[quote="Logen" post=283278][quote="Mike Zaun" post=283244][quote="NCJohnnie" post=283235]AlBovino wrote: Nobody on this board has insight into whether Mullin is doing his job or not. It is just negative conjecture by a bunch of lousy fans.
Al, the idea that posters who say anything critical of the staff are "lousy fans" doesn't make sense to me. That is what fans do, express their feelings towards their team and staff, which will be sometimes negative and sometimes positive. Many of us who are questioning how hard the staff is working on the recruiting front based on what we read are major Mullin supporters and want desperately to see him succeed. That doesn't mean we can't question staff's actions at times whether in terms of in game strategy, appearance of recruiting efforts etc.
The only time I question objectivity is where posters never have anything bad (or conversely anything good) to say about a coach (whether Mullin, Lavin, Norm etc.); nobody is right or wrong all the time.[/quote]
This is what I have been saying is exclusive to the SJ fanbase. Any criticism of staff or the program as a whole and suddenly you're "evil" or a "terrible fan". I will go back to the raising a kid analogy...the strict parents are the best parents. Their kids may get upset at times and people may say they are "mean" or whatever but it comes from a place of love. You must be critical of who your child hangs out with, where they are hanging out, what time they are hanging out, their grades, behavior, etc. Being critical means you care. If none of us cared, we would accept this failure but we refuse to.
Our program has done a lot wrong over the years and we feel much more can be done and it isn't. That plus not winning an NCAA tourney game in decades and being on the bottom 3 straight years is rightfully wearing fans down. If we do not make big leaps, pull the plug after next year[/quote]
Okay, I’ll bite; tell me why we pull the plug and start over? We pull the plug after what is essentially Mullin’s 3rd year because of what has happened over the last “decades”? Really? One of my big problems with the Mullin criticism is it is founded on the type of senseless emotion you exhibit. Okay recruiting, someone please explain how we have been mentioned with so many recruits we would all like to see here if we ARE NOT OUT RECRUITING. Someone also explain why, objectively and dispassionately why a big time recruit should pick SJU over say Ohio St. (Muhammad) or SJU over say Kansas (Achuwia). Then someone explain the obsession with a “big” when the single most thing derailing what might have been a very satisfying season a year ago was the loss of a “small.” We have a full roster of relatively highly rated recruits we got largely via the transfer but so what? Someone explain why HOW we get players is more important than IF we get players. Nevada gets transfers and are praised on the board, we do it and it is treated as if the players came here with leprosy. I have posted these points in one form or another and I am sure there are some that are sick of me but I feel the points are legitimate and they aren’t addressed by Mullin critics. I seem to be an incredible Mullin supporter and in reality I am not at all; I just don’t see why anyone would want to start over with the absolute pile of sh#t he inherited and the improvements the program has made in 2 years. Has he won me over? No. Do we need to show tangible improvement again next year? Yes, but I sure as hell think we are a long way from considering a coaching change at this time. It takes time, it took time for the best of the best, but it shoudn’t for Mullin? So I am left asking those little huge three letters, WHY?[/quote]
Logen, I agree with you 100%. When Lavin left and Mullin came we had no one. If Lovett and Wilson play last year we win 21 games and make the NCAA Tournament. This year we have Ponds, Simon, Clark, Keita all top 50 recruits coming out of high school, and I agree , who cares how we got them here. We have, Dixon, Williams , Trimble, Figueroa, Roberts and Earlington. We have Wright and Caraher waiting in the wings who are good players. We had Ahmed and Owens here who while they had their faults were good players. I think Keita and Figgy fit our needs better but they were good players. That’s 14 players I mentioned that this staff has brought in here since they started. Someone has to be recruiting. Matt does have too much in his shoulders recruiting wise but our recruiting hasn’t been the disaster that some people on this board make it out to be. Can we use more of our coaches out there , yes, but again, it hasn’t been a total disaster. Would I like another big here for next year, yes. Even if we don’t get one, I think Roberts could surprise us and if Ponds stays which I assume he will , we will make the tournament this year. I don’t think getting rid of Mullin now solves anything.
