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Message: [QUOTE="RF2044, post: 4586675, member: 40"] Unfortunately, this is a great post. I'm not remotely surprised. The decline over the past 9 years has been steep, but the full effects were masked by a couple of post-season runs that made the fanbase feel positive about otherwise underwhelming seasons. We also benefitted [psychologically] from not being in the NIT in 2014 -- when we self-imposed a ban in anticipation of NCAA sanctions -- and in 2020, the COVID year. Those two outcomes also served to partially conceal the downward trend. Recruiting has also declined over the 9 year dip, to the point that our "best class ever" included a trio of three-stars. And now we have reports of a roster mutiny, where JB seems to have lost the team -- for the first time so far as I can tell in his career. Meanwhile, off the court -- JB's comments in the media have brought a lot of unwanted scrutiny and negative publicity. He's given a couple of teams unnecessary bulletin board material, and been forced to walk back his comments by the ACC. And him putting his foot in his mouth came at a time when the team was actually performing well. We were coming off of a 3 game winning streak, where we'd gotten our "best" win of the year over a ranked NC State team, and seemed poised to potentially continue that run against Duke / Clemson -- both teams that were struggling at the time, at least prior to playing us. But JB's press conference foibles were an inflection point in the season's trajectory. It's been nothing but downhill from there. And coming off of last season's losing record -- the first in JB's 47 year career -- has caused a significant portion of the fanbase to lose faith. JB has lost the team, he's a national laughingstock, and we've likely played our way out of even NIT contention. An offseason mass-exodus seems likely, and we have one two-star recruit lined up to come in next year. I just don't see any way that the AD allows him to come back next year to coach whatever roster he'd be able to cobble together. Nor do I think JB should be extended that privilege -- at this point, he should be out of rope. I can't even envision how ticket sales would drop off next year if he's afforded the opportunity to run things back. Really sad -- JB is one of my sports heroes, and he's been the head coach of my favorite team for my entire life. But the situation we're in has been caused by his stubbornness, his mismanagement of the roster, and his propensity to make dumb comments to the media. Which is why I'm not remotely surprised that things are ending this way. I suppose this type of train wreck ending was both predictable and inevitable, given his personality. [/QUOTE]

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