Assistant Coach

[ACE]

i believe tatum's son is only a freshman (soph at most), thus there will be plenty of opportunity for the new coach next spring to play the dad card. normally i dont go for this move, but 1. tatum is a billiken, 2. tatum has been very successful coaching on the high school level and is very well connected in the summer basketball market with his years of coaching his son as he grew up.

hopefully whomever our new head coach will be will seriously look to tatum as an assistant on the staff next year.

His son is projected to possibly be a 7-footer. Corey Frazier, who seems to be connected to Tatum, would also make sense looking into.

[kshoe]

The hiring is meaningless unless Crews gets the gig on a permanent basis after the season. No other HC will retain Platt. If Crews does get the job on a permanent basis, the Platt hiring is not something I am enthused about. This is one of Crews' coaching buddies. He is not going to fire the guy after the season. Now we have a coaching staff dripping with coaching retreads. How do you sell that to young kids? I think one of Whitesell or Platt has to go if Crews gets the gig after the season. This can't be our coaching staff for other than a one-year basis.

Agreed. They wanted someone that wouldn't rock the boat this season and at the end of this year everything is up for debate. I'm sure all the coaches are aware of the situation.

[WestCoastBilliken]

I dont have a problem with the hire considering the circumstances and timeline. Crews needs someone he is comfortable with from the get go considering the season is right around the corner.

I would like to know who you all think Crews could have hired as an interim coach weeks from the start of the season?

[RiseAndGrind]

gosh dont even think this. the absolute worst long term result for the program. fine get us through the season. hopefully he doesnt blow things up in the meantime.

Just curious, but why is this the absolute worst long term result? I know you don't like Majerus, and think Crews is Majerus-lite (or perhaps even worse) but is that what you're basing your decision on? I'll agree if Crews absolutely blows this season then I don't want him back next year. But if the team makes the Sweet 16....I'd have to give him a second thought.

With regard to hiring an assistant for this season I'm not sure Crews could have done much better. I don't think he could have hired a rockstar without a guarantee or even the idea that the assistant would be retained for more than one year.

[NextYearBill]

In all honesty this was a great hire. Experienced coach almost a month before the season starts. Who cares about his win-loss record.

[jimbofive]

I would like to know who you all think Crews could have hired as an interim coach weeks from the start of the season?

if adding more hardasses was the point, i'd rather it was a black guy. more black guys. MOAAAAR!

[jjray]

gosh dont even think this. the absolute worst long term result for the program. fine get us through the season. hopefully he doesnt blow things up in the meantime.

If we go to the NCAA tourney, it will be hard for them not to give it to Crews IMHO. Father B isn't going to buck up for a big name coach. Salaries for coaches have gone skyward since we hired Rick M.

[jjray]

With regard to hiring an assistant for this season I'm not sure Crews could have done much better. I don't think he could have hired a rockstar without a guarantee or even the idea that the assistant would be retained for more than one year.

That's a good point. No up and coming, young and hungry asst is 1) out there looking for a job right now and 2) would sign on with an interim coach knowing there are no guarantees. This is an experienced guy who will mesh with Crews. I guess we can worry about next year when all the bridges get crossed. Many unknowns between now and then.

[jbizzle09]

Just curious, but why is this the absolute worst long term result? I know you don't like Majerus, and think Crews is Majerus-lite (or perhaps even worse) but is that what you're basing your decision on? I'll agree if Crews absolutely blows this season then I don't want him back next year. But if the team makes the Sweet 16....I'd have to give him a second thought.

With regard to hiring an assistant for this season I'm not sure Crews could have done much better. I don't think he could have hired a rockstar without a guarantee or even the idea that the assistant would be retained for more than one year.

I agree with pretty much everything you stated here. My mindset at this point is let's just get through this season and see where we are standing after the last game is played, and see where the arrow is pointing at that time.

[Box and Won]

If we go to the NCAA tourney, it will be hard for them not to give it to Crews IMHO. Father B isn't going to buck up for a big name coach. Salaries for coaches have gone skyward since we hired Rick M.

I could totally see this scenario playing out. Brad 2.0.

[jimbofive]

I could totally see this scenario playing out. Brad 2.0.

blargh. we all know that eating your own sh!t is gross and dumb. but dogs don't know that. they love that sh!t.

we fed biondi a nice steak dinner that one time when we hired the maji. but we all know that in the absence of a nice free (or damn near it) steak, he'll be perfectly content to eat his own sh!t once again.

the cycle must stop.

[billiken_roy]

crews likely let the game pass him by in the mid 90's somewhere. his last 14 seasons only had 3 seasons over 500 and his record over that period as a head coach at evansville and army was 166 - 242 for a .407 win/loss percentage. couple that with the way he left both institutions with accusations of abuse, i really hope he doesnt get the job permanently. we can do better. hopefully influential boosters would step in and plead for more.

[Cowboy]

I could totally see this scenario playing out. Brad 2.0.

-box, if we all stop thinking it perhaps it will not happen

-and i am also guilty as i can see this, too

[Clock_Tower]

You mean for how many years now?

Yes. In the recent past, it was given that an African American would be of the staff. Dating back to my personal memory with Grawer hiring Lee Winfield, it was given that our white HC would hire a black assistant. Then, things actually flipped with Romar hiring Brad, etc. Then, under RM, the diversity of our coaching staff seemed to stopped. Quite frankly, RM was such an odd bird that this truly didn't seem to affect him or the program. Now, we are back to reality as the dream (HOF RM) is over. Late bloomers and local recruits will again be the norm. So too are natural relationship issues with players and recruits.

In short, and using the Presidential election as an example, it is commonly accepted that a Presidential nominee's first real choice is his running mate and that this choice will say alot about the nominee. Did the nominee pick a strong running mate or weaker one to make himself look stronger. Did he choose someone who will bring to the ticket something the nominee lacks -- votes from a certain swing state, charisma, youth, experience...

Here, I am truly disappointed with Jim Crews' first decision/hire. A 57 year old retread with an unimpressive resume? Why not a youngster? an up and comer? a black coach? a top recruiter?

To me, this is just plain bad hire.

[willie]

I agree with your points but maybe Crews didn't have those contacts. Crews took the safe way out and chose someone he knew. I do expect next years staff to be almost entirely different. I think we will find out how good Chris May is by what our staff looks like next year. It will be interesting.

[Bill_Ken R]

If we have a really good year, as we have every reason to expect, this could be a very attractive job. Ton of positives.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Yes. In the recent past, it was given that an African American would be of the staff. Dating back to my personal memory with Grawer hiring Lee Winfield, it was given that our white HC would hire a black assistant. Then, things actually flipped with Romar hiring Brad, etc. Then, under RM, the diversity of our coaching staff seemed to stopped. Quite frankly, RM was such an odd bird that this truly didn't seem to affect him or the program. Now, we are back to reality as the dream (HOF RM) is over. Late bloomers and local recruits will again be the norm. So too are natural relationship issues with players and recruits.

Here, I am truly disappointed with Jim Crews' first decision/hire. A 57 year old retread with an unimpressive resume? Why not a youngster? an up and comer? a black coach? a top recruiter?

To me, this is just plain bad hire.

I obviously didn't communicate my point clearly. I was concurring with you, saying that for a number of years I've been desiring that SLU would make more of an effort to include a black assistant coach (and not merely a DBO or senior manager or video guy). I wish they'd get Erwin Claggett, who's been teaching and coaching at McCluer for some years now (last I knew of).

[House]

May said last week at the booster lunch that the primary consideration with this assistant was his ability to game plan. They are not looking to Platt for recruiting. That tells me that they are intending him to be a long term staffer.

[RiseAndGrind]

crews likely let the game pass him by in the mid 90's somewhere. his last 14 seasons only had 3 seasons over 500 and his record over that period as a head coach at evansville and army was 166 - 242 for a .407 win/loss percentage. couple that with the way he left both institutions with accusations of abuse, i really hope he doesnt get the job permanently. we can do better. hopefully influential boosters would step in and plead for more.

Thanks for clarifying, Roy. The reason I don't focus too much on Crews' record is because he was coaching at Army, a notoriously difficult place to win. Secondly, by all accounts Jim Crews is still highly regarded as both a coach and individual throughout the coaching community. Lastly, the current players seemed to have meshed well with Crews and like him. Perhaps he's mellowed out in his advance age?

[thetorch]

Fantastic!! The coaching tree of Joe Meyer just keeps branching out!! Seriously, you shouldn't Joey Meyer and Bobby Knight in the same sentence again much as support for both being "decent" coaches.

Joey Meyer certainly isn't in the same ballpark as Bobby Knight, few are. But only an uninformed person would say Joey Meyer wasn't a very good coach. 251-158 in 13 seasons, 19 wins per at a program that was underfunded and not supported as evident in how they have performed worse since canning him.

I don't buy this we must have a black coach nonsense either. I want the best coach available, don't car what color he is as long as he performs. We've had many black coaches on the staff in recent years, how many were standouts? Winfield was nice, Thomas??? We've had several since then, they all left and not for greener pastures. Beane, Walker, Thorpe, not exactly standouts. All those clamoring for a former player like Bonner or Claggs think again. Bonner still runs around with Floyd, Claggs has had state championship talent at McCluer for years now and has gotten out of districts once. He's moved on to Missouri state basketball powerhouse, SLUH.

Majerus has had several African Americans on his staff. Rencher, Young, and now Brown. If rencher or young were deemed good enough I think Majerus would have moved them up.

[Clock_Tower]

Joey Meyer certainly isn't in the same ballpark as Bobby Knight, few are. But only an uninformed person would say Joey Meyer wasn't a very good coach. 251-158 in 13 seasons, 19 wins per at a program that was underfunded and not supported as evident in how they have performed worse since canning him.

I don't buy this we must have a black coach nonsense either. I want the best coach available, don't car what color he is as long as he performs. We've had many black coaches on the staff in recent years, how many were standouts? Winfield was nice, Thomas??? We've had several since then, they all left and not for greener pastures. Beane, Walker, Thorpe, not exactly standouts. All those clamoring for a former player like Bonner or Claggs think again. Bonner still runs around with Floyd, Claggs has had state championship talent at McCluer for years now and has gotten out of districts once. He's moved on to Missouri state basketball powerhouse, SLUH.

Majerus has had several African Americans on his staff. Rencher, Young, and now Brown. If rencher or young were deemed good enough I think Majerus would have moved them up.

Nice try but I'm not buying it. A simple look at Joey Meyer's win loss record is deceiving. In short, Joey Meyer inherited (literally) one of the top coaching jobs in all of college basketball from his father and drove it into the ground. DePaul was national power with a national name. All the best players from possibly the best talent pool (Chicago) wanted to be the local hero. Instead, Joey got crossways with the Chicago community and lost his recruiting pipeline. Thereafter, the players and wins stopped coming. It was not about DePaul being underfunded. Yes, the lack of a conference (and money) did not help but the right coach could have done better.

As to the presence of black coaches, I simply agree to disagree. I applaud your color blind approach and believe that is the ultimate goal, but right now, black coaches do help. It's simply a fact of life. And as mentioned by Absurd, the presence of a black coach as the last assistant or the Director of Basketball Operations is not the same. RM was unique -- and it worked for him/SLU. At the same time, using his approach as the model for others is not smart.

[cheeseman]

I would think that if May said they were simply looking for a game planner to be an asst then that would mean to me at least that this is not a long term solution - perhaps that was what House was meaning to say. As far as Crews doing well this year - given the talent on this team he should do well but we all know that the key to be a successful coach is recruiting. He would have done this with RM's kids. Who has Crews recruited to SLU? - nobody since last year he was not really doing much recruiting field work and while he started doing it this year (before RM left) he has no fruit to show to date and who knows if anything will happen this fall given our circumstance. I think May and Biondi would be making a big mistake to base their decision at the end of the season on how this team did as a sole or main criteria regarding Crews. I want Crews to do well but for the team's purposes not to secure him a job. SLU needs to open this up and get the best person - if it turns out to be Crews then so be it but then he has to reshape his staff accordingly. By the way - if it turns out to be Crews then May and BIondi will have a lot of explaining to do as to why - it could be done to make sense but not some simple response like he is our man based on what he did this season.

[kwyjibo]

Joey Meyer certainly isn't in the same ballpark as Bobby Knight, few are. But only an uninformed person would say Joey Meyer wasn't a very good coach. .

Joey Meyer was not a very coach. Only an uninformed person would think he was a good coach.

[GOSLU68]

We have not had a chance to see Crews or Whitesell as head coaches.

By year end we should know a lot more-at least we will see time management , substitutions, and half time and in game strategy.

We are told the Tactics will be RM's systemj but implementation and getting out coached are on them now.

If they win big Crews and Whitesell may see us as a stepping stone to get out from under The RM shadow

[kmbilliken]

Joey Meyer certainly isn't in the same ballpark as Bobby Knight, few are. But only an uninformed person would say Joey Meyer wasn't a very good coach. 251-158 in 13 seasons, 19 wins per at a program that was underfunded and not supported as evident in how they have performed worse since canning him.

I don't buy this we must have a black coach nonsense either. I want the best coach available, don't car what color he is as long as he performs. We've had many black coaches on the staff in recent years, how many were standouts? Winfield was nice, Thomas??? We've had several since then, they all left and not for greener pastures. Beane, Walker, Thorpe, not exactly standouts. All those clamoring for a former player like Bonner or Claggs think again. Bonner still runs around with Floyd, Claggs has had state championship talent at McCluer for years now and has gotten out of districts once. He's moved on to Missouri state basketball powerhouse, SLUH.

Majerus has had several African Americans on his staff. Rencher, Young, and now Brown. If rencher or young were deemed good enough I think Majerus would have moved them up.

I always loved playing DePaul when Joey Meyer was the coach. No matter how talented DePaul was, he always gave SLU a chance to win.