New Coach: Candidates and Qualifications

Andre's bio from UNLV's website.

www.unlvrebels.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/andre_lafleur_1014733.html

Wow, that definitely looks like he put that out there to squash the internet rumors that he was in Detroit today.

Lou Dawkins remains my preferred candidate this time around, just as he was a couple of years ago.

Journalism is in such bad shape. Gone are the days when you needed to confirm something with at least two sources before publishing it. :-(

From the time I was a youngster, I read the Detroit Free Press front to back every day. On Sundays, I got both the News and the Free Press and read both of them. Learned a lot and stayed informed, while also becoming educated on the views of others. I felt confident back then that most of what I read in the paper had at least been properly researched, although there were some exceptions. Saddens me to see what passes for journalism these days. Social media just makes it worse.

I like Bronkema...a lot. I like his attitude, his ability to win and his approach to basketball/life. I do however have some concerns about his ability to adjust to the the environment at UDM. Detroit is a lot different than western Michigan. With that said, I would be willing to give him a shot. My understanding is that the lack of interest may be on his part, not ours. UDM would be a great career building step for him, if nothing else. On the other hand, if he did really well here, we could win a national championship, as a member of the Big East. 😊

Moose, my Dad always told me "don't believe everything you read in the paper", but even with that admonishment there used to be some confidence in journalistic standards. You didn't just report something on hearsay. Today is different.

Case in point: During a Memphis Tigers game this year, a media person (can't call him journalist) reported that one of the Memphis players cursed at Memphis coach Tubby Smith as he came off the floor after Tubby subbed him out. That was totally false. The player had picked up a foul and was coming out of the game. He stated after the game that he was frustrated about the foul and let loose a couple of curse words, directed at no one in particular. Also said he would never curse at his coach. The media person later admitted that he had been told by a fan at the game that the player cursed at Tubby, and that was the sole basis for him posting that it happened. Unreal.

My preference for coach remains Dawkins, but I readily admit that I don't know everything about all the candidates. Hopefully we make the right call this time. But like I often say, it's a lot easier to screw up a coaching hire than to hit a home run with it. Some programs can bounce back quickly from a bad hire (as Butler did recently). We aren't that type of program. It is imperative that we get this right.

Amen, Scout. Thanks for posting. I would have thought that we'd have been putting some thought into new coaches during the stretch before BA was officially let go. If we weren't, this definitely comes across as a knee-jerk, last straw type of reaction following Corey's announcement.

Double Amen. Well before the season ended Vowels had to have known that he'd have to make a decision on Bacari. He should have talked discretely with the Prez, other administrators, key donors, even players and coaches to the extent he could reasonably do so. The day the season ended, he should have had, if not a pretty good idea what he wanted to do, at least a list of what he was going to discuss with Bacari, and see what Bacari's plans were to turn things around. That meeting should have been held within a week, probably 2-3 days, and a decision made within another 2-3 days.

And he should have had in mind, and drawn up, a list of potential candidates well before that meeting with Bacari. In other words, he should have met with Bacari no later than March 9, probably more like March 5-6, making a decision by March 9, or at the absolute latest a few days after. Even March 15, a leisurely pace, would have been 10 days earlier. A two week process to interview from there--and that's not particularly fast at all by the standard of the profession-- gets the job done by April 1, giving the new guy 10 days to hit the recruiting trail before signing begins.

Those who say we want to get it right more than fast are, of course, right. But the two should not be viewed as mutually exclusive. The Titans could have had a coach in place by March 15. They should have at least had plans to get one in place by April 1. And not having one a week into the spring signing period is inexcusable.

It's too late to do anything about it, but it's frustrating as can be and reflects very poorly on Vowels as AD.