Clippings from newspaper articles when Lutz was hereā¦
As of this writing, Basden and the 49ers were ranked 24th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and 25th in the AP poll, rankings the team hasnāt consistently enjoyed since the days of Cedric āCornbreadā Maxwell and the 1977 squad that made it to the Final Four.
Inside the schoolās Halton Arena, every second person is wearing green and gold. The student section is rowdy yet straightforward in their taunting, sort of a Mad TV to the Saturday Night Live of Duke Universityās famed āCameron Crazies.ā Coeds wear shirts emblazoned with legends like āNiner Nation,ā āGot Lutz? We Do!ā, and the ever-popular āGet Drunk Go Niners.ā Fans sitting behind the backboards have been handed large polka-dot-affixed signs with which to hound opposing free throw shooters.
Those were the good old days; the Lutz days. Bring 'em back!
I liked Lutz, I am not anti Lutz. I simply have a good memory. Is Bobby our all time leader in wins? Yes. Is he our all time leader in losses? Also yes if Iām not mistaken.
We had some really good highs with Lutz. We also had some late season swoons and wtf losses.
My position is simply. I donāt want Lutz, I want somebody better than Lutz.
No problem with wanting someone better than Lutz and I would love to have that also. I am at the point though that what Lutz was able to accomplish is 1000 times better than the past decade.
Lutz is not the only coach I would be happy to have. Archie Miller and Greg Marshall who were both recently mentioned on the board would be nice to have. Also like, Rick Pitino, Sean Miller and Mark Turgeon.
If we let Sanchez go with years remaining on his contract, can we afford a coach which we perceive to be at a higher level than Lutz? Genuine question, Iām not sure the answer. Another question, do we prefer Lutz to another roll of the dice assistant. That may be the real question.
I think it comes down to a question also posed on these threads: how much do we value basketball?
If youāre being pragmatic, we probably only have the budget and the current fanbase to really support one of the two revenue sports at a high profile level. Which one offers us the better route to respectability and success as a program? Thatās the one you probably put your investment into, though it doesnāt mean the other one can suck (it still needs to be competitive). The move to the AAC certainly has the potential of increasing the viability for hoops, but it also does for football as well (though I think the competition gap is even bigger than hoops, and the facilities gap definitely is).
What I do know is that I have watched several AAC games on ESPN broadcast channels this season. Just moving to that is a big step up in exposure for our programs
For me I want basketball up and performing at a high level. We will most likely never be able to compete with the upper echelons of college football, but we can with basketball. We just need football to go bowling on most years. 6/7 wins is certainly within our grasp most years with maybe a 9/10 season snuck in there. If football is respectable most years and basketball is winning big most years I am thrilled.
Lutz has only gotten better with the additional experience gained. HC, Associate Head Coach (NC State and others), mentoring and consulting, administration, and all centered around major programs.
Yea, letās skip that one and take another leap. Itās not like he hasnāt already proven he can get it done here, right? Couple Lutz with a move to the AAC and I will take our chances all day.
Everyone we have hired we thought was better than Lutz. Letās go with a āknownā and worry about the next Dean Smith after our program becomes relevant again.
