Is it just handsome me or are we more mad now than when Jack was accomplishing little?
I want the resurrection hire. Someone with head coaching experience. Our version of a John Groce.
2 Likes
Why do we want Travis Steele when there’s a perfectly good Chris Mack just sitting there
4 Likes
Do you see Mack’s name mentioned for many job openings right now?
The only one I saw was a small whisper for the Missouri job that went to Dennis Gates.
He may be radioactive right now. He might be next year’s Sean Miller.
“UCLA assistant Michael Lewis’ name is making the rounds at Ball State. The Indiana native who played at IU for Bob Knight got an endorsement from his current boss Mick Cronin last week. Also hearing that current BSU associate head coach Linc Darner is in the mix. He’s the former HC at Green Bay who won a D2 National Championship at Florida Southern while going 219–72 (.753) in his 9-years there. Also, at least two Big Ten assistants have tried to get involved.”
I thought Mack’s supposed offense was recruiting videos that didn’t match guidelines or something.
I used to play down there, too. Had one of the three best shooting days of my life there.
Here’s an absolute long shot idea: Thad Matta.
Yeah…that ain’t happening.
1 Like
Great post LaxDad and some good points…
Here’s why Steele is not a good fit:
-He has done less with more. He was handed the keys to Porsche, and never did anything with it… not with his recruits or Macks
-The Xavier name/arena/fanbase recruits itself. You mention Ohio State having only a couple guys from Ohio. They don’t need Ohio kids to win. Both schools recruit itself. That is NOT the case with Miami. The best MAC schools have pulled in the best Ohio kids. Steele had success with prep schools at Xavier. I’m not sure that model works at Miami.
-Okay, he recruited well at Xavier, albeit he brought in kids from all over the county; what did he do with talent? This team QUIT on him in February of this year. This was a poorly coached team by all accounts. Their fans were chanting “Fire Steele” when this team was firmly in the tournament in mid-February, but the team continued to be no-shows.
They are winning the NIT with a different coach. The level of effort is night and day from when Steele was leading them.
Lastly,
We have a Miami alum who is one of the most successful, respected, and CONNECTED coaches in all of Ohio clamoring for Jermaine Henderson to get the job in Chet Mason. Chet might not send any Brush guys to Miami, but he will be Jermaine’s biggest advocate in that part of the state. We will establish a foothold again in Ohio that we haven’t had in a decade+.
1 Like
I like Jermaine and wouldn’t be upset if he got the job, but since he left Miami he has only been associated with losing programs…may not entirely be his fault but that kind of background beats you down in my opinion, and can limit your definition of real success.
I would prefer our new Coach come from a perspective of being a winner, and bringing that attitude and mindset to Miami, a program that has become used to losing for nigh 10 years now.
That said: I have no clue as to which candidate fits that mold best along w having strong tri-state recruiting background and hopefully some meaningful HC experience.
I just know I don’t want a HC that will accepting of a .500 record and an occasional CBI/CIT invite.
1 Like
Make sure this is accurate as it’s been a while but I feel like the top players on our sweet 16 team weren’t from Ohio. Wally. Damon. Rob Mestas. There were others on the team like Mike who was a solid big who came from Iona and Ref who came from Marshall. Grunk wasOhio and so were a few others. Then I think of other star players on other good teams and Devin was from Florida. Ira from Michigan by way of Mississippi. I guess my question is, does Ohio matter? I mean if the new coach can get quality players who can win and build back up the program, would anyone care where they came from?
5 Likes
I agree good players can come from anywhere-
Herb Sendex recruited nationally Wally-Damon-Mestas-Anthony Taylor were all out of state
Charlie was more regional- so Ensminger was from Cincinnati and Charlie’s later good teams with Chet, Juby, Danny Horace- they were Ohio kids
Estick was a transfer and I dont believe he was from Ohio. Jason Stewart was a transfer and nit from Ohio
I like recruiting Ohio or local kids but I really just want the best team
These are all valid points.
As I have pointed out above, any coach that comes to Miami involves some type of risk. They would not be available to Miami if that was not the case.
The biggest concern I have about Steele is that everyone says he is such a nice guy. Everyone likes nice guys but sometimes they finish last.
Owens was a nice guy. I prefer coaches who are fiery and ooze charisma because I think teams take on the character of their coach. I had concerns about Owens from his first press conference because of what I felt was his demeanor. He was laid back and it seems that his teams played that way.
The danger in my kind of coach is you get Bobby Knight. Undoubtedly he was a great coach but that style does not work in the cultural environment today. You need a coach that can display calm and fire with balance.
Coach K has that. Not everyone does.
I think Gonzaga - consistent success for a mid-major program - has a good model. It started with mostly Northwest guys - like Santangelo - with a smattering of Californians and foreign players. Once they established themselves back in the late 90s they started to attract kids from all over the country but kept their strong ties to foreign player recruitment. As a small mid-major school in a non-traditional basketball market, they are now a perennial Sweet 16 or better team.
Agree w your comment on trying to find a Coach with some fire in his belly. (Within reason as you point out).
I would like to see a Coach that immediately yanks a player out of the game for loafing, showboating, taking multiple bad shots or simply not performing…and I would like to see that Coach let the player know in no uncertain terms what is expected of him as he takes his place back on the bench. Owens was not that kind of Coach.
1 Like
In just about all of his press “briefings,” I do not ever recall Owens describing what style of offense or defense his team was playing, what he was doing in practice, etc., etc. His message was always about the peripheral issues…we are or have to play hard, take better shots,etc. It just never clicked with me.
I also strongly agree that bad shots were not usually “rewarded” by a trip to the bench and some face-to-face coaching as Herb and Joby did very often. Again, what I’m trying to say is that there really was no fire in Owens and little shown about his coaching style.
3 Likes
Just want to add, this is considered a poor way to coach today. It discouraged athletes from taking risks, which is exactly what is required with the pace of today’s game. There’s a reason you don’t see younger coaches bench players when they fumble, take a bad shot, turn it over, or any of that.
Also, when have you ever seen a coach talk about what their defensive or offensive scheme was on a press conference? Seriously, haven’t seen a single coach do it this tourney.
4 Likes
Huh?
This is not true.
I’ve seen kids get benched left and right for bad shots… not for missed shots… for bad shots and turnovers.
You also don’t see a whole lot of bad shots in the NCAA tournament because bad habits should have been broken by this point, and all of these teams are highly successful.
Yes, and science says it’s bad when coaches do it. There are still coaches from old trees that do things the old way. That didn’t make it right, and there’s data to back that up. It can take weeks for a player who was benched to return to their numbers before they were benched.
Remember, coaches used to use corporal punishment (and that was considered fine for a LONG time) when players made mistakes. This is the next iteration of moving away from that.