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Post by Commissioner on Mar 8, 2024 13:56:34 GMT -5
I agree with rbj on pretty much all the retreads. I suspect though, that that's just the usual bloviating from people who don't have much incentive to think about the Titan job seriously, and just come up with names to fill their blog or X feed.
I like Bronkema. I'm not sure he's the best fit for UD--he seems perfect for, say, Central Michigan. But I'd certainly consider him--it's not like I've ever met the man, but he's been very successful at Ferris. I'm a bit surprised he's not gotten other offers, though (or maybe didn't take them). There were reports that the University (Vowels?) sort of jobbed him back in 2018 when Davis was hired--I have no idea about the veracity of same but that may be a courtship that won't resume.
In a post a couple weeks back somewhere here on the board I had mentioned Grambling's head coach, Donte Jackson, who has done a super job there in what is a very hard place--no resources, long history of losing hoops, not on anyone's radar, and I saw someone else mentioned him this week. He does have midwestern roots, too, and our job would, for all its problems, still be a big step up for him.
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Post by ptctitan on Mar 9, 2024 4:46:53 GMT -5
The risk of using a national search firm like CSA is that they will be unaware of the special needs here at UDM. The fact that their website touts being involved in Duke's selection of Scheyer and Marquette's selection of Shaka Smart suggests that they are good at approving the obvious. But it also suggests that they might try to push us in the direction of another assistant from a power school as "the safe choice." We've tried and failed at two apparently safe choices. I think we may now need to take a calculated risk and hire someone about whom the initial reaction would be, "Who?!" But who turns out to be a Sundance Wicks or a Dan Campbell because the person can coach and create excitement.
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Post by hyperion on Mar 9, 2024 12:24:24 GMT -5
If we're throwing out names, how about Donte Jackson of Grambling? 44 yrs old. Grambling had 11 straight losing seasons when Jackson took over, was on probation for APR violations, and lost its top 3 scorers after season. Nonetheless, his first team went 17-14 and won the SWAC Regular season. He's had just 1 losing season in 7 years and last year won 24 games. Has midwest roots--high school in Milwaukee, college 1 year at Milwaukee then at Central State in Ohio. Head Coach 4 yrs a Central State (a cash-strapped D-2 school) with a .588 W-L%, then 3 at Stillman (D-2; .759%, including school record 27 wins and D-2 FF in final season) before Grambling. Grambling has decrepit facilities and is a very hard place to recruit to. We'd be a big step up. Although Commish mentions Donte Jackson in this post, I have pulled the above post from the other Coach’s & Candidates post where he goes into some detail about this young coach. I think this would be a dream hire. |
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Post by udballer on Mar 9, 2024 12:56:39 GMT -5
Me either... tho it should be considered. Thank God we didn't cross people who'd made their names in the high school ranks off the list when we hired Perry. Perry, of course, was an Assistant at UM when we hired him. You’ve switched the game when you went from “HS coach” to “made name in HS.” Point being? Thomas was an assistant in college as well. Albion, I believe. Either way, neither Thomas nor Perry would deserve a shot based on their college coaching stint. |
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Post by udballer on Mar 9, 2024 12:58:34 GMT -5
Me either... tho it should be considered. Thank God we didn't cross people who'd made their names in the high school ranks off the list when we hired Perry. Saint Perry was not a high school coach when we hired him. He was an assistant at one of the top NCAA programs in the country. So was Bacari Alexander. In fact, BA was a much more accomplished college assistant than Perry. From strictly a college standpoint, Perry put together a two year resume which was marred by one of the bigger scandals in Mens college basketball history. Perry was hired more for high school track record than anything else. |
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 9, 2024 15:30:44 GMT -5
Perry, of course, was an Assistant at UM when we hired him. You’ve switched the game when you went from “HS coach” to “made name in HS.” Point being? Thomas was an assistant in college as well. Albion, I believe. Either way, neither Thomas nor Perry would deserve a shot based on their college coaching stint. I'm not sure being an assistant at Albion is quite the same as being an assistant at Michigan with two appearances as national runner-up, but your mileage may vary. As to the point, the point is that you are the one who suggested that we should take a gamble on Thomas because, you rather strongly implied, one of the most successful coaches in Titan history, Watson, came straight from high school. Perhaps you didn't mean to imply that, but in any case, I think intentional or not, that's how most people would read it. Anyway, PW did not come to UD straight from the HS ranks, nor was his college experience limited to D-3. If I were you, I'd just take the loss on this one. You can continue to make the case for your guy on his own record, rather than trying to compare his resume to that of PW. I would note that Albion's combined record during Thomas's 5 years as an assistant there was 56-72, with its best single season being 14-12 before relapsing to 10-15 his final season. I'm not saying no (as if I had that authority) but I wouldn't get your hopes up that the Titan brass is looking in that direction. |
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 9, 2024 15:40:55 GMT -5
Perry, of course, was an Assistant at UM when we hired him. You’ve switched the game when you went from “HS coach” to “made name in HS.” neither Thomas nor Perry would deserve a shot based on their college coaching stint. Same for Dick Vitale (at least if you think PW's two years didn't earn a shot), nor Bob Calihan, nor, for that matter, Lloyd Brazil. There's a lot goes into the selection, candidates have lots of backgrounds, and you have to try to match to what you need. And luck has more than a little to do with success of failure the final decision. I'm not usually a fan of retreads for a job like ours, but I thought that Davis was a real good choice at the time. He'd had at least some success at all three prior spots, was experienced, seemed to be a guy who would restore some organization and stability to the program after the turmoil of Bacari's short tenure (and the latter part of Ray's, though that was largely outside his control). Obviously, it didn't work out as planned. Well, I hope not "as planned." |
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Post by calihanmole on Mar 9, 2024 18:42:20 GMT -5
Y’all talking names - and man it’s hysterical
We need more than a coach - we need a miracle
Coach K himself couldn’t fix this mess
We need an SOS cause we in distress
Now listen to The Mole of rhymin’ fame
We gots ta bring back the old UD name
Till we do that it’s a losing game
Till we do that it’s just more of the same
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Post by lurker on Mar 9, 2024 18:50:59 GMT -5
lol
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Post by calihanmole on Mar 9, 2024 21:05:07 GMT -5
Tommy Titan got a sword
Henry made the Ford
I will not be ignored
There’s a Mole on the board!
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Post by udballer on Mar 9, 2024 21:54:38 GMT -5
As to the point, the point is that you are the one who suggested that we should take a gamble on Thomas because, you rather strongly implied, one of the most successful coaches in Titan history, Watson, came straight from high school. Perhaps you didn't mean to imply that, but in any case, I think intentional or not, that's how most people would read it. Anyway, PW did not come to UD straight from the HS ranks, nor was his college experience limited to D-3. Being that I enrolled at UDM within a couple years of Perry's arrival, I can assure you that I didnt "think he came directly from high school". Fact is that if PW wasn't a high school coaching legend with ties all over SE Michigan and all his resume showed was a 2-year stint as an assistant on a purchased team that neither won a conf nor NCAA championship... he would not have been an option. I remember at the time hoping none of the Michigan hijinks would trickle down and hurt us for hiring him. I'd simply much rather take a chance on a high school coaching juggernaut (MT) than go with a college assistant that's never led a program of his own, like BA. I'm not sure how voicing an opinion could equate to "taking a loss", but sure give me the "L". 😉 |
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 9, 2024 22:18:47 GMT -5
As to the point, the point is that you are the one who suggested that we should take a gamble on Thomas because, you rather strongly implied, one of the most successful coaches in Titan history, Watson, came straight from high school. Perhaps you didn't mean to imply that, but in any case, I think intentional or not, that's how most people would read it. Anyway, PW did not come to UD straight from the HS ranks, nor was his college experience limited to D-3. Being that I enrolled at UDM within a couple years of Perry's arrival, I can assure you that I didnt "think he came directly from high school". Funny, then, that when someone said we wouldn't likely hire Thomas right of the HS ranks, you suggested it's a good thing we didn't think like that when we hired PW. Exactly---but I also doubt he would have been a candidate without the stint at Michigan (see also Will Robinson, 1969). That's fine. I don't know why you insist, though, on making inaccurate comparisons. That explains a lot. It wasn't voicing the opinion, it was suggesting as fact things that weren't accurate. I'm not really arguing with your opinion. Just stating as fact that PW wasn't hired out of HS coaching, and that Hyperion was probably right when he said he saw no chance that we'd hire someone straight out of HS. OK, thank you. We can end the silliness. |
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Post by fan on Mar 9, 2024 22:52:47 GMT -5
Forgotten in all this is PW could flat out coach.
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Post by ptctitan on Mar 10, 2024 10:14:05 GMT -5
PW was also in that age sweet spot of roughly 38-50 where the coach has gained enough on the job experience to have learned things by trial and error, but still young enough to bring energy to the job. That's not to say that candidates older and younger than that age range cannot succeed. Or that all candidates in that age range do succeed. But the odds favor solid success when you hire a coach in that age range. PW was simply a superior judge of talent and character.
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Post by rbj on Mar 10, 2024 11:56:45 GMT -5
PW was also in that age sweet spot of roughly 38-50 where the coach has gained enough on the job experience to have learned things by trial and error, but still young enough to bring energy to the job. That's not to say that candidates older and younger than that age range cannot succeed. Or that all candidates in that age range do succeed. But the odds favor solid success when you hire a coach in that age range. PW was simply a superior judge of talent and character. In regards to judging talent and charachter PW was one of the best. I personally know of 3 players who wanted to transfer to UDM...two of them from a BIG10 school and one from a school out west. They were all talent basketball players who were into some questionable street activities, coach Watson told them thanks but no thanks. I think if either of the three were titans they could've pushed those 2 NCAA tournament teams to the elite 8. |
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