Around College Basketball

[TonyinFairfield]

Michigan getting it done.  11-0 following a 23 point victory vs Wisconsin.  Also, their '21 recruiting class is ranked #1 in the country.

Juwan Howard has been a home run hire so far.

Thiis hire, and Ewing's, was what I very mistakenly thought it woud be like for us when Mullin was hired.

 

[lawmanfan]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 

 

[SJU61982]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 

Valid critisim of Mullin, but not Lavin, IMO.  He brought Dunlap in escpecially for that purpose, and there was really no way to keep him, once Jordan came calling (and, from what I understand, he was no fan of NYC, anyway).  

After that, he hired Whitesell (had to wait a year, but Dunlap left somewhat late in the offseason, IIRC) who had a similar reputation.  That didn't quite work out, but the hire was made with the same intent.

 

[room112]

Another thing about Ewing is it doesn't appear he's shyed away from putting the work in on the recruiting trail. We all know what happened here with our previous two coaches

 

[SJU85]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  

 

[ronm]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  

Slice was almost as "good" a hire as Mullin!
 

 

[SJU85]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  

Slice was almost as "good" a hire as Mullin!


Slice thought he was brought in as the number one recruiter and number one assistant with a lot of say.  Based on the his title, experience and salary, that would seemed to have been the idea.  But neither wound up being the case, he loss in a power play and was shown the door becoming our version of Bobby Bonilla or Bret Saberhagen, still being paid long after he leaving (well at least in Saberhagen's case, it was half of what Bonilla was receiving and the Mets only had to pay half of that).
 

 

[lawmanfan]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  
 

You are right - I remember that the key was retaining the holdover assistant and bringing in Martelli was obviously a smart move (similar to Ewing bringing in Orr).

Lavin did bring in Dunlap, but after that all was lost on the coaching front.

Slice wasn't a coach, he was a recruiter. I mean, I know he had the title Coach at one point but let's be real. 

 

[SJU85]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  

 

You are right - I remember that the key was retaining the holdover assistant and bringing in Martelli was obviously a smart move (similar to Ewing bringing in Orr).

Lavin did bring in Dunlap, but after that all was lost on the coaching front.

Slice wasn't a coach, he was a recruiter. I mean, I know he had the title Coach at one point but let's be real. 

Not going to disagree on that point but Mullin thought he was getting both.

 

[paultzman]

Women's hoops;CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia athletics announced today (Jan. 14) the women’s basketball team will not complete the remainder of the 2020-21 season due to health and safety concerns.The decision was made with the overall health and safety of the student-athletes and staff in mind after the program postponed or canceled six games due to COVID protocols. Injuries have also left the Cavaliers with a depleted roster impacting the ability to safely practice and compete.

https://virginiasports.com/news/2021/01/14/virginia-cancels-remaining-games/

 

[paultzman]

The Atlantic 10 has announced it is moving its postseason tournament out of the Barclay Center and to a to-be-determined campus site because of COVID-19.  

 

[fordham96]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  

Agree with this post.  Lavin needed to shake up his staff but it wasn't because he did not have a solid person with experience on his staff. In fact the opposite he probably put TOO much emphasis on that part.  Also exactly what has Ewing done that woud make us envious yet.  He is about to have back to back bottom or near bottom seasons and in 4 years will not have a NCAA Tourney bid.  But SJU shoud learn their lessons from that after they got rid of Lavin who had 2 NIT and 2 NCAA appearances in 4 of his 5 years.  Right, he would have killed it if he had Louis Orr...Ewing may very well bounce back but that is because as we noted he is striking it on the recruiting front not because he has Louis Orr.  He is waay under .500 in league play with Orr why would that be a difference maker?

The idea that Juwan Howard is being successful at Michigan because he has Phil Martelli is just nonsense.  I have no doubt Phil is a solid person to lean on but Juwan is being successful at Michigan because he is absolutely KILLING it on the recruiting front.  Almost NONE of that has to do with Martelli.  

Chris did not fail here because he did not have a "experienced coach."  He failed because he was 100% not committed and just plain lazy.  
 

 

[room112]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  

Agree with this post.  Lavin needed to shake up his staff but it wasn't because he did not have a solid person with experience on his staff. In fact the opposite he probably put TOO much emphasis on that part.  Also exactly what has Ewing done that woud make us envious yet.  He is about to have back to back bottom or near bottom seasons and in 4 years will not have a NCAA Tourney bid.  But SJU shoud learn their lessons from that after they got rid of Lavin who had 2 NIT and 2 NCAA appearances in 4 of his 5 years.  Right, he would have killed it if he had Louis Orr...Ewing may very well bounce back but that is because as we noted he is striking it on the recruiting front not because he has Louis Orr.  He is waay under .500 in league play with Orr why would that be a difference maker?

The idea that Juwan Howard is being successful at Michigan because he has Phil Martelli is just nonsense.  I have no doubt Phil is a solid person to lean on but Juwan is being successful at Michigan because he is absolutely KILLING it on the recruiting front.  Almost NONE of that has to do with Martelli.  

Chris did not fail here because he did not have a "experienced coach."  He failed because he was 100% not committed and just plain lazy.  

 

The Lavin lookback is interesting. I think he was hurt by the fact that one of his NIT appearances was an absolute disaster, he didn't come close to winning an NCAA tournament game, and the future was looking bleak in terms of recruiting. He was looking at most likely a full rebuild with losing seasons on the horizon. That being said, he likely did enough to earn the extension, but there were some major flaws. 

 

 

[redmanwest]

Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20.  We woulld now kill to have Lavin's 4 out of 5 postseason appearances now, but at the time, this success-starved fan base still harbored ambtioins of years past when we still could recall making the NCAA practcally every year with 20 wins etc.  Lavin in his later years suffered what Mullin was afflicted with, he seemd to get lazy on the recruiting trail (and if I recall right, so did Jarvis - what is it with this job that makes coaches basically stop recruitng???).

Anyway, Mullin turned out to be a complerte disaster, and  surpriginly because in large part due to effort (and not the lack of coaching track record).  Who would have thought that this gym rat would have expended so little effort doing the nuts and bolts?  I certainly thohght he would have workled it.  

Maybe it is long past time that we right-size expectations and let Coach Anderson do his thing.  I believe that if left alone and based on his record, he will be fine and ultimately create some sense of consistency.  Maybe not the every year NCAAs that some of us old timers remember, but competitve consistency.

 

[fordham96]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  

Agree with this post.  Lavin needed to shake up his staff but it wasn't because he did not have a solid person with experience on his staff. In fact the opposite he probably put TOO much emphasis on that part.  Also exactly what has Ewing done that woud make us envious yet.  He is about to have back to back bottom or near bottom seasons and in 4 years will not have a NCAA Tourney bid.  But SJU shoud learn their lessons from that after they got rid of Lavin who had 2 NIT and 2 NCAA appearances in 4 of his 5 years.  Right, he would have killed it if he had Louis Orr...Ewing may very well bounce back but that is because as we noted he is striking it on the recruiting front not because he has Louis Orr.  He is waay under .500 in league play with Orr why would that be a difference maker?

The idea that Juwan Howard is being successful at Michigan because he has Phil Martelli is just nonsense.  I have no doubt Phil is a solid person to lean on but Juwan is being successful at Michigan because he is absolutely KILLING it on the recruiting front.  Almost NONE of that has to do with Martelli.  

Chris did not fail here because he did not have a "experienced coach."  He failed because he was 100% not committed and just plain lazy.  


 

The Lavin lookback is interesting. I think he was hurt by the fact that one of his NIT appearances was an absolute disaster, he didn't come close to winning an NCAA tournament game, and the future was looking bleak in terms of recruiting. He was looking at most likely a full rebuild with losing seasons on the horizon. That being said, he likely did enough to earn the extension, but there were some major flaws. 

My point in using Lavin is not to defend him I think he was a disappointment and have said so MANY times.  But these people knock him by using Ewing as a yardstick are delusional.  Ewing in 4 years has a TERRIBLE record, he is currently 52-54 and 20-40 in the league.  Uhhh not sure what planet these people on but that not good.  So we get OWNED for the bad Lavin years by saying, Lavin should have been more like Ewing?  HUHHHHH


 

 

[SJU85]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  

Agree with this post.  Lavin needed to shake up his staff but it wasn't because he did not have a solid person with experience on his staff. In fact the opposite he probably put TOO much emphasis on that part.  Also exactly what has Ewing done that woud make us envious yet.  He is about to have back to back bottom or near bottom seasons and in 4 years will not have a NCAA Tourney bid.  But SJU shoud learn their lessons from that after they got rid of Lavin who had 2 NIT and 2 NCAA appearances in 4 of his 5 years.  Right, he would have killed it if he had Louis Orr...Ewing may very well bounce back but that is because as we noted he is striking it on the recruiting front not because he has Louis Orr.  He is waay under .500 in league play with Orr why would that be a difference maker?

The idea that Juwan Howard is being successful at Michigan because he has Phil Martelli is just nonsense.  I have no doubt Phil is a solid person to lean on but Juwan is being successful at Michigan because he is absolutely KILLING it on the recruiting front.  Almost NONE of that has to do with Martelli.  

Chris did not fail here because he did not have a "experienced coach."  He failed because he was 100% not committed and just plain lazy.  

Don't know why your responsed is all in Bold.

I did nor did anyone else here directly say that Howard's success was because of Phil Martelli nor was it implied.  I only responsed that he was hired and brought with him experience.

Yes he is killing it on the recruiting fron including three starters in his lineup.  However, while I won't say it is "nonsense" to say that is the only reason he is doing so well with this Michigan team, I do believe is is doing him a disservice.   He is not just a recruiter and has shown sound judgement in putting in people with him to help navigate the running of a college basketball program.
 

 

[fordham96]

Juwan Howard and Ewing both did what Mullin and Lavin did not - retained or hired longtime professional coaches.  Louis Orr has been coaching forever.  Howard retained Beilein's staff, including a critical X and O man. 


Only one assistant from the previous staff stayed with Howard.  That assistant did have several years of experience.  Howard brought in long-time St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli (who had just gotten fired) to be his Associate Head Coach giving him someone with longtime experience  running a D1 program as a head coach as his right hand.  He also brought in former BC and NBA player Howard Eisley, who had experience as an Assistant Coach with Washington and the Knicks.  

Saying Lavin or Mullin did not is not true.  Lavin brought in Dunlap and replaced him with Whitsell both of  whom had plenty of coaching experience.  He also had Gene Keady who was a Head Coach for over 20 years at Purdue, on his staff as a special advisor.

Mullin  originally brought in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen a long-time assistant and former head coach.  

Agree with this post.  Lavin needed to shake up his staff but it wasn't because he did not have a solid person with experience on his staff. In fact the opposite he probably put TOO much emphasis on that part.  Also exactly what has Ewing done that woud make us envious yet.  He is about to have back to back bottom or near bottom seasons and in 4 years will not have a NCAA Tourney bid.  But SJU shoud learn their lessons from that after they got rid of Lavin who had 2 NIT and 2 NCAA appearances in 4 of his 5 years.  Right, he would have killed it if he had Louis Orr...Ewing may very well bounce back but that is because as we noted he is striking it on the recruiting front not because he has Louis Orr.  He is waay under .500 in league play with Orr why would that be a difference maker?

The idea that Juwan Howard is being successful at Michigan because he has Phil Martelli is just nonsense.  I have no doubt Phil is a solid person to lean on but Juwan is being successful at Michigan because he is absolutely KILLING it on the recruiting front.  Almost NONE of that has to do with Martelli.  

Chris did not fail here because he did not have a "experienced coach."  He failed because he was 100% not committed and just plain lazy.  

Don't know why your responsed is all in Bold.

I did nor did anyone else here directly say that Howard's success was because of Phil Martelli nor was it implied.  I only responsed that he was hired and brought with him experience.

Yes he is killing it on the recruiting fron including three starters in his lineup.  However, while I won't say it is "nonsense" to say that is the only reason he is doing so well with this Michigan team, I do believe is is doing him a disservice.   He is not just a recruiter and has shown sound judgement in putting in people with him to help navigate the running of a college basketball program.

I did not say it was nonsense that chooing a good staff or even having a solid guy with experience is not helpful.  Lawmanfan makes it sound like it has been decisive that hiring a experienced hand is what made the difference.  It is clear that Penny (Memphis)and Juwan identify with recruits and more importantly understand the work and connections it takes to land recruits.  Chris and Clyde at Houston simply did not.  That is the most important thing to derive from why some former star hirings work out and others don't especially when they do not have any major college HC experience.  I think Ewing is a work in progress but I do think he can succeed and the biggest reason is he is engaged with recruiting.  Chris was NOT.

 

 

[MCNPA]

Let's face it fellas.  We'd be murdering the recruiting trail if we had Mark Hsu and looked the other way.  Why is DePaul landing big recruits, at a much worse place to recruit to? Same goes for most of these schools. SJU brass are hell bent at doing things clean, even though we haven't always in the past.  I frankly thing we just aren't willing to go that direction recruiting-wise, especially under Anderson and it doesn't help that we haven't hired a very strong recruiting staff outside a solid Van Macon.  Anderson also isn't big on going out on the road and turning stones.  Gotta be realistic here. We are trying to get lobster rolls on an Arby's budget and that will have to do at this point. 

 

[redmanwest]

  

 

[SJU85]

"We are trying to get lobster rolls on an Arby's budget"

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