Bay Area Billiken Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Given the totality of the circumstances, and taking the snapshot of where the SLU Basketball program is today, 10/14/11, I'm ok with this hiring of Jim Crews. It looks like a short term move, so far only a one year commitment from Crews. Really, what else was SLU and Coach Majerus supposed to do at this point? Coach Majerus was able to get an experienced X's and O's guy, who has extensive head coaching experience, and comes from a strong basketball pedigree, to join him on short notice. To be continued. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 This isn't a shot at Rickma, but this team doesn't need two Rickmas on the staff. Crews knows his hoops, but I worry about the combined personalities of Rickma and Crews really wearing on the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 This isn't a shot at Rickma, but this team doesn't need two Rickmas on the staff. Crews knows his hoops, but I worry about the combined personalities of Rickma and Crews really wearing on the team. +1,000,000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoBills Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Wow, all of this worrying about an assistant. This program really has come a long way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
For-DaLove Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 This isn't a shot at Rickma, but this team doesn't need two Rickmas on the staff. Crews knows his hoops, but I worry about the combined personalities of Rickma and Crews really wearing on the team.Lol if the team can handle 1 Majerus, they can handle 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 This isn't a shot at Rickma, but this team doesn't need two Rickmas on the staff. Crews knows his hoops, but I worry about the combined personalities of Rickma and Crews really wearing on the team. Not worried as much about this because the team has strong senior leadership in Cassity and Conklin, with Mitchell pushing everybody as well. The team will stay in line. If we were looking at having Crews on the staff 2 or 3 years I'd be more worried, but just a 1 year deal I think the team will get by. If kids leave because Crews and Majerus were too hard on them, lets face it Majerus would probably have cut them anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbizzle09 Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Personally, I am not a big fan of the Crews hire. Even though Roy and I are far removed when it comes to our opinions of Majerus as a coach and person, I do agree with him in regards to Crews's place on this team. I really don't think the players want to deal with another hard-nosed, no-nonsense ball-buster like Majerus, which is what you get with Crews. However, as has been pointed out, was there really a better alternative? Per reports, it is pretty obvious that Majerus was blindsided by this move by Jensen and is none too happy by it. Thus, he reached out to a friend and asked him if he wouldn't mind filling in for a season. Crews, by all accounts, is a very good X's and O's guy, and if he is just looking help out for one season, is there really any harm? Basically, he is the equivalent of a subsitute teacher. He is looking to instill some knowledge, he is given an authoritative position, but in the end he is only really here temporarily. On another front, it appears that the coaching staff had already gotten enough commitments for the 2012 class. Of course, at this point, you need to already be working on getting the 2013 class to be close to, if not already, committed. It looks like Majerus just decided that the lesser of two evils was to forget about recruiting for the moment, and to instead coach this current team up and get them to play as hard as possible right now, and win as many games as they can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Oh...and Whitesell is 51. Just to name a few other coaches who are older than Whitesell ( who I assume you think don't have energy in recruiting) John Calipari 52 Tom Izzo 56 Rick Pitino 59 Roy Williams 61 Band, don't want to sound like Hank Jr here, but Hitler and Osama Bin Laden could be successful recruiters at these coaches' respective schools. I think Whitesel,l and now Crews, were brought in just in case RM suffers a relapse given his health problems. Two former HC's who have been on the sideline pressure cooker probably mean more to the program's success over the next 2 years than hiring a slick salesman type recruiter. My question is who is the lead guy in the event RM suffers a setback? Crews or Whitesell? My hope is these guys can shelve their HC egos and present a united front that humms the mantra, there is no I in team. The most important tool we have in recruiting is to turn this program into a winner- NOW, THIS SEASON! We don't really have a major player shortage program until after the 2013 season. Making some noise this year may prove to the 2013 and 14 classes that SLU is serious about being a big time player in college hoops. The key AC hire will come after this year, when hopefully RM and FR B thinks it's necessary to hire his successor. Hopefully, this is a relatively younger guy with a solid resume as an AC at a big time winner, or the HC of a mid major who wouldn't mind being the associate HC for a year. But the bottom line for recruiting is, just win, baby, just win. As for AJ, if he left SLU because he didn't have the passion for recruiting one must have to be a success in college hoops, then we're better off without him. And I'm not buying into the idea that we're screwed forever if all this blows up in our faces this year and next. In college hoops it just takes the right HC to right the ship in a relatively short period of time. Look at Baylor as an example. How could a program be in anymore of a mess than they were 5 or 6 years ago? Now look at them, they're picked as a lock for a high seed in this year's tourney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billsrmajic Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Personally, I am not a big fan of the Crews hire. Even though Roy and I are far removed when it comes to our opinions of Majerus as a coach and person, I do agree with him in regards to Crews's place on this team. I really don't think the players want to deal with another hard-nosed, no-nonsense ball-buster like Majerus, which is what you get with Crews. However, as has been pointed out, was there really a better alternative? Per reports, it is pretty obvious that Majerus was blindsided by this move by Jensen and is none too happy by it. Thus, he reached out to a friend and asked him if he wouldn't mind filling in for a season. Crews, by all accounts, is a very good X's and O's guy, and if he is just looking help out for one season, is there really any harm? Basically, he is the equivalent of a subsitute teacher. He is looking to instill some knowledge, he is given an authoritative position, but in the end he is only really here temporarily. On another front, it appears that the coaching staff had already gotten enough commitments for the 2012 class. Of course, at this point, you need to already be working on getting the 2013 class to be close to, if not already, committed. It looks like Majerus just decided that the lesser of two evils was to forget about recruiting for the moment, and to instead coach this current team up and get them to play as hard as possible right now, and win as many games as they can. Good post. I'm sure in a perfect world we would hire the next Brad Stevens as our assistant and Rick would groom him to be the next head coach. However, it's not a perfect world. Alex quit a few days before practice was set to begin. In a span of two days, Rick replaced him with someone with 24 years as a head coach and six trips to the NCAA tournament. And many people on this board think this is a bad thing? Give me a break. Rick did the best he could with a bad situation, and it can be argued that Crews will be more helpful to Rick with this team because of his knowledge and experience than Alex would have been. There are many folks on this board who worry constantly about recruiting, yet Rick continues to bring in quality players. I have no doubt he will continue to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Good post. I'm sure in a perfect world we would hire the next Brad Stevens as our assistant and Rick would groom him to be the next head coach. However, it's not a perfect world. Alex quit a few days before practice was set to begin. In a span of two days, Rick replaced him with someone with 24 years as a head coach and six trips to the NCAA tournament. And many people on this board think this is a bad thing? Give me a break. Rick did the best he could with a bad situation, and it can be argued that Crews will be more helpful to Rick with this team because of his knowledge and experience than Alex would have been. There are many folks on this board who worry constantly about recruiting, yet Rick continues to bring in quality players. I have no doubt he will continue to do so.+1 I choose to see the positives as well. The combined experience of Majerus, Whitesell, and Crews is huge. I am hoping game planning even improves and the grooming of guys like Tony Young is great. Whitesell will be the "good cop" in all of this and if Crews is not the main guy and knows it's a one year gig to help out, I would think he would fly under the radar a bit. When Rick gets ill during the season due to a leg laceration that he got from his hotel bed he was climbing out of because he was running to the bathroom because of food poisoning, I think we'll be better off with Crews and Whitesell manning the ship come game time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 typical freak out from people who know little about the situation except what they read on billikens.com. good work guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 typical freak out from people who know little about the situation except what they read on billikens.com. good work guys.Good thing Majerus didn't get upset about the situation or anything like that. Oh wait........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bk18 Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Anyone post anything about CUSA and MW merger for football? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOSLU68 Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Only know the little I have read about this guy, but I don't like this hire at all. I guess all of our recruiting eggs are in the "let's get wins and the kids will follow" basket. If we do well this year, this assistant mess shouldn't be a big issue. If we do poorly, this is going to be a disaster. I was out of town. First, I would have liked Crews as PM replacement if he was 10 years younger. I got used to the Whitesell hire pretty fast after getting to meet him (he and his wfe are living in the Lafayette Square neighborhood) I wondered how the Jensen/ Whitesell dynamics would work out as at open practices and Canadian trip RM was very hands off. Can anyone remember the names of two assistants from BS days? I was pretty appalled by the lack of star power and charisma in those days. Recruiting should be less of an issue for us as we win more games against better opponents and return to some post season appearances. Having 3 head coach quality minds is really a blessing. I was hoping Jensen would stay with us but other than RM he had no SLU connections and think we probably would have lost him in a year or two to his Own college coaching job.. I think we will settle down with some wins and hopefully, the new stents give RM renewed vigor, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Band Legend Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 I was out of town. First, I would have liked Crews as PM replacement if he was 10 years younger. I got used to the Whitesell hire pretty fast after getting to meet him (he and his wfe are living in the Lafayette Square neighborhood) I wondered how the Jensen/ Whitesell dynamics would work out as at open practices and Canadian trip RM was very hands off. Can anyone remember the names of two assistants from BS days? I was pretty appalled by the lack of star power and charisma in those days. Recruiting should be less of an issue for us as we win more games against better opponents and return to some post season appearances. Having 3 head coach quality minds is really a blessing. I was hoping Jensen would stay with us but other than RM he had no SLU connections and think we probably would have lost him in a year or two to his Own college coaching job.. I think we will settle down with some wins and hopefully, the new stents give RM renewed vigor, Angres Thorpe and Anthony Beane---I think Jamaal Walker might have had a cup of coffe with BS as well. Come on GOSLU68, you're losing your long term memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoBills Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Angres Thorpe and Anthony Beane---I think Jamaal Walker might have had a cup of coffe with BS as well. Come on GOSLU68, you're losing your long term memory. Aside from former Bill Jamall Walker, that was a forgettable group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBand Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Band, don't want to sound like Hank Jr here, but Hitler and Osama Bin Laden could be successful recruiters at these coaches' respective schools. 72, I absolutely agree with you. Nashville's point was to comment on Whitesell being "old"..I was just trying to point out that the age of a person doesn't necessarily preclude him from being energetic. Generally I think we're all reacting to this situation a bit much. Very disappointed to see Jensen go at this time of year. I suspect we won't ever get the true story behind that move. I think Rick made a pretty solid move given the time circumstances. BTW..I don't think Crews has officially even been hired yet...still in the hr dept hands last time i checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenfan05 Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 . BTW..I don't think Crews has officially even been hired yet...still in the hr dept hands last time i checked.This. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Anyone post anything about CUSA and MW merger for football? My vote for non-sequitur post of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOSLU68 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Katz' stuff didn't seem to minch words: "Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus told ESPN.com that he has hired former Army and Evansville coach Jim Crews to replace Alex Jensen as his top assistant. Jensen abruptly left Majerus and the Billikens earlier in the week to work with the D-League team of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The move stunned Majerus, who had been close to Jensen since coaching him at Utah. Majerus was livid with the Cavs for hiring away Jensen now, right before the start of the season. Crews agreed to help him and lend his veteran coaching skills. A one-time Indiana player and assistant under Bob Knight, Crews said he would commit to SLU for the season." Words of concern, to me, are "aberuptly," "stunned," and "livid." I think that shows just where majerus stand with both the Cavs and jensen, thnak you very much. So he got a stop gap which is amplified in the last sentence in "commit ... for the season." Now, could Crews commit longer? Sure, even laws change. I'm going with kshoe on this one .... as in worrying about the future later if only for the fact that we have no control now anyway and anythin gbright in that future is going to have to feed off the unknown of this season and next. What was Jim Crews thinking going to Army? This is the perennial doormat of the Patriot Leauge. Zach Spiker, who followed him as head coach had three fewer wins this past year (his third) as head coach than three years ago. This not necessary trip to being the next coach at Duke or Indiana. It did happen for Knight and coach "K" but lightning never strikes three times. Army hasn't had a winning season in 26 years. Whitesell and Crews have to be chomping at the bit to be at the start of the SLU run. What in the he'll was Al Jensen thinking? I sure could use an extra $50,000? Al Jensen will be heard from in the near future, too bad it won't be at SLU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmbilliken Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Why does everyone think Al Jenson is going to be a great head coach? He's never had a head coaching job. Let's let him do something and see how good he is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyRican Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 What happened to Porter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pelican Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 What happened to Porter? He is still at Berry's 6:30 am workout from last month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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