There have been some rumblings about a potential Mike Young hire today.
I've done some talking and have been able to confirm from multiple sources who the hire would be. This is not a breaking news announcement of the hire, as I've been told everything has gone very quickly and sometimes those deals fall apart.
However. This hire would be the equivalent of Mike Young throwing down a royal flush.
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Is that a play on words...Ace?
Frehley?
I guess we can accept Michael Jordan as a coach. Don't like his UNC connections, but we can take a hit.
The roof will not only be the ceiling, it will now have flying buttresses
What position is Young looking to fill right now? Would this be a Director of Operations position? He already has six staff members and three graduate assistants announced.
That is where it gets a little less clear. I've been told this wouldn't be a full time coaching position. As you've noted, they're full up. Supposedly this would be more along the lines of a part time/player development role.
Custis?!?!
Dude. This would be so Bingo. When I spoke with him a few years ago he said his goal was to be seated on the VT bench...for a long time. Good on him and good on VT for bringing him back if true.
Arvin posted something today hinting at Ace Custis in a Player Development role.
Fwiw, Ace can still ball out, and I'm sure could still teach these young bucks a thing or two.
It's Frank Beamer, isn't it?
Crossing fingers for Kurt Rambis
It's Hank. The story about Frank giving Hank away was just a cover to keep a lid on this until the official announcement.
I knew Bud Foster had a good reason for early retirement!
I hope it's dell curry so he can convince his kids to play here.
Too soon...
Um, I'm pretty sure you mean not soon enough. Unless you are one of those timey whimy guys, or a Jeremy Bearimy if that's how you roll.
Um, I'm pretty sure he means "too soon", as in the fact that we didn't offer Steph Curry a scholarship happened so recently it still hurts whenever it's brought up.
Heard a rumor it was Seth Greenberg returning as a special assistant specializing in fostering healthy relationships between the basketball team and other parts of the school.
Can't miss chalk talk.
That chalk would be made of salt.
Salt talk?
Sharkbait says if it's Greenberg he will burn it all down.
That name gets me thinking of this. Every. Damn. Time.
Quietly Mike Young has been the best hire of the previous coaching cycle so far.
Not trying to be a dick but they don't give out awards for winning the offseason. Really good start to CMY's tenure but it doesn't mean anything if we're below .500 for the next three years.
They don't give out awards for the offseason, no, but it is a critical part of program building to retain and recruit good players for the future of the program (CMY has outperformed expectations so far), and to build a staff that will help the program move in the right direction. The key qualifier in my statement was "so far," and that's all we have to judge him on at the moment. So far he has been a great hire. He can't be judged by on-court results until he has a team on the court. I was simply expressing that from a recruiting/staffing POV he has been a great hire so far.
I think it has quietly been a good off-season. How that compares to other programs I can't say because I honestly haven't paid attention to anything outside of VT hoops besides unfollowing Buzz on Twitter. Had CMY been able to hold on to Blackshear i think we would be having at least a regional discussion about how CMY has had a GREAT off-season and hadn't let the program skip a beat.
He did manage to retain Nolley and Bede, picked up 4-star Jalen Cone, and filled the empty spots on the roster due to incoming players switching to aTm. When you add 2 more 4-star players for 2020 and being in consideration (i.e. final 5) for several others, I for one think he is surpassing expectations. Honestly, some of the "hot" names that were mentioned during the coaching search would have likely had less success on the recruiting trail. I think it is ok to have that regional discussion about how CMY has had a great off-season, now.
So I'm not dismissing that CMY hasn't had a good offseason because he has. I'm not dismissing that CMY exceeded expectations because he has. I just want to reserve judgement until I see a real product on the floor.
If we don't win games, it really doesn't matter. High star recruits are nothing but potential. Potential means that you haven't accomplished anything yet. There are plenty of 4-5 star recruits who didn't do anything of note when they got to college.
If the 2023-24 season rolls around and CMY hasn't made the tournament yet, then nobody is going to care that "he brought in a bunch of four star recruits".
If we're above .500 this year, I'll join the hype train.
Mike Young has absolutely killed it by surrounding himself with elite level recruiting.
In reality, that's been the missing piece here for a very long time. We are in a conference and in a region where we can compete. Cassell is a venue that is brutally tough to play in when its loud, and the fans will come out as long as they are given a reason to care. The thing that was missing, really up until last year, has been a team chocked full of layered, talented depth. The staff that CMY has put together should fix this overnight, and he's a damn good coach who can bring the best out of those players once they're here.
If this rumor is true, and Ace is coming home... Man, that would be something else.
Yep he's won the offseason. Now he just needs to prove he's not our own version of Mark Gottfried, and I say that as a guy that thought he would be a sneaky good hire
The crazy thing is, if CMY is as good a coach as advertised, you could see VT basketball take on a life of its own down the line. The guy is here for the long haul, the only way he leaves is if he is let go. He's not going to job hop to the next best thing if we start playing well again.
My initial reaction to his hire was skepticism because I wanted us to focus on recruiting, and he dunked on that concern with his hires. If we can recruit every year like we are now? If we can do that, our best years are ahead of us, and I say that with 100% confidence.
That is the least of my worries, the rap on CMY has been great X's and O's guy, doesn't care much for recruiting. So if we get the historical average CMY, then we should feel confident we won't have a Gottfried situation. The unknown was whether or not he could recruit the talent to compete in the ACC and he shopped that out to his assistants who have been killing it. The real concern is whether or not we can build a basketball program for long term success with this model as assistants tend to try to move up and and if they can't they move out to greener pastures. Will this leave us in a tough spot in a couple of years? Will CMY warm up to recruiting? Will we be able to hire back some top notch recruiters? For now, I say the system is working and lets see the results on the court before I stress about the future.
DON'T
TWEET
AT
RECRUITS
He doesn't appear listed on Maryland Eastern Shore Coaching staff:
Link
Did he leave? Is he just now leaving? When did the relationship end?
Edit: You can google him to find his old coaching page: link
Edit 2: After the coach was fired last year, Custis was retained: link
Yeah, a few months ago he was listed as an assistant. I haven't crossed paths with him in a few months, but I know he's posted a few things that make me believe he will be in Blacksburg either this year or very soon.
So possibly an assistant coach at Maryland Eastern Shore coming to VT as a non-coach/consultant/whatever is Mike Young essentially hiring Tom Izzo.. OK. I'll wait and see who it is/what the situation is.
Are you joking or do you not know who Ace Custis is?
This might be one of the coolest shots from back in the day.
yes I know who Ace Custis is.. jesus. He's a hokie, he's was a great player. Skutt says hiring him is a huge coup for Young. OK? Is he going to suit up for us at the 4? cool if so. Skutt made it sound like Young was hiring Izzo as an assistant. I ask a real and practical question now. Is Ace Custis regarded as an excellent assistant coach? A great recruiter? that's my point - and I'm asking..is he? I have no idea
I upvoted you. I am excited a Hokie Legend might be returning to assist with the program. But realistically, is he a great recruiter, coach, etc, I don't know.
Recruiter? Hard to tell. UMES isn't a big destination for D1 basketball talent...
Assistant Coach? Gonna lean yes on this. Seeing him around the players and having been retained thru several coaching changes gives me the feeling he is good at it. Granted its just a feeling...but leaning yes.
I do know he is very hungry to get on the VT bench. He won't be complacent and just skate thru. Ace is a worker, and if he ends up with a VT shirt on professionally, he will appreciate what it means the opportunity.
you should consider asking your real and practical questions from the get-go next time and every time after that
Did you even consider for a moment that Skutt was simply making a few puns based on Ace's name?
his face literally hangs on the walls inside Cassell
can someone please photoshop tom izzo's face onto a scarecrow to illustrate how much nonsense this straw man argument is?
I don't typically downvote dc's randomly random randomness. But damn. You can't even look at your glass like it's half empty. You poked a hole in the bottom of the glass to make sure you never have worry about that clichรฉ.
These downvotes are stupid. TKP should be better than this.
Should be. But realistically?
DC don't care. Upvote, downvote....he's just gonna be DC.
Finally official...
Finally! Welcome Home!
-dcwilson40
I thought Izzo was the hire. So confusing....
I think Ace is my all time favorite Hokie hoops player.
Guy just balled out, probably above his natural level, every game I watched.
His "want to" was phenomenal.
Ace Custis:
I am whelmed. I'm excited that we are keeping a former player close to the program (even hiring them). But I know nothing about his coaching and recruiting abilities that show this is a "homerun" hire, as Whit would say.
This is one of the only times I have legit sauces... Ace turned down other relatively major promotion opportunities to come to VT, which has been his goal for a while. He is well thought of in the coaching ranks and is likely to show a lot of loyalty to VT.
Guess it's officially official:
We're A Basketball School Now
He is the "coordinator of basketball relations," not a head coach or a defensive coordinator (football.) This didn't need to be a home run hire. In fact, I think in this position bleeding O&M (i.e. passion for VT) is probably as important as basketball acumen, especially if he is interfacing with recruits and/or donors/alumni.