Lansing COY

[wuhog]

Anybody catch it on the valley broadcast when one of the guys said Lansing is"hands down the coach of the year". Are u kidding me!! Love how that Drake game turned out.

[wufan]

Anybody catch it on the valley broadcast when one of the guys said Lansing is"hands down the coach of the year". Are u kidding me!! Love how that Drake game turned out.

I'm not sure how they came up with that. They were picked 6th and he started out 4-8 in the non-con. 5 game winning streak to start MVC play. They played four games against teams picked 3rd-5th, three at home, and two road games against teams with an RPI over 300. Loyola will end up being the 3rd/4th best team, so they still have 7 games against the "good" MVC and 5 road games against the "bad" MVC. They will be fortunate to finish .500 and they would need to finish with 12 wins for Lansing to be in consideration.

While my vote is for HCGM, I feel his floor to win the award is 17-1, meanwhile Porter Moser will get serious consideration with 10 Valley wins (as he should) and Ben Jacobson might win for finishing a close second to the Shockers.

[DUShock]

Perhaps they should have had the caveat "up to this point" but even then one could argue for Loyola's Porter Mosier up to this point. If the Shocks run the table, again, it's hands down HCGM. Historically, the coach that wins the regular season wins coach of the year, which I don't necessarily agree. Coaches who make significant progress should be acknowledged and recognized.

[Dave Stalwart]

Anybody catch it on the valley broadcast when one of the guys said Lansing is"hands down the coach of the year". Are u kidding me!! Love how that Drake game turned out.

If being the coach of the year is based on a five game stretch from the end of December through the second week of January, then by all means.

Also... Generally a coach who is picked low in the conference but turns the program around quicker than expected to finish higher than anticipated that year will get a lot of consideration. However, Lansing's 5-0 start to MVC play was only made to look so good by his own team's horribly bad non conference. You don't get COY for that. We have a moral victory situation on our hands if he is getting mentioned for that award just because he got his team back to where it was supposed to be all along (190ish RPI now).

To me the more obvious pick as of today in this season is Porter Moser, followed by Ben Jacobsen. There isnt much to work with from the rest of the MVC. And obviously HCGM is continuing to shine bright and he would be my pick for taking a bunch of newcomers and going 16-2 so far, but I think the MVC is going to start getting tired of making him COY. If Loyola finishes the season still around #50 and even gets mentioned in the bubble discussion, that is an absolute triumph by Porter Moser. Lansing is gonna have to do a whole lot more than go .500 with a ton of bad losses, an rpi of 190 and a 3-6 place finish in the MVC to be COY. Good grief.

[forevershockerfan]

Even before the trees loss yesterday I was wondering how they would do on the back 9 Valley games. Prolly not near as good as the front 9 would be my guess. The breaks in close games have a tendency to even themselves out. I'm rooting for SIU to beat Loyola today because they deserve a break and a win. As usual, the Valley teams will start beating each other up now. You don't suppose the Bears could sneak away with a win at NIU today? Dunno but I will be scouting both teams in that game.

[Kel Varnsen]

HCGM is the best coach in the Valley, but he won't win Valley Coach of the Year every year. And unfortunately it's for the same reason that Michael Jordan didn't win NBA MVP every year in the 90's.

[Steeleshocker]

Even before the trees loss yesterday I was wondering how they would do on the back 9 Valley games. Prolly not near as good as the front 9 would be my guess. The breaks in close games have a tendency to even themselves out. I'm rooting for SIU to beat Loyola today because they deserve a break and a win. As usual, the Valley teams will start beating each other up now. You don't suppose the Bears could sneak away with a win at NIU today? Dunno but I will be scouting both teams in that game.

I find myself in the Loyola camp right now. They had a nice top 50 rpi until they had to go and beat Drake.

[Shock Therapy]

If it doesn't go to coach Marshall then I think that Porter Moser should get it. The trees 5 game win streak was surprising, but that's about it. And they just gave Drake only their 3rd win of the season.

[WuDrWu]

Coaching is 90% recruiting. Clearly the only option is Muller. 1-12. This is over.

[DUShock]

Coaching is 90% recruiting. Clearly the only option is Muller. 1-12. This is over.

Thanks for the Sunday morning snort out loud post.

[Rlh04d]

HCGM is the best coach in the Valley, but he won't win Valley Coach of the Year every year. And unfortunately it's for the same reason that Michael Jordan didn't win NBA MVP every year in the 90's.

Exactly. If COY is for the best coach, I don't think anyone can argue with HCGM getting the award every single season.

There are only two good coaches in the Valley: Marshall and Jacobson. Lansing and Porter are good-for-this-level, and the jury is still out on Muller. The rest are doing terrible (although I'm still giving Barry another year based on the dumpster fire he walked into).

As for Lansing as COY ... if he's to credit for the 5-1 start, isn't he to blame for the 4-8 start? They surprised me with the win @IlSt, but the rest of their wins aren't particularly impressive, except maybe home vs Evansville. It's still the performance of a team that's going to finish sixth in conference, where they were predicted, and should go 1-6 or 2-5 in their next seven. They had an easy start to the conference schedule, and a brutal mid-schedule stretch with six games against top half teams in the next seven.

Marshall, Jacobson, and Porter are the only three in the running for the award.

[_kai_]

Moser gets the nod from me if I had to choose someone other than Marshall. Moser met the number of wins he had last season... in December. That's phenomenal.

[jocoshock]

Way too early to pick anybody.

[WSUwatcher]

Yes, joco -- that's really the bottom line. Announcers like to talk, and they especially like to say things that get people's attention, but to make a serious judgement, start checking back in about a month.

[Rlh04d]

Thought this was interesting:

Since the 1997-98 season, all but two of the 17 Coach of the Year winners have coached the winner of the Valley regular season. Of those two, McDermott was pretty well DQed in 2013 because of Creighton leaving the conference, and Dana won in 2002 after Creighton finished a game back to SIU but won Arch Madness.

There's not a lot of mystery to the Coach of the Year award, and it's not going to a fourth place coach.