Paul Mills Not Hot Seat

[TrackSuitAndTie]

Yup, exactly my thoughts. Number 2 is the craziest one IMO. Especially considering the contract buyout difference from last year to this year

I also think IB would have brought in a much better recruiting class, especially if Tyson Waterman and Butch Pierre remained on staff.

[FadedCrown]

I’ll be a little optimistic, it wasn’t too long ago that we bounced back from a 8-11 start to make the NIT. Things can improve in a hurry.

[FadedCrown]

And are we really clamoring for IB again? The coach who was carried by NBA talent that he didn’t bring in and still went nearly .500?

[asiseeit]

I'd have Germany, KP, Mcbride, Thengval, and Joy ready to platoon in the first sign of lack of effort, not blocking out, sloppiness, falling asleep on D, etc. A strong message needs to be sent and soon. Wish it applied to HCPM, as well. Fans are getting tired of the same old same old BS with same results

[Stickboy46]

And are we really clamoring for IB again? The coach who was carried by NBA talent that he didn’t bring in and still went nearly .500?

Clamoring no ... but realizing we actually would have been better with IB this year? Yes. Also realizing the bet to fire IB last year instead of this year is not paying off at all.

[rjl]

Paul Mills deserves most of the blame, but Kevin Saal:

1) Chose to fire Isaac Brown a year before his buyout was set to drop, even after the team improved over the course of last season.
2) Did not have a replacement hire lined up, despite the rush to fire Isaac Brown (this is the most unacceptable part, in my opinion).
3) Hired a coach from a low-major program, who won more than 20 games once and always had poor underlying metrics.

I think Kevin Saal is doing a good job as AD in other areas, but this is (by far) the biggest decision he has made and so far it looks to be a bad one.

The biggest crime with #2 is it certainly sounded like Turgeon was Saal's number one target, given that he was apparently offered the job but turned it down.

How is that not a conversation Saal has before he fires Brown? Turgeon wasn't coaching anywhere so he was available to talk.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

The biggest crime with #2 is it certainly sounded like Turgeon was Saal's number one target, given that he was apparently offered the job but turned it down.

How is that not a conversation Saal has before he fires Brown? Turgeon wasn't coaching anywhere so he was available to talk.

If I am sticking my neck out to fire someone I am making damn sure I have a verbal agreement in place with the replacement before pulling the trigger.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

And are we really clamoring for IB again? The coach who was carried by NBA talent that he didn’t bring in and still went nearly .500?

One more year of IB would have almost assuredly done less damage to the program than year one of HCPM.

[Stickboy46]

I'd have Germany, KP, Mcbride, Thengval, and Joy ready to platoon in the first sign of lack of effort, not blocking out, sloppiness, falling asleep on D, etc. A strong message needs to be sent and soon. Wish it applied to HCPM, as well. Fans are getting tired of the same old same old BS with same results

This .. I think the majority of us would have no problem if Joy or McBride comes in and things aren't smooth if we are seeing SOMETHING to show that Mills doesn't want Cortes or Bell to keep doing the crap they keep doing. Joy especially. Get him some minutes. Let him get his growing pains out of the way in a lost season.

[Atxshoxfan]

When players at the college level can't or won't even do the fundamental things like blocking out for rebounds, make simple passes, cut to the hoop when the ball is in your centers hands near the free throw line, I can't imagine how a team full of players like that could win much.
That was the worst player performance I have seen at high school level or above. Pohto took a wide open shot near the free throw line that reminded me of a non athletic 4th grader shooting in the playground.
The passing was atrocious and the give a s#it was as low as I've seen.
I don't care if John wooden was coaching these guys, they wouldn't win playing like that. ECU was just a notch better, but both were terrible. If I were ESPN I'd remove both teams from the TV schedule for their own good.

[Dan]

All this talk about IB is crazy. He's gone and not coming back, we don't want him back. IB was a terrible head coach but terrible recruiter he was not. 3G did not recruit all those guys, many were recruited by IB (as an assistant under 3G) or with his own staff. We have no idea is Mills is a good or terrible recruiter, but so far it's terrible based on his first class.

[Aargh]

IB actually needed two more years. Year one to get the buyout down and year two because his contract expired something like the end of May, and try to hire a coach in June or later.

That would have given another year to see what ORU would do after Abmas and Vandiver transferred and the Sr's graduated. ORU is currently last in the Summit League.

Mills didn't get the same amount of recruiting time as other year 1 coaches in the AAC. That's because it took him FOREVER! to get his coaching staff put together. It seems like the core of a coaching staff is usually put together in days instead of weeks.

[Stickboy46]

IB actually needed two more years. Year one to get the buyout down and year two because his contract expired something like the end of May, and try to hire a coach in June or later.

That would have given another year to see what ORU would do after Abmas and Vandiver transferred and the Sr's graduated. ORU is currently last in the Summit League.

Mills didn't get the same amount of recruiting time as other year 1 coaches in the AAC. That's because it took him FOREVER! to get his coaching staff put together. It seems like the core of a coaching staff is usually put together in days instead of weeks.

I'm not sure whether you are trying to say we should cut Mills slack for this or not? There is no rule he can't be out recruiting before all coaches are in place. If he really didn't do any recruiting before getting his coaches .. thats a REALLY bad sign. He should have been out recruiting the moment his signature went on the contract.


To be clear, i agree with the rest of your post for the most part.

[asiseeit]

Why do most of you always single out KP???? Only played 12 minutes and only missed the one shot mentioned which was a good shot. When they double him down low that leaves us with four on three around the perimeter but there is no ball movement to find that open shooter. Kudos to KP for drawing two men on him all the time. It's the other four that are NOT performing well in the offense.

[Stickboy46]

Why do most of you always single out KP???? Only played 12 minutes and only missed the one shot mentioned which was a good shot. When they double him down low that leaves us with four on three around the perimeter but there is no ball movement to find that open shooter. Kudos to KP for drawing two men on him all the time. It's the other four that are NOT performing well in the offense.

The only person i see mentioning KP in the last few pages ... is you?