver either but I also think its naive and short sighted to think he has never developed any of his players. Its also ridiculous to make the arguement that Hewitt's 1 and dones didn't develope, how much can one coach really improve a HS kid in 4 months? OK go ahead and tell me I don't know the game or am a Hewitt homer.....

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

My point is that you really can't make the arguement that said player didn't develople to some degree when they are making millions in the NBA. Its obvious the Hewitt hate puts blinders on everyone. I'm not a Hewitt beleiver either but I also think its naive and short sighted to think he has never developed any of his players. Its also ridiculous to make the arguement that Hewitt's 1 and dones didn't develope, how much can one coach really improve a HS kid in 4 months? OK go ahead and tell me I don't know the game or am a Hewitt homer.....

My point is more that it's insane to say that you can't hold the guy accountable for the results of his first 3-4 years because he doesn't have his guys in place. So you get 8 years to get all of the evil OCM recruits out of the program and have all of Hewitt's recruits become seniors? Moreover, even when he does have "his guys" in place it's been proven that the results are not that much different. Sorry, I can't ignore the fact that another school paid him $7M to leave.

As I have said many times, the best coaches are the ones who can adapt to the talent they have been given. A good coach does not do the square peg/round hole thing.

 

[Dawgs99]

Yeah I definitely didn't and don't say that he gets a pass because he doesn't have all his own kids. But the arguement that he never developes any of his players is flawed. Hewitt haters equate any positive board post as an excuse of the last 3 years, simply not true. I've payed good money to sit andwatch this shit, If you don;t think im frustrated as hell you've got me all wrong.

 

[gmutom]

Sorry, I can't ignore the fact that another school paid him $7M to leave.

Nobody's asking you or KA to ignore it, but you also don't have to bring up his GT days in every single post. Although his past is relevant, it doesn't mean the course of his future has to be the same. I don't buy the argument that he absolutely can't win here just because he struggled at Tech. He'll never be a great coach, but he'll also never be as bad as you make him out to be.

As for the $7 million you keep throwing around, that's pocket change for a school like Tech. They felt like they needed a new direction, so they moved on and had to honor his contract. In a few years, the same disgruntled Tech message board fans often quoted here will be bitching about Brian Gregory being bought out for failing to do any better.

I'm with you 100-percent that he hasn't gotten as much as he could have out of some of Coach L's recruits, but I also think many of them just ended up being duds. Because I assume TOC is going to give Hewitt the five years, I guess I live more in "What can we do to turn this around?" world rather than obsessing over the "Why did we hire him?" world.

 

[Pablo]

This situation is a mess, but it is correctable (not this season, but certainly next season). At a minimum, Hewitt must hire an outstanding lead assistant, and one or more of his returning players must step up to assume team leadership.

If this situation continues into next season and Hewitt is retained for a 5th season, then I won't care because I will no longer be a season ticket holder.

 

[gmutom]

Pablos, I hope you don't cancel your tickets as one of our most loyal fans, but I get that you have to do what you have to do. I think the biggest misconception here is that anti-Hewitt people are anti-Mason and that pro-Mason fans are pro-Hewitt. I know that lawdog, GSII and KA are all big fans and just want the best for our program.

Although I endorsed the initial hire at the time, I just want us to be successful. If Hewitt is here for five years, I have no choice but to hope he succeeds. If he is canned after this year, I will respect the decision and pull for his replacement.

If I had one wish, it would be that the general anti-Hewitt rants about his hire and history be confined to this thread or the other Hewitt thread, and any complaints about coaching decisions be made within the specific game threads. For example, I thought Five Two had some constructive comments about the rotations in the St. Joe's thread. That stuff is absolutely fair fame and is the stuff we should be discussing rather than rehashing the hire over and over again. Just my two cents.

 

[Pablo]

With the possible exception of one poster, I believe that all of the regular posters on this board want Hewitt to succeed notwithstanding any concerns about his hire. And, I don't mind the anti-Hewitt rants, as long as the posters are providing constructive criticism.

 

[GMUSSTN]

Oh man, if we won out, and things clicked, and the team started rolling and really turned it around, I'd be on the Hewitt bandwagon faster than anyone.

But I've been waiting for things to click for 2.5 years, and after reading about his history I don't see that happening. Thus, I am critical.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

Nobody's asking you or KA to ignore it, but you also don't have to bring up his GT days in every single post. Although his past is relevant, it doesn't mean the course of his future has to be the same. I don't buy the argument that he absolutely can't win here just because he struggled at Tech. He'll never be a great coach, but he'll also never be as bad as you make him out to be.

As for the $7 million you keep throwing around, that's pocket change for a school like Tech. They felt like they needed a new direction, so they moved on and had to honor his contract. In a few years, the same disgruntled Tech message board fans often quoted here will be bitching about Brian Gregory being bought out for failing to do any better.

I'm with you 100-percent that he hasn't gotten as much as he could have out of some of Coach L's recruits, but I also think many of them just ended up being duds. Because I assume TOC is going to give Hewitt the five years, I guess I live more in "What can we do to turn this around?" world rather than obsessing over the "Why did we hire him?" world.

Tom, my fear is not that he gets the full 5 years to prove he can win. My fear is that he gets to lay all of the blame for 4-5 years of bad results at the feet of the "OCM's players." Thus, justifying why he should get 4 more years to prove that he can win. Thus, why I go insane when people give the line about not having his players and having a chance to win with his guys. It's like you're already punting 2-3 years and writing it off as "Oh well, those aren't his players so we expect to finish in the bottom 3 of the A10."

And $7M is not as easy to come by at GT as you think it is. They're not Clemson/UNC/Duke. $7M comes a lot easier to them than to us, but it's not simply one donor wielding a pen, either.

 

[gmutom]

Tom, my fear is not that he gets the full 5 years to prove he can win. My fear is that he gets to lay all of the blame for 4-5 years of bad results at the feet of the "OCM's players."

lawdog, I think any conjecture about the players left over by the previous regime has been by fans here. If you asked Hewitt or any coach, I'm pretty sure they would tell you they should be able to win with any 13 players whether they recruited them or not.

My position, knowing he isn't a great coach, is that he will never be successful with Coach L's players. That's not a free pass, just the reality of where we are with him. I can't even predict we will be great when he turns over the roster, but I do think it affords us the best chance of winning if he retained as our coach.

 

[smccart5]

As Pablos said, I will be encouraged if he hires a really good assistant in the offseason.

 

[Dawgs99]

Tom, my fear is not that he gets the full 5 years to prove he can win. My fear is that he gets to lay all of the blame for 4-5 years of bad results at the feet of the "OCM's players." Thus, justifying why he should get 4 more years to prove that he can win. Thus, why I go insane when people give the line about not having his players and having a chance to win with his guys. It's like you're already punting 2-3 years and writing it off as "Oh well, those aren't his players so we expect to finish in the bottom 3 of the A10."

And $7M is not as easy to come by at GT as you think it is. They're not Clemson/UNC/Duke. $7M comes a lot easier to them than to us, but it's not simply one donor wielding a pen, either.

I really don't think many at all on the boards are giving PH a pass due to L's recruits. I think what happens is that all the doom and gloom is a bit over the top. The hyperbolic criticism is what gets me. IMO you loose credibility when people say things like he's never made any of his players better or that he doesn't understand the game of basektball. While he obviously struggles with several things to say a man who been a D1 head coach for almost 20 years doesn't know the game is silly. You might not like his style/scheme, but I think he knows the game. As a coach myself, knowing the game and getting your kids to execute are two very different things. Obviously the best coaches get their teams to execute at a high level. PH is what his overall record says he is; an average coach. I think he needs to be better and soon or he needs to go.

 

[gmujim92]

I understand that it gets tiresome for people here to keep seeing references to Hewitt's time in Atlanta, but because of that I think some simply dismiss out of hand what some well-intentioned posters are trying to say -- namely, that for better or worse, the guy was there more than long enough to establish what he is as a basketball coach.

Not so at Siena, where Hewitt only stayed 3 years before cashing in.

Just like Anthony Grant, who had 3 great years at vcu but has struggled mightily at Alabama, a 3-year window is not long enough to evaluate the true quality of a coach.

More instructive are Hewitt's ACC records at GT: 8-8, 8-8, 7-9, 9-7, 8-8, 4-12, 8-8, 7-9, 2-14, 7-9, 5-11.

That's ONE WINNING SEASON in 11 years on the job. ONE.

Given the talent at his disposal, and the fact that the bottom half of the ACC wasn't exactly Murderer's Row over that period, it seems almost impossible that he couldn't even luck into a winning record at least 2 or 3 more times during that tenure.

Just like some Mason fans do now, there were excuses from the GT faithful until the bottom fell out. This guy got hurt, that guy went pro, this guy transferred, that guy was a lazy stiff ... stop me if you've heard this before.

But the numbers are what they are -- and in coaching, which is as bottom-line a business as any -- the numbers tell us that Hewitt is at best mediocre when it comes to coaching young men to play winning basketball.

As much as we all may hope, dream or pray that he magically transforms himself into something better, at the end of the day all we will have is our hopes, prayers and dreams.

Being surprised by anything we've seen from Hewitt's 2.5 years at Mason is simply willful ignorance. I don't need to wait (and waste) 8.5 more years to know how this story is going to end.

 

[Patriotfan49]

Iman Shumpert is an NBA regular with the knicks, looks like he developed enough for the next level.

Iman Shumpert, Derrick Favors, Bosh etc......usually when guys are one and dones and are pretty much lotto picks or pretty close to it when they show up on campus......not alot needs to be developed for them to make it in the NBA.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

More instructive are Hewitt's ACC records at GT: 8-8, 8-8, 7-9, 9-7, 8-8, 4-12, 8-8, 7-9, 2-14, 7-9, 5-11.

That's ONE WINNING SEASON in 11 years on the job. ONE.

While Jim is correct in focusing on conference record as BCS conference schools can pad their stats by scheduling tomato cans for pre-season guarantee games, in Coach Paycheck Collector Hewitt's case, it's not needed.

In the final 4 seasons of Paul Ball at Ga Tech, the Yellow Jackets finished with losing records 3 times. Even the tomato cans weren't a guarantee as Hewitt's last squad lost to Kennesaw State 80-63. That would be one of the few wins for the KSU Owls that season as they finished 8-23 on the year.

Iman Shumpert and Glen Rice Jr. would both start in that loss.

 

[Dawgs99]

Iman Shumpert, Derrick Favors, Bosh etc......usually when guys are one and dones and are pretty much lotto picks or pretty close to it when they show up on campus......not alot needs to be developed for them to make it in the NBA.

Shumpert was not a one and done....and I never mentioned Favors or Bosh. Obviously when you only have a kid for 4-5 months you really can't do much.

 

[Patriotfan49]

Shumpert was not a one and done....and I never mentioned Favors or Bosh. Obviously when you only have a kid for 4-5 months you really can't do much.

I know you didnt, and I know Shumpert wasn't one and done. But Im saying, you are talking about player development while at GT...and most of the NBA guys via GT were good enough to get there on their own skillset/potential. So......

Shumpert pretty much is more or less a similar player as he was at GT now in the NBA.

 

[Dawgs99]

To be honest I really have no idea how he was as a player development guy a Gtech, just pointing out that not all of the guys that played at tech and later the NBA, were HS all americans who were 1 and dones