The fanbase and environment around the program had grown fairly toxic. We had a late year implosion and Bobby and his wife did not get along with Judy and Phil. Bobby had not been the same since the last year of CUSA and the letdown when UT hired Bruce Pearl over him. He frankly seemed burnt out at the time.
Also the friendly sheen of nostalgia on his regime is covering up a lot of warts. Bobby never liked recruiting, we brought moxley back (!) and per rumor, gave him veto power over recruiting. There was the year we were the Wabash Valley JUCO Niners, we were never a good defensive team, Monmouth, Hofstra, a 3 OT loss @App etc etc.
It was a good time in our history that involved a lot of heavy lifting by Jeff Mullins and Melvin Watkins, and Bobbyās greatest accomplishment was to take what looked like a minor blip in our radar and sustain it for about a decade (7 NCAAs in 10 years!). But after he lost our CUSA affiliation and his head to heads with Huggins, Pitino, Calipari, Crean, etcā¦ He was just never the same. His playstyle did not work as well in the A10 and if he was honest he didnāt want to be in that league.
I wish I had the answers, but I dont. What I can tell you is that revisiting nostalgia has a horrible track record.
Yeah I graduated in 2006 so Iām well aware of the drop off after the A10 move. I didnāt like that move but realize we were forced to do it. Really thought we would have been able to be at the top of that league regularly but in all honesty thatās a really good basketball conference. I didnāt realize how good it was at the time. Judy let coaches with much worse records hang around for years so the idea that his performance is what got him fired just isnāt true. He had 2 19 win seasons & a 20 win season in the A10 with a couple of down years mixed in. We would be lucky to win a conference game these days if we were still in the A10. Iām not saying we should hire him back. Iām just saying I donāt see how anyone can argue that firing him turned out to be a good move for this program.
There was a time with Lutz, even in the later years, that nearly everyone in college BBall considered the Niners a top 50 program. That legacy has been completely squandered. Itās ancient history now, but the Alan Major hire was devastating. To Majorās credit, he did win a few big games. So far, Sanchez hasnāt even done that.
I like Bobby a ton, and in hindsight keeping him would have been better than Major or Price, but that doesnāt mean letting him go was wrong, just that we made the wrong hires to replace him. Here we are. Now, the only measure that matters is are we playing for conference championships. That is the key to everything. Maybe it is too early to expect Sanchez to be doing that, but right now I am having trouble imagining how he gets there.
My only issue with the bobby firing is it was not performance based.
I was ok with the firing when it happened because he hadnāt gotten it done at the level we expected in his last years. With that said we would absolutely kill for that level right now and Bobbyās brand of offense was ahead of itās time. In hindsight if we knew this is where we would be keeping Bobby is a no brainer.
With that said Judy absolutely destroyed this program by firing the all time winningest coach for reasons other than performance and followed that up with two unbelievably bad hires. She destroyed the entire foundation Jeff Mullins created. I like the idea that Sanchez was the safe pick - he absolutely was. I canāt say I fault Hill for that. Sometimes hires just donāt work out. Anyone that has hired talent knows that. With the extension though we have to hope that he get things turned around but in year 3 these trends are very disturbing. Last year we couldnt win on the road, this year it appears we just canāt win.
Bobby didnt like recruiting when he was younger. Itās not gonna have gotten better. Only way he would work out is to pair him with a younger recruiter - not named moxley. I love Bobby - but not the direction we need to look nor do I think this is a place he would come back to.
Now Melvin on the other hand - I think that is an interesting thought.
I think Bobby probably is a better coach than Melvin non disagreement there, but I think Melvin would likely do better in our current situation than Bobby. Always thought Jeff was great because of Melvin and Melvin was great because of Bobby and Bobby just never found his Bobby. Just opinions at this point though.
Iām not giving up on Sanchez. Iām confident/ hopeful he has a plan that will eventually work.
If not, I am totally in favor of bringing back Bobby Lutz. He brings fire and enthusiasm. Bobby created the atmosphere in Halton. Frequently, I found myself watching Lutz work his magic on the sidelines as much as the game. He was always into the game and he was fun to watch. I observed fans around me doing the same. Lutz would help bring back the crowds.
What we get Bobby Lutz:
An enjoyable atmosphere like we had during the āgoldenā years.
A coach and team that play hard and grind to the very end.
A coach and a team that feed off each other bringing synergy to the court.
A coach on the sidelines that makes the fans believe we always have a chance.
A coach with passion and fire that is infectious throughout the fanbase.
Proven that he can winā¦ at Charlotte.
A ātrueā connection with the university.
When Lutz was fired, we had a fanbase and administration that got too big for our britches. We got cocky and thought Charlotte had arrived. Anything below a trip every year to the NCAA was considered a failure. We believed we needed another coach because 20 wins was our bottom floor. Anyone could coach Charlotte to 20 wins, right?
Where would Charlotte basketball be if we had kept Lutz? How much more enjoyable would our previous years have been with Lutz? Calls for speculation but Iām certain the ride would have been much more enjoyable and successful with him on the sideline.
Again, Iām not suggesting we get rid of Sanchez. Iām confident he will be successful. However, if a short term change were to take place, Lutz should be the obvious choice.
I saw that posted above but have not seen it elsewhere. Was this kept quiet? Are we certain?
To be clear, I am not against Sanchez, just ticked that our programs have been so mismanaged. We did not have to be here. Attitudes and egos caused this problem. A darn shame.