New assistant coach: Allen Griffin

[two3zone]

I just saw he hired Dave Rice, who I assume you are referring to. That is a pretty solid hire. He'll have some nice connections out west I would think.

He does a great job in Vegas with recruiting and with recruiting in general. His brother is also coach at Bishop Gorman. Big time hire for Hop.

 

[Cheriehoop]

He does a great job in Vegas with recruiting and with recruiting in general. His brother is also coach at Bishop Gorman. Big time hire for Hop.

Good to hear for Mike. Surprised he hasn't been more coveted then.win for both of them - Assistant at U of Washington, Pac 12 > Assistant at Univ Nevada-Reno in the Mountain West.

 

[HoustonCuse]

So here it is Tuesday and we still haven't been told that this hire is official have we? What is the deal??

I totally agree. This thread is bizarre. Everyone is focusing on all sorts of things, but not the one thing that matters: Allen Griffin has not been hired. Nobody has been hired. We have a vacancy and I have to think JB is still shopping. Griffin's previous job at Dayton is in complete flux, new HC and all, so there is no reason to stay there. He would be vastly cheaper than Hopkins so there can't be a money issue with bringing him in. There is something else happening. That something has to be that JB hasn't decided yet. Why are we not discussing? Who else could he be looking at? Who else do we think he should be looking at?

 

[OttoMets]

I think his percentage would be closer to 40% if he hadn't almost been playing 1 on 5 at times. Or at least 3 on 5. The 2006 season was brutal.

With Devendorf in his backcourt and Nichols on the wing?

That's a ridiculous characterization that someone needs to correct.

He shot .354 (.334 in the season you mention) because he was a decent volume shooter. Maybe he'd have shot .400 if he'd been a better player, but he wasn't.

And none of that has any bearing on his coaching ability or the circumstances under which he was given a full-time position.

 

[Cusesky8214]

I totally agree. This thread is bizarre. Everyone is focusing on all sorts of things, but not the one thing that matters: Allen Griffin has not been hired. Nobody has been hired. We have a vacancy and I have to think JB is still shopping. Griffin's previous job at Dayton is in complete flux, new HC and all, so there is no reason to stay there. He would be vastly cheaper than Hopkins so there can't be a money issue with bringing him in. There is something else happening. That something has to be that JB hasn't decided yet. Why are we not discussing? Who else could he be looking at? Who else do we think he should be looking at?

Bizarre for sure...still nothing official yet it's like he's already hired? And they say they were working out details etc...what the heck is there to work out should be a pretty easy hire...wonder what is going on or when we will actually hear something official

 

[OttoMets]

I fully agree that Gmac being handed a high-end assistant's job with no experience was probably problematic. Sure, it may be working and may get even better, but others have gone the same route. Scheyer at Duke had the same route, with maybe less grad assistant experience, too.

I think the problem has indeed been what role he has been given. I just don't think he should be blamed for the lack of development of certain players.

Agreed. There isn't a single poster on here who knows how McNamara is as a coach. 95% of us don't see practices, and a higher percentage than that wouldn't know what they were looking at in practice even if they did get into the building.

But the circumstances under which he got a full-time position -- to say nothing of his personal history with Boeheim (which in my opinion, take it or leave it, is a red flag) -- were unusual at best.

It's funny that a lot of the same people who think that SU is a top-10 coaching gig will also defend the hiring of a ~26-year-old ex-player whose primary career experience seemed to be...I dunno, appearing on local commercials? The grad assistant thing? Logically that doesn't make sense. If SU's a top-ten job, then shouldn't the head guy interview one of the 30 best assistant coaches in America for the empty position? Or like 500 people other than McNamara?

One could be forgiven for thinking it was a personal comfort/loyalty hire. Whatever, not worth beating a dead horse. Like anyone else, he's working hard to improve and hopefully he grows into an asset. But it's not a hire that many of us would have made in our own businesses.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Agreed. There isn't a single poster on here who knows how McNamara is as a coach. 95% of us don't see practices, and a higher percentage than that wouldn't know what they were looking at in practice even if they did get into the building.

But the circumstances under which he got a full-time position -- to say nothing of his personal history with Boeheim (which in my opinion, take it or leave it, is a red flag) -- were unusual at best.

It's funny that a lot of the same people who think that SU is a top-10 coaching gig will also defend the hiring of a ~26-year-old ex-player whose primary career experience seemed to be...I dunno, appearing on local commercials? The grad assistant thing? Logically that doesn't make sense. If SU's a top-ten job, then shouldn't the head guy interview one of the 30 best assistant coaches in America for the empty position? Or like 500 people other than McNamara?

One could be forgiven for thinking it was a personal comfort/loyalty hire. Whatever, not worth beating a dead horse. Like anyone else, he's working hard to improve and hopefully he grows into an asset. But it's not a hire that many of us would have made in our own businesses.

Here's the counterpoint though. Every great coach started somewhere. JB has proven to be a pretty good evaluator of coaching talent and he feels it is advantageous to have GMac on his staff. JB could very easily place calls to dozens of places to get GMac an assistant coaching job (like I'm sure he did for Griffin with St. Francis). Instead, he felt it was best to have him here. Ultimately, the way he came into this job does not necessarily mean he is a bad coach. Some are making that leap. Him being selected by Boeheim also doesn't mean he is a good coach. But logic would dictate that if we are unsure (which we are), it would be wise to assume JB has the correct take on this.

 

[OttoMets]

Here's the counterpoint though. Every great coach started somewhere. JB has proven to be a pretty good evaluator of coaching talent and he feels it is advantageous to have GMac on his staff. JB could very easily place calls to dozens of places to get GMac an assistant coaching job (like I'm sure he did for Griffin with St. Francis). Instead, he felt it was best to have him here. Ultimately, the way he came into this job does not necessarily mean he is a bad coach. Some are making that leap. Him being selected by Boeheim also doesn't mean he is a good coach. But logic would dictate that if we are unsure (which we are), it would be wise to assume JB has the correct take on this.

I'm a little shy on trust when motivators like loyalty come into play. But your counterpoint is a good one, as is the Mike Hopkins reference earlier (something I hadn't seen posted before but that I've thought of myself in wondering why I'm so critical of the McNamara hire).

In theory, Boeheim's pick of a GA to become an assistant should be bulletproof. He knows what he's doing.

 

[Cuse9292]

I have the bag, Mike Mennenga come bleed Orange.

 

[jordville]

 

[Day2]

So Mike Hopkins has a better assistant coach than we do. Interesting... Great hire by Hop.

Because Hop needs a bench coach. JB doesn't.

 

[Ward]

Because Hop needs a bench coach. JB doesn't.

Rice is known as a recruiter. He built up a loaded roster at UNLV with some nice classes but then when they hit the floor you'd wonder if the guys had ever met each other prior to tip off.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Imagine if message boards/twitter existed in 1976 and JB's experience coaching was a couple years as and assistant an some time as being the head man coaching golf. I could only imagine posts Orange79 and Dasher would have made back then.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Imagine if message boards/twitter existed in 1976 and JB's experience coaching was a couple years as an assistant an some time as being the head man coaching golf. I could only imagine posts Orange79 and Dasher would have made back then.

How good can he be if his only other coaching offer was from the University of Rochester?

 

[Day2]

Rice is known as a recruiter. He built up a loaded roster at UNLV with some nice classes but then when they hit the floor you'd wonder if the guys had ever met each other prior to tip off.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Day2]

BTW, the announcement was made before I had a chance to post this, but I think he was just on vacation. Might explain the delay.

 

[rrlbees]

Griff is going to coach the centers.

 

[MSOrange]

Griff is going to coach the centers.

Interesting. The story says he has some experience with centers from one of his previous stops so will be interesting to see how he does with the big men.

 

[iommi]

I guess maybe whatever coach we hired would've coached the bigs so that the responsibilities of the other coaches wouldn't change.

 

[RF2044]

Griff is going to coach the centers.

Interesting. The story says he has some experience with centers from one of his previous stops so will be interesting to see how he does with the big men.

I guess maybe whatever coach we hired would've coached the bigs so that the responsibilities of the other coaches wouldn't change.

That's actually good news, from my perspective. "New" blood. Hope we see some better productivity out of the centers. Glad Griff has some experience coaching them.

 

[iommi]

That's actually good news, from my perspective. "New" blood. Hope we see some better productivity out of the centers. Glad Griff has some experience coaching them.

Griff was solid his senior year at feeding the post. Maybe he can show the centers how to post up and make themselves available for those opportunities, and then take advantage of them with a post move or two.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Griff is going to coach the centers.

Before reading the article, I thought you were referring to the finger wag in the picture

 

[longtimefan]

Imagine if message boards/twitter existed in 1976 and JB's experience coaching was a couple years as and assistant an some time as being the head man coaching golf. I could only imagine posts Orange79 and Dasher would have made back then.

Remember, we had a freshman team back then, and JB was the head man, so he had some relevant experience.

For those of you old enough--I remember an incident in Manley with Jerry Rhett, a slender 6-6 inside player. The coach had clearly told him not to make like a stretch-4 (before there was such a term), and play near the hoop. Instead, Rhett floated to the perimeter, got the ball and measured a shot from 20 feet. In the comparative quiet of a half-empty arena came the bleat of the coach's voice "No Jerry, NO Jerry, NO JERRY!!" And Jerry fired. And was welcomed to the bench at the next dead ball.

 

[orange79]

Imagine if message boards/twitter existed in 1976 and JB's experience coaching was a couple years as and assistant an some time as being the head man coaching golf. I could only imagine posts Orange79 and Dasher would have made back then.

Hey! We had message boards.