Grading the MVC coaches

[electricmayhem]

If you were going to grade the MVC coaches, what letter would you issue them, based only on their MVC career?

Here's my answer:

http://www.examiner.com/x-7020-Bradley-Braves-Examiner~y2009m6d3-MVC-Preview-200910--grading-the-coaches

[The Mad Hatter]

I think that trying to grade coaches based solely on MVC careers is nearly impossible to do given the fact that 6 out of the 10 coaches have coached only 1 or 2 years in the league.

Given the factors of inherited players, changes in system, etc. judging coaches by only their first couple of years is treacherous (which is why I am in favor of giving coaches at least 4 years before firing them, barring misconduct to allow them to have a class of seniors that they recruited).

Take your analysis for Martin at MSU for instance. In the first place, I think you are overstating what was expected of the returning seniors, but aside from that, MSU had zero depth because of injuries and Martin's rightful willingness to dismiss players he inherited for disciplinary issues. Yes MSU's record was bad last year, but I don't think you really know much yet about Martin, especially since recruiting is his strong suit, and his second year will be only his first full recruiting year at MSU.

[electricmayhem]

I think that trying to grade coaches based solely on MVC careers is nearly impossible to do given the fact that 6 out of the 10 coaches have coached only 1 or 2 years in the league.

Given the factors of inherited players, changes in system, etc. judging coaches by only their first couple of years is treacherous (which is why I am in favor of giving coaches at least 4 years before firing them, barring misconduct to allow them to have a class of seniors that they recruited).

Take your analysis for Martin at MSU for instance. In the first place, I think you are overstating what was expected of the returning seniors, but aside from that, MSU had zero depth because of injuries and Martin's rightful willingness to dismiss players he inherited for disciplinary issues. Yes MSU's record was bad last year, but I don't think you really know much yet about Martin, especially since recruiting is his strong suit, and his second year will be only his first full recruiting year at MSU.

After writing this article, I agree with you somewhat. I didn't realize when I was doing my research that only three coaches had been at their job more than three years. I knew there was a lot of turnover in our league a few years back, but didn't realize it was that many.

Martin is an excellent recruiter, but they don't always make good coaches. You are right, they had no depth. But the team that he had didn't play well at all. I know it was a difficult season for Martin, but 10 different players started at least four games for him, and there was no consistency.

I'll give Martin two more years before I really start to look at his impact. For the case of the article, I had too small a sample size.