Paul Mills Room Temperature Seat

[shoxrox89]

So he failed. Got it. He's not paid millions to make excuses. It not all him, but trying to wash him of all accountability is just dumb and really bad for the long term of the program.

He either figures out how to get better players, or figures out how to coach different so the results end up positive or he's fired. That's all in his responsibility when he took a check from WSU.

Fire him and get the same results with the next coach who can’t out bid other schools as well? College basketball as we knew it is done, you don’t have the money and resources you just won’t have a winning program.

It’s sad really and makes me not even want to watch college basketball anymore

[Maizerunner08]

Fire him and get the same results with the next coach who can’t out bid other schools as well? College basketball as we knew it is done, you don’t have the money and resources you just won’t have a winning program.

It’s sad really and makes me not even want to watch college basketball anymore

Money is definitely a driving factor but isn't the end all be all. Example - look at Drake. Is Drake an outlier? Maybe. But it IS possible to be good with lesser resources. I would hope WSU is AT LEAST at Drake's level in terms of resources.

[Dan]

If Drake has a good season they’ll lose another coach (and their best players). You can’t build a program brining in new coaches every 2 years.

[Maizerunner08]

If Drake has a good season they’ll lose another coach (and their best players). You can’t build a program brining in new coaches every 2 years.

True. But you can't tell me support and money wouldn't be a lot different for WSU if we were in Drake's position right now. I would hope WSU would have a bit more money to throw around to a good coach. If we don't then yeah, we're hosed.

[molly jabali]

Look, no matter which side of the argument you are on, the fact that there even is an argument about whether Brown or Mills was better should tell you all there is to say. We should have kept Brown for one more year simply because it would have been cheaper to fire him then.

We got completely outcoached and outplayed last night by a team from the Summit League that I guarantee you has an NIL budget of money found in the laundry and a pack of corndogs. Living here, I can tell you that hardly anyone in Kansas City cares about UKC basketball. And we did it at home in front of a stadium that was less than half full.

Is Brown coaching anywhere now? No. Is Gregg Marshall coaching anywhere now? Also no. But both of them are willing to sit back and take what WSU is paying them because of a series of bad decisions on the school's part.

The only question now is what can we do from here. I have no idea. If I dropped $1 million into the NIL budget right now I'd have no faith that Mills can attract a good roster with it, and much less faith that Mills could then coach that roster.

Oh, my goodness!! I don't ever remember agreeing with anything more than I agree with this...

[asiseeit]

I don't see any way in the world that can happen. That just doesn't happen in the real world in basically any job, let alone a coaching job. Also Acy isn't even "next in line" from a coaching standpoint. Both Paulino and Cleveland would likely be above Acy when it comes to "next up" as they have actual experience outside of this staff.

I am very aware of how outlandish my coaching suggestion was and that it would never actually happen. I'm just frustrated. Think I will do my best to tone it down and hope for the best. I'll be watching, as always, come Saturday. Go Shocks.

[WuDrWu]

No big name coach will take this job in it's current state. No fans, no money.
Find a really good juco coach. They are used to players moving on in a year or 2, no money and no fans. Plus it would give them a door to D1.

The Drake way. D+


(and I'm not trying to be funny)

[Aargh]

If Saal raised over $4 mill from donors and kept the athletic department in the black last year, then he's pulling rabbits out of his hat in that area.

If he had kept IB another year, SN would have been in flames with demands to fire Brown. The basketball situation was a bit of a catch-22. Even the most careful and diligent coaching search doesn't always result in a home run hire.

Drake hired a coach from a D2 program. If Saal had done that there would have been intense criticism on SN. Drake's star player came from a D2 school. Recruiting players from D2 wouldn't have been well-received on SN. What's happening at Drake is one of the rare instances where the stars align and an unexpected result occurs.

Jerome Tang looked like a great hire at KSU when he got to an E8 with a totally turned over roster in his first year. This year he's struggling and he's got a $2 mill NIL player on his team.

The Mills hire doesn't seem to be working out and the extension Mills got looks like even worse judgement. I agree with a previous poster who proposed shorter-term contracts for coaches, since recruiting, retaining, and developing players has changed so drastically with the portal and NIL in play.

If Saal got $4 mill in donations to keep the athletic department a float, that would explain why WSU is hurting for NIL money. It seems the money that can be raised can go toward maintaining a functional athletic department or building an NIL war chest. Hard to do both in WSU's situation.

[Stickboy46]

If Saal raised over $4 mill from donors and kept the athletic department in the black last year, then he's pulling rabbits out of his hat in that area.

If he had kept IB another year, SN would have been in flames with demands to fire Brown. The basketball situation was a bit of a catch-22. Even the most careful and diligent coaching search doesn't always result in a home run hire.

Drake hired a coach from a D2 program. If Saal had done that there would have been intense criticism on SN. Drake's star player came from a D2 school. Recruiting players from D2 wouldn't have been well-received on SN. What's happening at Drake is one of the rare instances where the stars align and an unexpected result occurs.

Jerome Tang looked like a great hire at KSU when he got to an E8 with a totally turned over roster in his first year. This year he's struggling and he's got a $2 mill NIL player on his team.

The Mills hire doesn't seem to be working out and the extension Mills got looks like even worse judgement. I agree with a previous poster who proposed shorter-term contracts for coaches, since recruiting, retaining, and developing players has changed so drastically with the portal and NIL in play.

If Saal got $4 mill in donations to keep the athletic department a float, that would explain why WSU is hurting for NIL money. It seems the money that can be raised can go toward maintaining a functional athletic department or building an NIL war chest. Hard to do both in WSU's situation.

Extension Mills got?

[pinstripers]

Extension Mills got?

????? Please no, sweet baby Jesus......

[Aargh]

Extension Mills got?

Correct response in my next post.

[Aargh]

Extension Mills got?

I found the post.

My bad. It's Saal, not Mills who got extended to 2030.

[shock]

I found the post.

My bad. It's Saal, not Mills who got extended to 2030.

You should change your sig. that’s not even on the radar any more.

[rjl]

If he had kept IB another year, SN would have been in flames with demands to fire Brown. The basketball situation was a bit of a catch-22. Even the most careful and diligent coaching search doesn't always result in a home run hire.

While the consensus was "happy" when Brown was fired, I think most were still surprised it was done then and not after the next season. Most knew that firing Brown then meant we were paying 100% of the remainder of his contract.

Hence why most thought that Saal must have already had something lined up to take that kind of financial risk.

[asiseeit]

If you could turn back the clock knowing what you know now who would have rolled the dice with IB another year?