John Wallace: Big man coach?

[iommi]

I posted something similar in another thread. I know some people on this board think Hop does a good job with our big men, but I'm of the opinion that having an actual "big man" coach our big men may be in order. Why not John Wallace?

He's retired. He was at Midnight Madness two years ago. He was at our game yesterday. He improved a great deal at Syracuse. He's played in Final Four pressure. He had a nice NBA career.

He's one of my favorite all-time Orangemen.

What say you?

 

[MCC]

For post moves, Otis Hill. JW was scoring anywhere inside halfcourt as an upperclassman; almost played more like a wing IIRC than a classic "big". DC is another one but as many others have stated here he doesn't seem like a viable candidate for "desire" reasons.

 

[iommi]

For post moves, Otis Hill. JW was scoring anywhere inside halfcourt as an upperclassman; almost played more like a wing IIRC than a classic "big". DC is another one but as many others have stated here he doesn't seem like a viable candidate for "desire" reasons.

I agree that Wallace was more like a 3 in our offense but I still think he could teach inside moves, rebounding and positioning. His career didn't end at Syracuse.

 

[edowd26]

this would have to be after Boeheim retires or one of our AC's leave (hopefully not the case, they are good recruiters).

 

[Sgt Cuse]

I think it's an excellent suggestion. I hope they consider it. The sooner the better in my book. Having someone like JW on the staff for Hop could help with the transition. JW seems like he has a lot of desirable qualities that you list above. Plus, it might really be a dream job for him, a destination type job.

Would need one of the guard assistants to leave. Hopefully one of them can find a promotion somewhere and open up a spot this offseason.

 

[iommi]

I don't see how it would hurt to bring in DC or JW to work with our bigs on some post moves for a few practices if there is no chance of them joining the staff. Coleman is tough to watch, making the same mistakes over and over again.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I think it's a great idea as well. I'd love to see a big guy learn from JW on both post moves and short jumpers. Heck, I bet AO would be seeing time in the association right now if he had ever developed a jumper. A multi-dimensional guy like John Wallace would be fantastic.

 

[rstone7727]

Just because JW was a good player doesn't make him a good coach. The best coaches climb a ladder imo and we should hire someone that has proven he can teach D1 athletes. Not sure if we have any alumni that are currently working with big men out there, but that would be my first choice. Also, I don't think there is much you can do as far as teaching a player how to shoot a jumper outside of the basics (follow through, eye on rim, etc) most of it is practice, practice, practice and I hope D1 athletes shouldn't need to be told to practice..?

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

I posted something similar in another thread. I know some people on this board think Hop does a good job with our big men, but I'm of the opinion that having an actual "big man" coach our big men may be in order. Why not John Wallace?

He's retired. He was at Midnight Madness two years ago. He was at our game yesterday. He improved a great deal at Syracuse. He's played in Final Four pressure. He had a nice NBA career.

He's one of my favorite all-time Orangemen.

What say you?

More like tweener-forward coach.

In all seriousness, it's a fine idea. I wonder if DC would be better, plus he needs a job.

 

[cto]

Some forget that recruiting is a big part of an assistant coach's job. IMO, John Wallace does not have the personality to be a good recruiter. Mike Hopkins is considered one of the best recruiters in the nation. He has a totally different personality than JW. Ask any SU player who was recruited by Hopkins. They will say: "He's a beast out there. He's tenacious. He won't give up. My entire family came to love and trust him." I love what JW did for the SU program, but I can't see him coaching it.

 

[zeekay]

If there's one small criticism of JB staff is that like him he is too guard oriented. JB was a guard, Hopkins a guard, Autry a guard, McNamara a guard etc. But again I would not trade either Autry or GMac for an unproven name at this point. However it would help if in the future one of the guys was a big, at least a forward and can realate to the big men.

 

[KingOtis]

For post moves, Otis Hill.

Isn't my man still playing? I don't know if he would want to work for JB anyway.

 

[edowd26]

Some forget that recruiting is a big part of an assistant coach's job. IMO, John Wallace does not have the personality to be a good recruiter. Mike Hopkins is considered one of the best recruiters in the nation. He has a totally different personality than JW. Ask any SU player who was recruited by Hopkins. They will say: "He's a beast out there. He's tenacious. He won't give up. My entire family came to love and trust him." I love what JW did for the SU program, but I can't see him coaching it.

is gmac good at it??

 

[cto]

is gmac good at it??

Yes. His career was recent enough... so that all recruits and their parents remember it. For example, he was Trevor Cooney's hero... and the reason Trevor wanted to come here. Also, he has worked hard at losing the shyness that he had as an undergraduate. He has become a much more outgoing person.

 

[iommi]

As CTO and others have said, I'm not sure JW can recruit and actually I'm not sure he can coach either. I was just throwing the idea out there. Also, I don't think every assistant has to recruit. He can simply be the big man guru. If JB requires all assistants to recruit, that's another story; I just figured he would be a guy with a unique skill set to teach the big men and let's face it, Hop may be a great coach and recruiter but our big man have not exactly been improving much in recent years.

 

[edowd26]

Yes. His career was recent enough... so that all recruits and their parents remember it. For example, he was Trevor Cooney's hero... and the reason Trevor wanted to come here. Also, he has worked hard at losing the shyness that he had as an undergraduate. He has become a much more outgoing person.

I was wondering that. always knew he'd be a coach, just wondered if he'd be a solid recruiter.

 

[realorange]

So, by some of the logic in this thread, GMac should not be working with MCW because he's not tall enough. :crazy:
Height has little to do with the ability to teach technique. We've seen guards, forwards and centers have problems adjusting to the college game.
Coleman and Roc stand out more because they are not only big men, but ones that we'd like to see play like they had 3 years experience.

 

[KingOtis]

So, by some of the logic in this thread, GMac should not be working with MCW because he's not tall enough. :crazy:
Height has little to do with the ability to teach technique. We've seen guards, forwards and centers have problems adjusting to the college game.
Coleman and Roc stand out more because they are not only big men, but ones that we'd like to see play like they had 3 years experience.

So what's your logic, then? Everyone who plays basketball and becomes an assistant coach automatically knows every technique in the book? It would be one thing if we were talking about Mark Jackson. Did any of these former guards post up their defender on a consistent basis?

I mean, by your logic, AO could come in and work with our point guards.

Christmas stands out because we're accustomed to seeing forwards having breakout sophomore seasons.

 

[LennX6]

As CTO and others have said, I'm not sure JW can recruit and actually I'm not sure he can coach either. I was just throwing the idea out there. Also, I don't think every assistant has to recruit. He can simply be the big man guru. If JB requires all assistants to recruit, that's another story; I just figured he would be a guy with a unique skill set to teach the big men and let's face it, Hop may be a great coach and recruiter but our big man have not exactly been improving much in recent years.

But is there anything stopping him from him showing up at practice and showing the guys the "ropes"? I think the teaching you are thinking of can be done off to the side like I described above instead of the entire job description.

 

[iommi]

But is there anything stopping him from him showing up at practice and showing the guys the "ropes"? I think the teaching you are thinking of can be done off to the side like I described above instead of the entire job description.

here's what I wrote above:
"I don't see how it would hurt to bring in DC or JW to work with our bigs on some post moves for a few practices if there is no chance of them joining the staff. Coleman is tough to watch, making the same mistakes over and over again."

 

[LennX6]

here's what I wrote above:
"I don't see how it would hurt to bring in DC or JW to work with our bigs on some post moves for a few practices if there is no chance of them joining the staff. Coleman is tough to watch, making the same mistakes over and over again."

Coleman is an odd bird. I can't remember a player of his size this early in his career whose offense was way ahead of his defense. Usually its the other way around re:Fab, Seikaly, Schayes. It seriously is like 5 against 4 with him in there on defense. Hell, it even seems like 6 on 4,
Someone earlier facetiously said "isn't it overdue for a "What the hell is wrong with DC2 thread?" Here is my part

 

[iommi]

Coleman is an odd bird. I can't remember a player of his size this early in his career whose offense was way ahead of his defense. Usually its the other way around re:Fab, Seikaly, Schayes. It seriously is like 5 against 4 with him in there on defense. Hell, it even seems like 6 on 4,
Someone earlier facetiously said "isn't it overdue for a "What the hell is wrong with DC2 thread?" Here is my part

Not trying to pile on, but he's struggling on both ends of the court. He just can't finish and plays a lot smaller than he is. I've said this a bunch of times but he's got to lose the habit of bringing the ball down low when he gets it near the basket. It's maddening.

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

Actually, someone who might work well is Wendell Alexis.

 

[realorange]

So what's your logic, then? Everyone who plays basketball and becomes an assistant coach automatically knows every technique in the book? It would be one thing if we were talking about Mark Jackson. Did any of these former guards post up their defender on a consistent basis?

I mean, by your logic, AO could come in and work with our point guards.

Christmas stands out because we're accustomed to seeing forwards having breakout sophomore seasons.

We are also accustomed to seeing forwards not have breakout sophomore seasons-------JS among others.

AO coming in and working with the point guards is a silly comparison at best.

Because someone was good at his position does not mean he will be good teaching/supervising others like him. A great illustration in business is promoting your best salesman to sales manager. More often than not, a grand example of the Peter Principle. One step beyond their ability.

My point is Hop has been with the program, JB and Bernie long enough to do a good job with the big men. We're talking about coaching experience which the people sitting on the bench with JB have.

 

[pfister1]

I hate this discussion every time we have it. It goes like this.....

Hey our Big Men aren't performing as well as we'd like.

We need a Big Man coach.

Who should we get?

Well, he should be an SU grad, he should have been a really terrific player (preferably having spent some time in the NBA), and he should be really tall.

And, I'm not sure if this is one of the required credentials, but it usually ends up being a characteristic of the guys suggested..... he won't have coached a game any where at any level, except maybe biddie basketball.

Yeah that's the guy we want...... because coaching is really easy.