Lutzâ defensive switching was gimmicky. It worked well against teams that had sloppy play, responded poorly to change, and had limited offensive patience (e.g. Memphis or Umass). Teams that were patient offensively and moved the ball found easy holes, because guys often didnât rotate correctly. I think that was the double-edged sword with switching defenses so much, you catch some teams off-guard in the middle of a game, but you also donât perform as cohesively as if you practice a consistent defense. Itâs not some kind of genius move, it just takes the high-risk option of a trade-off that most coaches consider. Itâs a lot like Lutzâ offenses too, high-risk high potential reward that allowed us to beat better teams when gunners were hot and to lose to terrible teams when they were not.
High levels of athleticism and some kind of shot-blocking presence down low could sometimes cover for the poor rotation until we hit teams that were athletically similar but also well-coached enough to take advantage. It explains both the ceiling Lutz hit with his best teams and how badly the defense fell apart against patient teams, particularly later in his career.
I also think Lutz lost some of his motivation for coaching defense later in his career. It showed in his contract-year performance, in which we did improve defensively and Lutz openly talked about emphasizing it in practice, followed by utter defensive collapse the very next year once he got his last extension.
I agree with Shagg49er too though, itâs possible to take a reasonable view of Lutz with or without wanting him back here. Lutz wasnât all bad and he wasnât all good. He had a lot of success building off of what Mullins and Watkins had done (to which he contributed), and itâs the reason heâs a legend at Charlotte. His conference tournament runs showcased his ability to motivate and catch other teams unprepared. He also had some really poor years near the end with limited future prospects that justified a change. Though the administration really screwed up that contract extension then firing sequence, no idea why Lutzâ extension was so generous in the event of firing given how weak his leverage should have been.
