(11-25-2014 12:03 AM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  

(11-24-2014 11:58 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  

(11-20-2014 02:02 PM)chess Wrote:  Terry Holland took a lot of care in creating ECU basketball. He started over 3 times because it wasn't working and found Lebo. ECU needs a long term coach because we are not going to attract Rick Pitino to ECU. He runs a clean program. He is recruiting. ECU pulls some upsets and we need time. Lebo has time to create a program where he can stay for a lifetime. ECU is good for Lebo. Lebo is good for ECU.

Insane. If you expect Lebo to EVER take ECU to the Dance, you are the definition of insane.

Do you realize our only Dance ever, was in 1992 when we won the CAA and then proceeded to get owned by eventual champion UNC in round 1?

While the CIT is no Big Dance it is better than the high school prom. Lebo has had 3 CIT bids and won the CIT. He also has a lot more post season CUSA tourney wins than any of our previous coaches during our CUSA tenure.

Did you spend $17M on a practice facility with no hope of ever going Dancing?

Did you join a multi-bid conference with delusions of CIT bids dancing in your head?

For teams in one-bid conferences, it's OK to accept your fate. Regular seasons are meaningless. It all boils down to the conference tournament. NIT, CBI and CIT bids are nice consolation prizes for nice regular seasons if you lose your conference tournament. Coaches at this level are pretty damn fungible, as you normally can't hold on to rising stars.

For teams in major conferences, it's all about maximizing your chances to Dance. Coaches at this level are extremely freaking important.

Get out of your CUSA mindet. You are in a major conference. You are located in basketball country. Raise your sights.

(11-25-2014 12:03 AM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  

(11-24-2014 11:58 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  

(11-20-2014 02:02 PM)chess Wrote:  Terry Holland took a lot of care in creating ECU basketball. He started over 3 times because it wasn't working and found Lebo. ECU needs a long term coach because we are not going to attract Rick Pitino to ECU. He runs a clean program. He is recruiting. ECU pulls some upsets and we need time. Lebo has time to create a program where he can stay for a lifetime. ECU is good for Lebo. Lebo is good for ECU.

Insane. If you expect Lebo to EVER take ECU to the Dance, you are the definition of insane.

Do you realize our only Dance ever, was in 1992 when we won the CAA and then proceeded to get owned by eventual champion UNC in round 1?

While the CIT is no Big Dance it is better than the high school prom. Lebo has had 3 CIT bids and won the CIT. He also has a lot more post season CUSA tourney wins than any of our previous coaches during our CUSA tenure.

I'll be willing to give anyone that the AAC will be a completely different animal than the CUSA that Lebo has previously dealt with but the only CUSA tenure that was close to this AAC is CUSA 1.0. And we could at least be good at home during that era. Lebo has done better on the road than any Herrion led team.

Not that it really matters for this thread but we actually made the tourney back in '72 and lost in the 1st round to Villanova I believe. Also, even though we eventually did lose by 20 points to UNC in '93 I think we played pretty well. We had the lead down to single digits half way through the 2nd half & we were the only team that successfully broke the Tar Heel press the whole tourney.

As far as Lebo is concerned, since we already extended his contract out he will at least have the next couple seasons to turn it around. Consequently, we can't look backwards, we just have to be in wait and see mode right now. If he doesn't get it together by the end of next season then he should be out.

Lebo has had 4 yrs to develop and keep talent. He has done very little of either of this. 4yrs is enough to see a pattern of leadership in any sport of business. Here is the pattern for Lebo so far:

1. He has not been able to keep good talent, the best of what we have seems to transfer out( this is a bad sign imo)
2. His teams have consistently been bad rebounding teams. To me that represents a lack of grit and competitiveness for a program
3. There is always a crisis of court leadership.
4. I have no idea what his offensive or defensive strategy is
5. Except for one year, we have made no significant strives to make the program better.

Time for us to get out of the contract we offered him. We should be able to attract a smart, gritty coach who will take advantage of the tv deal and great basketball schools we play.

ECU should hire Rod Strickland

(11-25-2014 12:02 PM)Ramen_Tiger Wrote:  ECU should hire Rod Strickland

Might not be a bad idea a few years from now. No matter what happens Lebo's gonna get several more years because of built up good will, contract, and general basketball apathy. It would probably take 3 years of no progress to get in him danger at least. That extension pretty much makes it so.

It will all be justified as we can't compete anyway so who cares

(11-25-2014 12:05 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  Might not be a bad idea a few years from now. No matter what happens Lebo's gonna get several more years because of built up good will, contract, and general basketball apathy. It would probably take 3 years of no progress to get in him danger at least. That extension pretty much makes it so.

I wonder how much of ECU's willingness to settle for Lebo on the sidelines is their vicarious connection to the Tarheel legacy.

It seems to me that is HUGE for them. They like that psychological association, even though he has done NOTHING to suggest he will get them an NCAA bid.

Let's seriously look at the psychological ramifications of having this second-hand connection to Dean Smith. It can go either 1 of 2 ways.

If you're losing to bad teams that don't enjoy anything close to the competitive conference situation ECU has to attract top bball players, the die hard's die hard ECU fan would not bear the thought of letting THAT man RUN HIS PROGRAM to the ground.

OTOH, the apathetic ECU basketball fan doesn't care... Because HE WINS REGARDLESS with the dubious tie to UNC basketball tradition.

"Let's give him 3 more years, so I can share Jeff Lebo stories with my Tarheel buddies at work!! Perhaps he will turn it around, and then I can tell THEM that they can never have MY coach!! He's OURS!!!"



"DEAN SMITH, BABY!!"



"That's Luke and Obi Wan right there... Mark it!!! Just give him time!! Just give him time!!"

that sums it up bigeasthomer

I don't think its a secret that Lebo brought the added bonus of creating interest from UNC alums in ECU hoops. Holland and Lebo have both said they recruited UNC alums to buy season tickets and support the hoops program lead by one of their own and as many as 100 reportedly did so. I deplore the heels and the sanctimonious glass castle they live in, but it not wholly bad business. UNC is the name brand in the state, if ECU can siphon even an ounce of that and use it to improve their lot its not a bad deal. Its a worth while experiment and Lebo had a couple successful stops b4 Auburn so it wasn't a bad dice roll.

I'll admit I'm impatient with our progress, but Lebo could still turn out.

(11-18-2014 12:36 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(11-18-2014 12:10 PM)NothingButKnight Wrote:  I really don't get the Lebo fascination. If you take out ECU's yearly games against Div-2 opponents (that don't get factored into RPI), they've gone:

15-16
11-16
19-12 (14-12 before CIT tourney)
13-17

Donny Jones isn't anything to write home about.

Point taken.

My post was initially going to be about how similar UCF and ECU's basketball traditions are, in that they were almost non-existent before Jones and Lebo showed up. They've found some success and brought our programs a bit further into the light, so there's something.

Okay, we won today, does Lebo get to coach a few more games or are we still firing from the message board?

(11-18-2014 10:53 AM)msm96wolf Wrote:  Lebo has taken ECU to a level that they have never been before in Basketball. Granted that level is only the CBI tourney. ECU never had any basketball tradition to begin with. Lebo has been probably the best coach they ever had and ECU would be crazy to get rid of him in the near future.

there is always a level beyond the next level.
When you start being satisfied with where you are at....then you'll never be anything more than mediocre.

(11-25-2014 02:30 PM)ecumbh1999 Wrote:  Okay, we won today, does Lebo get to coach a few more games or are we still firing from the message board?

If we were discussing this 2 or 3 years ago, I would agree with this statement. But we are 4 yrs into a program that has not really shown any ability to improve, with a coach who has never won consistently at the D1 level. Patterns are not always truthful in determining who can lead, who can coach, or even who is a good manager. In the case of Lebo however, I think the pattern tells us a great deal. This is not an attack against Lebo as a person, by all accounts he is a great guy. In terms of coaching however, I believe his skill set is not up to the job at this level.

(11-25-2014 03:00 PM)baruna falls Wrote:  

(11-25-2014 02:30 PM)ecumbh1999 Wrote:  Okay, we won today, does Lebo get to coach a few more games or are we still firing from the message board?

If we were discussing this 2 or 3 years ago, I would agree with this statement. But we are 4 yrs into a program that has not really shown any ability to improve, with a coach who has never won consistently at the D1 level. Patterns are not always truthful in determining who can lead, who can coach, or even who is a good manager. In the case of Lebo however, I think the pattern tells us a great deal. This is not an attack against Lebo as a person, by all accounts he is a great guy. In terms of coaching however, I believe his skill set is not up to the job at this level.

C'mon man. Lebo won 24 games in 2012 the most in the history of the program and now his skill set isn't up to this level? He has 3 out of 4 winning seasons at ECU. That has NEVER been accomplished in the history of the program. He has more wins in his first 4 years than any coach in ECU history. We are not Kentucky just yet I believe you need to check the expectations.

Dave Odom was a pretty good coach at Wake Forest and USC and never did that while at ECU. Lebo had a winning overall record when he was let go at Auburn and they have sucked way worse since he left. Auburn, like ECU, is not a traditional power in hoops but he did a pretty decent job in a challenging situation there as well. He learned the trade for one of the greatest coaches of all time in Dean Smith (like it or not I know he's from UNC). He has the resume and has recruited the southeast/east/northeast for many years. Who are we gonna bring in that can match his resume/experience?

I've watched a lot of basketball over the years and played the game. Lebo is an excellent tactician on the bench and is bringing in some decent talent. Two of our best players are out injured right now in Guilmette and Roberts-Campbell. If we get them back we will be competitive but we are young and will struggle in the first year of the AAC.

Lebo is the man for the job. He has already exceeded expectations give him some time to adjust to the AAC. He was hired for CUSA comp and this is a step up. Give the man some time.

Remember our history, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Giving Lebo that extension was the dumbest move ever! Interesting tweets by some players already after 6 games.

By one player

(11-26-2014 06:38 PM)DowdyPirate Wrote:  By one player

I saw two but who is counting? Maybe you meant only one last year and we don't have to worry about that leading rebounder do we.

(11-26-2014 06:47 PM)TheBigEastSucks Wrote:  

(11-26-2014 06:38 PM)DowdyPirate Wrote:  By one player

I saw two but who is counting? Maybe you meant only one last year and we don't have to worry about that leading rebounder do we.

One was pretty much an indirect response to the other. And that's a lot more of a personal problem than a coaching issue.

Stith wanted to play with his dad, obviously.

Former ECU coach Joe Dooley, after apprenticing 14 years with Fran Fraschilla at New Mexico and Bill Self at Kansas, is off to a nice start at Florida Gulf Coast in replacement of Andy Enfield.

22 wins last year.
5-0 this year.

He's not even 50 years old yet, having gotten the ECU job at age 29.

(11-26-2014 09:05 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  Former ECU coach Joe Dooley, after apprenticing 14 years with Fran Fraschilla at New Mexico and Bill Self at Kansas, is off to a nice start at Florida Gulf Coast in replacement of Andy Enfield.

22 wins last year.
5-0 this year.

He's not even 50 years old yet, having gotten the ECU job at age 29.

Here is some strange circumstances for you. Dooley was fired by then ECU AD Mike Hamrick, who is now the AD at Marshall. It was strange that Dooley got fired, because he wasn't doing that badly. Hamrick replaced Dooley with one of the Herrion's; I am going to say Bill (Hamrick later hired a Herrion at Marshall (I am going to say Tom, but they both sucked)); who had a decent season or two, but for the most part he sucked and he had some part in getting ECU put on probation to boot.

Fast forward a few years and Terry Holland was in the process of rehiring Dooley at ECU, but word at that time was that Dooley chose to stay at Kansas as an assistant; so Holland then hired Lebo.