TRN Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 hey i am fine with crews getting the job. he had a heck of a year as the coach under a difficult scenario. i am in the camp that he deserves the opportunity to try. i am not on the high side of believing he is the right guy, but i truly understand what he has earned. that said, he knows the uphill climb he has to attack asap with a roster that is basically from a quality standpoint, our four juniors. he has to bring in quality fast. if he lets the program sink to an ekker like level after 2014, he will be toast. so he knows what he has to accomplish. if he isnt willing to dig in and do the job himself, and/or he doesnt have the assistants to do it, he would be a fool to take it on. Agreed. Hopefully the year off, this years success, and all of the tragedies he's managed to deal with in the last year - Majerus, the army kid wounded in Iraq, and the Army kid that died in a pickup game - has rekindled his fire for coaching. I hope he takes the opportunity and runs with it. We do need an infusion of new talent and quickly. Otherwise, his stint may not be too long here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Metzinger Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 AMDG is a troll. He should be on everyone's ignore list. And I don't say that lightly as I've had opinions that differ with many on this board. The fact is AMDG gets off behind his computer screen hurling insults and being a "big bad internet message board poster". +100 to you and your avatar. Possibly the funniest thing I've seen on the interwebs. Well done, sir. Relish in this moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorB Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 what a hatchet job. not a single source is listed. gee I wonder -- does this reporter have an agenda??? hmmm... it's kinda hard to figure out .... if you think "other options" have not been considered in this long process, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you. Please--give me a break. If you think higher administration and $$$ supporters had no input on this, or voiced no aggressive ideas about change, or that those new directions were not heard at the very highest level --again, Please--give me a break. You know not of what you are speaking, believe me I could say much much about this on here but will not for now. Let's just put it this way: "If you think SLU did not consider outside options," a source with intimate knowledge of the situation explained, "you may have chicken terds for brains." And as another source from a major Division I school put it: "If you truly believe '“SLU is too ‘nice’" it may be time for a bracing reality check and a fresh encounter with the nature of the top of the food chain there. As countless national publications have written in the past 24 months, the leadership at SLU can be called lots of things, but generally "nice" is not one of them .... Ruthless, yes, I can believe; nice, no; it is a bit of a stretch..." (SLU is too 'nice" -- gotta remember that one for the cocktail parties...) by the way: this discussion about a successor to Coach Majerus did not just begin on Saturday: it's been a very long process and it began around Dec. 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 by the way: this discussion about a successor to Coach Majerus did not just begin on Saturday: it's been a very long process and it began around Dec. 2.My only issue is that the planning should have started long before Dec. 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Why do I get the feeling that if Crews leads us to the Final Four the talk will be "Imagine what a coach who can actually recruit could do?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorB Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 "My only issue is that the planning should have started long before Dec. 2." that's true, it certainly began in the summertime; possibly the morning after losing to MSU for all i know. I meant the Dec. 2 as a sort of reality check, "no going back" date. yes, it started long before then ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Anytime anyone writes an article with that many "unnamed sources" I am curious as to why. All it then becomes is spreading hearsay. These souces could actually be one source --- I've had that happen to me. In many articles I was the "unnamed source," the "Army source," "somone close to the program," and so on. It's shady journalism at best. It is a device designed to add the aura of authority. It may be completely true, but its still shady. Any one of us could be a "source." I had one guy once be the same source quoted multiple times and then he brought the news article to a public meeting, showed it to everyone and used it as proof to his argument saying "see this is true. If it weren't, why would it be in the paper then?" Classic tactics, there. I am with roy on his statement. I am not in the "Crews is the answer" moving forward but I have to believe he knows what is expected and is prepared to do all he can to accomplish it. Will it be enough? Ah, there's the rub. No one really knows --- just like no one knows if Andy Enfield is a passing fancy or not. Crapshoot, baby. As for larry72, the article does not raise "serious concerns," we've known all along the issues with Crews. This article just rehashes old discussions. I am sure Mr. Haenchen is drawing on his vast collegiate basketball experiences to basically mimic things already said here, and around various sports bars in the area. This sheds no new light -- this is a regurgitated rehash of personal opinion. Count himin the camp as anti-Crews. I get it. And we need to eliminate this BEAST thinking crap too. You do what's right for the program, not for some proverbial pie-in-the-sky. You do the right thing for the program, the other stuff will follow. I don't believe anyone on here can say we've ever done enough things right for the overall athletic program. We are not a major player in the modern era, in any of our sports. And if that is not the thinking in the inner sanctum, then a bunch of us worrying about it will only result in our own hair loss. A HC in waiting? Maybe if you're Charlie or Bobby or Rick and the HC in waiting is Jay or Pat or Richard. Larry Brown is a strange bird and likely won't complete his contract at SMU. Everyone knows that. Everyone, including Rick, knew he was mortal but he did nothign to preserve his program or address the sustainability issue. I can't see anyone like Crews saying "yeah, buddy, sit right here and I'll teach you all I know." If I'm Whitesell or Bronson or even Platt, and I'm not the 'chosen one,' sayonara. I'm with roy and will support alma mater u if that's the route they go. But it will be with a critical eye. Again, I don't think Crews is the right move for going forward but my opinion is just like yours ..... everyone's got one and they all stink except yours likely smells the best. There will be many "I told you so's" available when this is all said and done. On both sides of the aisle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiseAndGrind Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 He's suggested the coach from Wake Forest. He's been a disaster and on the verge of getting fired. What?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 If you read any investment news you read all the time about an older CEO bringing in an underling who is his handpicked successor. This is done a lot of times to ease investors/shareholders' concerns re the future direction/success of the company. Unfortunately, no one has a crystal ball on whether the guy can handle the job as well as his mentor. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. But in the real world of the present day, it serves to assauge the fears of the stakeholders that the firm will survive the loss of the boss. And if the boss has a history of being a successful boss it makes everyone just that more comfortable. RM was the boss. I'm assuming he told CM that JC was the best choice to succeed him. But still there are doubts since he did it with RM's players and system. In his previous stints, he was not that successful for any number of reasons. What's got some of us a little wary is that even though he supposedly was considered for much better jobs while at Evansville, yet he turned them down. Obviously the pressure to perform at those places was much greater than Evansville, but he also would have given more resources to succeed. The above is what makes me wary of JC taking over our program. Taj Mahal 79, you said ignore the Beast we've got to do what's best for the program. Well, what's best for the program is putting us in the best position to get invited if expansion is in their future. We've already seen they are after the best programs they can land at the expense of other important factors; market size and geography. Look, I voted they keep JC. But I can't stop hoping they also shake up the staff and bring in a young aggressive AC with the promise that the job is his if he satisfies certain performance standards. We'd all breathe a little easier knowing JC has the proper support system behind him. It would be a message to the fan base, and, hopefully, a stong message to the Beast that the program will be the best it can be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeSmetBilliken Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 hey i am fine with crews getting the job. he had a heck of a year as the coach under a difficult scenario. i am in the camp that he deserves the opportunity to try. i am not on the high side of believing he is the right guy, but i truly understand what he has earned. that said, he knows the uphill climb he has to attack asap with a roster that is basically from a quality standpoint, our four juniors. he has to bring in quality fast. if he lets the program sink to an ekker like level after 2014, he will be toast. so he knows what he has to accomplish. if he isnt willing to dig in and do the job himself, and/or he doesnt have the assistants to do it, he would be a fool to take it on. Good points here. I guess the concern I have I just how much of the success this year was due to any brilliance on Crews' part. Find me a quote from someone saying that the players did better because of him and I'll be more inclined to let him try, in spite of a relatively unimpressive prior record as a HC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Metzinger Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Good points here. I guess the concern I have I just how much of the success this year was due to any brilliance on Crews' part. Find me a quote from someone saying that the players did better because of him and I'll be more inclined to let him try, in spite of a relatively unimpressive prior record as a HC. He really just maintained the status quo, as far as I'm concerned. That's what an "interim" coach should do. Not enough to get you hired, but shouldn't get you fired or let go, either. Unless there's a full-scale house cleanse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Good points here. I guess the concern I have I just how much of the success this year was due to any brilliance on Crews' part. Find me a quote from someone saying that the players did better because of him and I'll be more inclined to let him try, in spite of a relatively unimpressive prior record as a HC. desmet, just the fact that it didnt blow up is a huge accomplishment. i will say, as others have commented, i think that the offense was far more agressive this season than any previous rickma year. whether that is a credit to crews or the players with their added maturity gravitated to it, is a question that only the players and staff could tell us. my guess is out of respect to rickma it is an answer we wont get. i also compliment the way the carter situation went down. who knows the real reason, it could have easily gotten ugly. whatever the reason for leaving, carter wasnt happy, and the ties were cut and i thought neither side took a punch over it. i also was surprised that we never saw any level of player discontent, considering there were plenty of PT scenarios that could have errupted. to control that as well as it was is a huge accomplishment. last i appreciate the way crews handled the success. you can bet there are plenty of ncaa coaches that would have used the scenario to paint themselves as the hero super coach, i thought throughout the whole season crews really played the success low key and humble and it came off very good with the fans. especially the casual fans that very well may want to be billiken fans going forward and buy season tickets and donate dollars. the bottom line is beyond looking at a mediocre at best previous couple of coaching stints that has questionable endings and debatable reasons for his lukewarm (evansville) to downright cold (army) results and stories about his relationships with his players at both stops, there is no solid known reason not to give him his chance if he wants it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRN Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 He's suggested the coach from Wake Forest. He's been a disaster and on the verge of getting fired. What?? Exactly, talk about settling for someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 I was defending Crews on here when almost everyone else was ripping him. A group that includes some of the big Crews backers on here now. That said, I don't think he is the right guy to tap the total potential of the program. He is the safe easy choice. He did a great job leading a team he had no part in putting together. That is the thing that scares me the most. Not one guy on the staff played a role in this past season's team being assembled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenfan05 Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Everyone keeps talking about young hotshot recruiter and everyone keeps forgetting about Tanner Bronson. The guy has learned from Majerus what kind of player to look for. He has learned what it takes to develop players. He is our hotshot recruiter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Whether or not his sources are legit or not, the article still raises serious concerns about JC's ability to take this program forward. Look, we all agree he did a masterful job this year under some really unusual circumstances. I also happen to think the players are the type of people that had the "refuse to lose" attitude. And it upsets me when posters on here say they quit against Oregon. They didn't quit they had a really bad night, like we did against Santa Clara and RI. As for we had no answer against their zone, we did, we fired up 21 3 point shots. Zones are geared to take away your inside game and make you hit from the outside. Simple fact, we couldn't make them. But moving on to the JC issue. I think he's corrrect when he says JC is the safe hire and SLU's looked at no one else. It's safe because who's going to criticize it except for on here. Heck, every local reporter and national broadcaster has said he should have been crowned HC a month ago. But the point is a lot of hardcore SLU fans believe they're taking the low cost option and we're gonna be an after thought when it comes to getting in the new BEAST. My main concern about JC is not that he'll go in the tank with next year's team, but does he have the ambition/motivation/energy to keep moving us forward from there. Assume for a moment, the BE powers that be don't make a decision on expansion until after next season. How are they going to measure SLU's program? Then assume the following happens; we make the dance 3rd year in a row- good. Go to the sweet 16- unbelieveably good. Anything further- icing on the cake. But... we have what appears to be a very mediocre FR class coming in- bad because our roster appears weak for '14-15 season. And follow that up with there is little buzz about our next recruiting class-bad. What conclusion would you reach? Try this, well, they hired JC who's never really done much on his own. He won w/ RM's kids, but he's not going to win with what he's got coming in. This is the scenario that has me concerned about this hire. If we appear not to be building off 3 straight NCAA appearances, they will look elsewhere to fill in the next two spots. Being Jesuit, being in the 21st largest market, being a nice stop over on their way to Omaha won't help us a wit if it appears we're going to be the next DePaul. I think the solution is the same one that SMU took. Hire a young AC and tell him he's got the job going into the '16-17 season if he lands us what appears to be promising recruits. This way he learns under a good X and O guy. He gets to work with kids that have been taught by RM. He gets to display his sales skills. Sticking w/ the status quo is just taking to big a chance at this point. We've got to make some kind of move that shows the Beast we're serious about being a player on the national scene. Just hiring JC, is not going to show them much. There is two ways to look at this - 1. Crews wants to redeem himself and this is his last chance to show the world that he was jobbed at Army and to get over any regrets he had about not moving up to a Big 10 job, or 2. he is all used up and will try to coast his way through until the program tanks. I have not been a big supporter of hiring him but if they are then so be it and I will sleep better if I go with #1. As I have said earlier both he and May are on a short leash with me. As far as our freshmen class goes - we don't know what it will be - we know we have Crawford - I know some are jumping on the bandwagon but we have seen kids like him be signed by us only to see them fade under closer scrutiny for example: Polk - Mr. MO, Diener - Gatorade player of the year in WI, Carter - second in balloting for Mr. IL to name a few so I prefer to have young Mr. Crawford "show me" what he has. We have McBroom and Drew to go along with Crawford. Now we still have 3 schollies to give so the incoming recruiting class - those available to play - might be good or might be weak we just do not know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Metzinger Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Everyone keeps talking about young hotshot recruiter and everyone keeps forgetting about Tanner Bronson. The guy has learned from Majerus what kind of player to look for. He has learned what it takes to develop players. He is our hotshot recruiter. Not to stir the drink, but do you have evidence of this or is it just based on his likeability factor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Everyone keeps talking about young hotshot recruiter and everyone keeps forgetting about Tanner Bronson. The guy has learned from Majerus what kind of player to look for. He has learned what it takes to develop players. He is our hotshot recruiter. most "hotshot recruiters" have actually signed players. i hope he indeed turns into that. but i think you are getting a little ahead of yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 I have never met Bronson, but he is very animated and active during the game and timeouts. I can imagine how he very well be a good recruiter. Anyone who has met him want to comment on how he might come across to a teenager? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Not to stir the drink, but do you have evidence of this or is it just based on his likeability factor? He certainly sounds like a tireless recruiter from everything I've heard. Whether that translates to landing targets remains to be seen, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbizzle09 Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 desmet, just the fact that it didnt blow up is a huge accomplishment. i will say, as others have commented, i think that the offense was far more agressive this season than any previous rickma year. whether that is a credit to crews or the players with their added maturity gravitated to it, is a question that only the players and staff could tell us. my guess is out of respect to rickma it is an answer we wont get. i also compliment the way the carter situation went down. who knows the real reason, it could have easily gotten ugly. whatever the reason for leaving, carter wasnt happy, and the ties were cut and i thought neither side took a punch over it. i also was surprised that we never saw any level of player discontent, considering there were plenty of PT scenarios that could have errupted. to control that as well as it was is a huge accomplishment. last i appreciate the way crews handled the success. you can bet there are plenty of ncaa coaches that would have used the scenario to paint themselves as the hero super coach, i thought throughout the whole season crews really played the success low key and humble and it came off very good with the fans. especially the casual fans that very well may want to be billiken fans going forward and buy season tickets and donate dollars. the bottom line is beyond looking at a mediocre at best previous couple of coaching stints that has questionable endings and debatable reasons for his lukewarm (evansville) to downright cold (army) results and stories about his relationships with his players at both stops, there is no solid known reason not to give him his chance if he wants it. Personally, I think this is a remarkable post. Roy did little to hide his personal disdain for Crews when it was first reported that Majerus was looking to bring him on as an assistant. When Jensen left right before the season and Crews came aboard, Roy was open about how much he disliked the move and thought that Crews would bring too much negativity and harsh criticism to the locker room, especially combined with Majerus. Basically, too many 'bad cops' and not enough 'good cops.' The fact that Roy has changed his outlook over these past two seasons about Crews, despite his deeply held personal misgivings, should help to give a lot of the rest of us pause in how we are looking at the man and the current coaching situation. Basically, if Roy can come around to the school's decision on giving the reins to Crews, why can't the rest of us? We can all just keep repeating the mantras of recruiting and past perfromances at other schools until the cows come home, but what good is that going to do at this point? Everyone has said their peace dozens of times over, time to just get on board and hope that Crews and Co. know what they are doing. No need to pre-criticize this current coaching staff anymore than we've already done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kappy96 Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Everyone keeps talking about young hotshot recruiter and everyone keeps forgetting about Tanner Bronson. The guy has learned from Majerus what kind of player to look for. He has learned what it takes to develop players. He is our hotshot recruiter. I'd like to believe this but until someone can tell me who Tanner is responsible for bringing in I will be skeptical of this description of him. I'd like to eat my words in two years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clock_Tower Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 May I remind the doubting Thomases out there that what Jim Crews has to work with from a recruiting standpoint at SLU absolutely dwarfs what he had to work with at Evansville. You can't base this "he can't recruit" off of comparing what he has to work with in 2013 v. what he had to work with at UE in 1993. He went from selling Chevrolets in Evansville to Audis in St. Louis. Let's see what he can do. Metz. I am glad you focused your comments as I believe your comments are succint and speak for alot of opinions on this topic. In response, I fundamentally disagree in that you cannot judge the salesperson (coach) only on the product he is selling. Selling a product that everyone wants is easy!! Audis over Chevrolets!! (By comparison, Duke and Coach K will usually prevail of us every time!!). Selling a product that people don't necessarily want (Army) or outselling those selling the same product (Evansville), though, is tough... and those that can sell this product that people don't necessarily want or outperform those selling the same product is how best to judge the salesman. For instance, if JC were the best at Chevrolets, then Evansville would have been dominating its competion of fellow Cheverolet schools -- winning the Valley. Look at what Butler, Gonzaga and X have done over the years!! Instead, JC and Evansville didn't. And now that JC will be selling Audis, his competition will also be selling Audis. If you, and more importantly Dr. C, Fr. B and Chris May think that JC will outsell Audis over the likes of Brad Stevens, John Thompson and the other new Big East conference, then fine: hire him!! But if you think JC will be selling Audis and therefore lose out to these guys but outperform all the guys selling Chevrolets (teams like those in the Valley and below), then I'd say we should not hire him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeSmetBilliken Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Everyone keeps talking about young hotshot recruiter and everyone keeps forgetting about Tanner Bronson. The guy has learned from Majerus what kind of player to look for. He has learned what it takes to develop players. He is our hotshot recruiter. While Tanner does appear to be a good young coach (at least Majerus thought so), he's been here for 1 season, so we can't point to any results yet. Regardless, even if Tanner has all the skills to be a good recruiter, the NCAA doesn't limit each school to 1 good recruiter. Anyway, it would benefit us to have an assistant who not only had the skills to be a good recruiter, but also had the connections with the AAU programs and high schools. Tanner can build those connections, but he's a young guy who is likely still working on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Metzinger Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 He certainly sounds like a tireless recruiter from everything I've heard. Whether that translates to landing targets remains to be seen, I guess. That's good. Lets hope he brings home more than just talk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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