We Hired James Johnson, Now What?

Only ten days ago, Seth Greenberg was the head coach of the men's basketball team, and everything was normal. Now, Seth's gone, James Johnson's in and we have to find another way to spend our time than reading the Teel/Giannotto/Berman Coaching Rumor 3000 (patent pending).

So, starting week one of the James Johnson era, the questions still stand. Why JJ? How will bringing in Seth's top assistant do anything to change the program? Yeah he can recruit, but can he actually coach? Is this guy going to actually write something other than rhetorical questions?

The only people who can officially answer those questions are Jim Weaver and James Johnson, but it's fun to speculate. So regardless, here are the questions that JJ is going to have to answer between now and the start of the season.

1. Can he get the recruits to stay?

Well this one is already partially answered, and so far signs are pointing to yes. Marshall Wood is reportedly back on #teamHokie after initially asking for a release from his scholarship. No offense to Wood, but I think everyone's concern is actually about Montrezl Harrell (for the love of god, can someone please let me know how to pronounce his first name? I feel like an idiot every single time I try). Harrell is a forward from the Blake Griffin School of Explosiveness, and honestly, I dream about his dunks in transition. If JJ can bring him back, that would be huge.

It would also be a huge measuring stick in terms of his abilities as a recruiter, because word around town is that Calipari is VERY interested in Harrell. We all know how.... persuasive.... coach Cal can be, so if Johnson can convince Harrell to come back to Tech, we should know we have a better recruiter than we even thought on our hands.

2. Assistants?

So, as we recently learned, not having assistants is kind of a big deal. Johnson is obviously going to need to go out and get the best staff possible, which includes (warning: completely unoriginal thought alert!) someone with head coaching experience, much like what Mark Gottfried did in hiring Bobby Lutz. The obvious name, as reported by Mark Giannotto is Ron Everhart. I feared we would hire Everhart as head coach, but I am SO much more comfortable with him as Johnson's lead assistant.

I've read a rumor that Rob Ehsan may get a call, but I really think that Johnson should go out of the box for another assistant. Someone that provides a clean, unbiased look at the players in our system, and what they should run. This team has so much offensive potential, leading us to question number three.

3. When he said that the offense wouldn't be that different from the Greenberg era...he was kidding, right?

I realize that he wasn't actually kidding, but honestly, we need a change. As I just said, this team as so much potential offensively. Erick Green is built for a slash-and-kick game, especially with Jarrell Eddie and Robert Brown waiting in the corners to drain 3s. We finally have a big man in Cadarian Raines that can simply take other bigs to school with a barrage of post moves (we are still waiting for him to kick it back out though...seriously Big C, it doesn't count for less points if you kick it to a wing), and a weapon in Dorian Finney-Smith that simply needs to have the ball in his hands.

I know that what we ran last year was supposed to be a motion offense. I also know that there has to be motion in order to run a motion offense. This needs to change, and bringing in an offensive assistant could really help.

4. Can he bring the students back?

I will be the first one to tell you that Virginia Tech students are some of the worst basketball fans on the planet. We will always show up for Duke and UNC. Anything else? Well if we're good, we'll go. If we like the product on the court, we'll probably also go. It's absolutely miserable, and another topic for another day.

With that being said, JJ is going to need to re-energize the students. A little secret of Seth Greenberg's tenure is that he recruited students almost harder than he did actual recruits. And I know there's a whole lot of revisionist history about Seth never connecting with the student body, but I would say that that would be one of the few things he did well. With the exception of this season, students went to more basketball games during his tenure than ever.

I realize that a coach can only do so much, but if the students pack the house again, he can already mark his first year as at least a mild success.

5. How will being the player's choice affect decisions on and off the court?

The seemingly biggest reason for his hiring is that the players said he was their choice. That's probably the biggest positive and negative of his first season. On the positive side, we may finally see a team on the court that looks like they generally like playing together. The fact that they players like him THAT much may mean even more talent to come Blacksburg bound. If he fosters the "family atmosphere" that Jim Weaver is looking for, he could be here for a long time.

On the other hand, however, is that will the players wanting him leave loyalties with certain players? We saw Greenberg run into that from time to time, starting a senior who was starting over a better guy on the bench (best example: Davila starting over Raines for nearly the entire season, when it was simply clear that Raines was the more effective and efficient player).
Obviously, we will just have to wait and see. JJ's hiring has grown on me over the week, while an obvious ploy by Jim Weaver to cover his butt while he's still AD (keeping players happy while not making a backward move), I think that this could actually work.

But until we get to see...I think we get to watch a little football first.