Vote Of Confidence - Paul Hewitt 12/12/2014

[GMUgemini]

I wouldn't worry about never being good again. The thing about the A10, Tom, is that now at Temple and Xavier are gone there are no "perennial powers" left in the conference. Yes, vcu racks up regular season wins, but they have yet won the conference and all the other teams cycle from great to good to mediocre and sometimes bad.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

I wouldn't worry about never being good again. The thing about the A10, Tom, is that now at Temple and Xavier are gone there are no "perennial powers" left in the conference. Yes, vcu racks up regular season wins, but they have yet won the conference and all the other teams cycle from great to good to mediocre and sometimes bad.

Yea, I agree....Unfortunately, it took one bad hire to get us here. The converse is that I also believe it just takes one good hire for us to turn things around.

 

[Patriotfan49]

There's no disputing that our players deserve better than they are getting from Hewitt right now. He's certainly not putting them in a position to excel individually or as a team.

I think one thing people overlook here is the possibility that we will never be a good program again. That's how far TOC and Hewitt have set us back. I honestly have no allegiances to Hewitt other than blindly wanting him to succeed the last two years, because the alternative of starting over from scratch scared me even more.

Although I am in agreement that a change needs to be made, it doesn't console me to realize it could be another two to three years before we are competitive again in the A10. Unfortunately, we have no choice but to think long-term.

I don't think so. Should majority of guys stay on during the transition, I would think a better coach could have us playing much better pretty quick. I don't think well never be good again, but a lot does ride on the hiring. Hewitt we can survive, but backing that up to another disaster hire would almost bury us.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Coach Years Win%
Arnold Siegfried 1966–1967 6-12. .333
Raymond Spuhler 1967–1970 11-60. .155
John Linn 1970–1980 130-147 .469
Joe Harrington 1980–1987 112-85 .569
Rick Barnes 1987–1988 20-10 .667
Ernie Nestor 1988–1993 68-81 .456
Paul Westhead 1993–1997 38-70 .352
Jim Larranaga 1997–2011 207-131 .612
Paul Hewitt 2011–Present 58-49 .542

By the end of this year Hewitt's overall percentage will be below .500, but that will not reflect his incompetence as a coach. The final two years of his sorry a$$ed tenure will. Harrington was adequate, Barnes was a rising star who bolted the first chance he got. Larranaga was the savior of the program until Tom O'Connor f*cked the whole thing up. As much as I hate Hewitt as a coach I hate TOC that much more for possibly ruining the strong foundation that was built. If/when Brad Edwards grows some balls and fires Hewitt he will need to make a wise choice. If Edwards does not fire Hewitt this year I am done supporting men's basketball financially and emotionally. My love for GMU will continue and my financial support of the university will continue, but athletics will get zip, zero, zilch, nada.

 

[GMUgemini]

Yea, I agree....Unfortunately, it took one bad hire to get us here. The converse is that I also believe it just takes one good hire for us to turn things around.

I agree. Ron Hunter had GSU much more competitive in year one.

 

[Pablo]

So, Herndon voted "Yes".

 

[Gordon Pfeiffer]

It is amazing how Hewitt has over 20 years of experience but seems to be getting worse in the recent time period of his career. A decent coach should be getting better with more experience. Not Hewitt apparently.

Perhaps what happened at Siena was dumb luck? (really weak conference and a few players who were really good at playing 1 on 1 against weak competition). If anyone else has ideas why the former fluffer for Ron Jeremy seems to be getting worse with his coaching each year please share.

I can answer this question. In fact, I signed up on Masonhoops just to answer this question. I am not a troll - I am a long time Georgia Tech season ticket holder. Every now and then (3 or 4 times a season) I take a look at your board to see how things are going with Hewitt. Believe me when I tell you I understand what you are going through, and I am very sorry. I love college basketball, and I know you guys do too, and it hurts to see your program in this shape. I hope this nightmare ends for you after this year. I still remember March 12th, 2011, being one of the happiest days of my life. I don't have to tell you what happened that day. Hang on a little longer, and don't forget to keep the kids out of it.

The answer to the question is assistants. At Siena, Hewitt was a rising star whose teams got better every year. At GT, the same thing happened the first 5 years. After year 4, the year we made a run to the national championship game, Deane Keener left for James Madison. After year 5, Cliff Warren left for Jacksonville. Neither was particularly successful (especially Keener), but those two guys plus Hewitt were a great team. Hewitt was and still is a terrific recruiter, and between the two assistants some coaching was happening. I don't know who did what, but somehow it worked and worked well for a long time.

But once they both were gone, the bottom fell out. Hewitt didn't recognize where the success had come from and didn't replace them well. We did make the NCAA's twice after that, but in each case we snuck in with a roster that included 3 or 4 NBA players, and got beat early. The other years were brutal. We finally ate the contract, and are still paying the price (literally). Things aren't great here at GT, but we don't struggle with fundamental things like in-bounding and timeouts, and you get the feeling the guys are coached - just not that talented.

I wish you guys all the best. When you follow someone else's board you start to actually care about that program. I hope George Mason gets it going again real soon. I know that is THE revenue sport up there and you are great fans.

BTW, I still remember listening to the radio when GMU beat UConn in '06. Now that was coaching....

 

[gmutom]

I hope you guys are right. I don't even mind a few rebuilding years if I feel like we are building toward something. Right now it feels like we are stuck in quicksand, so getting good again probably looks a lot further away than it hopefully is.

 

[MasonCrew]

Mason is one hire away from pulling a GW and one hire away from pulling a UNC-W. Let's hope it's the former.

 

[GMUgemini]

I hope you guys are right. I don't even mind a few rebuilding years if I feel like we are building toward something. Right now it feels like we are stuck in quicksand, so getting good again probably looks a lot further away than it hopefully is.

If Skerry can make Towson respectable, someone get Mason back to where we were.

Speaking of Skerry, I wonder what they are paying him up there...

 

[Pablo]

The answer to the question is assistants. At Siena, Hewitt was a rising star whose teams got better every year. At GT, the same thing happened the first 5 years. After year 4, the year we made a run to the national championship game, Deane Keener left for James Madison. After year 5, Cliff Warren left for Jacksonville. Neither was particularly successful (especially Keener), but those two guys plus Hewitt were a great team. Hewitt was and still is a terrific recruiter, and between the two assistants some coaching was happening. I don't know who did what, but somehow it worked and worked well for a long time.

But once they both were gone, the bottom fell out. Hewitt didn't recognize where the success had come from and didn't replace them well.

Thanks for the post. It should be noted that Cliff Warren also assisted Hewitt at Siena.

 

[gmutom]

I like Hunter and Skerry, but let's not forget the former rebuilt around his son and the latter landed Georgetown transfer Jerrelle Benimon (who went on to become CAA Player of the Year). As Coach L found out when George Evans fell in his lap, it's a lot easier to transition from a bad to good team quickly with a stud to build around. We could use some of that fortune in the future.

 

[Pablo]

I like Hunter and Skerry, but let's not forget the former rebuilt around his son and the latter landed Georgetown transfer Jerrelle Benimon (who went on to become CAA Player of the Year). As Coach L found out when George Evans fell in his lap, it's a lot easier to transition from a bad to good team quickly with a stud to build around. We could use some of that fortune in the future.

I often wonder how long it would have taken Larranaga to win a CAA championship without George Evans.

 

[GMUgemini]

I like Hunter and Skerry, but let's not forget the former rebuilt around his son and the latter landed Georgetown transfer Jerrelle Benimon (who went on to become CAA Player of the Year). As Coach L found out when George Evans fell in his lap, it's a lot easier to transition from a bad to good team quickly with a stud to build around. We could use some of that fortune in the future.

Unless Jenkins bolts, the new coach will have Jenkins for two seasons. Mayimba also looks very promising (if he stays and/or the NCAA lets him play).

Being optimistic that we don't lose a ton of players to transfer, we will have a fairly solid nucleus of players to build a complete team around.

 

[KAOriginal]

Whoever we hire....they have to find guards that can play in the A-10.

I think all of our bigs with a different coach can work and can contribute appropriately.

 

[GMUgemini]

Whoever we hire....they have to find guards that can play in the A-10.

I think all of our bigs with a different coach can work and can contribute appropriately.

I believe that both Moore and Holloway are sufficiently talented to play in the A10, but it would have been interesting to see what a healthy Lockett or Mayimba could have done at the 3 alongside those two. I think we would all agree that Marko was never the answer at small forward.

Also, according to this article, Skerry was making 335k per year when he was hired. I'm not sure if it has changed: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/19/turning-around-towson-tall-task-for-skerry/?page=all

 

[MasonFanatic]

Thanks for the post. It should be noted that Cliff Warren also assisted Hewitt at Siena.

And, to bring things full circle, Cliff Warren was fired at Jacksonville by ... Brad Edwards.

 

[Vurbel]

I would really be interested as to why those who voted "yes" did so. Please let us know. We promise not to judge. (Right, Walter! Right, GMUJim!)

 

[Walter]

I would really be interested as to why those who voted "yes" did so. Please let us know. We promise not to judge. (Right, Walter! Right, GMUJim!)

Only Herndon is real. The other four are Hewitt, Hewitt's mom, Hewitt's wife and Hewitt's daughter

 

[Herndon]

Only Herndon is real. The other four are Hewitt, Hewitt's mom, Hewitt's wife and Hewitt's daughter

I'd be willing to bet that one of those five is being facetious.