smokeyjoe wrote:
I really dont get it. The anti-PM momentum.Could the guys who left the program have made a difference? Could PM have done anything to prevent the injuries? Still dont know what the deal with Cully Payne was..was it PMs fault? Is recruiting bad? Was it PMs fault Omara chose to go to a better more established program? Does he not know what he is doing?Was he the reason his assistants left for better jobs? Does he embarrass the Universty?
I understand we all wanted to reclaim past treasures quickly but unless you have someone who can guarantee taking the Ramblers to the top i think you have to give PM six years. this is a young, inexperienced team with new assistant coaches who just took a step up in Conference who has had some serious injuries and defections.
I would not mind a good discussion on what you see as his positives and minuses. For me I need the trial to continue
Smokey, I'm just one voice on this site, and others like you might totally disagree with me. I would like to have a discussion about the questions you ask, and I don't pretend to be an expert. I might even be characterized as a loudmouth who has no idea what he's talking about-- it's been said before. Feel free to disagree, this is just my opinion as someone who has watched this program somewhat carefully through five different coaches and three ADs.
I am very disappointed in the way this season is ending. To me, there are a number of skill sets that are necessary for a good coach-- recruiting, personnel/program management (including player development, hiring assistants, scheduling, etc.), in game coaching (x's and o's, game plans, strategy, making adjustments, etc.), charisma (being a good promoter of the program, a good spokesperson for the university, etc.), and ethics (graduating players, observing NCAA rules, etc.). Some coaches have strengths in different areas, and hire assistants who are good at helping in others.
I didn't expect us to finish better than 7th this year, and if we played hard and did all we could, I could have accepted 8th or even 9th with no regrets. I realize that the MVC is a big step up from the Horizon. But we're limping to the conclusion of this season locked in 10th, out of gas, and barely able to put five scholarship players on the floor at the same time.
We're three years into Moser's tenure here. If I gave grades right now, I'd say that so far he's a B+/A- on recruiting, C- on personnel/program management, D+ on in-game coaching, B on charisma, and Incomplete on ethics (I don't know the whole story on Courtney Stanley, Denzel Brito, Chim Kadima, Cully Payne, Nick Osborne's recent problem, why the assistants all left at the same time, etc.).
I don't think the program was in as dire shape as was portrayed when he got here. Running off Courtney Stanley, Denzel Brito, Chim Kadima, Shaun Adams, Jonathan Gac, and Tom Neary from the team may have been warranted in some cases, but I don't think in all. Brito now plays at Loyola Maryland, where he's an honor roll student. Kadima, Adams, and Neary played at Division II St. Leo, who went deep in the D-II tournament. I get the impulse to come in, change culture, and make your mark, but was there no way to keep
any of those players, even as backups, and let them just quietly cycle out of the program? Aside from a sense of satisfaction from dramatic house-cleaning, what did it really get us? We've had two 20+ losing seasons in Moser's three years here, and the other season 16 losses. Despite his seemingly good recruiting, we now have multiple walk-ons playing at the same time in the first half of conference games. The non-conference schedule for the past two years has been among the 10% weakest in all of college basketball (look it up). And in conference play while Moser has been at Loyola, we've finished 10th of 10 (setting a record for most conference losses in a single season in the 30+ year history of the MCC/Horizon), 7th of 9, and 10th of 10 (in one of the weakest years in recent MVC history).
I'll grant you that Whitesell was a VERY WEAK recruiter, and had more than ample time to show otherwise. After seven years, we were not making any demonstrable progress toward getting the program to where we wanted it to be. Yet in his seven years at Loyola, weak recruiting, timeout burning, hoarse-voiced, Wisconsin-loving Jim Whitesell had zero 20-loss seasons, never finished last in the conference, and had more difficult non-con schedules than we've had the last two years. Those are just simple facts.
OK, you want to tear down a poorly-designed, cobbled-together house and build something new and strong? Great. But we're three years in, and I think we should have a little something more than piles of rubble, sketchy blueprints, unreliable contractors, and a hole for the foundation.