Well, let’s hope yesterday was rock bottom for this team. Although, they’ve had many chances for wake up calls already this season…

With that, I ask, where do we go from here?

Do we fire Drew in-season? I doubt it, risks even more disfunction.

Do we give Drew another chance? Very hard to justify.

So we’re likely entering a search this offseason. Thankfully, the portal and NIL has provided many quick turnarounds. But who do we turn to?

I guess these would be the “closer-to-home” options:

• Stick with Drew

Seems like the ship has probably sailed on this one, unless we see his biggest turnaround yet. Even in the past two fairly successful seasons, the early-season woes were concerning, but each year the hope was that he had turned a corner. This year the wheels have just fallen off – despite great offseason roster additions on paper. If it was only a typical disappointing season, it would be one thing, but this has been a complete meltdown, currently sitting at 308 in Kenpom, having lost to 332 Mercyhurst and 349 Chicago St, with neither game particularly close. It’s hard to justify sticking with Drew at this point.

• Sean Dwyer

Probably the closest thing to an “in-house” option, Dwyer was widely assumed to be the next internal candidate if Drew were to leave for greener pastures (which obviously sounds wild now, but he was interviewed for the Xavier job this offseason). Drew had always gone out of his way to credit Dwyer in postgame interviews. Nobody thought too much about him leaving for an NBA job at the time, but combined with the team’s subsequent collapse, one has to wonder if there is more to the story – has a bridge been burnt here? If not, Dwyer would probably be the top “continuity” candidate, unless of course…

• Porter Moser

In the off chance the Porter becomes available, I’d take him back in a heartbeat. He is under contract until 2028 at ~$3m a season, so don’t expect him to step down any time soon, but Oklahoma once again doesn’t look like anything particularly special this year, and if SEC play goes poorly, there’s a chance they want to move on. If that happens, I think having him come back is a no-brainer – I know there are some hurt feelings around here with Moser, but compared to other Cinderella coaches that bolt for big money the second their team is eliminated, I think Porter actually cared about this program and treated us fairly.

More than likely it's a completely outside hire, which is kind of disappointing because it feels like starting over from all that success we had in the last decade. That being said, I think we would be a decently attractive option given our recent success and resources. Do we go more bigger-name retread or up-and-comer?

As CBB has become more boom and bust we are probably one of the bigger busts in recent memory. I don't see what is to be gained by firing Drew now, but I also don't really see the point in delaying the inevitable. I don't think there is any result possible in the next 10 or so weeks that would make Drew keeping his job a good decision. I don't know enough about the ins and outs of the CBB job market to know what maximizes the likelihood of getting the best candidate possible for next year. But we should do that.

Well, you can keep the coach around and go after Detroit’s 1-32 season - lol

Seriously though take Porter back with open arms!

DO NOT let your President / Trustees be swayed by a phone call by a “Big Time” coach. Have them hang up and do your own search! Big time assistant coaches in general do not translate to Jesuit programs. Especially when they are recommended.

At least Loyola is in the A10. You could still be stuck in the Horizon.

Keep the faith!

This pains me a lot because I like Drew, will keep defending him, and there is also a compassion in me with this. But rightfully, very pissed off.

A few years ago when there were questions on the coach and staff throughout the handling of the Saint Thomas fiasco and the inaugural A10 season, it was assumed there was a minimum 5-year contract. As this is year-5, agreed it might be time for a change in leadership and complete staff overhaul (though you maybe consider keeping only Keith around here, just because - he's that culture bridge between our best era to the future).

Now, one other thing to consider heavily is whether Drew & staff are dismissed or not you also have to assume that 90% of this roster or its full entirety is gone too. Our new transfers are pay for play and one and done's. It's disgusting. They'll move on to the next institutions willing to give them $$$. Miles will probably think of elsewhere, and why wouldn't he. Chuck Love and Anderson, if Drew goes or leaves to elsewhere, are assumed to follow suit unless they want to be the dudes here and are willing to remain for whoever is new coach.

I'd not be worried whatsoever about a complete coaching staff and roster overhaul. Every other CBB program with a competent coach and staff is able to produce immediate results every November except us.

So, to me it just seems like the inevitable and barring some miraculous A10 regular season championship or winning out a weekend in March, absolutely nobody should be returning in 2026-27.


Possible coaching candidates -

Luke Murray could be as ready as they come, as Dan Hurley's top assistant and a 2-time national champion. May require big bucks to sway, but to me he'd be better suited in the East Coast somewhere. He hasn't left Uconn yet so he must be extremely well compensated already.

JR Blount (I had several classes with him here from 2007-09 btw) could be a home run hire depending if there is a mutual interest between both parties. He knows this institution, the Chicago/Milwaukee region, and has major conference coaching staff experience. Iowa State does more with less than any bigtime cbb program out there. Loyola needs to return to this concept.

I agree completely if Oklahoma tells Porter to pack it up, we immediately have to consider this and rekindle our love affair. Bring coach back for round-2. If it takes him another 5-10 years to recreate the culture and rebuild, then so be it.

Tom Crean would be interesting and could clean this mess up in a hurry.

Any studs down in D2 like coaching geniuses, Ben McCollum or Josh Schertz came from?

At this point you simply cannot settle for some NBA assistant, random associate or assistant, or up and comer. Our institution has gone down this road several times before and it has never worked out.

Might have more to add later .....

I believe leaving Drew in place for the remainder of this 25-26 campaign is the right thing to do.
Maybe things turnaround? And if not, I like the job Steve Donahue is doing in has first year with our A10 rival St Joes. Just sayin..

Yes I know losing to Chicago State is embarrassing. We lost to them once before sometime around 1999 under Larry Farmer (a coach who had previous coaching experience at UCLA). In 2024, Chicago State beat Northwestern (who, as an at-large team that year, was knocked out of the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament by eventual Champ UConn). So, it happens, even to teams that are/were much better than we are this season.

My only point is that despite this season being an EPIC CATASTROPHE thru the first 11 games, you can't make hiring and firing decisions based on any stretch of 11 games where the coach keeps his pants on, doesn't kill anyone, and continues to stand upright.

Last season we were in the semifinals of the NIT in Indianapolis. Has everyone forgotten that? In four plus years as head coach, Valentine has 3 seasons with 23 wins or more, one trip to the NCAA, two trips to the NIT (including a semifinal appearance), one A-10 regular season title, an MVC Championship, and an 86-59 overall record. We went 30 years without a postseason game. That streak ended only 10 years ago with a CIT championship. And now you want to fire a guy who's got those credentials..... because of Mercyhurst and Chicago State?

At least try to figure out if the guy has a theory or an answer as to why this season has gone so badly. Admitting oversight of two or three factors and saying it's a lesson learned would--- to me, at least--- be a no-brainer for keeping his job and getting whatever resources needed to fill the gap. Only if he denied there's a problem or blamed it on the players would I seriously consider thinking about a replacement.

We've made a big investment over the past 5 years in Valentine, and it would be stupid to throw away the progress he's made. The recruits are high level. Most of the transfers have been positive. Granted, it's freaking RARE for a program to drop to such a terrible level of performance given the budget and the recent history of the program. We have two really encouraging freshmen (Love, Anderson), and the respectable number of key returning players (Rubin, Moore, Housinou, Glasnov)--- why they have regressed or not developed is a big question mark.

There was also some late in the cycle turnover and a restructuring (didn't we drop the emeritus coach?) of the assistants. So.... bring in another old guy (I use the term being comfortable as an old guy), and zero in on a reliable, hot top assistant for next year?

It would be nice to hear this from him, but, unfortunately, the only time he has to speak publicly is after the game with Sudi and CT, and it's hard for them to ask big picture questions in that situation. Best you can do is read between the lines infer that we have too many players who aren't putting in the required effort. Which of course leads to the question: Why did you recruit them?



I've never understood what Hipsher's role is, but I'm pretty sure he was at the home opener.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

I guess the counterpoint would be that, if it's true that he is that reliant on assistants, doesn't that raise some serious questions about his coaching ability?

That can be related to your other arguments as well -- for as high as the talent level appears to be (no doubt that Drew is an impressive recruiter), and how well the team performed at the end of last year... for the team to have cratered so much since then doesn't add up. To me it suggests that either assistants like Dwyer were doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of Xs and Os (and that Drew is unusually terrible at that), or Drew has lost some kind of institutional control over the team -- maybe both.

I am sympathetic to your argument for patience, since we've seen it before, and the team has turned around. But even in the good seasons, we've cratered in the noncon, and at a certain point that's just not acceptable either, no matter how well we end up playing in conference. This year in particular I seriously doubt can be resuscitated, but we'll see. If not I just don't see how Drew doesn't get canned.

We'd likely be starting from scratch either way from a talent perspective, and I'm guessing donors would actually be less willing to continue to fork over cash if they stick with Drew.

We have underperformed our KenPom preseason projection every year of Coach Drew's tenure except 2022 (with Porter's guys). Two of those underperformances (2023 and this season) have been severe underperformances. That, to me, is an indictment.

2022: 32 (preseason) / 29 (final)
2023: 59 (preseason) / 253 (final)
2024: 75 (preseason) / 93 (final)
2025: 78 (preseason) / 107 (final)
2026: 99 (preseason) / 308 (current)

We are currently on pace to be one of the worst A10 teams in KenPom EVER. Bona (2005) / Fordham (2009) finished 321. We are very close to that.

We should expect..demand..better of this program. Drew was handed the keys to a program with a ton of momentum. He did nothing to capitalize. Since 2022 (again, Porter's guys), we haven't even really been close to an NCAAT. We continually fall flat on our faces during non-con.

As of today, I can't see a justification on moving forward with Coach Drew leading the program. And that pains me to say as I do like him and had very high hopes for him.