Billiken Rich Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Is the most bandwagon jumping place on the planet. We were calling for Brad to get a contract extension. Now we're caling for his head. Is he the best coach in history? Certainly not. Should we fire him? I say no. The honey moon ends in two years. If Lisch and Liddell are sophmores on a team that doesn't reach post season, I'll call for brad's head. Till then...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdog Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I'm with you, Rich. I have been surprised to see how many loyal fans are suddenly coming out of the woodwork, ready to sack the coach. Many posts over the past two days sound like nothing more than whining and sour grapes. On Saturday, our Billikens shot 32% from the floor, on 16 of 50 shooting. Had we just shot our season average of 38.7%, we would have made three more baskets and won the game. For the season, we are making 28.4% from outside the arc, and only 66% from the line (which we don't visit nearly often enough. Let's also not forget that a guy that shot over 50% from the field last year as a junior has been knocked out by three concussions. For a number of reasons, this is one of the worst shooting teams I have seen at SLU. So what would you have the coach do? He can't go on the floor and take shots for them. Should he be singing their praises from the sideline? Should he be telling them how wonderful they are? Or should he be trying to get everything he can out of his guys? We play solid defense; Marquette shot 19 of 64 from the field for 29.7%. By doing that, we had many chances to win that game even though nobody on our team could throw the ball into the ocean. I am glad that coach stays on the players and tries to get their best each game. If the players are going to sulk and/or give up because things haven't been going their way, as some posts have indicated, I say he should redouble his efforts to teach them about handling adversity. They will need to learn to deal with tough times, for later in life if nothing else. So I ask all the posters who are ready to fire Brad, what are you looking for in the SLU men's basketball coach? What would you do differently? My vote is to stay the course, have our young players learn from this experience, and look forward to a more talented group of Billikens have some success in future years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I don't know if any posters on this board currently expressing dissatisfaction with Brad's coaching that were calling for him to get a contract extension. If I'm mistaken, feel free to correct me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 There have been some moves that could be questioned. It's undeniable that Brads first couple of recruiting classes were rushed and had some misses. What I love is the poster who said: Anyone coaching SLU would've gotten Lisch and Liddell. Right. Don't worry Tdog they'll all come flying back on the bandwagon in the next two or three years...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 I used the term "we" as in "we the billiken.com posters." Sorry for confusing you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahok Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 The problem I have is that I have not seen an improvement in the team, You don't need to keep improving your record each year as long as you see an improvement in the team each year. If someone can tell me how the team has improved in any way I will listen, but I have not seen any improvment offensively this year or defensively. And we only had one direction to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 They are not going to fire Brad, hes been here 3 yrs and this is his first losing season. They havent fired Jill Pizzotti after 10 yrs with only one winning season, they will not fire Brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 "We were calling for Brad to get a contract extension. Now we're caling for his head." That indicates to me that "we" who were calling for Brad to get a contract extension are now calling for his head. Was that not your intent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 I do think this team has gotten better over time. I can't explain our god-awful offense. I have an unpopular thought as to who the most dissappointing offensive player is this year. Dwayne Polk hands down. I'm not arguing about his skill, talent, potential, etc. I don't think he shouldn't be playing as we really have no better option. I'm missing a Division I point guard who can hit an open shot. I recall many predictions about Dwayne being a 8-10 point per game scorer. I realize that some here would say that our offense stifles his ability to shoot. Fine. Hit an open jumper and prove me wrong....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alonzo P Hawk Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 A nicer person who treats his players with at least a little respect. ------------------------------------------------------------ *Official Billikens.com sponsor of Mike Beczkala Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Ok I'll try to spell it out for you in a mannor you can understand. There are some posters who were calling for Brad to get a contract extension. Now there are some posters calling for his head. They may not be the same posters but they are all part of the "we" referenced above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 i too am a "stay the course" guy. however, one would hope that brad changes his recruiting thoughts going forward. he has reached for both athletic players that apparently dont have high basketball tendencies (polk, clarke and johnson come to mind) he has taken players that are just big but have other physical limitations (husak and vouyoukas) he has taken players that appear to have the heart and desire but are either a step slow, or a tweener size wise (drejaj, meyer and newborne). now i contend that until slu hits the jackpot on some of these dice rolls at the same time, we will have seasons like this. also until the jackpot comes up, it will continue to be difficult to talk that next better player to come to slu. the concerning issue that 3 star was the first to bring up weeks ago, is the fact that his system of grinding basketball seems to remain in place. i truly believed it would gradually be phased out and if anything, after xmas, it has only reverted back completely to where we were in years past. now that might be out of necessity. one cant argue that other than cincy, we were in the other games. would we have even been in striking distance of charlotte, east carolina and marquette otherwise? who knows. but still it bears watching. i think we have to wait at least two more years. and even then, a judgement has to be made on what is happening at that time. for example we may still be a 16-14 team, but if that 16-14 is a record that had games where we competed, showed improvement and evidence of a different type of basketball is emerging, then maybe we need to go longer. however, if it is the same old thing and we are still rolling the dice on recruit reaches and our style of play is still bennettball, then i too believe that in the sunnuer of 2007 we really have to think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 care to expand on that?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 i know the family. and i am telling you that not just anyone would have gotten kevin lisch to sign with slu. brad is the reason that we got kevin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 i think that vouyoukas has improved slightly from where he was last year. he still has a long way to go, but he is a better player. same can be said for justin johnson. i think that danny brown and dwayne polk are an improvement on previous year's recruiting by athleticism standards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 I know. Brad is doing a decent job recruiting. This year seems to me to be the perfect storm of everything going to crud in perfect harmony to make us suck. Tom gets injured, Reggie and Tom are injured and nobody else can buy a bucket. If it weren't for Danny Brown, Ian, IO I'd be ready to jump off a building with this year's team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 for me the difference between this year and recent seasons is there is no one to take over games. even last year, sloan and fisher could be counted on to step up when we needed it. you cant say enough about perry the two years before and then in reverse order, jeffers, love and hughes. izik, a healthy frericks and reggie would have been fine as 2-4. and dwayne as the #5 player would have been fine as well. but we lacked that one player that would say, "ok, climb on i'll win it". in years past that person has emerged from a support roll (except hughes) the previous year. with the exception of justin love's junior season. btw, if you all remember, that was a disappointing season as well. not having that guy magnifies dwayne polk's learning to play college basketball, ian vouyoukas learning to be a college level center, reggie bryant, tom frericks and izik having off shooting games. it is amazing how one or two players make a huge difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahok Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Roy, that is what I am talking about, in the past years we have had one guy that would take the ball and make something happen. When you don't have the one guy that will take the ball, that is where the coaching comes in. A coach should take what he has and develop an offense. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't but what have you seen that tells you we have an offense that has been developed that does not have a go to guy in mind? What offense do we run when the other teams defense is geared to stop RB. Sorry, but I haven't seen it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STLfan Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 If we are losing close games and are only one or two games away from a winning season then there is no way he should be fired. However if we only win five games all year next year then yes he should be let go. Also it will depend on what kind of recruiting class he has lined up. What if we have a losing season but he has some blue chip recruits coming in? I guess the bottom line is it is too early to tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahok Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 If you are consistently losing close games, you are being out coached. I am not advocating getting rid of Brad, but I would like to see some improvement in the way games are managed, I just haven't seen it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 it is amazing how smart the likes of a marque perry or josh fisher or chris sloan make the coach look. someone has to be able to make the plays. that said, there is no defense for the way that game ended saturday. the timeout was indirectly responsible for the one turnover. and i find it hard to believe that as slow as marquette is that dwayne polk couldnt have dribbled through that press. maybe he couldnt, but you know what, we never tried either. now of course that isnt the preferred way to break a press, but in the same sense, as much as we struggled with it, why not do something different just to change it up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 On his Sunday radio show, Brad spoke at length about how he hoped to get a deadeye zone buster with one of his scholarships. He was pretty vague about his plans for bringing in an athletic four-man other than to say they are always looking. So the following season rides on the coaching staff's ability to locate Blake Ahearn. That's not a goal that's going to energize the masses but at least it's a realistic goal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdog Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 What is the problem with the coach's offensive scheme? In spite of our limited abilities, the offense created 15 shots inside of 5 feet, all of which were missed. The offensive strategy in and of itself is not the problem, it is the guys that have failed to finish on good scoring opportunities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 3 Star you are correct - I have not heard others nor have I said Brad needs to be fired. What I have said as have others is that we need to see improvement in the program. If next year is a repeat of this, then hard questions have to be asked and answered. If you fail it does not mean you are a bad coach - what it means is that you did not manage the situation so you could be successful ( in other words stubborn). I have had the good luck to have taken over more than one failing organization and turn it around - notice I said luck - none of us are 100% but some are more successful simply because they recognize how to change their strategies to meet the specific situation you are dealing with. The quickest way for a manager to fail is to assume that what worked one place will work in another - not so! Brad needs to realize that just because he has been successful elsewhere, his strategies might need to be tweaked for where he is now - good managers/coaches make these adjustments and he can if he chooses to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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