Mike Anderson - Former Coach

I've been a huge Mike Anderson supporter, right from the time he was hired. He was by FAR the most accomplished coach who was in the mix during that clown show of a coaching search. I honestly felt we were lucky to get him. (I was 100% against even giving Pitino a sniff at that time.) I thought Anderson did a great job in the first two years. Last year, however, was one of the most disappointing seasons I can remember since I started rooting for the team forty years ago. This year is shaping up to be worse, and we are now in the midst of one of the worst stretches of basketball during the entire Anderson tenure.

Given what we have witnessed, I no longer believe that Anderson can get us where I have always thought we should be - consistently in the top half of the Big East, 20-24 total wins per year, and regularly in the Dance. At this point, with Pitino cleared by the NCAA, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by hiring him.
 
I posted before the season that we would be in the NIT. Right now I don't even think that is possible.

The team is in shambles. Curbelo has been a clown since day one. Not sure what the deal is with Posh not starting (Discipline?). Is it possible that AC and Posh had words and that is where the disciplinary actions stem? They do not look happy on the court together.
If we can't play D and our O is a crap shoot then do we have a choice about the coach? I just don't see any savior out there to coach. I feel like Pitino is a pipe dream and I don't see Cragg hiring an inexperienced coach. Can we get Bobby Hurley? This just not a job that anyone really wants anymore.
 
Why would we want Bobby Hurley? Didn’t like him when he played, don’t like him now.

Looks like we will be in for another long term rebuild, post-Anderson. Get a good young coach that can recruit.
 
The issue to me is how to see things improving. I can't fathom some 180-degree turnaround from this BOT on Pitino and can't imagine anyone else who can turn this mess around. Leito is out, Stubblefield is in, nothing changes at Depaul. And when we looked at that from here we didn't expect a change. That's SJU now. Depaul made a Final Four once too.

This isn't a defense of Anderson, more the realization that the caliber of coach needed to turn this around is beyond the imagination and risk tolerance of the University. I mean Pat Kelsey is going to excite the NY area and make SJU relevant in New York? NIL money (mandatory to compete seriously now) is going to start pouring in? Seriously? And that isn't slander on the guy who may be a fine coach, I just am trying to set expectations for folks.

I know a lot of you no longer live in the area and this is not a shot, but I'm not sure folks from out-of-town understand just how low the program has sunk. The school can't get anywhere near 5,000 people to come to Big East games, including ranked opponents. Last night, on campus, I was surrounded by Marquette fans. The team managed 6,000 people in Brooklyn to play Syracuse, and half were clearly fans of the Cuse. And don't forget it is now free for any student to just wander in to a Carnesecca game and sit in any empty seat they find. Because the school knows there is no way it will ever be filled to capacity. There is no radio coverage of the team. Tierney happens to have a show on WFAN and other than a passing remark before a commercial there is no SJU talk. Has Anderson ever been interviewed on the station? I don't believe so. A 24-hour sports station in New York and there is never, ever a fifteen-minute segment on SJU. There was a time the station carried the games!

This program has been burned to the ground. Anderson can stay, Anderson can go, nothing is going to change. Anderson is not the disease; he is a symptom.

Sorry if this seems a little negative.
 
Knight said:
Why would we want Bobby Hurley? Didn’t like him when he played, don’t like him now.

Looks like we will be in for another long term rebuild, post-Anderson. Get a good young coach that can recruit.
Click to expand...
Do you think that Cragg would go young? I just don't see it. Hurley will recruit hard and has the Duke connection.
I think there are enough Dukies that have major cash living in NYC. They would definitely throw the N$L cash behind him.
Also I despised him as a player only a little less the Laettner.
That Duke team was probably my least favorite team in the history of history. But if we can get N$L cash behind I could give 2 booties about the name. Loved Mullin as a player but that didn't exactly work out...
 
IDRAFT said:
The issue to me is how to see things improving. I can't fathom some 180-degree turnaround from this BOT on Pitino and can't imagine anyone else who can turn this mess around. Leito is out, Stubblefield is in, nothing changes at Depaul. And when we looked at that from here we didn't expect a change. That's SJU now. Depaul made a Final Four once too.

This isn't a defense of Anderson, more the realization that the caliber of coach needed to turn this around is beyond the imagination and risk tolerance of the University. I mean Pat Kelsey is going to excite the NY area and make SJU relevant in New York? NIL money (mandatory to compete seriously now) is going to start pouring in? Seriously? And that isn't slander on the guy who may be a fine coach, I just am trying to set expectations for folks.

I know a lot of you no longer live in the area and this is not a shot, but I'm not sure folks from out-of-town understand just how low the program has sunk. The school can't get anywhere near 5,000 people to come to Big East games, including ranked opponents. Last night, on campus, I was surrounded by Marquette fans. The team managed 6,000 people in Brooklyn to play Syracuse, and half were clearly fans of the Cuse. And don't forget it is now free for any student to just wander in to a Carnesecca game and sit in any empty seat they find. Because the school knows there is no way it will ever be filled to capacity. There is no radio coverage of the team. Tierney happens to have a show on WFAN and other than a passing remark before a commercial there is no SJU talk. Has Anderson ever been interviewed on the station? I don't believe so. A 24-hour sports station in New York and there is never, ever a fifteen-minute segment on SJU. There was a time the station carried the games!

This program has been burned to the ground. Anderson can stay, Anderson can go, nothing is going to change. Anderson is not the disease; he is a symptom.

Sorry if this seems a little negative.
Click to expand...
I hated your post. Because so much of it is true. :(
 
IDRAFT said:
The issue to me is how to see things improving. I can't fathom some 180-degree turnaround from this BOT on Pitino and can't imagine anyone else who can turn this mess around. Leito is out, Stubblefield is in, nothing changes at Depaul. And when we looked at that from here we didn't expect a change. That's SJU now. Depaul made a Final Four once too.

This isn't a defense of Anderson, more the realization that the caliber of coach needed to turn this around is beyond the imagination and risk tolerance of the University. I mean Pat Kelsey is going to excite the NY area and make SJU relevant in New York? NIL money (mandatory to compete seriously now) is going to start pouring in? Seriously? And that isn't slander on the guy who may be a fine coach, I just am trying to set expectations for folks.

I know a lot of you no longer live in the area and this is not a shot, but I'm not sure folks from out-of-town understand just how low the program has sunk. The school can't get anywhere near 5,000 people to come to Big East games, including ranked opponents. Last night, on campus, I was surrounded by Marquette fans. The team managed 6,000 people in Brooklyn to play Syracuse, and half were clearly fans of the Cuse. And don't forget it is now free for any student to just wander in to a Carnesecca game and sit in any empty seat they find. Because the school knows there is no way it will ever be filled to capacity. There is no radio coverage of the team. Tierney happens to have a show on WFAN and other than a passing remark before a commercial there is no SJU talk. Has Anderson ever been interviewed on the station? I don't believe so. A 24-hour sports station in New York and there is never, ever a fifteen-minute segment on SJU. There was a time the station carried the games!

This program has been burned to the ground. Anderson can stay, Anderson can go, nothing is going to change. Anderson is not the disease; he is a symptom.

Sorry if this seems a little negative.
Click to expand...
This post is spot on... it's depressing to acknowledge this.
 
I hate speaking about another's job... especially one that I have no idea how to do... BUT... im going to anyway. When you watch the "all-access" see their performance "Live"... have my non-basketball fan wife point out flaws that should be obvious to a Coach with no Losing season...

What risk do we run by cutting ties with CMA now, promote Van (as he has been Lead on most all recruits)... see how the team closes the season...?

Has this been done before? can you fire a Coach mid-season while retaining his staff?

It's Year 4 of his tenure with "one of the best rosters I've had" (or something like that)... this isn't Year 1... these are HIS kids... HIS system... wtf...
 
SJU needs more than a competent coach.It needs someone who can not only coach Xs and Os but a personality who can revive the sleeping fan base, sell tickets, increase fund raising, attract the type of recruit who can compete playing top teams in MSG.
To even think that the powers to be at SJU would be willing to turn over the reins to someone of this caliber and lose some of their power is pure folly.
Thirty years of failure is probably not enough .
 
Knight said:
Why would we want Bobby Hurley? Didn’t like him when he played, don’t like him now.

Looks like we will be in for another long term rebuild, post-Anderson. Get a good young coach that can recruit.
Click to expand...
I keep saying this but I feel like it cannot be said enough.
Rebuilds do not have to take several years in college basketball anymore IMO. Get the right guy in here, have him snag a couple key transfers who can play immediately now, retain some of our current roster, and we should be able to compete pretty quickly.

Maybe wishful thinking. Of course this is SJU so it obviously is wishful thinking
 
I agree with Jack - with the portal, rebuilding a roster can be done on the fly. Look at coaches like Musselman and Drew, who were masters at the transfer game even before the portal. Or should I even bring up Mullin/Matt A., who built a very solid roster with transfers? - again, before the portal and immediate eligibility.

My guess is that if Pitino was hired this off-season, next season's roster will almost certainly be significantly better than our current roster.
 
room112 said:
The interesting thing about all of the commentary on here about how Mike Anderson is a terrible coach, is he has been extremely successful in his career. There's no way he suddenly forgot how to coach. It has to be that this mix of players just isn't working, or that like others have mentioned, the game has passed Anderson by and his style will no longer work.
Click to expand...
I said from the get go that CMA needed to recruit a high level of talent to compete at a high level. Some on here thought that CMA had some sort of insight which allowed him to recruit a kid like Julian, who far exceeded all expectations. Fact is, Julian was recruited out of desperation and the Julians of college basketball are few and far between. For every Julian there are hundreds of kids who perform at or below their high school ranking. That also includes some top 100 kids, but certainly less so as you go higher in the rankings. At the end of the day, the HC is tasked with recruiting a few very talented kids, a group of solid roll players, and a few spare parts. The team needs to be balanced in terms of talent, size and have skill sets which compliment each other. This team is lacking in many areas. I don't want to mention any kids by name, but there are a number of kids who have been getting minutes who are simply not high D1 ballplayers at this point. They may never be.
I had my concerns going in to the season, but I honestly never thought it would be this bad.
 
A scary thought that crossed my mind last night was the success of Pitt this year.

I hope to god that Cragg doesn’t somehow try to justify “sticking to the process” with delusion we can turn it around. For how bad this looks and how bad it might get, the first 4 years of Capel at Pitt were WAY worse. They are having some success and worried Cragg might try to forecast similar future success with CMA. You know he pays attention to those Duke guys..
 
IDRAFT said:
The issue to me is how to see things improving. I can't fathom some 180-degree turnaround from this BOT on Pitino and can't imagine anyone else who can turn this mess around. Leito is out, Stubblefield is in, nothing changes at Depaul. And when we looked at that from here we didn't expect a change. That's SJU now. Depaul made a Final Four once too.

This isn't a defense of Anderson, more the realization that the caliber of coach needed to turn this around is beyond the imagination and risk tolerance of the University. I mean Pat Kelsey is going to excite the NY area and make SJU relevant in New York? NIL money (mandatory to compete seriously now) is going to start pouring in? Seriously? And that isn't slander on the guy who may be a fine coach, I just am trying to set expectations for folks.

I know a lot of you no longer live in the area and this is not a shot, but I'm not sure folks from out-of-town understand just how low the program has sunk. The school can't get anywhere near 5,000 people to come to Big East games, including ranked opponents. Last night, on campus, I was surrounded by Marquette fans. The team managed 6,000 people in Brooklyn to play Syracuse, and half were clearly fans of the Cuse. And don't forget it is now free for any student to just wander in to a Carnesecca game and sit in any empty seat they find. Because the school knows there is no way it will ever be filled to capacity. There is no radio coverage of the team. Tierney happens to have a show on WFAN and other than a passing remark before a commercial there is no SJU talk. Has Anderson ever been interviewed on the station? I don't believe so. A 24-hour sports station in New York and there is never, ever a fifteen-minute segment on SJU. There was a time the station carried the games!

This program has been burned to the ground. Anderson can stay, Anderson can go, nothing is going to change. Anderson is not the disease; he is a symptom.

Sorry if this seems a little negative.
Click to expand...

Seems incredibly accurate.
 
Readin
Amaseinyourface said:
A scary thought that crossed my mind last night was the success of Pitt this year.

I hope to god that Cragg doesn’t somehow try to justify “sticking to the process” with delusion we can turn it around. For how bad this looks and how bad it might get, the first 4 years of Capel at Pitt were WAY worse. They are having some success and worried Cragg might try to forecast similar future success with CMA. You know he pays attention to those Duke guys..
Click to expand...
Thanks for putting this out there! :mad::poop::mad::poop::mad::poop::mad::poop::mad::poop: ;):):LOL:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top