(12-16-2010 11:03 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(12-16-2010 10:55 PM)WinstonTheWolf Wrote:  

(12-16-2010 04:51 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(12-16-2010 04:23 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(12-16-2010 03:51 PM)DollarBill Wrote:  My memory of Wimp is that he didn't then and even now, is that he is not a particularly happy guy wherever he happens to be. If he was bitter about the way he left Alabama, that's tough. Not the fault of Little Rock. I always wondered, if he thought Little Rock was beneath him, why did he take the job? Seems to me if he was hopeful of another big time gig, Little Rock was a very good opportunity for him start to rebuild his image. Seems to me he didn't do that and apparently was not wanted anywhere And, I disagree about having had a highly successful career at Alabama. What did he win while there? I recall he was an Assistant Coach there for something like 25 years before finally getting the Head Job. He once told us at a gathering that while at Alabama he did no recruiting. Said he had 2 fulltime assistants whose primary responsibility was recruiting. Sorry for all this venting. My memories of Wimp Sanders as our coach are not very good. I thought he did the right thing in taking his sour puss mug back to Alabama.

Can't argue with that. However, for whatever reason I kind of liked Wimp. He was brutally honest. Not a whole lot of BS or coach speak. But probably not the best guy for our program- Where Newell always saw the glass as half full, Wimp saw it as half empty. Newell could probably convince recruits Barton was a palace. Wimp would simply tell them it was a dump. I remember him actually stating that a recruit told him "Coach its not as bad as you said". I think if he had the Stephens Arena he would have smiled a bit more.

"And, I disagree about having had a highly successful career at Alabama. What did he win while there?"

Well, here you go:

He was the head coach at Alabama from 1981 to 1992. In 11 years as head coach his teams averaged 21.8 wins a year, with a 267-119 record, and they won 4 SEC tournaments. They played in one NIT and eight NCAA tournaments making the "Sweet 16" five times. He is only coach in Alabama history to win 200 or more games in his first 10 years. He was the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year in 1987, 1989 and 1990, and was the National Coach of the Year in 1987.

If that's not a pretty solid record, I'd like to see what is. Maybe Coach K or Tom Izzo and a few others have better resumes, but that's a pretty good decade of coaching. I wish Little Rock had been to even a quarter of that many post season tournaments in 11 years!

Nice beat down of mjs . . . did he not watch basketball for that decade? Wimp had Sprewell and Horry @ Bama - that was hell on wheels!

Hey, it wasn't me who questioned Wimp's credentials.

Having discussed and watched college basketball with MJS for thirty years, I can guarantee you that he didn't miss that decade. He keeps track of what goes on in college ball about as well as anyone I know.