Let's be clear imho...

...the decision to not extend Steve Lavin and to bring in the Legend was, again for me at least, to see this program take the leap towards challenging Villanova for tops in the BE.  The thinking by SJU imho was that SJU has all the tools to be every bit as good as Villanova and Lavin and his sometimes laid back if not lazy approach was not going to ultimately take them there.  And it was clear early on with the luring of Rohrssen from Kentucky that SJU was putting in the monetary muscle to accomplish this goal as well.  In other words Chris was going to be given advantages that others were not.  All to commit to this goal of being the very best.

We can argue about how long it would take for Coach  Mullin to get SJU there.  Obviously I did not expect them to challenge for first place in year 1, 2 or even 3.  But I honestly thought that this year would for the first time put in place the roster structure and then on the court show the progress that would finally say SJU is right there and just a piece or two away from challenging Nova.

The thing is now I honestly don't think SJU is that close to that.  That this year is turning into a HUGE step backwards is incredibly discouraging and cannot be disguised as simply roster issues that are being fixed or Lovett injury.

I mean I can't be the only one who is thinking that if you would have told me after they hired Chris they would be 8-34 in BE play early in year 3, would be 0-6 in year 3 with losses to DePaul and Georgetown at home, would fail to land any consensus top 50 recruits and may finish in last place in year 3 I would have said you are nuts.  No way with that staff (including Rohrssen) and Chris' ability to connect no way would SJU be that bad. 

I sure hope the people arguing SJU is close are right.  But hard to see it.

Go to sleep, it’s not that serious.

Look, it's year 3 of a complete rebuild. Up until about 2 and a half weeks ago we were right on track to where we realistically wanted to be in year 3 of the Mullin era. The Lovett injury was bad luck and kind of derailed the season, and yes it is 100% on the staff that they didn't bring in a more complete roster to help absorb the loss of any player that got hurt, but losing your starting PG is going to hurt regardless.

I've been extremely critical of the in-game coaching and style of play that this team has exhibited over the past few weeks. I think it is a huge detriment and needs to be addressed in a big way before next season if Mullin is going to turn it around, and I think Mullin will make changes to his staff to bring in real X's and O's guys.

Let's look at Northwestern over the past season and a half. Last year they had their usual low expectations and they managed to greatly exceed them, make their 1st NCAA tournament in program history and push Gonzaga to the limit in the 2nd round. They lost one starter (their 4th or 5th best one) and returned literally everybody else of importance. For one reason or another they are a complete dumpster fire this year after being a preseason top 25 team. Chris Collins is probably a really good coach that is just not making it work this season after making all the right moves last year. My point here is that the team/staff may not be as good as perceived at their highest point and not as bad as perceived at their lowest point.

Am I saying Chris Mullin is Chris Collins? No. What I am saying is sometimes shit happens in this sport and you can't reasonably make a decision one way or another on a coaching staff based on a two and a half week period of play. I have no idea if Mullin will ever achieve great success here and my instincts say he won't unless he swallows his pride and brings in a couple of assistant coaches that will really help with both the basketball and recruiting end of things. I do think he does have a decent chance to turn things around if he does, but we'll see

Look, it's year 3 of a complete rebuild. Up until about 2 and a half weeks ago we were right on track to where we realistically wanted to be in year 3 of the Mullin era. The Lovett injury was bad luck and kind of derailed the season, and yes it is 100% on the staff that they didn't bring in a more complete roster to help absorb the loss of any player that got hurt, but losing your starting PG is going to hurt regardless.

I've been extremely critical of the in-game coaching and style of play that this team has exhibited over the past few weeks. I think it is a huge detriment and needs to be addressed in a big way before next season if Mullin is going to turn it around, and I think Mullin will make changes to his staff to bring in real X's and O's guys.

Let's look at Northwestern over the past season and a half. Last year they had their usual low expectations and they managed to greatly exceed them, make their 1st NCAA tournament in program history and push Gonzaga to the limit in the 2nd round. They lost one starter (their 4th or 5th best one) and returned literally everybody else of importance. For one reason or another they are a complete dumpster fire this year after being a preseason top 25 team. Chris Collins is probably a really good coach that is just not making it work this season after making all the right moves last year. My point here is that the team/staff may not be as good as perceived at their highest point and not as bad as perceived at their lowest point.

Am I saying Chris Mullin is Chris Collins? No. What I am saying is sometimes shit happens in this sport and you can't reasonably make a decision one way or another on a coaching staff based on a two and a half week period of play. I have no idea if Mullin will ever achieve great success here and my instincts say he won't unless he swallows his pride and brings in a couple of assistant coaches that will really help with both the basketball and recruiting end of things. I do think he does have a decent chance to turn things around if he does, but we'll see

I will say this. The combination of not having an experienced bench coach with his hands off approach is kind of baffling.

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:26:29 PM

Look, it's year 3 of a complete rebuild. Up until about 2 and a half weeks ago we were right on track to where we realistically wanted to be in year 3 of the Mullin era. The Lovett injury was bad luck and kind of derailed the season, and yes it is 100% on the staff that they didn't bring in a more complete roster to help absorb the loss of any player that got hurt, but losing your starting PG is going to hurt regardless.

I've been extremely critical of the in-game coaching and style of play that this team has exhibited over the past few weeks. I think it is a huge detriment and needs to be addressed in a big way before next season if Mullin is going to turn it around, and I think Mullin will make changes to his staff to bring in real X's and O's guys.

Let's look at Northwestern over the past season and a half. Last year they had their usual low expectations and they managed to greatly exceed them, make their 1st NCAA tournament in program history and push Gonzaga to the limit in the 2nd round. They lost one starter (their 4th or 5th best one) and returned literally everybody else of importance. For one reason or another they are a complete dumpster fire this year after being a preseason top 25 team. Chris Collins is probably a really good coach that is just not making it work this season after making all the right moves last year. My point here is that the team/staff may not be as good as perceived at their highest point and not as bad as perceived at their lowest point.

Am I saying Chris Mullin is Chris Collins? No. What I am saying is sometimes shit happens in this sport and you can't reasonably make a decision one way or another on a coaching staff based on a two and a half week period of play. I have no idea if Mullin will ever achieve great success here and my instincts say he won't unless he swallows his pride and brings in a couple of assistant coaches that will really help with both the basketball and recruiting end of things. I do think he does have a decent chance to turn things around if he does, but we'll see

I will say this. The combination of not having an experienced bench coach with his hands off approach is kind of baffling.

I agree, and I think that's priority #1 right now after this season is over. It's possible for Mullin to turn this around but he won't do it with this current staff. Matt is solid in as job as the hustling recruiter but he can't do it on his own. I get Mitch Richmond has appeal when Matt is pitching recruits that they can play for 2 Hall of Fame players but he can do what he does as DOBO and not as an AC. He doesn't recruit and he's not an X's and O's guy so why is he an AC. St. Jean should be grinding his teeth at a lower level. A 26 year old can't be the only X's and O's guy on the staff.

Ideally to me, we should keep Matt, hire one experienced former head coach that only deals with X's and O's stuff and a guy that is half X's and O's and half recruiting. We'll see what Mullin ends up doing

Quote from: we are sju on January 14, 2018, 11:35:36 PM

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:26:29 PM

Look, it's year 3 of a complete rebuild. Up until about 2 and a half weeks ago we were right on track to where we realistically wanted to be in year 3 of the Mullin era. The Lovett injury was bad luck and kind of derailed the season, and yes it is 100% on the staff that they didn't bring in a more complete roster to help absorb the loss of any player that got hurt, but losing your starting PG is going to hurt regardless.

I've been extremely critical of the in-game coaching and style of play that this team has exhibited over the past few weeks. I think it is a huge detriment and needs to be addressed in a big way before next season if Mullin is going to turn it around, and I think Mullin will make changes to his staff to bring in real X's and O's guys.

Let's look at Northwestern over the past season and a half. Last year they had their usual low expectations and they managed to greatly exceed them, make their 1st NCAA tournament in program history and push Gonzaga to the limit in the 2nd round. They lost one starter (their 4th or 5th best one) and returned literally everybody else of importance. For one reason or another they are a complete dumpster fire this year after being a preseason top 25 team. Chris Collins is probably a really good coach that is just not making it work this season after making all the right moves last year. My point here is that the team/staff may not be as good as perceived at their highest point and not as bad as perceived at their lowest point.

Am I saying Chris Mullin is Chris Collins? No. What I am saying is sometimes shit happens in this sport and you can't reasonably make a decision one way or another on a coaching staff based on a two and a half week period of play. I have no idea if Mullin will ever achieve great success here and my instincts say he won't unless he swallows his pride and brings in a couple of assistant coaches that will really help with both the basketball and recruiting end of things. I do think he does have a decent chance to turn things around if he does, but we'll see

I will say this. The combination of not having an experienced bench coach with his hands off approach is kind of baffling.

I agree, and I think that's priority #1 right now after this season is over. It's possible for Mullin to turn this around but he won't do it with this current staff. Matt is solid in as job as the hustling recruiter but he can't do it on his own. I get Mitch Richmond has appeal when Matt is pitching recruits that they can play for 2 Hall of Fame players but he can do what he does as DOBO and not as an AC. He doesn't recruit and he's not an X's and O's guy so why is he an AC. St. Jean should be grinding his teeth at a lower level. A 26 year old can't be the only X's and O's guy on the staff.

Ideally to me, we should keep Matt, hire one experienced former head coach that only deals with X's and O's stuff and a guy that is half X's and O's and half recruiting. We'll see what Mullin ends up doing

Here’s a question that I don’t believe has been asked...

Why do we keep saying that Mullin needs an X & O assistant? Hasn’t Chris Mullin always had a reputation as a guy that has a high basketball IQ? Why can’t he draw up a play? Why can’t he communicate with his own team? What exactly other than being Chris Mullin makes him qualified to be a head coach?

IMO, we’ll never see the correct answer. Mullin should take responsibility and accept a demotion. The University should hire a coach who can coach during the f’n game.

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:50:48 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 14, 2018, 11:35:36 PM

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:26:29 PM

Look, it's year 3 of a complete rebuild. Up until about 2 and a half weeks ago we were right on track to where we realistically wanted to be in year 3 of the Mullin era. The Lovett injury was bad luck and kind of derailed the season, and yes it is 100% on the staff that they didn't bring in a more complete roster to help absorb the loss of any player that got hurt, but losing your starting PG is going to hurt regardless.

I've been extremely critical of the in-game coaching and style of play that this team has exhibited over the past few weeks. I think it is a huge detriment and needs to be addressed in a big way before next season if Mullin is going to turn it around, and I think Mullin will make changes to his staff to bring in real X's and O's guys.

Let's look at Northwestern over the past season and a half. Last year they had their usual low expectations and they managed to greatly exceed them, make their 1st NCAA tournament in program history and push Gonzaga to the limit in the 2nd round. They lost one starter (their 4th or 5th best one) and returned literally everybody else of importance. For one reason or another they are a complete dumpster fire this year after being a preseason top 25 team. Chris Collins is probably a really good coach that is just not making it work this season after making all the right moves last year. My point here is that the team/staff may not be as good as perceived at their highest point and not as bad as perceived at their lowest point.

Am I saying Chris Mullin is Chris Collins? No. What I am saying is sometimes shit happens in this sport and you can't reasonably make a decision one way or another on a coaching staff based on a two and a half week period of play. I have no idea if Mullin will ever achieve great success here and my instincts say he won't unless he swallows his pride and brings in a couple of assistant coaches that will really help with both the basketball and recruiting end of things. I do think he does have a decent chance to turn things around if he does, but we'll see

I will say this. The combination of not having an experienced bench coach with his hands off approach is kind of baffling.

I agree, and I think that's priority #1 right now after this season is over. It's possible for Mullin to turn this around but he won't do it with this current staff. Matt is solid in as job as the hustling recruiter but he can't do it on his own. I get Mitch Richmond has appeal when Matt is pitching recruits that they can play for 2 Hall of Fame players but he can do what he does as DOBO and not as an AC. He doesn't recruit and he's not an X's and O's guy so why is he an AC. St. Jean should be grinding his teeth at a lower level. A 26 year old can't be the only X's and O's guy on the staff.

Ideally to me, we should keep Matt, hire one experienced former head coach that only deals with X's and O's stuff and a guy that is half X's and O's and half recruiting. We'll see what Mullin ends up doing

Here’s a question that I don’t believe has been asked...

Why do we keep saying that Mullin needs an X & O assistant? Hasn’t Chris Mullin always had a reputation as a guy that has a high basketball IQ? Why can’t he draw up a play? Why can’t he communicate with his own team? What exactly other than being Chris Mullin makes him qualified to be a head coach?

IMO, we’ll never see the correct answer. Mullin should take responsibility and accept a demotion. The University should hire a coach who can coach during the f’n game.

Having high basketball IQ as a player or front office guy doesn't necessarily translate into being a coach, especially at the college level when Mullin has been around the NBA game for the last 30 years. It's not so much drawing up a play as it is knowing how to exploit the opponent's weaknesses while making adjustments to make sure your opponent can't exploit your weaknesses. And that's just part of it.

Nothing other than him being Chris Mullin qualifies him to be a head coach. But the same situation happened with Fred Hoiberg. He was a guy that had extremely limited coaching experience and some NBA front office experience before getting the head coaching job at Iowa State just because he was a great player there. He actually wound up turning that program from Big 12 doormat into Big 12 power pretty quickly. Ironically he took over for Greg McDermott who went 6-10, 4-12, 4-12, 4-12 in the Big 12 in his 4 years at Iowa State. Now McDermott is considered one of the better coaches in the country.

I'm not saying Chris Mullin is going to experience anywhere near the same success Hoiberg did at Iowa State and the smart money right now would be on Mullin ending up as a complete failure as coach. But just because he only got the job because he's Chris Mullin doesn't mean he's guaranteed to be a failure, as Hoiberg has shown. He just needs to surround himself with the right people like Hoiberg did

The talent just isn't there yet. This year's roster is limited even with Lovett. They were also caught up waiting around for Marcus to return. I never felt during the occ that Mullin and staff were being out coached. The things that have bothered me are their stubborness in sticking with man to man and the effort in two of the home defeats. They run some decent sets imo just can't shoot. I would love to see a veteran on the bench aswell like everyone else and I think that will happen.

The problem is Slice struck out with every single recruit his first year and never had a plan b . Matt A. was shaping the roster the best he could and has had some bad luck which he deserves blame for with Zach Brown, Sid Wilson plus striking out with Luther. He also risked the roster to finally get some balance which has obviously hurt them.  I really do believe if they sign Alan Griffin along with Greg Williams, Josh Roberts and J'Raan Brooks they are filling the roster with the right type of players. These guys are hungry and get after it. These are the type of kids this program needs. Then go out and get Cockburn,Igiehon Achuiwa, Lecue or whoever.

I really believe they'll get this right... They better.

The talent just isn't there yet. This year's roster is limited even with Lovett. They were also caught up waiting around for Marcus to return. I never felt during the occ that Mullin and staff were being out coached. The things that have bothered me are their stubborness in sticking with man to man and the effort in two of the home defeats. They run some decent sets imo just can't shoot. I would love to see a veteran on the bench aswell like everyone else and I think that will happen.

The problem is Slice struck out with every single recruit his first year and never had a plan b . Matt A. was shaping the roster the best he could and has had some bad luck which he deserves blame for with Zach Brown, Sid Wilson plus striking out with Luther. He also risked the roster to finally get some balance which has obviously hurt them.  I really do believe if they sign Alan Griffin along with Greg Williams, Josh Roberts and J'Raan Brooks they are filling the roster with the right type of players. These guys are hungry and get after it. These are the type of kids this program needs. Then go out and get Cockburn,Igiehon Achuiwa, Lecue or whoever.

I really believe they'll get this right... They better.

Great post. We all said in the preseason that they were so thin that if there was one injury they couldn't withstand it. It happened to the worst possible player. Not having any depth is what's killing them most. Imagine if they have another injury before this season ends? We'd be playing the Molloy walk-ons. In year 3 that's unacceptable. A grad transfer PG should've been on this team.

This is going to hurt feelings- not intended to-
What if he just doesn’t know what he is doing?
What if he just made a mistake thinking he could did this?
What if he just isn’t willing to put the work in? He is not young  he doesn’t need the money .

I believe all these things. I am sure someone will call me names for thinking this. Bad players can be coached better. I don’t believe our players are bad.
We could run an offense. “ Amar never shoot. “ “Amar set a screen for Shamori”
We could guard the 3 point line-
We could box out

If not signing back Lavin was such a mistake, where was the talent he was bringing in for that next season? We can't diss Mullin, want Lavin back and then argue Amar/LoVett/Mussini's shortcomings is Mullin's responsibility. He was given nothing to work with for year 1. It takes time to build a roster.

Quote from: Poison on January 15, 2018, 12:26:14 AM

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:50:48 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 14, 2018, 11:35:36 PM

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:26:29 PM

Look, it's year 3 of a complete rebuild. Up until about 2 and a half weeks ago we were right on track to where we realistically wanted to be in year 3 of the Mullin era. The Lovett injury was bad luck and kind of derailed the season, and yes it is 100% on the staff that they didn't bring in a more complete roster to help absorb the loss of any player that got hurt, but losing your starting PG is going to hurt regardless.

I've been extremely critical of the in-game coaching and style of play that this team has exhibited over the past few weeks. I think it is a huge detriment and needs to be addressed in a big way before next season if Mullin is going to turn it around, and I think Mullin will make changes to his staff to bring in real X's and O's guys.

Let's look at Northwestern over the past season and a half. Last year they had their usual low expectations and they managed to greatly exceed them, make their 1st NCAA tournament in program history and push Gonzaga to the limit in the 2nd round. They lost one starter (their 4th or 5th best one) and returned literally everybody else of importance. For one reason or another they are a complete dumpster fire this year after being a preseason top 25 team. Chris Collins is probably a really good coach that is just not making it work this season after making all the right moves last year. My point here is that the team/staff may not be as good as perceived at their highest point and not as bad as perceived at their lowest point.

Am I saying Chris Mullin is Chris Collins? No. What I am saying is sometimes shit happens in this sport and you can't reasonably make a decision one way or another on a coaching staff based on a two and a half week period of play. I have no idea if Mullin will ever achieve great success here and my instincts say he won't unless he swallows his pride and brings in a couple of assistant coaches that will really help with both the basketball and recruiting end of things. I do think he does have a decent chance to turn things around if he does, but we'll see

I will say this. The combination of not having an experienced bench coach with his hands off approach is kind of baffling.

I agree, and I think that's priority #1 right now after this season is over. It's possible for Mullin to turn this around but he won't do it with this current staff. Matt is solid in as job as the hustling recruiter but he can't do it on his own. I get Mitch Richmond has appeal when Matt is pitching recruits that they can play for 2 Hall of Fame players but he can do what he does as DOBO and not as an AC. He doesn't recruit and he's not an X's and O's guy so why is he an AC. St. Jean should be grinding his teeth at a lower level. A 26 year old can't be the only X's and O's guy on the staff.

Ideally to me, we should keep Matt, hire one experienced former head coach that only deals with X's and O's stuff and a guy that is half X's and O's and half recruiting. We'll see what Mullin ends up doing

Here’s a question that I don’t believe has been asked...

Why do we keep saying that Mullin needs an X & O assistant? Hasn’t Chris Mullin always had a reputation as a guy that has a high basketball IQ? Why can’t he draw up a play? Why can’t he communicate with his own team? What exactly other than being Chris Mullin makes him qualified to be a head coach?

IMO, we’ll never see the correct answer. Mullin should take responsibility and accept a demotion. The University should hire a coach who can coach during the f’n game.

Having high basketball IQ as a player or front office guy doesn't necessarily translate into being a coach, especially at the college level when Mullin has been around the NBA game for the last 30 years. It's not so much drawing up a play as it is knowing how to exploit the opponent's weaknesses while making adjustments to make sure your opponent can't exploit your weaknesses. And that's just part of it.

Nothing other than him being Chris Mullin qualifies him to be a head coach. But the same situation happened with Fred Hoiberg. He was a guy that had extremely limited coaching experience and some NBA front office experience before getting the head coaching job at Iowa State just because he was a great player there. He actually wound up turning that program from Big 12 doormat into Big 12 power pretty quickly. Ironically he took over for Greg McDermott who went 6-10, 4-12, 4-12, 4-12 in the Big 12 in his 4 years at Iowa State. Now McDermott is considered one of the better coaches in the country.

I'm not saying Chris Mullin is going to experience anywhere near the same success Hoiberg did at Iowa State and the smart money right now would be on Mullin ending up as a complete failure as coach. But just because he only got the job because he's Chris Mullin doesn't mean he's guaranteed to be a failure, as Hoiberg has shown. He just needs to surround himself with the right people like Hoiberg did

I completely agree. It doesn’t. But listening to people talk about replacing Richmond but not Mullin is laughable. What does one offer that the other doesn’t? I think it’s nothing more than nostalgia. I’ve seen enough of this staff to know I’m ready to move on after this season.

Hire a damn basketball coach. St.John’s always thinks they have a better idea.

Quote from: goredmen on January 15, 2018, 12:42:40 AM

Quote from: Poison on January 15, 2018, 12:26:14 AM

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:50:48 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 14, 2018, 11:35:36 PM

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:26:29 PM

Look, it's year 3 of a complete rebuild. Up until about 2 and a half weeks ago we were right on track to where we realistically wanted to be in year 3 of the Mullin era. The Lovett injury was bad luck and kind of derailed the season, and yes it is 100% on the staff that they didn't bring in a more complete roster to help absorb the loss of any player that got hurt, but losing your starting PG is going to hurt regardless.

I've been extremely critical of the in-game coaching and style of play that this team has exhibited over the past few weeks. I think it is a huge detriment and needs to be addressed in a big way before next season if Mullin is going to turn it around, and I think Mullin will make changes to his staff to bring in real X's and O's guys.

Let's look at Northwestern over the past season and a half. Last year they had their usual low expectations and they managed to greatly exceed them, make their 1st NCAA tournament in program history and push Gonzaga to the limit in the 2nd round. They lost one starter (their 4th or 5th best one) and returned literally everybody else of importance. For one reason or another they are a complete dumpster fire this year after being a preseason top 25 team. Chris Collins is probably a really good coach that is just not making it work this season after making all the right moves last year. My point here is that the team/staff may not be as good as perceived at their highest point and not as bad as perceived at their lowest point.

Am I saying Chris Mullin is Chris Collins? No. What I am saying is sometimes shit happens in this sport and you can't reasonably make a decision one way or another on a coaching staff based on a two and a half week period of play. I have no idea if Mullin will ever achieve great success here and my instincts say he won't unless he swallows his pride and brings in a couple of assistant coaches that will really help with both the basketball and recruiting end of things. I do think he does have a decent chance to turn things around if he does, but we'll see

I will say this. The combination of not having an experienced bench coach with his hands off approach is kind of baffling.

I agree, and I think that's priority #1 right now after this season is over. It's possible for Mullin to turn this around but he won't do it with this current staff. Matt is solid in as job as the hustling recruiter but he can't do it on his own. I get Mitch Richmond has appeal when Matt is pitching recruits that they can play for 2 Hall of Fame players but he can do what he does as DOBO and not as an AC. He doesn't recruit and he's not an X's and O's guy so why is he an AC. St. Jean should be grinding his teeth at a lower level. A 26 year old can't be the only X's and O's guy on the staff.

Ideally to me, we should keep Matt, hire one experienced former head coach that only deals with X's and O's stuff and a guy that is half X's and O's and half recruiting. We'll see what Mullin ends up doing

Here’s a question that I don’t believe has been asked...

Why do we keep saying that Mullin needs an X & O assistant? Hasn’t Chris Mullin always had a reputation as a guy that has a high basketball IQ? Why can’t he draw up a play? Why can’t he communicate with his own team? What exactly other than being Chris Mullin makes him qualified to be a head coach?

IMO, we’ll never see the correct answer. Mullin should take responsibility and accept a demotion. The University should hire a coach who can coach during the f’n game.

Having high basketball IQ as a player or front office guy doesn't necessarily translate into being a coach, especially at the college level when Mullin has been around the NBA game for the last 30 years. It's not so much drawing up a play as it is knowing how to exploit the opponent's weaknesses while making adjustments to make sure your opponent can't exploit your weaknesses. And that's just part of it.

Nothing other than him being Chris Mullin qualifies him to be a head coach. But the same situation happened with Fred Hoiberg. He was a guy that had extremely limited coaching experience and some NBA front office experience before getting the head coaching job at Iowa State just because he was a great player there. He actually wound up turning that program from Big 12 doormat into Big 12 power pretty quickly. Ironically he took over for Greg McDermott who went 6-10, 4-12, 4-12, 4-12 in the Big 12 in his 4 years at Iowa State. Now McDermott is considered one of the better coaches in the country.

I'm not saying Chris Mullin is going to experience anywhere near the same success Hoiberg did at Iowa State and the smart money right now would be on Mullin ending up as a complete failure as coach. But just because he only got the job because he's Chris Mullin doesn't mean he's guaranteed to be a failure, as Hoiberg has shown. He just needs to surround himself with the right people like Hoiberg did

I completely agree. It doesn’t. But listening to people talk about replacing Richmond but not Mullin is laughable. What does one offer that the other doesn’t? I think it’s nothing more than nostalgia. I’ve seen enough of this staff to know I’m ready to move on after this season.

Hire a damn basketball coach. St.John’s always thinks they have a better idea.

I'm not ready to move on. 

Quote from: Poison on January 15, 2018, 12:03:18 PM

Quote from: goredmen on January 15, 2018, 12:42:40 AM

Quote from: Poison on January 15, 2018, 12:26:14 AM

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:50:48 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 14, 2018, 11:35:36 PM

Quote from: goredmen on January 14, 2018, 11:26:29 PM

Look, it's year 3 of a complete rebuild. Up until about 2 and a half weeks ago we were right on track to where we realistically wanted to be in year 3 of the Mullin era. The Lovett injury was bad luck and kind of derailed the season, and yes it is 100% on the staff that they didn't bring in a more complete roster to help absorb the loss of any player that got hurt, but losing your starting PG is going to hurt regardless.

I've been extremely critical of the in-game coaching and style of play that this team has exhibited over the past few weeks. I think it is a huge detriment and needs to be addressed in a big way before next season if Mullin is going to turn it around, and I think Mullin will make changes to his staff to bring in real X's and O's guys.

Let's look at Northwestern over the past season and a half. Last year they had their usual low expectations and they managed to greatly exceed them, make their 1st NCAA tournament in program history and push Gonzaga to the limit in the 2nd round. They lost one starter (their 4th or 5th best one) and returned literally everybody else of importance. For one reason or another they are a complete dumpster fire this year after being a preseason top 25 team. Chris Collins is probably a really good coach that is just not making it work this season after making all the right moves last year. My point here is that the team/staff may not be as good as perceived at their highest point and not as bad as perceived at their lowest point.

Am I saying Chris Mullin is Chris Collins? No. What I am saying is sometimes shit happens in this sport and you can't reasonably make a decision one way or another on a coaching staff based on a two and a half week period of play. I have no idea if Mullin will ever achieve great success here and my instincts say he won't unless he swallows his pride and brings in a couple of assistant coaches that will really help with both the basketball and recruiting end of things. I do think he does have a decent chance to turn things around if he does, but we'll see

I will say this. The combination of not having an experienced bench coach with his hands off approach is kind of baffling.

I agree, and I think that's priority #1 right now after this season is over. It's possible for Mullin to turn this around but he won't do it with this current staff. Matt is solid in as job as the hustling recruiter but he can't do it on his own. I get Mitch Richmond has appeal when Matt is pitching recruits that they can play for 2 Hall of Fame players but he can do what he does as DOBO and not as an AC. He doesn't recruit and he's not an X's and O's guy so why is he an AC. St. Jean should be grinding his teeth at a lower level. A 26 year old can't be the only X's and O's guy on the staff.

Ideally to me, we should keep Matt, hire one experienced former head coach that only deals with X's and O's stuff and a guy that is half X's and O's and half recruiting. We'll see what Mullin ends up doing

Here’s a question that I don’t believe has been asked...

Why do we keep saying that Mullin needs an X & O assistant? Hasn’t Chris Mullin always had a reputation as a guy that has a high basketball IQ? Why can’t he draw up a play? Why can’t he communicate with his own team? What exactly other than being Chris Mullin makes him qualified to be a head coach?

IMO, we’ll never see the correct answer. Mullin should take responsibility and accept a demotion. The University should hire a coach who can coach during the f’n game.

Having high basketball IQ as a player or front office guy doesn't necessarily translate into being a coach, especially at the college level when Mullin has been around the NBA game for the last 30 years. It's not so much drawing up a play as it is knowing how to exploit the opponent's weaknesses while making adjustments to make sure your opponent can't exploit your weaknesses. And that's just part of it.

Nothing other than him being Chris Mullin qualifies him to be a head coach. But the same situation happened with Fred Hoiberg. He was a guy that had extremely limited coaching experience and some NBA front office experience before getting the head coaching job at Iowa State just because he was a great player there. He actually wound up turning that program from Big 12 doormat into Big 12 power pretty quickly. Ironically he took over for Greg McDermott who went 6-10, 4-12, 4-12, 4-12 in the Big 12 in his 4 years at Iowa State. Now McDermott is considered one of the better coaches in the country.

I'm not saying Chris Mullin is going to experience anywhere near the same success Hoiberg did at Iowa State and the smart money right now would be on Mullin ending up as a complete failure as coach. But just because he only got the job because he's Chris Mullin doesn't mean he's guaranteed to be a failure, as Hoiberg has shown. He just needs to surround himself with the right people like Hoiberg did

I completely agree. It doesn’t. But listening to people talk about replacing Richmond but not Mullin is laughable. What does one offer that the other doesn’t? I think it’s nothing more than nostalgia. I’ve seen enough of this staff to know I’m ready to move on after this season.

Hire a damn basketball coach. St.John’s always thinks they have a better idea.

I'm not ready to move on. 

That's what she said.

A big part of coaching is teaching. In academia there are many instructors who have great knowledge of the subject matter but are ineffective teachers. To become a good teacher it takes 4 or 5 years. So far it's obvious that Mullin is lacking in this area. Hopefully he can grow as a teacher. However he hasn't shown me a passion for coaching and a desire to work on his craft. I say this because it's reflective in his laid back approach in his recruiting . He said when he took the job he be in every H S gym in the metro area. So far Chris has been a disappointment as the head coach. Hopefully he changes his attitude and recommits to the program.

The demanding an assistant coach change makes me laugh.

Uh he's the HC if he needs the fan base to tell him he needs a new assistant then he should've never been hired to begin with.   If he is comfortable with this staff and feels he can win then who am I to say no.

That's his problem.  Who knows if he wants someone else.  You hired CM to make these decisions, if you feel the need to question his staff already then again why did you entrust him with that responsibility to begin with?

The demanding an assistant coach change makes me laugh.

Uh he's the HC if he needs the fan base to tell him he needs a new assistant then he should've never been hired to begin with.   If he is comfortable with this staff and feels he can win then who am I to say no.

That's his problem.  Who knows if he wants someone else.  You hired CM to make these decisions, if you feel the need to question his staff already then again why did you entrust him with that responsibility to begin with?

Agreed sir.

The demanding an assistant coach change makes me laugh.

Uh he's the HC if he needs the fan base to tell him he needs a new assistant then he should've never been hired to begin with.   If he is comfortable with this staff and feels he can win then who am I to say no.

That's his problem.  Who knows if he wants someone else.  You hired CM to make these decisions, if you feel the need to question his staff already then again why did you entrust him with that responsibility to begin with?

You're right but Mullin is going to be the coach for as long as he wants to be the coach. So as a fan all we can hope for at this point is he does what has to do to turn this around. The first thing would be to shake up the staff. If he does that and gets the right people in place he can be successful

Mullin should be allowed to coach with whatever staff he chooses. He knows the style he wants to play and the kind of kids he needs to make it work. So far, he has largely recruited high character, talented kids who want to be here and represent the University well. We're in year 3 of a total rebuild and the loss of LoVett hurts way more than people think. His on-ball pressure was a large part of our defensive success while he was here. He caused teams real problems in getting the ball up and getting into their offensive sets. As the shot clock winds down, shooting percentages plummet. LoVett is not getting credit for what he did. Played 38 minutes a game and scored 15 per game. Hard to replace those numbers with a thin bench, caused by our recruiting Zach Brown scaring Sima away, Mussini's decision to go home for pro money, Ellison's unwillingness to compete with Simon for playing time, and UConn's continued recruitment of Sid Wilson even after he was on our campus and enrolled in Summer classes.

Having two sit out transfers certainly didn't help when LoVett got hurt and Wilson left, but we should have better roster balance and a deeper bench next season. Two and a half years into a total rebuild, Chris Mullin shouldn't be subjected to the garbage on our fan sites. Luckily for us, I don't think he gives a shit what our angry, aging fan base thinks and will continue to do the job he was hired to do and build a program that will compete for an NCAA  bid every year.

Quote from: fordham96 on January 15, 2018, 08:23:09 PM

The demanding an assistant coach change makes me laugh.

Uh he's the HC if he needs the fan base to tell him he needs a new assistant then he should've never been hired to begin with.   If he is comfortable with this staff and feels he can win then who am I to say no.

That's his problem.  Who knows if he wants someone else.  You hired CM to make these decisions, if you feel the need to question his staff already then again why did you entrust him with that responsibility to begin with?

You're right but Mullin is going to be the coach for as long as he wants to be the coach. So as a fan all we can hope for at this point is he does what has to do to turn this around. The first thing would be to shake up the staff. If he does that and gets the right people in place he can be successful

THIS   It's done all the time in sports witness this years GB Packers who didn't want to fire HC Mike McCarthy but had him change both his offensive and defensive coordinators and gave him a one year extension so he has 2 years left on his contract. In other words win now or you're next.