Was Chris Mullin really coaching that team?

[SWC75]

During a time-out they showed the St. John's huddle and Mullin was sitting there smiling while an assistant was diagramming the plays. Then, during another time out, the same assistant was on the court, arguing with the refs while Mullin stood there, impassively.

I look at the Syracuse huddles a lot. JB does all the talking and diagramming of plays. And he's the only one that communicates with the refs. The assistants might talk to a particular player while play is continuing on the court. But they would never supplant JB in the above functions.

I got the impression that Mullin, who has never previously been a coach, is a figurehead, brought in to be the face of the program while others do the actual work of running the team.

The assistant I saw, by the way was this guy:
http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/greg_st_jean_987764.html

They have another guy who is listed as the "associate head coach":
http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/barry_rohrssen_962695.html

I guess there are different ways of doing things and I'm making the assumption that what goes on at Syracuse is the conventional and best way, but the whole thing seemed screwy to me. it was as if Floyd Little, not Dino Babers, had been appointed to succeed Scott Shafer and a bunch of people who actually knew how to coach a team were hired to do the real work while Floyd made all the public appearances.

 

[Cusefan0307]

During a time-out they showed the St. John's huddle and Mullin was sitting there smiling while an assistant was diagramming the plays. Then, during another time out, the same assistant was on the court, arguing with the refs while Mullin stood there, impassively.

I look at the Syracuse huddles a lot. JB does all the talking and diagramming of plays. And he's the only one that communicates with the refs. The assistants might talk to a particular player while play is continuing on the court. But they would never supplant JB in the above functions.

I got the impression that Mullin, who has never previously been a coach, is a figurehead, brought in to be the face of the program while others do the actual work of running the team.

The assistant I saw, by the way was this guy:
http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/greg_st_jean_987764.html

They have another guy who is listed as the "associate head coach":
http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/barry_rohrssen_962695.html

I guess there are different ways of doing things and I'm making the assumption that what goes on at Syracuse is the conventional and best way, but the whole thing seemed screwy to me. it was as if Floyd Little, not Dino Babers, had been appointed to succeed Scott Shafer and a bunch of people who actually knew how to coach a team were hired to do the real work while Floyd made all the public appearances.

I think he's the CEO of the program, but I don't think he does most of the coaching for them.

 

[pfister1]

If that is the case, I don't think that will last. How long before Greg St. Jean will want credit for any success they have, or Mullin will want to lay St. Jean bare for his failures.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Eh, however they had it organized, they looked better prepared and more in to the game than we did.

 

[Briancuse]

He is more of a CEO figurehead at this point, he has never coached before, he is learning on the job.

 

[jncuse]

Being a great college coach has never been close to being about who is the best game day or x and o's coach. It is the coach who can bring the most talent to the team (keeping in mind the team's system) and managing ego's and player development.

If someone else is doing the x and o's. so what. It is such a small part of what makes a great college coach.

 

[cuseincincy]

One guy, Rohrssen is Mullins High school buddy who has many years of coaching experience in D1 basketball. The other guy is Mullins's mentor's son. Garry St Jean was the Warriors coach and GM for several years. It will be interesting to see how this develops and if Mullins becomes more hands on during games.

 

[retro44]

So Hopkins got outcoached by an assistant coach?

 

[Townie72]

So Hopkins got outcoached by an assistant coach?

Looked to me that the SU players got outplayed by the SJ players pretty decisively. Especially by the two Italians.

That plus the fact that Cooney still can't finish a drive.