It seems to me...

[SLUDrew]

that those who defend Brad never really point out things about Brad they really like (ie his floor coaching, recruiting etc). They simply say he is better than the alternative. Keeping him is better than rocking the boat.

It is well-documented what those of us who aren't enamored with Coach do not like about his coaching, but I can't really put my finger on what those on the pro-Brad side really like about his coaching.

So I ask you, what about Brad do you really like other than him being the current coach and a good guy both of which we would all concede?

I do not mean this sarcastically at all.

[Billikan]

I really like how hard his teams play and how resiliant they are. They play tough defense and never quit.

I like the fact that he did what he said he was going to do in terms of opening up the offense. We took a lot of shots early in the clock this year and we ran on many plays that we would have previously walked the ball up the court.

In my view, if you give him a week or so to prepare for an opponent I think he is excellent at devising a specific game plan for a specific player or team.

He has also developed a very good game demeanor on the bench--totally different from how he was earlier. That is one of the things I like is the fact that he is willing to change things even though he is a "stay the course" type of person.

But it is that "stay the course" personality that gets him into trouble as well because he is loyal to a fault. Loyalty is a great attribute in life but sometimes a change is in order.

As a game coach, I admire the fact that his teams fight back from deficits, even on the road.

The bottom line is that this man is not perfect but I watch a lot of games and I see some terrible coaching decisions by some of the media darling coaches.

I am friends with a lot of former ballplayers from a lot of schools and they think that Brad is fine as a coach. We just need a few more good players, in my opinion.

[stchuckbilliken]

His record for the last three years are:

9 - 21

16 - 13

20 - 13

You getting the ideal now.

[WVBilliken]

I am a big Brad supporter. Yeah, I have been a disappointed with his recruiting the past couple of years but think that he is headed in the right direction. Switching coaches every 3 to 5 years is not the solution!

I am willing to give coach some more time. I think he will come through. I will jump on the bandwagon to ditch Brad if he doesn't come through this Spring and next year. But I think he will come through. Good programs have continuity. SLU needs that badly.

[kevinfootes]

I know Nark and some others think SLU can land a Rick Majerus/Steve Lavin type coach (yes, there were at least four people on this board who floated around big name coaches ... I've already documented that). The truth is that the Brad and Gregory were the two finalists the last time around. Not exactly the most exciting choices. I actually didn't like the Brad hire very much, but SLU didn't have much choice. Can you guarantee that SLU will land a better, more successful coach?

Here's a positive on Brad ... 9 wins to 16 wins to 20 wins. I thought SLU would be a little bit better this season, but those people who were predicting 25 wins were being unrealistic.

[SLUDrew]

I really like the Matt Doherty idea.

The bottom line is you don't really know what names would pop up if a search were conducted. Evidetnly Chris Collins, a Coach K assistant, is being considered for the Illinois St. job. I have to think SLU, considering the new facility we have coming and our market size, would be a much more attractive job than Illinois St.

None of us can guarantee anything. You can't guarantee we will ever improve under Brad, and I can't guarantee we will be better off without him. I would rather take a chance to improve and fall flat on our face than continue the current trend.

[kevinfootes]

You'd rather fall flat on our faces than continue the current trend of winning more games than the previous season?

You can look 125 miles west of St. Louis to see an example of a Coahc K disciple.

While SLU might be a step up from MD's current situation, I'd be willing to bet that he'd stay put until a better offer than SLU came around.

By the way, MD lost his players at UNC. I'm not sure that bodes well.

[slu72]

He's should be given one more year...then bought out. As for a new coach, they're out there waiting to be discovered. They always are. Some examples: Ryan at UW, Behlein at WVU, the guy at Air Force, Theus at New Mexico, the list could go on. Even if the new guy's no better, he's going to be given 5 years. Let's say he succeeds beyond our wildest dreams, and he gets us dancing in 3 years. He leaves for a BCS'er. The stipulation should be he bring in a really good AC, who can continue the trend. HC's can't do it alone, they need good AC's. I don't think anyone would feel real comfortable if Jamal took over right now. This is how you get it done in the world of mid major hoops. A comment on Brad for his supporters. I find it interesting, actually perplexing, that he doesn't get renewed at UW after he's the head AC on a final 4 team, and the interim HC on a team that makes the dance in what could have been a wipeout year for UW, ie Bennet leaving in midseason. Not deemed to be the man at UW, you would have thought other schools, not necessarily BCS'ers, but at least a high mid major program would have given him a look. Nothing, except Romar's offer to be an AC. What the hell did other schools know that we didn't?

[SLUDrew]

He made ND's dormant program relevant again in one season. The players he "lost" at UNC said paractices were too difficult if I remember correctly. I don't think he would have that same problem here as our roster is not exactly stocked with McDonald's All-Americans. After he lost his players at UNC he coached Fla Atlantic to their first winning season in years.

Yes he has struggled this year at SMU, but I think he would be a great fit here. He is charismatic, relates to boosters, can recruit and most importantly, coach the game of basketball. It would be a clean start for our program.; a new arena and a new head coach.

Matt Doherty is just one example. There would be many qualified candidates that would pop up who we are not even thiking about right now.

[slufanskip]

I'm not sure you could conduct a behind the scenes coaching search. Too many people would find out. Talk about a recriting killer if that were to leak.

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[MUTGR]

Nolan Richardson desperately wants to coach again, SLU needs something to generate some excitement in a new building.

[SLUDrew]

I wouldn't expect it to be done behind the scenes. We would have to let Brad go first.

[cheeseman]

Richardson might want to coach again but why is nobody hiring him? That has got to concern you. It is OK to talk about this issue but it is simply internet chatter - nothing will come of it and we simply have to wait until the two recruiting periods are over to see what the future holds.

[courtside]

who have mentioned Matt Doherty, Mark Fox, Reggie Theus....etc...these people make more money than Soderberg now. All three of them individually. And some are building state of the art practice facilities too.

Why would any of these have any interest in SLU?

I've heard these names mentioned several times on here.

[NashvilleBilliken]

I'm staying out of these conversations for the most part because everybody knows where I stand. Plus, it's just not enjoyable to berate my team and coach...or read about it. But when I see some of these names, I gotta respond.

If we were to hire a new coach, I absolutely would not want Matt Doherty. Dude, if he can't get it done at UNC what in the world would make you believe he can get it done at SLU? We have about half the budget, half the facilities, a quarter of the tradition and about a tenth of the fan base.

You say we don't have McDonald's All Americans, so that wouldn't be a problem. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't your beef with Soderberg that he can't recruit. Aren't you hoping for some top shelf talent?!?! Don't be a hipocrite.

And finally, you even admit he is struggling at SMU. Again, why would that translate to success at SLU?? He had a great season at ND, moved to greener pastures and couldn't hang. He's gone to smaller pastures and hasn't exactly made a huge splash (207 RPI!?!?). So we want to promote him?

Listen, Brad has earned the critsism he gets here IMO. He underachieved last season (and I do put a lot of that on our players as well) and his recruiting the past two years has been average to below average. But when you post things like this, it just shows how much of a vendetta you have against coach. It makes no logical sense WHATSOEVER.

[slufanskip]

Please don't say Nolan Richardson. I'd give up my season tickets at his first mention of race, which would be in his first day.

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[slufanskip]

Sorry, I thought you had mentioned a behind the scenes search earlier. Must have been someone else.

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[MUTGR]

I think his crazy meltdown at Arkansas coupled with his age is why noone is hiring him. He comes across well in interviews and his resume is unbelievable: Junior College Chanmpionship, NIT Championship, 3 Final fours, NCAA Championship. My guess is his style would attract atheletes and fans to SLU.

I should have prefaced my post by saying if SLU decides to fire Soderburg. I'm not saying they should, I think he's a class guy.

I'm saying some of the names thrown around wouldn't do much for me, if I'm a SLU fan.

[courtside]

The 411 on Matt Doherty is he did extremely well at then dormant Notre Dame. He left for his alma mater and later by his own admission blew it there. He fired long time secretaries because they didn't work, he dumped UNC great Phil Ford. He was a power and control freak....and lost control of his team and players after all of this....the highly talented group that would win the National Championship under a different coach the following season. He was out of the game, then went to Florida Atlantic U.....to get a 2nd chance, then SMU job. He has only been at SMU one season. SMU is building state of the art practice facilities for him there. Former KU star(Doherty was long time KU assistant)...Rex Walters replaced him at Florida Atlantic. He is a top of the line recruiter, and was successful coaching at Notre Dame. He recruited well at UNC, extremely well, but struggled in some other areas mightily with control and temper. Says he's learned and changed. SMU is happy to have him, and we'll see how he does there.

[billiken_roy]

i think he is a good defensive coach. while a lot of us arent enamoured with the "pack man to man", the statistics show we have consistently been a good defensive team.

those that think coach soderberg hasnt developed players, i beg to differ. liddell and vouyoukas alone are startling advancements in their games from when they first set foot on campus.

he is a solid person and citizen. someone i wouldnt be ashamed to claim as our coach. ntohing about his creates an air of "slime". in fact he is the direct opposite on all fronts imo.

he indeed has picked up speed on the team offense. there has been a gradual pick up in pace from his first days in charge.

as billikan stated, his weaknesses are also strong character points. he is loyal to a fault to his players and coaches probably. and he so strongly believes in his plans that sometimes he is slow to come off that plan when it isnt working in a game or with a player development.

[SLUDrew]

"i think he is a good defensive coach. while a lot of us arent enamoured with the "pack man to man", the statistics show we have consistently been a good defensive team."

-I think he is terribly overrated as a defensive coach. We were 5th in the A-10 in scoring defense which is okay, but the A-10 isn't exactly full of vaunted offenses. As you mentioned, Brad loves the pack D but he stays in it FAR too long when teams are shooting over it. I think can think of quite a few games this year where we allowed inferior opponents to stay in games because we gave them wide open ooks from three. He never runs fullocurt traps, rarely runs zones and overall is too easy to gameplan against in my opinion.

"those that think coach soderberg hasnt developed players, i beg to differ. liddell and vouyoukas alone are startling advancements in their games from when they first set foot on campus"

-I will give you Liddell, but outside of him I really have seen anything that would lead me to believe Brad can take decent players and make them great players. As much as Ian progressed, he has severely regressed this year. He couldn't get DM and AK to develop enough to play at all this year. DP's skill set is very similar to when he came in. Danny Brown actually seems to have regressed. JJ never improved. Bryce Husak only very recently got any minutes.

I know we all get sick of hearing about it, but Lowery has done a great job of taking a bunch of okay basketball players and molding them into a very tough team. Brad has done nothing of the sort, in my opinion.

"he indeed has picked up speed on the team offense. there has been a gradual pick up in pace from his first days in charge"

-We finished 12th in the A-10 in scoring. Nothing else need be said.

[Billikan]

the difference between those that are more positive and those that are negative is identified in your post.

You say you would rather make a change and take a chance to fall flat on our face than continue with a coach that has had one losing season when his senior stars were both hurt and who won 20 games this year.

As a long time fan, I am not willing to take that chance. I have seen the bad and the ugly and I am not willing to risk that we will go backwards. We tried the up and coming assistant route with Romar and he left us in a hole that we are just now climbing out of. I do not want to see us get a person like Quinn either. He would have been an absolutely terrible person to have affiliated with SLU.

So, my view is that we support the coach we have, and see if he can continue to improve the team. If we go downhill and have no good new recruits then we can talk about a change. I am not at all in the camp that the "grass is always greener"!

[billiken_roy]

lowery's recruits are all the sophomores and freshmen for siu. the juniors and seniors are weber and painter recruits. keep that in mind as you view the siu squad as well.

where we finished in scoring in the conference isnt necessarily a reflection of his change in style which is what i was comenting on. unless your point is you want to go back to playing siu offense fulltime. that isnt what we were hearing 3 years ago.

[SLUDrew]

While we saw some of Brad's promised uptempo style early in the season, it quickly went away as the season progressed. We reverted back his Bennett offense and people fell asleep in the stands

[moytoy12]

the change in style lasted about a 1/3 of the season. In any game of consequence, our offense looks lost.

I hope Sodie ditches the pack defense for all about 10% of the season or when absolutely necessary. Why not go man-to-man? Probably a depth issue.

Someone mentioned that when Brad has a week to scheme a team, he's good at it. Well, why did SLU consistently piss away the first halves of games?

I think Brad's ability to coach on the offensive end is limited. I think his defensive coaching ability is good, but that quality is hidden behind the pack D.