Recent Comments
Agreed. Two different guys. Two different approaches. Etc. Weaver did a lot of positive things for Tech but he really screwed up basketball on his way out the door. Everyone said one of the biggest issues for the new AD would be the "basketball problem" and well... he's addressing it. No coach that is willing to consider us will write us off because of this unless they are completely ignorant. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize a pretty substantial changing of philosophy is currently underway within the VT athletics department. If that coach is serious about us, he will have to consider not if he thinks he'll have a very short leash, rather, do I agree with this change of philosophy and will it be a fit for me. As far as I'm concerned, people like Brian Hamilton at SI can just stfu.
I would make the Werth signing 10 times out of 10. Even when they are paying him a ludicrous amount when he probably cant play in Right. Still worth it. Werth is the clubhouse in DC. He is the foundation of that team. He is practically the damn coach.
In terms of revenue earning if you make the right call there is no contract that is too high. Making the right call and having the balls to pull the trigger on the contract takes a skillful eye and a lot of luck though. Exciting times for Whit but there is definitely a lot of pressure if he does open the checkbook.
The idea that Bill Self would even consider leaving Kansas to coach at Virginia Tech is absurd. Kansas has a top 3 arena nationally and a great fan base coupled with the ability to recruit McDonald's All-Americans consistently. We currently have a disappointed fan base that can't fill up half of Cassell and absolutely no ability to get elite talent consistently.
If Self wants to coach against Roy, he can schedule Carolina. There's no way he would step down at a top 5 job nationally to coach at Virginia Tech.
Shaka Smart isn't even in the same category as Bill Self. You could argue that he's just as good of a coach, but the resources that Self and Smart are currently playing with aren't comparable. Smart would absolutely consider coaching in Blacksburg if the price was right (as he reportedly proved two years ago).
Well I am sad for your view of realism then. Here is how I look at a hire like the one that would be required to compete with those teams. That kind of dyed in the wool Hall of Fame potential coach is more likely to pay back any money invested in a short period of time. They are less likely to come in and be another mediocre hire that is just that third Head Coach paycheck we are paying. They immediately put us in the discussion with every five star player in the country because now you have a Hall of Fame type coach and you can play against four or five other squads coached by Hall of Fame type coaches. It brings eyes to Tech year in and year out. You become an expected member of the Top 25, and a consistent participant in the NCAA tournament. All of these kind of things bring in more money for Tech, it moves the basketball program from a cost/pays for itself type program to a revenue generator. It will make camping outside Cassell a regular occurrence, Sportscenter will want to be there for games, and basketball will have the spotlight on Tech from the beginning of football all the way to the Spring Game. We will be more likely to be the hat that the kid chooses on signing day and if we really are successful it actually helps the football program too.
For me, with Pearl, his infraction is less of an issue about the NCAA and more about the fundamentals of his character. Who acts like that? "I know full well that I'm doing something wrong [merits about NCAA rules aside], and I'm going to tell this impressionable young man to lie about it to cover my ass, and I'm going to tell his family to do the same." I don't care what position you're in at that point, you're a low-class individual. Given the other problems that he lied about, like drug use by at least one of his players, that's a deal-breaker for me.
I don't have any illusions that everyone does everything right all the time, but our compliance department is a good one and we have a good system in place to keep things on the up-and-up as best as we can. I don't prescribe to the notion that we should hire someone like Pearl just because it improves our W-L record. I want someone that will be a Hokie. A liar who serves only his own interests does not fit with Ut Prosim.
I have a good feeling that Whit would consider him seriously. Obviously this is just pure speculation but he would be a great hire.
There were more than two players on that team, every single player stayed.
Gotcha, from that perspective, it's a good example.
I just look at it from a WAR/value perspective. If that was my team, I'd want the GM to have to pitch batting practice with no screen all season.
Mine too, he would be a fun hire. The only knock on him is that he is coaching players he didn't recruit but come on I don't see many recruits saying no to Danny Manning with his amazing history as a player and coach.
We've been down that path before.....
uh, cat's ass?
I'm not sure about that one.
I will say that TKP is the tits though.
I believe "we do things the right way" is code for "we just haven't had our disgruntled ex-employee squeal on us yet, but it's coming." I don't live under the illusion that any program is clean, mostly because of the sheer stupidity of the NCAAs rules. Pearl is a perfect example, he had a BBQ at his house for recruits then lied about it. Who cares. OSU players trade tattoos for memorabilia, who cares, it's their memorabilia. Too much pasta, cream cheese for bagels, text limits then no text limits 3 months later. It's ludicrous.
Even when someone does something egregious like UNC or Miami, the NCAA doesn't do anything about it. I don't value the regulatory system, so I don't devalue infractions of said system.
I know someone with basketball experience that should be able to bring some intensity to our defense.
#rogers4coach
I have a nit to pick... and this might not go over very well here, so please don't downvote me too much.
I hate the whole ONLY MAROON mindset. Our school colors are Maroon and Orange, not Maroon and white. Our identity is maroon AND orange, its what makes us who we are. We are not Texas A&M or Mississippi State, so stop trying to turn us into them.
/rant over... steps off soapbox
As we get closer, wanted to bump this. So far, the turn out is looking on the low side. So if you could help spread the word that would be great.
Hope to run into a few of guys later that night downtown too.
It took us about 3-4 hours since JJs firing and we as fans have gone from the worry, worry, worry content of our pre-firing threads about the B-ball program to: Let's hit for the ceiling and go for it. Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!
This, my friends, is refreshing! Well done, Whit! Let's see the rest of what you got over the next few months. Its gonna be interesting. I know this sounds a little cold towards JJ, but we must look forward and we all know this was best for the Hokie Nation! The collective thoughts and mindsets I mention in these threads indicate exactly that.
It's sites like this that quickly let a guy like Whit know he did the right thing from a fans perspective. Certainly that isn't all that he based his decisions on but it certainly is a decent piece of the PIE!! There I said it!
Yes
Before Werth the Nats were the laughingstock cannon fodder of the NL East. Teams like Philadelphia would come in and Nats fans would be outnumbered at the park 2:1. The team was annually bad, the fans knew it, and they treated the franchise as such.
Then they signed Werth. The mindset immediately went to "we're here, so f'n deal with it". Yes, they still would have had Strasburg, and they still would have Bryce Harper, but the 'Natitude' and core belief that they COULD put out a winner and that they could compete came from that signing. Talent-wise, bringing in Werth helped only marginally, but mindset-wise, it was a franchise changing signing.
The difference here being that Ricky Stokes last recruiting class was serviceable at best. Jamon Gordon had a serviceable career at Tech and Coleman Collins had one above average season at Tech in 2005-2006. They were the entirety of that class that made it to Tech for the next season. Greenberg brought in Dowdell. Davis Stubbs and Chris Tucker walked on. Collins and Gordan are both still playing professionally, Collins in Bahrain and Gordon in Europe.
JJ has a class just outside the Top 40 now. Both of the shooting guards have the potential to be impact players next season.
Do you consider the Werth signing successful?
Would you (or anyone else who supports him) care to share your thinking on hiring Pearl? I'm really curious to see what people think. I really don't see any reason why Babcock would want to spend any political capital trying to hire him and justify the choice to both the NCAA (show-cause penalty and all) and the fanbase. We're used to doing things the right way; Pearl would be an affront to that notion, at least the way I see it.
I'm not serious about competing with Duke, UNC, Syracuse or Louisville. I'm realistic.
I also did a mini-triathlon about a year after I graduated. It was a 10K run, 3K canoe/kayak, and 20K mountain bike. I didn't really train at all for it, but my youth pastor, a coach I had for 2 sports in high school (DC/WR/DB coach for football & basketball assistant) and two married doctors that go to church with were doing it so I joined in. I don't remember my time, just that it was under three hours, that my leg started cramping at the end of the run so I was glad for the chance to rest it in the kayak, and that we finished: Lady Doctor, Male Doctor, Youth Pastor, Me, Coach. I finished the run ahead of the Youth Pastor.
What you're calling for (and I agree with) is similar to what the Washington Nationals did with Jayson Werth. They overpaid for a player who had name recognition in order to do two things: 1. say we mean business, we're here to win and 2. change the culture of the clubhouse. The coaching hire has to be the same type of splash.
I agree with you for the most part, it wouldn't be as much of an issue if Frank was paid closer to that of his competition. However, as Foster discussed in a recent interview with AB our football program doesn't have nearly the staff size of other major programs. So if we want to compete with the big boys and not have our football coaches wearing so many hats we would have to also pay the new coaches. I think this is doable down the road with Whit revamping the fundraising efforts of the hokie club but we are making the basketball hire now when the extra funds aren't in the picture.
Most of this list was put together when we were approaching this from the cost effective, hard to convince a coach to come here pool of candidates. I mentally blocked out coaches in the big six conferences in making the list. I focused more on the mid majors that would see Tech as a step up to the big leagues. Cronin has a lot of good qualities and I wouldn't be against him being here. He has done pretty solid work at Cincy.