Tonight I ran into a member of the men's basketball staff. I asked about the new recruit from Toronto. I was told that he knew very little about him and had never seen him play. I asked who had seen him play, and he said Coach Shields. I then asked a question about next year's schedule. Again, the staff member said he had no information on that at all as Coach Shields handles all of that.

As in any endeavor, when all on board are not involved with what is happening, which is the distinct impression that I got, it is not good. As a fan and season ticket holder for almost thirty years, I am afraid that we currently have a disfuctional men's program. No one, and I mean no one, would like to see us have a much improved year and for things to get headed in the right direction. But I don't have a good feeling about what's going on. And no, I don't have any facts beyond those that are obvious to everybody.

There are things that ADs should and should not do with a basketball program, and things that a basketball program as a staff should be doing together. Hopefully I'm just way off base and wrong with my doubts, but I'm worried about where we are going.

Not all assistant coaches see every recruit play. If you think every assistant coach at Richmond sees every recruit play then I have some prime-beach, real estate in Alabama I want to sell you. Don't get me wrong, UALR has made some mistakes evaluating talent as evidenced by the new roster. But not every assistant sees every recruit. If an assistant sees a recruit and thinks he is really good, then the head coach probably takes a look. If coach Shields sees a player he wants, then since he is the head coach, I guess he can make that evaluation on his own. Again, given the fact we just cut four players loose, I would hope even Shields would want a second opinion.
As far as scheduling goes, typically, one coach handles that with input from the AD or head coach. It is not uncommon for scheduling to be delegated to one coach. Coach Fricke used to handle that. And because he did, I doubt every coach on staff knew what was going on schedule wise.
I work for a large company and even though we are all on board, we all do not all know every aspect of what is going on. Some responsibilities are delegated out. If some cannot handle those responsibilities appropriately, they are fired.
Every functional company delegates responsibilities.

(05-19-2010 08:50 PM)ez272 Wrote:  Not all assistant coaches see every recruit play. If you think every assistant coach at Richmond sees every recruit play then I have some prime-beach, real estate in Alabama I want to sell you. Don't get me wrong, UALR has made some mistakes evaluating talent as evidenced by the new roster. But not every assistant sees every recruit. If an assistant sees a recruit and thinks he is really good, then the head coach probably takes a look. If coach Shields sees a player he wants, then since he is the head coach, I guess he can make that evaluation on his own. Again, given the fact we just cut four players loose, I would hope even Shields would want a second opinion.
As far as scheduling goes, typically, one coach handles that with input from the AD or head coach. It is not uncommon for scheduling to be delegated to one coach. Coach Fricke used to handle that. And because he did, I doubt every coach on staff knew what was going on schedule wise.
I work for a large company and even though we are all on board, we all do not all know every aspect of what is going on. Some responsibilities are delegated out. If some cannot handle those responsibilities appropriately, they are fired.
Every functional company delegates responsibilities.

You make some good points. I have no idea how recruiting typically works, but I never thought every coach sees every recruit we sign. If an assistant really likes a player, I would think Steve would check the player out before we sign him since his job is on the line. If Steve sees a player he really likes, he might ask one of the assistants to check him out, to get a second opinion, but he could obviously make the decision on his own- that's why he's the head coach. There is no doubt Fricke used to handle the scheduling- I'm sure he checked with the head coach before locking up a deal, but I don't necessarily believe he ran it by all the other assistants as well. I also have a feeling the staff member PTJR talked to was playing a little "dumb" and probably knew a little more than he was letting on. Come on, any of us fans would've been asking those questions about recruits and scheduling if we had the opportunity, so its hard for me to believe that a staff member wouldn't have been asking his colleagues those questions if he was intimately involved in recruiting that particular player or scheduling games.

It is what is. Steve is probably going to live or die with what happens this summer, so I say let him have right to choose. We lost a bunch of games this year so a bunch of new faces are welcome site.

Let's go Steve!

This was written after drinking at Hooters......

(05-19-2010 08:50 PM)ez272 Wrote:  Not all assistant coaches see every recruit play. If you think every assistant coach at Richmond sees every recruit play then I have some prime-beach, real estate in Alabama I want to sell you. Don't get me wrong, UALR has made some mistakes evaluating talent as evidenced by the new roster. But not every assistant sees every recruit. If an assistant sees a recruit and thinks he is really good, then the head coach probably takes a look. If coach Shields sees a player he wants, then since he is the head coach, I guess he can make that evaluation on his own. Again, given the fact we just cut four players loose, I would hope even Shields would want a second opinion.
As far as scheduling goes, typically, one coach handles that with input from the AD or head coach. It is not uncommon for scheduling to be delegated to one coach. Coach Fricke used to handle that. And because he did, I doubt every coach on staff knew what was going on schedule wise.
I work for a large company and even though we are all on board, we all do not all know every aspect of what is going on. Some responsibilities are delegated out. If some cannot handle those responsibilities appropriately, they are fired.
Every functional company delegates responsibilities.

You are absolutely correct that not everyone on staff gets to see every recruit play. But, when you are talking about a staff of five, usually there is some discussion as to what players are needed and should be offered, etc. It is not a large company like you work for. We are talking about 13 scholarships total, with most on any given year already taken by players already on the squad, so you are generally not talking about too many players.

And scheduling has a lot to do with a team's success, and therefore one would think that a lot of imput would be sought here too, although again, it is the head coach's decision on the final slate (assuming the AD is not running the show on that, as well as other things). My point is that I didn't get a very good feel about these things, for whatever that is worth. Maybe nothing. As you point out, since we just cut four players loose, you would think there would be a lot of group thinking going on here.

But again, I may be way off base on all of this and be reading too much into all of the things that I have seen go down in the last few years. As I said, I really want our program and our coaching staff to be very successful. But, as a extremely dedicated fan, I'm just posting my concerns. I sure as hell hope I'm wrong and out to lunch. If so, then be sure to let me hear about it when I'm proven to be the Polyanna.

I know one thing for damn sure. If there were more fans like me who cared enough to even think about and be concerned about these sort of things, our program would be a lot better off.

Have you seen the movie "He's Really Not that Into You"? It is a really neat movie about how guys say things to girls, but they mean something else. A guy meets a girl and says "Let's do lunch sometime." But what he really means is, leave me alone.
Maybe the coach was saying one thing, but meant something else. IDK.

I would think that every assistant would have seen every player. If the assistant or even the head coach sees a player he likes, they usually get some video on the player, and I assume all the coaches would look at him, and they would talk it over before they sign anyone.

(05-19-2010 09:40 PM)insideualr Wrote:  It is what is. Steve is probably going to live or die with what happens this summer, so I say let him have right to choose. We lost a bunch of games this year so a bunch of new faces are welcome site.

Let's go Steve!

This was written after drinking at Hooters......

LOL, I was sitting on my porch earlier, a novel idea I know, and my neighbor had friends over. One parked and blocked my driveway and asked if it was OK, was I going anywhere? I pointed to my busch and said I am drinking and not going anywhere.

(05-19-2010 09:50 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  I would think that every assistant would have seen every player. If the assistant or even the head coach sees a player he likes, they usually get some video on the player, and I assume all the coaches would look at him, and they would talk it over before they sign anyone.

Reasonable assumption, at least on the video and discussion part.

Boy LRTrojan, like you, I'm finding out about what happens when one doesn't completely toe the company line, huh. And in the past, I've always been one of the biggest distributors of the company line. It doesn't make me less of a fan, just a concerned one.

And I used to think that it was only the Chickenhawgs that didn't want to talk about reality.

For sure, you are not the first or only one to question the togetherness or teamwork between Head Coach and Assistants. I don't know details about such things, and no longer want to know but, never having been a coach, it seems odd to me that the entire staff would not be involved in evaluating and deciding what players to sign.

(05-20-2010 07:57 AM)DollarBill Wrote:  For sure, you are not the first or only one to question the togetherness or teamwork between Head Coach and Assistants. I don't know details about such things, and no longer want to know but, never having been a coach, it seems odd to me that the entire staff would not be involved in evaluating and deciding what players to sign.

That is a tough one. In a small setting like a basketball team, I think you can micro manage. In some larger like being AD, I don't think you can.

Like I say, this year will tell the tell. I look for Steve to produce this year but if not I expect Chris to make changes insteed of the coaches.

(05-20-2010 08:59 AM)insideualr Wrote:  

(05-20-2010 07:57 AM)DollarBill Wrote:  For sure, you are not the first or only one to question the togetherness or teamwork between Head Coach and Assistants. I don't know details about such things, and no longer want to know but, never having been a coach, it seems odd to me that the entire staff would not be involved in evaluating and deciding what players to sign.

That is a tough one. In a small setting like a basketball team, I think you can micro manage. In some larger like being AD, I don't think you can.

Like I say, this year will tell the tell. I look for Steve to produce this year but if not I expect Chris to make changes insteed of the coaches.

Ultimately, like the captain of a ship, whether all the changes to the roster work or not will fall in Steve's lap. Given recent history, micro-management might be a very understandable move if that is what is happening.

What's going to happen to your sponsorship of Kelson Stewart?

(05-19-2010 08:31 PM)PTJR Wrote:  Tonight I ran into a member of the men's basketball staff. I asked about the new recruit from Toronto. I was told that he knew very little about him and had never seen him play. I asked who had seen him play, and he said Coach Shields. I then asked a question about next year's schedule. Again, the staff member said he had no information on that at all as Coach Shields handles all of that.

As in any endeavor, when all on board are not involved with what is happening, which is the distinct impression that I got, it is not good. As a fan and season ticket holder for almost thirty years, I am afraid that we currently have a disfuctional men's program. No one, and I mean no one, would like to see us have a much improved year and for things to get headed in the right direction. But I don't have a good feeling about what's going on. And no, I don't have any facts beyond those that are obvious to everybody.

There are things that ADs should and should not do with a basketball program, and things that a basketball program as a staff should be doing together. Hopefully I'm just way off base and wrong with my doubts, but I'm worried about where we are going.

Maybe that particular coach didn't see the prospect, but it's possible another member of the staff was consulted to get a second opinion. But when push comes to shove, it's Steve who has to make the decision, and if he sees a kid he likes, as head coach, he probably doesn't always ask someone else. I'm sure many head coaches make decisions on kids without consulting their staffs. However, most of those coaches probably aren't coming off 20 loss seasons. Just a thought.

(05-20-2010 04:23 PM)outsideualr Wrote:  Maybe that particular coach didn't see the prospect, but it's possible another member of the staff was consulted to get a second opinion. But when push comes to shove, it's Steve who has to make the decision, and if he sees a kid he likes, as head coach, he probably doesn't always ask someone else. I'm sure many head coaches make decisions on kids without consulting their staffs. However, most of those coaches probably aren't coming off 20 loss seasons. Just a thought.

Having spent over 25 years as a high school employee, I've had some contact with college coaches during recruting time. They ask for and get video of any player they are interested in, and while I've never actually asked one of them, who on the staff watches the video, I feel certain that with only 13 schollies available, they sit down with the rest of the staff, and especially with the head coach, and they watch that tape over and over before offering anyone. Same in football, except I'm guessing that all coaches on whatever particular side of the ball the player plays on, will review the tape along with the head coach. And absolutely, the head coach doesn't need anyones opinion on anyone he wants to sign, but I think it would be a good idea to get his staffs opinion anyway, and I'm betting that most do that.

(05-20-2010 05:17 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  Same in football

Except that there are a lot more players involved.