Hopefully it is announced today and GMU's new search for a coach begins.
I like KE and was excited about the hire and watching his progress - I
must be in the minority but I thought he still had some things to prove
to get an extension.
Not defending the AD - they surely have their issues but I'm a bit surprised that
many feel like an extension was warranted. KE completed a 2nd year in a 5-year contract with
3 years left, 19 game wins in regular season 20 wins with A-10 Tournament. The 7-game win streak was a lot of fun, love the talent he brought in but to me it is obvious KE is still figuring things out. Some of his recruits have not worked out (happens), I thought it took him to long to figure out how to use Singleton. The two big line up did not work well and without Ticket the defense was lacking to put it kindly. The vcu and Duquesne games were a disaster. Early season tournaments 0-6. Ending the season with a non-competitive game against St Louis after a 7 game win streak and final NET rating of 139. I'm very excited about the recruits he had for next year but at the same time I look at what has happened at Fordham in the past 2 years and compare.
So for me I was on the fence on the extension thinking KE still had some things to prove. I do get other feels like we need to do/be more supportive and give him what he wanted based on his profile and knowing he is the Top name for rising star. I don't want to see him go - was hoping to see more of a rebuild and success so like most very surprised a program like Providence went so strong for KE.
Gonna try to avoid beating the dead horse that is Mason’s admin and athletic department, but you shouldn’t hire a 33-year-old first-time head coach unless you have a plan to help him be successful.
Part of that should have been an understanding that he needed time to grow into the job. So when you get near the end of Year 2 and are showing clear progress, just be proactive and pop those 2 years onto the end of his deal as a show of faith that he’s still your guy.
From what I was told, Kim was willing to significantly increase his buyout as part of the extension. If that’s true, and I have no reason to believe it’s not, he was not looking to leave now or actively pursuing another job.
Mason’s response, as usual: Crickets.
All of the signals coming from the university’s senior leadership were that everyone was all-in on Kim, but when it came time to make even the slightest gesture to prove it, they did nothing. Now he’s all but gone and we have to reboot all over again.
This type of complacency and ineptitude is not indicative of a university that is committed to having a winning basketball program. If they don’t care, why should we?
