The right thing to do was decline the CBI invite, cut Sanchez and move on. Thatās what a normal, weāll managed program would have done. I wonāt cut Mike slack for his bad decisions compounding into bigger problems. Where we are is a direct result of his decision making. Limited coaching pool options? Direct result of his decision making.
Mike let Ron have an incredibly soft schedule, he wanted to get to 20 wins even if they were very low quality. He didnāt care about us being legitimately good, he wanted good optics. How he handles this next hire should absolutely determine if he is here two years from now.
No assistants, no wash outs. Hire a D1 basketball coach from a low level conference that turned a team around. Someone whoās laced up their dancing shoes with far less resources than we have. Not some assistant from a āgoodā program. We need a leader, a guy whose proven he can win, and has winning, not slogans, not being a life coach, as the top priority. People donāt pay for basketball tickets because you have lots of platitudes. The best Halton ever got was when people expected us to win.
I love the armchair coaches on this site. After two games they have determined it is a throw away season. Obviously they have psychic powers to predict the future.
Iāll bet you whatever amount youād like we donāt make top 8 in the AAC, we donāt have Brice and Aly to bail us out this year when everyone is standing around waiting for someone to score.
Sanchez didnāt exactly kill it recruiting for this year either. We got a lot of height, but Iām not sure how well that works out for a more up tempo style.
I hope we do well, I always do. However, Iām not deluding myself into thinking we are gonna be better than we really have a right to be given the shit sandwich we ordered up.
Iām pulling for Fearne. It would be a great story if he succeeds.
Hky I also agree. These kids play hard and all this butt hurt negative talk p****s me off. Some of you make valid points on last years team but this is our team now and IMO a coach who has leadership experience. Iāve got 50+ years experience playing and observing basketball. All I see so far is a lack of chemistry which will develop over time so letās just wait and see.
Ask about any Panthers fans if they would have preferred keeping Wilkes or niners keeping Ryan Odom. Fearn deserves a chance without you negative Nancy clowns bashing everything about this program
If you think this is negative, you should visit the Louisville message board right now. Weāre an average fanbase in terms of criticism.
The Ryan Odom comparison is correct. But this team doesnāt have Keyshawn Woods, Torin Dorn, Thorne, or top 100 Ebuka that was signed. Heck, Iām not sure we have a Braxton Ogbueze. And if youāve watched basketball for 50 years, Iām sure you realize that.
Agree with NWA on Hillās decision to keep Fearne. Given the timing and player situation, it was the only thing to do. Give him an honest and supportive chance and see how it plays out.
We should have some money to play with on the next hire, if needed.
Iām pulling for Fearne, Maybe he can get it going and be a draw for international students.
I also realize that hiring new coaches is a crap shoot. EveryAD has failing teams in some of the sports with maybe the exception of a few P5 schools where their brand is more responsible for success. Hillās made good and bad hires which is probably normal for most ADs but of coarse the football & basketball hires are the most important because of their high profile revenue generating aspects. Iām sure he knows the importance of that hire and Iām not so sure that hiring ADs is not another crap shoot.
PS Louisville basketball is beyond a train wreck. Very puzzling knowing their brand and especially long historical success in basketball
In a nutshell I blame Hill for extending Ron out when it was obvious it was over and at the end Ron even knew it and bailed. I 100% blame Ron for how he left us and screwed about everyone in the fanbase, coaching staff, and administration. It was a BS move he will have to stay at UVA for awhile to overcome.
I am a little better on perspective this AM on this year and Fearne. He definitely is searching for a rotation like a lot of coaches at this time of year. If Jackson is able to hit any 3 foot bunnies last night in the 1st half it would have changed the whole game. Liberty would have been forced to double down on him and changed a lot. One of my main concerns is Folkes. He is definitely not giving Fearne what he wants and you can tell Fearne is not happy with him and Folkes is definitely not happy on the bench. I hope it is not a doghouse situation.
If I was an AD would I disband my team for a coach that couldnāt get hired in March and place him on a 5 year contract? Or would I give the season to a coach that the current players obviously love who has 250+ games coaching professional international basketball and see what he can do? Letās stop acting like this was a tough decision here. Listening to Fearne about what he wants to do with the team makes me pull for the guy.
Like I said in a previous post that Fearne had no options on a staff that time of year. However, if he can turn these young guys into better players and we have a respectable season, I probably wouldnāt be opposed to him getting a deal done. On the outside we donāt know how Fearne feels about running a pack line defense or a Princeton offense. My guess is that he didnāt run either of those at his previous coaching spots. He may have big changes in store if he is retained.
Is anyone here actually not rooting for Fearne to succeed?
Iād be surprised if that was the case. The divide seems to be between the people that think he can / will and those that think itās a wasted season.
I get really frustrated during games when we donāt play well, but let me be clear: I want Fearne to succeed. The same way I want any coach we hire to succeed. Maybe even a tad more than that since he seems like a pretty good guy and he has good experience.
Maybe we can try to rally around that commonality - we all hope he figures his lineup out and gets the team playing better together.
Also that stuff about Folkes is legit. I am very confused why he isnāt playing more.
It looked like coach made a good adjustment later in the game to play a smaller lineup. It obviously wasnt enough to get us over the hump, but I like what I see from him as an in game coach so far.
The more I see, the better my expectations are on this season. Which is completely backwards from any season since Iāve been a fan in 2010. May be a silver lining hereā¦or my expectations may have just been so low going into the season from prior experience.
