BCG Likes and Dislikes

I’ve taken some time over the last few days to reflect on what was the shortest tenure at the UK basketball helm. I think its worth while to reflect on the things that I liked and disliked. I’ll never forget the day UK signed him. My dad called and asked me what I thought. I said, “call me back in two years and I’ll let ya know”. The two years are up, so nows the time if there was ever a time for my review.

• I LOVED the mans dedication. He was dedicated to the returning players from day one. He was also dedicated to what he had done at A&M as well. He had the top center coming in there, and it was a kid that wanted to follow him. He said no. He also gave the returning kids a fair shot. Some say he gave them too much of a fair shot, but that will always be up for debate. He could have easily cleaned house. It would have made all kinds of room to bring in talent. As it was taking on the returning players was a move that cost him several games, but was the right move. IU, on the other hand, cleaned house which should make for a much faster return, but I think the cost in respect can not be recovered.
• I liked how hard he worked. The man was tireless too a fault. I don’t know how anyone could maintain that sort of work ethic without falling apart and in the end, that may very well be what happened.
• I liked that he had a plan and stuck to it. I didn’t really LIKE the plan, but I always respected what he was trying to do.
• I liked how he kept his head down and stayed with it even with a local media that hounded him from day one. The pounding was more than I think anyone could take, and in the end, maybe he couldn’t take it. But I do respect that he always tried to take the high road, half time interviews withstanding of course.
• I did like the player development last year. This year was another story, although several of the guys did get better. But the ones that did were not the ones UK really needed to get better. No one knows if it was the coach or the players but the safe bet is BOTH.
• I didn’t like the style of play, which was not different in many ways to TS. The D gave up too many threes and the offense was far too rigid.
• I didn’t like how he rode one or two players. Playing two on five never works. He drew up some very creative out of bounds plays so I know it was possible to run more things. He simply chose not to.
• I didn’t like some of the reports on things that he did. Of course I will never know how much of it was true. But it seems that he took all the frustrations out on the guys. He really needs another outlet in the future because players are not to be kicked like “proverbial dogs”. NOTE, I do not condone animal abuse, so that was simply a phrase.
• I didn’t like his vocabulary. He was limited at best when he spoke. As an ex player, the repeat phrases over and over, like, “play tough, play smart, and play together”, would get on my nerves very quickly and would lose any motivational pull very quickly.
• I didn’t like the over sized teams. He kept way too many players. Even with having a scout team, it takes away from valuable practice time for kids you really want to develop. The math is simple. The more players you have, the less time you have to spend with each.

In the end, I guess its easy to say he wasn’t a fit. It’s kind of lame and it covers up a lot of real reasons he isn’t UK’s coach moving forward. I think the jury will never be able to decide if he could get it done because there is no way to tell after two years. I do think the pressure was greater than he ever expected. And to be honest, the pressure was way higher than it really should have been. In the end, he obviously did not deal with it very well, but that doesn’t excuse a bunch of people from piling on a whole lot more than there should have been. We’ve seen a few of the writers say they kind of feel sorry for him, but in the end I don’t think what they feel is sorrow but more like guilt. At the end of the day, this was the best move even it it was handled in the worst possible way. He was a lame duck coach after two years who the media hated with all their non-hearts. Now, maybe, UK can bring in someone that can get a fair shake.