C'mon man, given his overall record that's a bit harsh. I get it that responsibility for the current downward trend lies mostly with him, but he didn't just arrive on the scene back in October. And yes, it's frustrating, and I also think he should have retired a while back. But he didn't, and that's the reality. Has anyone considered it's statistically inevitable this slide would occur? Sometimes, like with Derrick Coleman's missed free throw, we just have to learn to accept it and live with it. But one thing for certain, relentless bitching here, trashing the man who made the program what it was, isn't going to change anything.
Just IMHO, that is.
It's not harsh at all -- because I can use intellectual honesty and appreciate his ~4 decades of success, and still point out that he's led the program on a downward trend for the last 7 years.
I can applaud his winning percentage, and still not be willing to accept the results of the last few years, which have not been on par with the previous level of success.
I can celebrate all of the great players he's brought in, and still be critical of him no longer being willing to put in the effort to recruit highly rated recruits.
I can appreciate that he was a pioneer of positionless basketball and that we used to be one of the most entertaining teams in all college basketball to watch, and still fret over the fact that we've become one-dimensional and unathletic.
I can consider him an all time great, and still criticize that he's the conductor of this train that is about to derail.
I can appreciate his sardonic wit and brutal honesty, and still cringe when he throws the current players under the bus every press conference.
I can point to how, despite the tough love, how older players from back in the day all eventually love and credit him, and still acknowledge that he doesn't seem to have that rapport with the more recent players anymore, because he's now an old man who doesn't relate to them anymore.
I can point to all of the darkhorse / diamonds in the rough success he had in the first 2/3 of his time on the hill, and not be down with how he's handling the lone five-star we have on the team this year.
I say that he has no clothes, because I don't believe his rationalized explanations anymore. When he says players aren't ready, when he talks at mid-season about players leaving the team, when he talks about how things are fine -- I chalk it up to him just saying things.
Sad but true. And I say that in full deferential acknowledgement of how much I love the SU program, how much enjoyment he's brought to me as a fan of SU hoops for my entire life, and in full recognition that on the pantheon of great college coaches, he's in the top 8 or so all-time.
But all good things eventually come to an end. And I think many of the stubborn attributes that made him excel as a coach in a demanding, results driven profession are the same attributes that are now undermining him as we slouch toward the finish line.
