Is there a limit to how many can be inducted in the first class? May have said above, but I missed it.
I would think Maxwell, Henry Williams, Lee Rose, and Jeff Mullins are no-brainers. After that, probably would include some female athletes and coaches.
Wonder if Charles Hayward would be included later on? He didn’t rack up a lot of stats, but he was an important part of the basketball program for other reasons.
maximum of six student-athletes, two coaches/administrators and one key contributor
Got him in my second class of inductees. With a little more PR like Rose did we could been in. NIT a year or 2 earlier.
Those would be my picks with Lew Massey added and possibly Karen Popp. Probably should put Judy in there and get it over with
Certainly understand what Rose did here but Bobby over Rose. Rose was here 2 years
Yeah, the bitterness with some in regards to Lutz is going to be hard to over come. But I’m with you. Figuring out which head coach should be inducted is going to be a difficult task. Inducting one coach over the coach with the most wins would be awkward IMO.
Lutz is a no-brainer… More Conference titles & NCAA appearances than any other coach in our history.
What bitterness?
I don’t think Lutz is a shoo-in, and he wouldn’t be on my ballot. I don’t mean to diminish his accomplishments, but he was handed a great team, in a great conference with great opponents, and he succeeded with them. In his seven CUSA seasons he went to the NCAAs five times and the NIT once. Then we moved to the A-10 and he went to the NIT twice in five years. And that certainly wasn’t because the A-10 wasn’t getting multiple NCAA bids each year. Lutz didn’t adjust and he said kids from the South didn’t want to play in a Northern league–well Bob McKillop found a way to make it work.
I am a Lutz fan, and his best years were also my best years with the program. He is our all time winningest coach because he had some really good years, and because he has the longest tenure of any coach. I think net-net, the Lutz years were darn good years, but not Hall of Fame years.
To me, Rose gets in because he did the impossible. We still show that grainy video because 43 years later it is still our high point. Mullins gets in because he saved our program. And when I say saved, I don’t think anyone who wasn’t there can understand what that really means. Mullins had to be a crazy man to take the job, and yet he succeeded in ways that nobody even dreamed of. His biggest successes were getting us into the Metro Conference and CUSA, and building Halton Arena. He believed in us, and got others to also, when nobody else did. Mullins made Lutz possible. These two guys seem like enough for me. Call me back when we make the Elite Eight.
i agree with this post. lutz did good things but flopped as an a10 coach and should have won more ncaa games with the talent he had.
Lol. It only took one post to answer your question.
I don’t get it.
The Lutz invitational and his NCAA runs are THE reason anyone knows anything about 49er basketball outside of Niner Nation. Period. Or that the Charlotte 49ers even exist athletically at all.
Hardly anyone knows about the 77 Final Four run…a few know of Cornbread (but for his time as a Celtic not for his time at UNCC).
100% of the reason we were/are viewed as a basketball school that used to be a perennial Top 25 program and NCAA participant is all Lutz.
Most Wins of any other bball coach, most Conf Titles of any other bball coach, most NCAA tourney appearances of any other bball coach (maybe any coach period regardless of sport).
Our entire identity as an athletics dept was built on Lutz’ basketball success of the late '90s & early 00’s.
Without that…we have literally NOTHING as our national identifier.
And the coach responsible for that is not HOF worthy?!?!?!?
Wow.
Some would argue that doing it in a great conference is more impressive than doing it in a poor conference (Southern Conference). In fact, 99% of the country thinks 6th place in the ACC is better than 1st place in the Sunbelt. A lot of those same people sit on the selection committee. So succeeding in CUSA shouldn’t be held against Lutz.
I like Mullins and agree he was successful. But I’m not sure how much you can contribute to joining Metro and CUSA, building Halton. The school was growing at that same time. Conference changes and an on campus arena was much inevitable in my opinion. We got into the Metro largely because we’re located in the metropolitan of Charlotte.
And I certainly do no think you can accredit Mullins for making Lutz possible. Lutz was a graduate of the school, prior to Mullins ever arriving. Prior to coaching at Charlotte, he was at Clemson and Pfieffer. Charlotte was always on his radar. If you’re going to discredit Lutz because of Mullins, that would be like discrediting Coach K because of Bobby Knight.
Holding Lutz’s tenure against him for most wins doesn’t make sense either. There’s a reason you have the longest tenure, because you were successful.
What’s more clear for me is winning %s, championships, etc. Mullins career win % 56%. Lutz is 58%. In conference… Mullins 51%, only 2 games above .500. Lutz 58%.
I get that my thoughts are going to rub some the wrong way, and people that think the Major years are the bad ones just have a different perspective than I do. I think Lutz did a great job, but I want the HoF to be more than that.
Lutz had just moved from Pfieffer to be the HC at Gardner-Webb, and before he ever coached a game there Mullins hired him to be our assistant. However, that is not what I meant, Mullins took us from one of the worst teams in Div I basketball to respectable. He used his contacts in the sports media world, the business community, and many other coaches to leverage us up. He used all of that to get better recruits, and we started winning games. The foundation he built allowed Watkins and Lutz to succeed.
If Lutz gets in the HoF I am not going to have a problem with that, I just think winning and going to the NCAAs every couple of years is the goal, and shouldn’t be considered incredible.
It’s not incredible at a program with the history of a Kentucky, UNC or Duke…but we are not Kentucky, UNC or Duke.
What Lutz accomplished here had never been done before nor has it been done since. THAT is what a HOF is for. You say going to the NCAA’s every couple of years shouldn’t be considered incredible then we have ZERO coaches that should go in.
And, he did a little better than “Going to the NCAA’s every couple of years.” He actually went to the NCAA’s 5 of his first 7 seasons with an NIT in there too. So postseason 6 of first 7.
Any other coach in any sport at all come close to that here??
You may not consider that impressive either but considering Lutz is the ONLY coach here EVER to do it…that by definition means that it IS in fact incredible.
They’ve done better than we did, sure, but the jury is still out as far as making it work long term. Following their inaugural season, they’ve missed the tourney 4 of 5 years. Even underperformed this season by quite a margin compared to preseason hype.
I think Lutz over Judy for sure. Beyond that, I’m not knowledgeable enough of anything pre-1998 when I started school.
If you attribute Lutz success to Mullins and Watkins I am not sure how you put Lee Rose in. Yes he went to the FF4 but he went off the success of Bill Foster. I say this less as a shot against Rose and more as a point that you can build off the success given to you.
If you say Lutz doesn’t deserve in then Judy Rose definitely doesn’t. Literally all of the major success under her tenure can be tied to Mullins. The further we got from his foundation the worse things got.
Bobby is the all time winningest coach and the coach over our longest period of sustain success. He belongs in as does Lee Rose, Bill Foster and Jeff Mullins. All on the first vote? No - even if you could, but they all belong in.
I approached this as who could not be left off. I nominated 3, Ogunjobi, Lutz, Cornbread
Anyone know how the results will be announced?
Yeah, check Bobby’s record versus Mckillop as well.
This.