Welcome Kim English

[Where's the party?]

If it is Skinn, and I hope it is, we may finally have a coach that can teach a point guard how to run the offense. Two years of KE without a decent PG was misery. I'm sure we'll have to rebuild the entire team but at this point I'd be happy to have a coach that cares about the school and might help our guard play.

 

[JimP]

Sad - i dont begrudge KE, nor wish him bad things, but i am sad at his leaving

I am guessing he got at least a $500k raise and the chance to coach in a higher-level conference - Basketball wise

But i wish he had stayed a bit longer to actually accomplish some things here - A10 standings and post season play

and i stil dont understand why Providence would take him without some level of concrete achievements

Best of Luck - KE
see ya at the Providence- Georgetown Game next season

It's a waste of another 2 years for GMU basketball. It got English a better job, Mason no postseasons and likely the next 2-3 years at or near the A-10 cellar. I can't root for the guy.

 

[psyclone]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1636826722724196353

View: https://twitter.com/trillydonovan/status/1636826722724196353?s=46&t=iVskq90yLZXnrrV-oCpfyA
. Hope this guy hits his 5 leg parlay

Do we know if Skinn is actually interested?

 

[GMU79]

It's a waste of another 2 years for GMU basketball. It got English a better job, Mason no postseasons and likely the next 2-3 years at or near the A-10 cellar. I can't root for the guy.

I'll be pushing 80 in 10 more years. I've been attending games since 1975. I want to see a coach who will stick around and do what he said he would do...build a program, not be a slick talker and bail. So yeah, for me it's personal. You sign a contract. Honor it.

 

[mkaufman1]

I'll be pushing 80 in 10 more years. I've been attending games since 1975. I want to see a coach who will stick around and do what he said he would do...build a program, not be a slick talker and bail. So yeah, for me it's personal. You sign a contract. Honor it.

Unfortunately my friend, the odds of this happening in 2023 are not very likely. Could it happen with our next guy? Sure! But I would be more likely to say its a 3-4 year thing (unless somehow they want to stick longer or don't win and need time or something.

Having guys who stick around for 10 or 15 years, hell even 5 years are going to be the exception and not the rule.

 

[GMUgemini]

Do we know if Skinn is actually interested?

His teammates were pushing for him to get an interview and he said on a podcast he’d love to coach here (don’t get me to dig around for said podcast, it was an interview from around the same time English was hired).

 

[Walter]

Of course Tony is interested. He wants to be a HC.

 

[Aldousflux]

His teammates were pushing for him to get an interview and he said on a podcast he’d love to coach here (don’t get me to dig around for said podcast, it was an interview from around the same time English was hired).

Here it is.

View: https://youtu.be/X97nkxauGZk

 

[masonhoops1984]

Pretty simple, actually. Paulson finished 4th in the a-10 in his last season. English has never finished better than 5th.

The thing is though, I like English. I hope he stays and I hope he succeeds. The issue is that you seem to believe there is some sort of proven model for winning at Mason, and that it most definitely revolves around a young coach with a reputation as a recruiter.

We currently have a young coach with a reputation as a recruiter, and he hasn't done any better than the Old Coach with a reputation as an X's and O's guy.

That guy was far better than the coach who came in with a reputation as a recruiter (Hewitt), and that guy was far worse than the old guy who came before him.

The portal is not a cure all, recruiting is not a cure-all, X's and O's are not a cure-all, none of it is. We need the best coach who has the best combination of all of the above that we can get. If that's a 95-year-old guy, fine. If that's a 25-year-old guy, fine. If that's a long time head coach, fine. If that's a former player who's now an assistant, fine.

We shouldn't be closing ourselves off to possibilities, because we've tried a bunch of models, and the only one that has ever worked for us is "be Jim Larranaga".

A really really really good first step would be for us to start taking basketball is seriously as we take our demands of the head coach. If we had anything to offer that any other team in the A10 didn't, that would be nice.

Until such time, and until Jim Larranaga walks through that door, we should stay open-minded, because we've tried the model that you're advocating for two out of our last three coaches, and the results have been "meh".

They got the 6th seed plain and simple. There’s only way to call it in an otherwise cracked Covid season but whatever I don’t really care percentages are percentages. Also No we didn’t! Hewitt was old and out of touch. Paulsen was a nerd from a bad conference who had never coached at any level close to the A10 at any stop. I mean will call them equal. Program was headed up and people were actually excited about English and god forbid someone actually wanted to come play at mason and or go to games. Paulsen was a let’s get who we can get and try and grind out games. Fine the thing is Paulsen hit his ceiling, we have no idea what English’s is, he’s 34 years old and accomplished the same thing a coach with 20+ years did in 2. English ain’t done! Paulsen however will never coach anywhere close to the A10 again that was his goodbyes. Would rather gamble on a dude who fails entirely than someone who’s going to make the program an annual 6-10 seed every year, may as well finish last. There’s really not a big difference at the end of the day. They can go beat up on the jmu’s of the world and lose in the A10. Gota try to get that riser not a has been on the way out! Hewitt and Paulsen were both on last legs and everyone knew it but our ads. Anyway whatever, until we get a coach who wants to recruit hard nose kids who play in your face constant defense it’s not going to much matter. Defense wins games period the end. Argue the math and skew it however you want. The fact is one was old and his career is dead in college basketball and one is just getting started.

 

[GMUgemini]

Here it is.

View: https://youtu.be/X97nkxauGZk

Thank you!

 

[EXpatriot13]

It's a waste of another 2 years for GMU basketball. It got English a better job, Mason no postseasons and likely the next 2-3 years at or near the A-10 cellar. I can't root for the guy.

This x100000.

We’re allowed to be pissed, zero percent chance I’ll be rooting for him. He accomplished absolutely nothing at Mason and will likely set us back and leave us in worse shape than he found us.

If he goes 34-29 his first two years at Providence he’ll find himself crawling back to Rick Barnes or coaching in the Patriot League.

 

[Jack Strop]

So, where's CKE's next stop in.five years, University of Texas?

 

[GMU79]

Unfortunately my friend, the odds of this happening in 2023 are not very likely. Could it happen with our next guy? Sure! But I would be more likely to say its a 3-4 year thing (unless somehow they want to stick longer or don't win and need time or something.

Having guys who stick around for 10 or 15 years, hell even 5 years are going to be the exception and not the rule.

I know. Just venting.

 

[psyclone]

Here it is.

View: https://youtu.be/X97nkxauGZk

Thanks!

 

[psyclone]

They got the 6th seed plain and simple. There’s only way to call it in an otherwise cracked Covid season but whatever I don’t really care percentages are percentages. Also No we didn’t! Hewitt was old and out of touch. Paulsen was a nerd from a bad conference who had never coached at any level close to the A10 at any stop. I mean will call them equal. Program was headed up and people were actually excited about English and god forbid someone actually wanted to come play at mason and or go to games. Paulsen was a let’s get who we can get and try and grind out games. Fine the thing is Paulsen hit his ceiling, we have no idea what English’s is, he’s 34 years old and accomplished the same thing a coach with 20+ years did in 2. English ain’t done! Paulsen however will never coach anywhere close to the A10 again that was his goodbyes. Would rather gamble on a dude who fails entirely than someone who’s going to make the program an annual 6-10 seed every year, may as well finish last. There’s really not a big difference at the end of the day. They can go beat up on the jmu’s of the world and lose in the A10. Gota try to get that riser not a has been on the way out! Hewitt and Paulsen were both on last legs and everyone knew it but our ads. Anyway whatever, until we get a coach who wants to recruit hard nose kids who play in your face constant defense it’s not going to much matter. Defense wins games period the end. Argue the math and skew it however you want. The fact is one was old and his career is dead in college basketball and one is just getting started.

For future reference, throwing a bunch of sentences together in a long post makes it incredibly hard on the eyes and detracts from any sense of coherence to your arguments. Check for ways to use punctuation (commas, paragraphs) to separate your thoughts. Add some spaces between paragraphs---white space does add to the readability.

 

[masonhoops1984]

So, where's CKE's next stop in.five years, University of Texas?

Acc or sec. Going to be a lot of acc jobs opening up in next few years. League is full of awful coaches right now and all those schools care deeply about basketball.

 

[mkaufman1]

So, where's CKE's next stop in.five years, University of Texas?

He discovers his cowboy heritage and becomes Cowboy Kim.

yeehaw.

 

[GMUgemini]

Acc or sec. Going to be a lot of acc jobs opening up in next few years. League is full of awful coaches right now and all those schools care deeply about basketball.

Barnes is 68 and is grooming his successor at Tennessee right now…

 

[Herndon]

They got the 6th seed plain and simple. There’s only way to call it in an otherwise cracked Covid season but whatever I don’t really care percentages are percentages. Also No we didn’t! Hewitt was old and out of touch. Paulsen was a nerd from a bad conference who had never coached at any level close to the A10 at any stop. I mean will call them equal. Program was headed up and people were actually excited about English and god forbid someone actually wanted to come play at mason and or go to games. Paulsen was a let’s get who we can get and try and grind out games. Fine the thing is Paulsen hit his ceiling, we have no idea what English’s is, he’s 34 years old and accomplished the same thing a coach with 20+ years did in 2. English ain’t done! Paulsen however will never coach anywhere close to the A10 again that was his goodbyes. Would rather gamble on a dude who fails entirely than someone who’s going to make the program an annual 6-10 seed every year, may as well finish last. There’s really not a big difference at the end of the day. They can go beat up on the jmu’s of the world and lose in the A10. Gota try to get that riser not a has been on the way out! Hewitt and Paulsen were both on last legs and everyone knew it but our ads. Anyway whatever, until we get a coach who wants to recruit hard nose kids who play in your face constant defense it’s not going to much matter. Defense wins games period the end. Argue the math and skew it however you want. The fact is one was old and his career is dead in college basketball and one is just getting started.

...he's currently coaching in the A10...at a team that finished way better than we are.

Again, "some people actually wanted to play at mason"...Paulsen recruited guys who THIS YEAR were All Conference in the A10, 2nd team all conference in the ACC, and 2nd team all American.

You have NO IDEA what we'd be like this year with those 3, but...probably f**king better than we were.

I get it, I really do, it's sexy to go with the young up and comer who is going to magically turn us into a recruiting powerhouse.

The problem is, it's not going to happen. At least not quickly. A program like Mason has to build it's success. I know everybody thinks the transfer portal will make overnight success easy, but not at a school like Mason, not until our administration treats it seriously.

I said it when we hired English, and I'll say it again now: We are a middle of the pack A10 program.

If we hire a young assistant coach, then great, I'll cheer.
If we hire a grizzled vet, then great, I'll cheer.

Just don't expect more than middle of the pack results until we act like a program and an athletic department that is more than a middle of the pack program.

 

[Herndon]

For future reference, throwing a bunch of sentences together in a long post makes it incredibly hard on the eyes and detracts from any sense of coherence to your arguments. Check for ways to use punctuation (commas, paragraphs) to separate your thoughts. Add some spaces between paragraphs---white space does add to the readability.

Additionally, he might consider a cogent argument here and there.