Year 1 for Mike Young at Virginia Tech and let me tell you, the college hoops world is in a better place with him at a bigger program. This is the man that gave us Fletcher Magee. This is the man that gave us Wofford. Now we have him at Virginia Tech and delivering press conferences like this. I need more coaches like this. Open and end the press conference talking about needing a cold drink. Also that laugh that he opens with is perfect. I don't know why it keeps cracking me up, but this man is just ready for a beer.
They also shouted out the Nolley twitter bomb started by our own Mr. Lanza.
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I know he has a reputation for not liking to recruit, but if he acts all the time like he did in that presser, he's going to be a media favorite in the ACC, and he's going to be a coach that recruits and parents are going to want to play for. He's got that same 'aww shucks' attitude that guys like Dabo and Roy have that seems to work, and with him in a major conference now?
This could be fun.
Have yet to see anything other than that one quote about him not liking to recruit. I know it's widespread on here but does anyone have anything more than that one quote?
And I think even that one quote is out of context. My recollection is that the one quote was in reference to recruiting AAU.
I think it is more he did not like how recruiting was done in AAU - perhaps a coach speak jab at shoe companies?
pretty sure most coaches don't like it, but keep quiet about their dislike because complaining about it wont change anything.
CMY seems like a guy who recognizes the reality of recruiting at an ACC level and brought in assistants with experience recruiting the AAU/P5 world who could lead the way on that front while he gets re-calibrated.
I wish others revenue programs at VT would follow the same lead. *ducks*
Maybe he could tech them at a local seminar?
Wink
Yep, that was my understanding also once I saw it in context.
Oh man when we win a big game this year, hes going to be out of control. Cant wait.
No costume change or personal brand social media to work on, I'm enjoying that.
You mean pretending to be pious but swearing and being a dick behind closed doors and Randomly not liking players for no real reason aren't the traits for a leader of young men?
Pretty much yeah
It would be interesting to hear from Christian Webster about working on both staffs as I imagine they are vastly different cultures. It was probably a good decision for him to stay if he has long term head coach aspirations.
Christian Webster is going to be a rockstar head coach one day and we need to do everything we can to retain him.
Yup, two different approaches to pursuing excellence.
Per Bede 'The message is the same, it's just how it's delivered' when describing the differences between Williams' and Young's philosophies.
I feel out of the loop. Who is this in reference to?
Brent Williams.
Who said this about him? Is there an article or quote somewhere that talks about it?
This is anectodal, but I know a kid who's a stats major and was a manager for the team under Williams and confirmed the guys a dick when there's not a camera in the room. Of course, that's second hand so take that for what you will. Of course, since he's not our coach anymore, I'm sure it's all true /s
He said as much about Dein Wilson. Basically said he was looking for a way to get him off the team because he didn't like him, but Devin just played his way onto the court.
Can we pleeeeaaase stop with the anti-Buzz stuff?
Buzz was great and turned our program into something special. Yes, he's a total hardass who demands an insane amount of his players, which means a lot of people don't like him (there's a reason why so many people transfer away from him). However, the guys that can hang with him absolutely love him and look at him as a father figure. Instead of spewing your one-sided propaganda, how about you ask Ahmed Hill, Justin Robinson, or Ty Outlaw what they think of Buzz? Or Jimmy Butler and Jae Crowder and the old Marquette guys who follow him wherever he goes every summer for workouts. I get that you don't like him leaving and you don't like his personality, but just let it go. Cheer tonight when they unveil the sweet 16 banner and then focus your energy on the current team and current staff, not the last one.
I was very pro Brent and hoped he would be at VT a long time and build us into a power house similar to Duke and UNC. However, my opinion of him changed with the way he left. He is not the straight arrow he plays on tv. I can accept taking his players with him. The ones that left were his players, not VT players. What really irritated me was using all our official visits to recruit for his next job. May not be illegal; but it sure is not the way a "good" person should act.
But did you complain when he recruited Ahmed Hill at Marquette and then got Med to decommit and sign his letter of intent to Virginia Tech without ever having set foot on campus? Buzz giveth and Buzz taketh.
I was also frustrated about the recruiting thing tbh, but we ended up with CMY's recruits for the 2019 and 2020 classes instead, so maybe it's for the better. Also, the Buzz recruits probably would have just decommited and gone somewhere else if Buzz didn't offer them at A&M (see Ant Harris), because that's how Buzz recruits are - they commit to the coach more than the school.
I understand that he rubbed some people the wrong way, especially on his way out, but does that undo 5 amazing years? I don't think so. And even for those that don't like him, it's better just to let it go and focus on the current group we have. I mean the level of pettiness is ridiculous, we have people complaining in this thread that Buzz cussed too much behind closed doors. Lmao, anyone saying that has probably never played sports in their life. Most coaches are like that.
Final comment on this because you are correct. It's time to move on. There is a difference between taking players you recruited to play at your previous school with you and recruiting for your next job. Hill was planning to attend Marquette and Brent expected to coach him at Marquette. Brent used our OV's to recruit kids he never had any intention to bring to VT.
He also hurt our opportunities with some players that did want to play at Tech
I'm with you. Buzz left this program drastically better than he found it, and he improved his personal situation at the same time. Seems like a mutually beneficial relationship to me. I aim to do the same thing throughout my career.
He left it just after a Sweet 16 performance, but with essentially an empty cupboard of a roster. There are a grand total of 5 players who saw the court last year still on the roster, and one of them only played 3 minutes, and three of the others averaged fewer than 15 minutes per game. And Bede, the most experienced returning player by far, only had the 6th most minutes per game of anyone on the roster last year with 25.
He certainly took the program to new heights, but there's a reason we were picked to finish 14th in the ACC this season, only one spot better than Buzz's first year.
A big reason why the cupboard was empty was the horrendous 2016 recruiting class - which had absolutely nothing to do with Buzz going to A&M. If we had a couple solid players in that class, they would be seniors now.
So he's just like Coach K.
As someone who tracks shooty-hoops from afar...are we talking about Buzz?
Yes, it's become popular from salty Hokies to hate Buzz, who they loved like he was the greatest thing since Beamer just 7 or 8 months ago.
I liked the wins he brought never liked his self promotion brand over the Hokie brand. He did the same thing at Marquette and now at A&M.
So, you claim the negatory feelings toward Buzz who? are because of some "popular" trend? The reactions were not studied and acquired for trendiness, but visceral as a gut punch for some of us. You may think yourself above such things, but I guarantee that my feelings about him are not informed or influenced by others, and if I feel salty about the fellow, it's not your place to denigrate or even try to change my feelings.
What a hoot! And can coach his a$$ off. I know it's early, but I love this guy!
Looks like Whit has done it again!
That guy is the basketball equivalent of Jerry Kill. Sounds like a VT guy.
I didn't listen to any of his hiring pressers or anything else he had done but I'm converted on day 1.
I'ma have one of them cold drinks and raise my glass to CMY.
"I got three freshman in their first college game and I'm thinkin what am I doin with my life?"
Awesome.
From the perspective of Philly sports fan, I feel confident saying I love this guy. I don't need someone to win to like them. I need someone that is clearly trying to win. He is, and I think a lot of Ws are going to come of it.
I heard something about
https://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/891340#comment-891340that
I just can't help but wonder how good we would have been with Nolley on the court last year
Did you know that Jarrett Boykin would bust the seams of his XXXL gloves?
I liked the hire initially, but I wasn't necessarily impressed with his personality until I watched the media day press conference, the post game press conference, and this mic'd up video from Wofford
This is fantastic! Man he is likeable.