Post by Red Fox 5 on Jan 6, 2020 11:25:43 GMT -5
Sitting here at work and thinking about the breadth of issues for this men's program got me thinking about the beginning of these problems. We have to go all the way back to 2004! The dismissal of Magarity. I cant help but think just how foolish and disconnected ALL of the decision makers on Men's bball look based on the message they were sending about the program vs what they actual did to try and help it.
When they decided to fire Magarity the message was clear. We as an institution, are not happy with .500 basketball and having a chance at a MAAC title 2 or 3 times every 10 years. I think most fans agreed with this message. We need to be BETTER. I agreed with it. Almost everyone I talked to did too. What did they do? They brought in Magarity 2.0. Brady didnt embarrass the program on the court. He didnt move it forward either. I cant say the good results he put forward from 2005-2008 wouldve been any worse with Magarity on the sidelines. Win big with great Magarity recruits but choke in the playoffs. When Brady left, he left the program in a worse place than he inherited it. Based on what occurred with Brady we were forced to go another direction. On comes Martin. Now Martins on court results and academic results were fire able after year 2 or 3. They stuck with him because of the contract. He slowly turned it around. Lewis, Kemp, Bowie and Hart in. 1 win turns to 6 turns to 14 than 10. After that 10 win season the administration came calling again. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. WE WANT TO WIN! We rightfully all greed and fell for it again. So they bring in Bower, Maker, Dunne, etc etc. Dont need to rehash all the results. The mistake that keeps being repeated is the school and the AD believing that the coach's personality and playing style is what will cause the massive transformation into a winning program. There is no retrospective on what WE as an admin or institution need to do to win. If they truly want to win (and the dismissals of Magarity, Martin and Maker prove they at least think that way), they need to look at their whole recruiting and academic philosophy for athletes, their facilities, their basketball marketing etc. These items were never looked at, considered or tweaked. It was insanity. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Relying on a name and style change while changing nothing else.
Now we've discussed at length the institutions unwillingness to bend academics more than they already do for basketball players and investment in sports etc. This post isnt meant to debate that. If they want the men's bball program to play on their terms rather than the terms needed to win in DI or the MAAC thats fine. It's their right and we cant say its wrong. The point is, if that is truly the goal than why change Magarity out in the first place? You want to tell me they were taking one shot with Brady and than Martin to turn things around with a different style? Fine. Than why change out Martin? He was slowly getting it. His 2012-2013 season was disappointing but let's not forget that Khallid Hart was part of that team but got hurt and missed the whole season due to injury. Jay Bowie also missed half the season as well. That's 25 ppg and 40% 3PT shooting that were lost before/during the season.
I naively was pro all the coaching changes because I stupidly believed the school's actions were a message they wanted to get better. In retrospect they are incapable of making the changes needed to get better. Sticking with a lifer coach who could slowly build them up over 4-6 years was always going to be the best they could do. This charade of changing coaches after Magarity was a farce. They compounded that farce by the charade that followed Martin. While I was 100% FOR the firing of Martin, if I had the prospective of the institutions goals than, that I do now, I would NOT have wanted that change.
Getting to Dunne, I think his hiring might have finally been a realization that getting back to a Magarity level of success is the apex for this program. Of course in true Marist fashion, things have gone as bad as they could with his first 1.5 years and Dunne definitely starts getting alot of the blame now. He got one advantage that Martin and Maker didnt have. The ability to change the roster to his guys so quickly. He did so by mixing his scholarships well in regard to transfer/4yr balance. He just did a horrendous recruiting job with the transfers. Let's hope he can rectify that in the next two years.
One thing is clear though. He should get those next two years, 4 years, 8 years, whatever it takes no matter what. Cause regardless of whether he gets us to 9 wins in year 5 or 19 wins in year 5, this institution and administration DOES NOT have a better answer behind door number 7. If only they realized that in 2004.
When they decided to fire Magarity the message was clear. We as an institution, are not happy with .500 basketball and having a chance at a MAAC title 2 or 3 times every 10 years. I think most fans agreed with this message. We need to be BETTER. I agreed with it. Almost everyone I talked to did too. What did they do? They brought in Magarity 2.0. Brady didnt embarrass the program on the court. He didnt move it forward either. I cant say the good results he put forward from 2005-2008 wouldve been any worse with Magarity on the sidelines. Win big with great Magarity recruits but choke in the playoffs. When Brady left, he left the program in a worse place than he inherited it. Based on what occurred with Brady we were forced to go another direction. On comes Martin. Now Martins on court results and academic results were fire able after year 2 or 3. They stuck with him because of the contract. He slowly turned it around. Lewis, Kemp, Bowie and Hart in. 1 win turns to 6 turns to 14 than 10. After that 10 win season the administration came calling again. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. WE WANT TO WIN! We rightfully all greed and fell for it again. So they bring in Bower, Maker, Dunne, etc etc. Dont need to rehash all the results. The mistake that keeps being repeated is the school and the AD believing that the coach's personality and playing style is what will cause the massive transformation into a winning program. There is no retrospective on what WE as an admin or institution need to do to win. If they truly want to win (and the dismissals of Magarity, Martin and Maker prove they at least think that way), they need to look at their whole recruiting and academic philosophy for athletes, their facilities, their basketball marketing etc. These items were never looked at, considered or tweaked. It was insanity. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Relying on a name and style change while changing nothing else.
Now we've discussed at length the institutions unwillingness to bend academics more than they already do for basketball players and investment in sports etc. This post isnt meant to debate that. If they want the men's bball program to play on their terms rather than the terms needed to win in DI or the MAAC thats fine. It's their right and we cant say its wrong. The point is, if that is truly the goal than why change Magarity out in the first place? You want to tell me they were taking one shot with Brady and than Martin to turn things around with a different style? Fine. Than why change out Martin? He was slowly getting it. His 2012-2013 season was disappointing but let's not forget that Khallid Hart was part of that team but got hurt and missed the whole season due to injury. Jay Bowie also missed half the season as well. That's 25 ppg and 40% 3PT shooting that were lost before/during the season.
I naively was pro all the coaching changes because I stupidly believed the school's actions were a message they wanted to get better. In retrospect they are incapable of making the changes needed to get better. Sticking with a lifer coach who could slowly build them up over 4-6 years was always going to be the best they could do. This charade of changing coaches after Magarity was a farce. They compounded that farce by the charade that followed Martin. While I was 100% FOR the firing of Martin, if I had the prospective of the institutions goals than, that I do now, I would NOT have wanted that change.
Getting to Dunne, I think his hiring might have finally been a realization that getting back to a Magarity level of success is the apex for this program. Of course in true Marist fashion, things have gone as bad as they could with his first 1.5 years and Dunne definitely starts getting alot of the blame now. He got one advantage that Martin and Maker didnt have. The ability to change the roster to his guys so quickly. He did so by mixing his scholarships well in regard to transfer/4yr balance. He just did a horrendous recruiting job with the transfers. Let's hope he can rectify that in the next two years.
One thing is clear though. He should get those next two years, 4 years, 8 years, whatever it takes no matter what. Cause regardless of whether he gets us to 9 wins in year 5 or 19 wins in year 5, this institution and administration DOES NOT have a better answer behind door number 7. If only they realized that in 2004.
