It's Official: It’s GMac

[FloridaCuse]

Gerry is going to run a tight ship both on and off the court.
Donnie has the talent, I just don't know if he will be willing to work for it like Gerry will demand.

But I think (and hope) Melo wants Kiyan to have that.

 

[FloridaCuse]

Very impressive interview. He has a process and went pretty in depth with a lot of answers.

He's very authentic.

 

[Cuse House]

I was getting subtle hints of frustration with where the program has fallen. Sounds like he’s going to coach these guys harder than they’ve been coached. Effort is “non-negotiable” or guys won’t see the court.

 

[orangepassion]

Very impressive interview. He has a process and went pretty in depth with a lot of answers.

Does he have a binder?

 

[CardiacCuse]

So why don't we talk about Melo being a winning player with such reverence?

bc we arent talking about players we are talking about coaches and melo has zero experience in that aspect of basketball aside from working out his son

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

When speaking of the player interviews he said he is looking forward to some of those interviews.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Little sad for Siena. Seems that they had things rolling for next year under GMac. Now its back searching for a coach, knowing their top player(s) will be following GMac to Syracuse.

me too...i hate how its just a given that SU can pretty much pick and choose any player they want from Siena...as if thats normal

and we've seen the last 2 NCAATs have been HEAVY chalk in sweet 16...NIL has killed any program outside of p4 being able to sustain anything more than 1 or 2 years

i truly beeive that the best interests of NCAABB is a situation where teams can build a program and sustain it with proper and competent management...not simply based on fundraising...the current model isnt sustainable imo

 

[CardiacCuse]

I might be on repeat but I feel more strongly that because of how people view the program and the lack of trust around what someone could raise money wise outside of Gerry or Hop- BH or Schertz or nearly any outside option would ultimately fail even if they saw some success early on. I feel much more confident in that than I do of GMac succeeding. I really don’t know if he will or not but he will get the money that gives him a better chance at it especially if he meets expectations in year 1 than the other options.

That is a flaw or circumstance of a program that while Dave Bing ( and of course Pearl set things on fire for us ) put us on the modern map, truly revolves around 40 years of JB. He made it what it was as did the many players and administrators around him that still love and idolize him. That means that trusting someone who has deep roots into the days things worked and raising money around them in the days where money is king- is a much much easier task and profitable outcome than bringing in a name that only a small subset of SU fans and supporters really know. They would know the big coaching names who are out of the game or not worth the crazy salary they would demand but BH, JS , PMJ etc etc are just coaches we know.

I said it back when he decided to step away that while it would hurt because of conference affiliation, Calhoun leaving when he did gave UConn a leg up on finding their groove in the next generation and said the same about UNC and Duke. Now UNC did what they did and it’s been mixed results - a far cry from how bad we have had it and Duke has thrived. Scheyer was the very popular , well spoken firebrand who Duke family knows well as a super recruiter and basketball mind and flooding in the money was easy. They also timed things and managed it better.

It’s easy to place blame on JB staying too long and that being on JB and the school because that’s true. Handing the reigns to Hop back then probably doesn’t go much better than Autry lets be real , but then we would have been years ahead like UConn was in re establishing finding the right leader.

So back to what I’m getting at- paying for these other up and coming coaches is the sexy pick for those of us including myself to say a new era with fresh blood is bringing us to prosperity and the bad days are long gone.. it’s fools gold. You see the money and energy flying in behind Gerry. He’s not the logical decision for a program buried in the past that made it but he’s our best shot to survive and progress in a world where more and more big programs leak out having major money issues. Gerry brings in the grass roots support and money and the past player buy in no one else can and if he wins there will likely be sustained support for a while behind him.

If he doesn’t - then the reality that our hoops program will never reach the same heights is upon us and those of us already adjusted to a version of that will fall back into that new routine.

It’s also fair to say we are a bit of a change hungry echo chamber of frustration vs the masses of SU fans. We are pretty hellbent that we are right on many things within our chamber and I expect it stays that way and we can all commiserate or be joyous within our little community.

1- i just think the way the money and fundraising side of things is now - it cant stay this way forever. its just not sustainable and isnt in the best interests of the sport...eventually there will be an evening out, maybe a salary cap or something to tone down the importance of how much money you have. for me personally, it kills a lot of interest in the sport generally and I know im not alone in that.

2. everything is 1 year cycle now...so gmac can flop it wont matter. lousivillewas dead in the water then blam...hire a good caoch and theyre back. so i dont think gamc will fail but even if he does, its not a permanent demotion to a lower tier program. nothing is permanent nowadays. its 1 year cycles for everyone. for good and bad.