Mike Anderson - Former Coach
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Dan V
Well-known member
It’ll never happen not even worth responding to. Conference affiliation is the only thing keeping this program afloat. Pretty much every other aspect of the program is below Big East standard. This is why I’m hesitant to talk about firing this staff your not guaranteed to get an upgrade. Cragg has spoken about the lack of funding that they are working with can they even afford a large buyout and an upgrade like Pitino or Mack? If it’s between firing CMA and getting a cheap replacement because of a buyout or waiting another year so they can actually pay a better coach I’d take the latter. Best case like Willard (Hall) and Cronin (Cincy) they took 5 years to make the tournament. Add a solid looking 3 man 2023 class and some likely incoming transfers is that really worse than a patchwork first year roster that won’t make the tournament anyway? Not trying to make excuses for CMA he’s 2-2 in meeting expectations in his 4 years here why not see the tie breaker while saving the university millions of dollars.
I'm sure not everyone would embrace this...but how many years in a row can you support a horrendous program? No one cares, with the exception of a handful of dedicated fans. I'd rather see us getting into the show virtually every year by winning a conference than by missing out every year sucking hind teat. Pitino ain't coming. He's sure to have many better offers after this season.
What high prospects are we getting now? I mainly see two and three star players. Good players...but one and done to them is heading to another college team...not the pros.
Boo Harvey
Well-known member
Lol, the old go to a mid-major post. I knew that was coming. No point in responding again, but suffice it to say it’s absurd.
You don't need one and ones to be a good Big East team. How many of those has Providence, Marquette or Hall had lately? We currently have 4 guys who were 4 star recruits out of high school (Curbelo, Jones, Mathis & Storr) and one more coming in. We have a lot of problems to fix but being a mid-major rather than a Big East team is not one of them imho. I really think our problems this year are more a case of bad chemistry and coaching than serious lack of talent but I know many disagree. Easy to forget now that Posh was Big East freshman of the year and co-defensive player of the year 2 years ago and led the BE in steals and 2nd in assists last year and Jones was in top 10 in both scoring and rebounding last year, and then there is Soriano.
In hindsight, how can you guys still think that CMA was the best available option at the time? Do you really think that we couldn't have found a decent mid major coach who could have given us the same results as CMA has, and at a fraction of the cost? It was a botched search from the get go, we settled for CMA. Now, at the same time, there are some on this board who feel that the school should retain CMA because we might not be able to do better. In what universe is a highly paid employee, who has failed at the job he/she was hired to do, retained because the employer doesn't think they can find someone better? I mean, if someone isn't doing their job, it is imperative that rhe employer make a change (at some point). If you guys want to arque that CMA deserves more time I get it, but please don't tell me that he should be retained because we might not be able to do better. That's a complete loser mentality.
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I think the style can work and we witnessed it last night. Only it was Marquette playing it. They played intense defense and made us work extremely hard for every basket. We, on the other hand, didn’t make them work at all.
Monte, I completely agree that you should never retain an executive level (or any level) underperforming employee because you think you can't do better; that is a defeatist attitude for sure. As to whether CMA was the right hire in the context of a horribly botched search process, my strong recollection is that after both Hurley & Moser had spurned us, our alternatives were the likes of the Yale coach and Paul Hewitt. I was definitely pleased with CMA's hire in that context (and maybe there were other alternatives I was unaware of besides a seriously compromised Pitino) and am the first to admit it does not appear to have worked out, but hindsight is always 20/20. Having said all that, I would be enthusiastically in favor of keeping CMA (who is a great representative of the program) if he can miraculously get us into the Dance by winning 11 out of our final 15 Big East games...
Best available option? No way. Best available option that the disastrous process could generate? For me, yes, as the reports were it had come down to Anderson or Hewitt. I think things would be worse with Hewitt. Unless they hire him next (not ruling that out!) we will never know.
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
I don't know what's more depressing: watching the games or reading the posts. CMA's failure creates an opportunity to make the one hire that will prove, once and for all, whether this program can be fixed or is forever doomed to be Duquesne. Hire Pitino. If he can't win here, then it can't be done. We will have known that any of the much mentioned names would have failed like the rest. Hire the hall of famer and see what happens. If it doesn't work, then the program is too far gone and join the MAAC.
I think it was Jones (Yale) wit’s CMA as a late entry
All fair points NCJ. My point is that it was a botched search, therefore we'll never really know who else may have been an option. All I know is that as of this moment, CMA was not the right choice. Happy to say I was wrong if he can turn things around, but if I were a betting man.....
lol
The coach was fired before the hooker was in the hotel room. Mike Francesa speculated at the time that Jarvis had skipped the STJ President's dinner in order to get fired before the consequences of his terrible neglect of recruiting became fully evident on the basketball court.
I would question the extremely successful career part. At Arkansas he won 2 NCAA tournament games in 8 years and was fired. At St. Johns, no postseason invites and of course while there is a winning record, we all know it is due to ridiculously weak OOC schedule, his BE record is 24-37.
Yes, he did have a couple of excellent years (sweet 16 at UAB 2003-2004, elite eight Missouri 2008-2009). He basically had majority of success earlier in his career. In terms of longevity, yes that has been very successful.
BE coaches have stated (anonymously of course) that easiest team to prepare for is St. Johns (with Providence being most difficult). It is clear that the basketball world has caught up to him (similar to Boeheim 2-3 zone). This year BE coaches indicated SJU does not have winning mentality (plenty of evidence on this one) and they will have to see a postseason berth to believe it. True, there are many games left but it is clear to me, BE coaches have it right.
Let’s be clear, anybody with a pulse is a better option than CMA. He is a lame duck coach at this point.
There is a frustrating cycle we’ve been in of 1. Hiring new coach 2. 3 years of mediocrity/not sniffing the tournament 3. Barely make the tournament and lose in the first round. 4. Let go of the coach and hire someone to do the same thing.
It’s been rinse/repeat for so many years and the worst part is CMA has even fallen short of that BS standard!! I’ve been saying this for awhile, this feels like the Norm Roberts era 2.0 except Norm actually took us to the NIT once!
We’ve reached the lowest point in a very long time. Apathy is spreading amongst supporters. It’s time to make some phone calls NOW and have a coach ready through back channels. You fire CMA the minute after the BE tournament first round game ends against DePaul or Georgetown and announce the new coach once his season ends. Expect a mass exodus but given the product on the court I can’t say many will be missed.
There is a frustrating cycle we’ve been in of 1. Hiring new coach 2. 3 years of mediocrity/not sniffing the tournament 3. Barely make the tournament and lose in the first round. 4. Let go of the coach and hire someone to do the same thing.
It’s been rinse/repeat for so many years and the worst part is CMA has even fallen short of that BS standard!! I’ve been saying this for awhile, this feels like the Norm Roberts era 2.0 except Norm actually took us to the NIT once!
We’ve reached the lowest point in a very long time. Apathy is spreading amongst supporters. It’s time to make some phone calls NOW and have a coach ready through back channels. You fire CMA the minute after the BE tournament first round game ends against DePaul or Georgetown and announce the new coach once his season ends. Expect a mass exodus but given the product on the court I can’t say many will be missed.
But here's the thing about last night. We scored 85 points. On most nights that's enough to win a game with ease. On the other hand, Marquette gave up 85 points. So how intense was their defense really?
At Arkansas his overall record was 169-102, and 78-64 in the SEC. Id say that's pretty good. At Missouri he was 111-57 overall, and 43-37 in the Big 12. Id say that's pretty good also.
Someone mentioned Norm Roberts was basically just as good. He was 81-101 overall with a 32-70 (!!) record in the Big East. The year he got the team to the NIT they were 17-16 and 6-12 in conference. This was before they changed how NIT teams were selected
As you are no doubt aware we have a very reactionary fan base. I believe the frustration being expressed right now is that we all had high hopes for this team this season but in the key games they have played they have played very poorly. With Norm Roberts the expectations were very low. We hired a career assistant who had a bad loosing record at his one head coaching job, at Division 3 Queens College. Anyone with a little basketball acumen knew Norm was in way over his head. With CMA we hired a head coach that had won at 3 different schools, 2 of which were high majors. The expectations were different from day 1 and were certainly high this year. To réalisé 4 BE games into the schedule that the team had given up is very frustrating. No one expected same.
A very sad state of affairs.