Who honestly has confidence in Mike Hopkins as the next HC

[OttoinGrotto]

It depends who's on his coaching staff. Gmac needs to go away.

I do wonder, if he was on the market, what level of coaching job he would be offered.

 

[br801]

I mean, I agree with alot of what's being said in this thread, but... why trot this thread out right now, tonight??

Time to go into full panic mode, I suppose.

 

[NKR1978]

I mean, I agree with alot of what's being said in this thread, but... why trot this thread out right now, tonight??

Because people are frustrated, they're looking at the offense over several seasons, seeing recruiting fall off (though not quite to Greg Davis levels), and don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[longislandcuse]

Yeah, not so sure about the Dome. Colgate in the Dome is dead. It's only certain marquee games which make it viable. I have a neutral friend who went to the final GTown game in the Dome and thought it was pretty lifeless. He was shocked, actually. The lame pre-game/Dome atmosphere, lack of any starting lineup pizazz, etc...stuff stud recruits care about for better or worse.

Kids love "Welcome to the Jungle" and Jock Jams.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Agree 110%... Big names would interview and be interested. Here is a sneaky name that will be a BIG commodity this summer when it comes to the coaching carousel. Scott Cross from UTA.

I really don't want to be a D8ck, but your schtick is old. I have zero problem with criticism or constructive criticism, but is it possible to not come off like a know it all everytime something goes wrong with Syracuse basketball? You literally never show up unless something goes wrong here and then claim you are disinterested or don't care about SU basketball, but you sure know how to make it better. You pick on Townie, but you're the exact same type of poster, just the complete opposite opinion.

 

[Roger N]

If you do please calm me down and tell me why you do?
The player development hasn't been great. The recruiting has been good but all our guys leave right away.
I need to hear some optimism for Hopkins as he is getting the job next.

An analogy would be to judge a meal at a good restaurant prepared by an assistant chef who did not write the menu. The dish was not his creation

 

[phil77]

The football team made a mistake when Doug bounced when they settled on Shafer. Don't want to see the basketball team make the same mistake. I don't know what kind of coach Hop will be but I would like to see what else is out there and who else is interested but it seems we have already handed him the job because he is loyal.

 

[jdubs30]

It's college basketball. Arizona had down years, Louisville had down years, hell even UNC had down years. MSU lost to a 15 seed with Izzo and the best player in the country last year.

Our underlying issue is recruiting. Every school has misses (BJ, Patterson, Chino, Kaleb, etc). However, because of unexpected NBA depatures, we've REALLY had to patch together the last 2 years. Should the staff have been better prepared for guys leaving? Probably. But Ennis leaving early and then Kaleb being thrown in really screwed us up, thank god for Mike G. Kaleb leaves, now we need to scramble to get a backup PG, enter Gillon. Mali unexpectedly leaves after 1 year, now we need another scorer, here comes AW3. Would we be better with Mali and Kaleb this year than AW3 and Gillon? Maybe. The familiarity would be there, the roles would be more defined and it's almost equal talent.

UK has it good - Cal KNOWS most of dudes are gone after 1 year, so he can better prepare. It's more of a guessing game with guys like Ennis, McCullough, Mali, Battle, Lydon, etc. I think the staff did a great job the last 2 years considering everything that happened. I credit them going hard after AW3 and Gillon because those were areas of need, unfortunately the results aren't there yet

 

[OttoMets]

It depends who's on his coaching staff. Gmac needs to go away.

I can't pretend to know if he's a good assistant, but that hiring never sat well with me:

1. Hired as GA.
2. Bernie's pederasty business leaves an interim opening.
3. McNamara leapfrogs the longer-tenured Sims and not only gets the job but the position is made permanent without a search being conducted.

It's too easy for Boeheim's personal fondness for McNamara to have clouded his judgment. At an elite school you don't have to just throw a young former player with no experience into an assistant position. There's room to conduct a search and make a hire based on merit.

Hopkins has ability, but he won't be inheriting a program that's on the same stable footing it was a few years ago. This won't be easy for anyone, much less someone who's never held this position before.

 

[newmexicuse]

There is really zero question that Mike has earned the opportunity.

However, that doesn't mean that in an ideal world he should not have to have a satisfactory interview first.

The problem is that I think it is fair to say that at certain levels the game is leaving Jimmy behind.

The further issue is that it is hard to see anybody succeeding Jimmy without his blessings.

So, if that is to be the case, Mike may as well get his opportunity & he is likely to be as good as anybody else that Jimmy would find acceptable.

I certainly hope that Mike can succeed, but as long as Jimmy casts a shadow on the program - for good or bad - I am afraid there would have to some period of several tough years before the AD would really be free enough to go out on the open market and truly get the best candidate available.

 

[sabach]

I can't pretend to know if he's a good assistant, but that hiring never sat well with me:

1. Hired as GA.
2. Bernie's pederasty business leaves an interim opening.
3. McNamara leapfrogs the longer-tenured Sims and not only gets the job but the position is made permanent without a search being conducted.

It's too easy for Boeheim's personal fondness for McNamara to have clouded his judgment. At an elite school you don't have to just throw a young former player with no experience into an assistant position. There's room to conduct a search and make a hire based on merit.

Hopkins has ability, but he won't be inheriting a program that's on the same stable footing it was a few years ago. This won't be easy for anyone, much less someone who's never held this position before.

Fair enough but Coach K does it all the time.

 

[Orangtiz]

I for one am very worried. JAB ant figure out how to win in the ACC, do we think Hop can? Nope. When he takes over he will be the only coach in the league with no prior head coaching experience. Good luck Hop. JAB sure isn't doing his part to make the transition any easier either.

 

[Alsacs]

Fair enough but Coach K does it all the time.

Duke gets top 10 players each year. Syracuse hasn't gotten a top 10 recruit since Donte Green.

We get top 30 guys. Duke gets multiple top 10 guys each year.

 

[Cuse'91]

Duke gets top 10 players each year. Syracuse hasn't gotten a top 10 recruit since Donte Green.

We get top 30 guys. Duke gets multiple top 10 guys each year.

So true. I posed this point awhile back, how many Top10 recruits in SU basketball history? Melo and Billy, and ? Greene and Waiters are Top20 in my book, not Top10 or Top5...

 

[Eric15]

I have a neutral friend who went to the final GTown game in the Dome and thought it was pretty lifeless.

Are you referring to the game in 2013 when we set an attendance record and Otto Porter dominated?

 

[RF2044]

So true. I posed this point awhile back, how many Top10 recruits in SU basketball history? Melo and Billy, and ? Greene and Waiters are Top20 in my book, not Top10 or Top5...

Pearl, DC, Billy, Melo [who wasn't in that top grouping when he commited] are the only ones I can think of who were rated that high.

Maybe Stephen Thompson was top 10. Wallace possibly? I don't think Greene was top 10, but could be wrong about that.

Edut--maybe Paul Harris, too?

Regardless, pretty short list.

 

[Cuse'91]

Pearl, DC, Billy, Melo [who wasn't in that top grouping when he commited] are the only ones I can think of who were rated that high.

Maybe Stephen Thompson was top 10. Wallace possibly? I don't think Greene was top 10, but could be wrong about that.

Regardless, pretty short list.

Yeah, very short, like 1 year of recruiting for UK/Duke these days...

 

[Fly Rodder]

Should the staff have been better prepared for guys leaving? Probably.

Absolutely should have. People in the recruiting forums like to poke fun at Tommy Crean, Ollie, etc for offering 60 guys a year. But they have to. A team isn't going to score on all of their offers - ever. Even UK loses a couple. SU is projected to have something like 6 openings next season (11 schollies - Howard, Moyer, TT, Chukwu*, 1 of Lydon/Battle** = 6 openings). SU offered only 16 guys, a pile of whom were top-25 recruits, officially if ESPN is to believed. So they're expecting to hit on close to 40% of their offers when their current recruiters haven't shown they can reel in the big fish of the last couple of seasons? Green was supposed to be the easiest get of this class. I don't see why they didn't offer 30 kids this class. Lots of openings, lots of room to establish yourself in a prominent program.

SU let a bunch of guys in the 50-100 range go elsewhere to focus on the big time recruits for a monster class. Those 3 & 4 stars usually establish SU's baseline roster when they become upperclassmen, now that talent pipeline has some serious holes in it. This could lead to some really medicore-to-crappy teams filled with who's on hand and not who you developed.

* IMO, I'm not sure he can play at this level in SU's system.
** As of right now, I think both stay, but risk management says you should expect one to leave just to CYA.

 

[Oráiste]

I'm ready to clean house.

in other words "I root for the laundry, could care less who's wearing it"

 

[SoBeCuse]

Correct. I trust what my friend said. He is a Maryland grad with no beef with us. Most of his best friends are Cuse guys. He was just surprised that the atmosphere wasn't at all 'intimidating' or hostile. Volume level he thought would be louder but that game also was a stinker and we couldn't score so who knows.

 

[Alsacs]

Pearl, DC, Billy, Melo [who wasn't in that top grouping when he commited] are the only ones I can think of who were rated that high.

Maybe Stephen Thompson was top 10. Wallace possibly? I don't think Greene was top 10, but could be wrong about that.

Edut--maybe Paul Harris, too?

Regardless, pretty short list.

$cout had Donte Green #9.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I don't have any reason to believe he won't be a good coach. You know you can give him the job and if he doesn't do a good job move on from him. We do it at my work all the time. Also one thing I would say is that he interviewed for the USC job and it appears Enfield go the job but used Hops plan and even hired Bland and Hart which was Hops idea. They are trending in the right direction in my opinion. I think Hop is a good recruiter and when it's his team he could become a good coach.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I'm giving Hop the benefit of the doubt.

* I think it's an entirely different story, being the coach for a full season, after a full off-season, fully prepared to assume the role... versus stepping in mid-season, earlier than expected, and being expected to hold the fort for someone else... knowing everything you're doing is being tracked 'over your shoulder.' And having to protect the status quo in terms of procedure and message.*

So, we don't know what Hop is capable of. His success will, like anyone else, depend on recruiting. We're probably suffering from both the sanctions and from the ambiguous lame duckness of JB. And still, we're likely to have more/better HS talent on the floor than 90% of the teams we face. That doesn't factor in experience, but it's the staff's job to work with what they have. If the team isn't 'fundamentally sound' because they weren't taught certain things in HS or earlier, that should have been recognized and corrected. If the fundamentals are skills that can/should be learned in middle school or earlier, they shouldn't be so difficult to learn now. We tend to have people come in who believe they shouldn't be limited to strict roles, and when they diversify, they may not work hard enough on the basics—the essentials of their positions. We don't often see the opposition's center or PF rebounder trying to make dribble moves around and through the paint. But, our guys believe they're entitled, before they actually have those skills...

I'm worried about our future. We're in a new league, that doesn't really fit us geographically or remember us historically. I hope Hop will be more active in national recruiting—hope he's got that energy. I believe he does. I think, regardless of allegiances to former SU players, we'll get a big man coach who has actually played the position. Not that a guard can't teach the skills, but it's a matter of optics to potential C and PF recruits. If i were the father of a top 20 C prospect, i'd have far more confidence in my kid's developmental potential under a former C/PF player.

Continuity... JB has been successful. I hope Hop can be more successful, but i don't think he can be by continuing JB's patterns and tendencies. JB's success has spanned a lot of years, and we have been different types of teams over those decades. Hop should do what we need Now and Going Forward, and hopefully not relying on what we are now, expecting that to recreate what we've done in the past.

I hope we're not going to be a full-time zone team. I don't think that's an attractive characteristic to top players, and we sometimes get them despite it. Someone also, recently, described us as a 'blue-collar team.' Which was sort of an upsetting thing to read. We used to be a high wire act. Showtime. To now think of us as a slow-paced, use the zone to force long possessions for the opponents, then not fast break, not dunk, not oop... that's another not-very-attractive set of characteristics. To fans and recruits. And, Shirley, we still get better talent than most, but in this ACC, we're not getting better talent than at least 3 teams, and then we're being outcoached/outperformed by a couple of others. So, it's like we have to do/be extraordinary things to crawl into the league's top 5. I don't like our chances that way.

 

[OrangeFoo]

My pipe dream was always that Jeff Belein would take over for JB once he retired... but that ship has sailed given Belein is pretty entranced in Michigan. Does anyone think he would want to come home to Syracuse?

Shaka Smart would have been nice but he's not leaving Texas anytime soon.

I wouldn't mind going after a proven MVC coach who has a great offensive system.

 

[sabach]

Are you referring to the game in 2013 when we set an attendance record and Otto Porter dominated?

Walking out of the Dome that day with my son. G-Town fans were killing us. One in particular started really swearing it up. Guy in an SU shirt starts pushing him. G-Town fan retaliates with a push and the Syracuse police handcuff the G-Town guy immediately and let the SU guy walk away. Nice.