Red is Mike Hopkins

[Cusefan0307]

A solid start to his tenure followed up by a disaster of a season when he gets his own players which includes multiple McDonalds All Americans. Like Hop he seems to have a blind spot for shooting and has nothing at the pg position.

You can’t win in 2025 being a bottom 20 team in 3 point shooting being lead by a high volume isolation scorer.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Giving him credit for last year is pretty annoying JB would have had that team in the tournament.

The Stewart McDaniels Trainwreck season for Hop can't be compared to this year just way more talent on that squad. It was the type of thing you cant really come back from and I'm pretty certain this years the same for Red.

 

[RF2044]

Unfortunately, its an apt comparison.

Both were high energy ACs, former players who spent their apprenticeship under a master, but who both lack the coaching acumen, grasp of X's and O's, and lack the offensive conceptual strategy to be high major head coaches themselves.

 

[Ghost]

Yeah, UW basketball chats are fun reading now.

Pretty much from year 3 or 4 it's a lot of figuring who to blame that they don't have the cash for a buyout......Then some lively debate about whether Romar's end of tenure was worse than Hopkins whole stay.

Also, every other post mentioning something about..."doesn't have any idea at all on how to coach offense," "do we even run an offense," "at least Romar ran pro-sets," etc...

 

[kcsu]

Hop is a much better coach. They don't hand out coach of the year honors for nothing. He would have crushed it at SU if JB hadn't pulled his coupe

 

[Bulldog04]

Yeah 2 big what ifs for me for this program, what if Hop was the coach when he was supposed to be and what if they hired Nate Oats when they had the chance. Unfortunately JB intentionally got in the way of both

 

[cusefan88]

Yeah 2 big what ifs for me for this program, what if Hop was the coach when he was supposed to be and what if they hired Nate Oats when they had the chance. Unfortunately JB intentionally got in the way of both

SEC has all the money and the ADs have made very astute coaching hires. The league is stacked.

 

[kcsu]

Yeah 2 big what ifs for me for this program, what if Hop was the coach when he was supposed to be and what if they hired Nate Oats when they had the chance. Unfortunately JB intentionally got in the way of both

At the end of the day Jim couldn't and wouldn't have Kent dictate his leaving. Those two don't see eye to eye. Just ask his best friend.

 

[UD1954]

Both Hopkins and Autry unfortunately learned under Boehiem who never changed the way he coached or the way he dealt with today's players...

 

[NKR1978]

Hopkins won a Pac 12 regular season championship and two Pac 12 coach of the year awards. Boeheim is to Hopkins as Hopkins is to Red.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Hopkins won a Pac 12 regular season championship and two Pac 12 coach of the year awards. Boeheim is to Hopkins as Hopkins is to Red.

No need to take it literal. Those leagues were terrible. He started strong with Romar’s players, but then it was completely downhill including a 5-21 season.

 

[dasher]

At the end of the day Jim couldn't and wouldn't have Kent dictate his leaving. Those two don't see eye to eye. Just ask his best friend.

In this case, both guys are both right and wrong. They are right about what they think of each other and wrong on what they ended up doing to the basketball program.

 

[orangecuse]

Yeah 2 big what ifs for me for this program, what if Hop was the coach when he was supposed to be and what if they hired Nate Oats when they had the chance. Unfortunately JB intentionally got in the way of both

Yeah, undoubtedly, tried and true.

Other than perhaps Day2's acute prowess when it comes to words being spoken by SU's leadership, etc., it's on those too who took JW's words for what they were at the time of the JB extension, et al.

 

[Newhouser]

In this case, both guys are both right and wrong. They are right about what they think of each other and wrong on what they ended up doing to the basketball program.

You think JB has any remorse as he watches us slide to irrelevance?

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

You think JB has any remorse as he watches us slide to irrelevance?

He probably prefers this to someone like Oats coming in and winning a title right after he's pushed out.

 

[hoopsupstate]

He probably prefers this to someone like Oats coming in and winning a title right after he's pushed out.

I remember when Oats said SU was soft and not tough. How right he was.

 

[Scooch]

You think JB has any remorse as he watches us slide to irrelevance?

I suspect JB’s only remorse is that he couldn’t find a way to keep his job. I’m fairly certain that he would have kept coaching until he was physically unable to, if the plug hadn’t been pulled.

 

[dasher]

You think JB has any remorse as he watches us slide to irrelevance?

No idea. But if you asked me to guess, no

 

[RF2044]

Hopkins won a Pac 12 regular season championship and two Pac 12 coach of the year awards. Boeheim is to Hopkins as Hopkins is to Red.

Nah. They're just both solid ACs, who display boundless energy and relate well to players, who lack the chops / coaching acumen / X's and O's to be high level head coaches at the collegiate level.

 

[007]

Yeah 2 big what ifs for me for this program, what if Hop was the coach when he was supposed to be and what if they hired Nate Oats when they had the chance. Unfortunately JB intentionally got in the way of both

JB's influence aside, did SU ever have a "chance" to hire Oats? I know it gets mentioned here often in retrospect given Oats accomplishments. I'm wondering if "SU missing on Oats" is more of a board myth than a missed opportunity that never really existed.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

I suspect JB’s only remorse is that he couldn’t find a way to keep his job. I’m fairly certain that he would have kept coaching until he was physically unable to, if the plug hadn’t been pulled.

Better option than this but let's be honest we'd still end up with Autry after.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

JB's influence aside, did SU ever have a "chance" to hire Oats? I know it gets mentioned here often in retrospect given Oats accomplishments. I'm wondering if "SU missing on Oats" is more of a board myth than a missed opportunity that never really existed.

Yes he was down the road at Buffalo. Oats and Hurley would not have turned down offers from Syracuse to stay at URI or UB.

 

[Cuseball]

Nah. They're just both solid ACs, who display boundless energy and relate well to players, who lack the chops / coaching acumen / X's and O's to be high level head coaches at the collegiate level.

Agree but do think Autry pales in comparison. Both were lacking but Autry seems to struggle even more with the basics. Hopkins could also at least energize the fan base. Autry doesn’t even have the personality for that.

 

[007]

Yes he was down the road at Buffalo. Oats and Hurley would not have turned down offers from Syracuse to stay at URI or UB.

Not the point. Was SU ready or willing to force JB's hand in 2019? JB was forced out in March 2023. There was never a realistic opportunity to make the offer to Oats while he was at Buffalo. It's easy to think in hindsight that Oats to SU should have been a thing. It's a myth to believe that opportunity ever really existed.

 

[AZOrange]

Both Hopkins and Autry unfortunately learned under Boehiem who never changed the way he coached or the way he dealt with today's players...

Coaches usually coach the way they played…compare Red to Steve Kerr