Syracuse and GM Alex Kline / Entire Staff Part Ways

[007]

Which tells me that the candidates they've spoken with have all put "clean house" as one of their demands.

It might be a little more complicated than the candidates making demands.

 

[Ozone!]

I'm sure Alex has something lined up

Alex is very good at what he does and he will land with a smart new employer!

 

[Ozone!]

Are we surprised? The only plus talent he identified was kyle. I know we will say red didnt go after guys that he wanted but thats the nature of the business, you are who what your results say you are

Your post demonstrates how little you know about AK and further, how limited is your understanding of the role!

 

[Ozone!]

I can't imagine it's hard to get someone else just as good. This feels like a dime a dozen job. there are lots of young guys with a system.

It’s not and your post demonstrates how poor your understanding of what that role calls for! Most folks don’t understand it, in your defense!

 

[Orangezoo]

It might be a little more complicated than the candidates making demands.

Yeah I mean you all are close to the knowledge but even without that looking at this from afar there are a lot of variables at play here with the biggest one being we have to have the resources and not just for a year or two.

 

[capeorange]

It’s not and your post demonstrates how poor your understanding of what that role calls for! Most folks don’t understand it, in your defense!

Didn't they use his system to build this year's team?

 

[Ozone!]

Didn't they use his system to build this year's team?

Yes, and that demonstrates the poor choices, in some cases, the coaches made. Let’s try another analogy. If you go to a restaurant there is a menu and yet you, the customer, make the selection based upon your preferred tastes. AK created the menu and the coaches made their selections.

 

[Scooch]

I've heard nothing but good things about Klein. Unfortunately, this is how things tend to work when things go south someplace, and/or when new leadership enters an organization. There's often a clean sweep of the prior regime, individual competence be damned.

One thing I've learned in my career is that no one is irreplaceable. Our next HC will find his GM and life will go on.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Yes, and that demonstrates the poor choices, in some cases, the coaches made. Let’s try another analogy. If you go to a restaurant there is a menu and yet you, the customer, make the selection based upon your preferred tastes. AK created the menu and the coaches made their selections.

If you have $15 mil in NIL money, you can eat at different restaurants (and pick from different menus) than if you only have $6-7 mil.

 

[Scooch]

As an aside, SU fans seem to have a bigger fear of the unknown than fans of other teams I root for.

Maybe it's because Boeheim was here forever and we had a long run of stability in football (just 4 HCs from 1949 to 2004 = 55 years).

Every time someone exits - even when it's an assistant or AD personnel - people freak out to a weird degree.

Everyone is replaceable. Klein may be very good. But understand that there are dozens and dozens of Klein's out there to hire.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Everyone is replaceable.

I'm counting down the months until they have to replace me, but current US policies are conspiring against that plan.

 

[NKR1978]

It’s not and your post demonstrates how poor your understanding of what that role calls for! Most folks don’t understand it, in your defense!

I mean, going after the top kids on the transfer market really doesn't seem like a nuanced strategy.

Can you point out an undervalued transfer he was able to get us? He didn't exactly put together a winning roster. Seems we overpaid for a few guys because they were highly coveted, which demonstrates that we just went after guys conventional wisdom said were good.

 

[Fly Rodder]

He didn't exactly put together a winning roster.

Not really his responsibility. People conflate a pro sports GM with a college GM. They have significantly different levels of responsibility. Red gave him a list of what ingredients he would need to make dinner for a certain amount of money. Kline's job was to evaluate what was available at player store, what the prices were, give Red the list to pick from with pros and cons. Alex didn't force Red to spend millions on JJ and Donnie and Nait. He works for Red.

 

[NKR1978]

Not really his responsibility. People conflate a pro sports GM with a college GM. They have significantly different levels of responsibility. Red gave him a list of what ingredients he would need to make dinner for a certain amount of money. Kline's job was to evaluate what was available at player store, what the prices were, give Red the list to pick from with pros and cons. Alex didn't force Red to spend millions on JJ and Donnie and Nait. He works for Red.

It seems like any number of people can do this job. No one has articulated what unique talent he brought to the table other than really loving SU.

 

[PhatOrange]

There are other Klines in the world.

 

[Fly Rodder]

It seems like any number of people can do this job. No one has articulated what unique talent he brought to the table other than really loving SU.

His job is more about contacts/communications with agents, coaches, and scouting, and helping Autry manage the NIL budget and distilling 6,000 D1 and D2 basketball players into something manageable. And, he was only in the job for a year trying to clean up a roster from last season that was hot garbage and avoid situations like Jesse and Lampkin where their agents took advantage of a staff that wasn't prepared for player negotiations.

And yes, lots of people can do that job, just like any other job. No one is unique.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Kline is solid. Sometimes good workers get shtcanned cause their boss sucks and this is no different. We hired him a year and a half late and he really only had input to this years team.

 

[Scooch]

It seems like any number of people can do this job. No one has articulated what unique talent he brought to the table other than really loving SU.

From what I’ve read, sounds like he is extremely bright and very knowledgeable about hoops. Seems like GM is more like Director of Scouting + Salary Cap Manager if we use pro titles as a guide.

Personally I think he did a good job assembling this year’s roster, to the extent Red accepted his recommendations (which we really don’t know).

IMHO, if Red had moved Kingz to the 2, started Betsey at the 3, and used JJ as PG (and dropped George’s minutes) things could have gone differently. Hell he could have started White at the 4 and used Freeman at the 3, given how much Donnie prefers to float around the perimeter.

Regardless, no one can claim that Red optimized the roster. It was a 4 month long train wreck of coaching incompetence. So I think it’s difficult to ascertain just how well Kline did his job.

 

[Scooch]

…and avoid situations like Jesse and Lampkin where their agents took advantage of a staff that wasn't prepared for player negotiations.

Spot on. Red’s excuse making about the NIL landscape fell utterly flat when it was his unpreparedness that led to these two screw ups.

 

[Cusefan0307]

From what I’ve read, sounds like he is extremely bright and very knowledgeable about hoops. Seems like GM is more like Director of Scouting + Salary Cap Manager if we use pro titles as a guide.

Personally I think he did a good job assembling this year’s roster, to the extent Red accepted his recommendations (which we really don’t know).

IMHO, if Red had moved Kingz to the 2, started Betsey at the 3, and used JJ as PG (and dropped George’s minutes) things could have gone differently. Hell he could have started White at the 4 and used Freeman at the 3, given how much Donnie prefers to float around the perimeter.

Regardless, no one can claim that Red optimized the roster. It was a 4 month long train wreck of coaching incompetence. So I think it’s difficult to ascertain just how well Kline did his job.

The biggest mistake we made was building around JJ at the 2 and I don't think Kline had anything to do with that. It was a warning many of us had last year.

 

[cuseincincy]

Yes, and that demonstrates the poor choices, in some cases, the coaches made. Let’s try another analogy. If you go to a restaurant there is a menu and yet you, the customer, make the selection based upon your preferred tastes. AK created the menu and the coaches made their selections.

It's hard to pick out a good steak or even burger on the menu at Denny's. They've got them, but you may be disappointed.

 

[Scooch]

The biggest mistake we made was building around JJ at the 2 and I don't think Kline had anything to do with that. It was a warning many of us had last year.

Yep. I was good with bringing back Starling. I was not good with giving him 32 minutes a game and letting him take the most shots more often than not.

 

[RF2044]

From what I’ve read, sounds like he is extremely bright and very knowledgeable about hoops. Seems like GM is more like Director of Scouting + Salary Cap Manager if we use pro titles as a guide.

Personally I think he did a good job assembling this year’s roster, to the extent Red accepted his recommendations (which we really don’t know).

IMHO, if Red had moved Kingz to the 2, started Betsey at the 3, and used JJ as PG (and dropped George’s minutes) things could have gone differently. Hell he could have started White at the 4 and used Freeman at the 3, given how much Donnie prefers to float around the perimeter.

Regardless, no one can claim that Red optimized the roster. It was a 4 month long train wreck of coaching incompetence. So I think it’s difficult to ascertain just how well Kline did his job.

Agreed. I think Klein showed strong analytical skills nailing Kingz and Kyle as under the radar guys to target.

I'm a little surprised that they didn't keep him around, even if just temporarily, to share the results of his ongoing research with the replacement HC.

That said, who knows who the replacement coach will be, or what types of players he'll target -- so maybe the existing research wouldn't have been that valuable.

 

[RF2044]

I'm surprised Peter Corasiniti was let go so quickly; I would think he would be valuable to Red's successor, at least for an initial period. . His role was mainly logistics -- overseeing such stuff as travel schedules, buses, hotels, scheduling practices, worrying about food procurement on the road, equipment, etc. Prior to his current position, he was a student manager, senior student manager and graduate assistant. He essentially ran the day-to-day non-basketball part of the program.

This was a decisive house-cleaning. There were definitely staffers who could have been retained [and some maybe who deserved to be retained, like Kline] -- but I think cleaning house signals the strategic direction the head coaching search is taking.

 

[pearl31]

The biggest mistake we made was building around JJ at the 2 and I don't think Kline had anything to do with that. It was a warning many of us had last year.

And then the George question - I don't think it was an evaluation mistake, or a mistake getting him (based on his performance last year), so in other words not on Kline. I just want to know if it was a coaching issue or something going on with George personally (physical and/or mental) that caused such a relatively dismal season for him