I'm not sold on Coach being elite at X's and O's but do think he's good at them. Nor elite at motivation and training, but again, pretty good.this guy at least works at it, has experience at the college level and knows something about being a college HC.
I am becoming convinced that he does have a good eye, and will be able to recruit at a high level. Maybe much of it is cash, but I don't care the reasons. He works at recruiting and goes after who he wants.
So with Jimmy's and Joe's beating Xs and Os , this is going to work out. He will build a program.
What makes you think he's pretty good at motivation?
I'm not sold on Coach being elite at X's and O's but do think he's good at them. Nor elite at motivation and training, but again, pretty good.this guy at least works at it, has experience at the college level and knows something about being a college HC.
I am becoming convinced that he does have a good eye, and will be able to recruit at a high level. Maybe much of it is cash, but I don't care the reasons. He works at recruiting and goes after who he wants.
So with Jimmy's and Joe's beating Xs and Os , this is going to work out. He will build a program.
What makes you think he's pretty good at motivation?
1. What makes you think he's not?
2. Why exactly do you believe you or anyone else can gauge his ability with motivation?
3. What makes you believe you can gauge a players ability by looking at his hair?
@kkott My opinion... I think last years team finished closer to its ceiling, than most think, and would give CDD credit for. I think a realistic ceiling for that team, and all its limitations, was probably 22-23 overall wins. They lost a couple they shouldn't have with late game collapses. They won a couple in the conference, they maybe shouldn't have. But in the end, they had a bunch of mid major players, were thin in the post, didn't really have an effective PG... And the conference was very strong above them. Many of us were pissed off about it, most of the year, because of long established IU expectations. And I'm not giving CDD a pass, certainly not praising him. But they didn't "play below" their abilities, overall, in my opinion.
This years team, I would say the ceiling is winning all or nearly all their non conference games, and then winning 14-15 of their conference games. 25 ish wins. Not a huge difference, but if they fall a few games short of that, say 22-9 and 13-7... that's probably about their "par" for this year, and that's markedly higher than last year's par was.
The main difference is obvious. We're bigger, we're deeper, we have many guys that have proven to be productive at the P4 level. The result of that, should be, that we don't have nearly as many obvious limitations, that can be predictably exploited, as last year's team did.
Last year was a disaster. Give him credit for his recent recruits and, potentially for the portal class (we'll see about Burton), but don't put lipstick on that pig.
Why wouldn't he be? I threw that comment in toward the negatives on this board that he couldn't motivate, wasn't intense enough. Those posters had no or very little evidence of that.
Other than one guy last season, I thought our team played for him. I didn't like that season at all, but I also don't think finishing middle of the pack with that roster was a disaster. They beat Purdue.
We did get smoked down the stretch! I'll grant that had better not show up again. Maybe that was lack of motivation, or dissension.
He had a good record at Drake, a good first year at WVU. Only flaw with his past records is blowing leads games and late season. Tough to win games if your guys aren't competing. And he has won a lot of games.
The WKU demo game, his face looked intense when he was talking to the huddle and pointing out to the court. Didn't look super happy, so I think the comments that he isn't some Bobby Knight don't matter. He'll motivate in his way.
Why wouldn't he be? I threw that comment in toward the negatives on this board that he couldn't motivate, wasn't intense enough. Those posters had no or very little evidence of that.
Other than one guy last season, I thought our team played for him. I didn't like that season at all, but I also don't think finishing middle of the pack with that roster was a disaster. They beat Purdue.
We did get smoked down the stretch! I'll grant that had better not show up again. Maybe that was lack of motivation, or dissension.
He had a good record at Drake, a good first year at WVU. Only flaw with his past records is blowing leads games and late season. Tough to win games if your guys aren't competing. And he has won a lot of games.
The WKU demo game, his face looked intense when he was talking to the huddle and pointing out to the court. Didn't look super happy, so I think the comments that he isn't some Bobby Knight don't matter. He'll motivate in his way.
I respect your thoughts. I was not going to reply to the nutcase.
I'm going off what I saw from him and his team last year. Disaster? The BT was tough at the very top, but not down the line. We were 18-14 and 9-11. 7 of our wins were against Alabama A & M; Milwaukee; Incarnate Word; Lindenwood: Bethune-Cookman; Chicago St.; and Sienna. We were 11-14 against everyone else and got trashed more than a few times. If you don't like 'disaster', would 'horrible' work for you?
Regarding the motivation question....the PG quit on the team 2/3 of the way through the season; 2 players who were injured early on, but reportedly able to play in January, never suited up, with no explanation as to why. We didn't show up for a game at OSU that was billed as a play-in game for the tourney. Then we didn't show up against a mediocre NW team in the BT tourney.
He was in a tough situation, no doubt. Most teams that have to rely on the portal struggle. He may be more effective as he works his own players in. But I'm not going to have amnesia about last year.
... Regarding the motivation question....the PG quit on the team 2/3 of the way through the season;Yeah, that's the 'one guy' when I said everybody else played for coach. He benched him some but then let him back in.
Yeah. Those were disturbing. Team did appear to have checked out. We'll see.We didn't show up for a game at OSU that was billed as a play-in game for the tourney. Then we didn't show up against a mediocre NW team in the BT tourney.
So like I said... He's not an elite motivator. 🤣
@mushroomgod He made very obvious mistakes with his roster construction. No clue how that came to pass, but I have to assume he had a false sense of security that he could take Low Major all stars, and compete with high major rosters. And he probably just wasn't equipped yet to manage the NIL capacity and budget that he had. Its like he went for elite TE's, Defense, and Kickers in a fantasy draft, instead of good/solid QB/RB/WR's. It's o.k. to round out your roster with a Sun Belt POY type of guy, but not build your entire team out of them. He learned from it, and now has help managing it, like most other high major coaches do.
Combine the above with his inability to get those fellas to play consistently to their full potential... and it was a rough year, for sure. I don't think it was a "disaster". They beat Purdue, they were in the hunt for an NCAA bid until the late season slide. Saying I didn't think they played much at all "below" their potential, isn't putting lipstick on a pig... as I was referring to the team and players that were assembled. They finished about where a good low to mid major team would have in the B10, I suspect.
There aren't a lot of coaches, really ever, that were able to do what Dusty May was able to do. So CDD not setting the world on fire in year 1, isn't unique to him, or IU. It appears he's evolving well, he completely changed his roster philosophy, he's landing elite HS kids, he got a couple very, very highly sought after portal guys in Burton and Sherrell... Its headed in the right direction.