Harry J
Fan of the spoarts
Posts: 4,813
Joined: Oct 2005
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I Root For: Memphis
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RE: Gotta clear a few things off my chest
(12-24-2015 01:58 AM)mapdude Wrote: (12-24-2015 12:43 AM)MemphisTigerPawr Wrote: The problem throughout Pastners tenure has been a failure to connect and have his teams play consistently and intentionally at a high level. Sometimes we just come to play, looks like the players would prefer to be somewhere else. They never play with a killer instinct or understand the importance of playing 40 minutes a game, consistently, as hard as they can possibly play.
Oh I know we had the masked man training them but if they were going to war they would have been slaughtered the moment they landed their boats. Too many times this team has not come to play. Until Pastner lights a fire under their asses every minute of every game and demands consistent effort nothing will change. Pastners teams just haven't wanted it bad enough. It looks like over and over they get the big head and think the other team will just lay down for them.
When Pastner runs through a season with a team that plays their tails off every minute of every game, then maybe he and our program will be headed in the right direction. It appears Pastner picked up Cals ego but not his ability to motivate his teams to play hard and together.
I remember Dana Kirks theme was "Play Harder". Pastners theme appears to be, well he doesn't have one that defines his program. It isn't toughness, discipline, teamwork, or hard work. Maybe in the words of Coach Finch, (God rest his soul, I loved that man) "Lackadaisical" sums up the Pastner years.. that or as Andy Griffith would say "Pitiful, plum pitiful"
Maybe this team will learn to play hard defensively every minute of every game. Our shots may or may not go in but we can play hard all the time. His teams have been the most under achieving I have ever seen, I don't care how many wins they have at years end.
Rarely do they win early season games, beat rated teams, pull off upsets, or advance in any tournament other than the FedEx Forum Invitational. I hope it changes soon, because it would be the best thing for our city and boosters if Pastner developed his own competitive identity and could reel off some meaningful wins.
They start both seasons and half slow and have every year under Pastner.
Lets not forget X needed to adapt to a system before his success began here. And he would throw a temper tantrum if players played weak. Lastly, Pastner never lets 5 players play together to develop a cohesive identity. He has had way too quick of a hook. I understand the idea in principle, but his quick pull has been counter productive and hindered our development every year. Players make mistakes and had Pastner let Joe Jackson play through his mistake would have probably had 2, maybe 3 sweet 16s on his resume right now.
Pastner has been his own worst enemy and should give back money to the University ala Bobby Knight if he wants to endear himself to Tiger Nation at this point (ala Bobby Knight) He could say, fellows I have not lived up to your or my standards and want to give this program back 1 million a year. I think the fans would start to come back.
Heck, I would follow this team if Bobby Knight coached them because at least they would be disciplined. Pastner refused to hire a strong veteran coach and let him teach these kids. It appears the ego and negotiations he learned from Cal has gotten in his way. Now it will be his own greed if he doesn't surrender some of his own salary, at least enough to pay a top flight assistant or two, that will cause Tiger fans to say goodbye Coach. As smart as Pastner is he just doesn't get it and if he and Bowen want to blame it on the fans, well it spells doom for Tiger basketball.
Pastner could change all this but I doubt he will. Cal, even though he lied, knew what to say to endear himself to the fans. He also knew what to say to get his players to take pride and play hard for fans who loved this program as much as any fans anywhere in America. Somebody needs to give Pastner a vowel or two. I like the guy but he has dug his own grave here. I hope it changes for him, I really do, and for Memphis because I like the guy.
All that said, he isn't perfect and I wish he would do something to show Memphis that he understands his performance has not kept pace with his salary. I know its an easy call for me, but Pastner would likely recoup the money quickly and get the fans behind him. We are sick and tired of hucksters and Pastner knows he is taking advantage of Memphis and essentially crippling us right now.
If he cant turn it around and doesn't make a good faith effort to correct it then I don't care how long he stays here, how much he gets paid, I will have lost respect for him which is really sad, being that I thought he genuinely was a high character person. Does he really think he is getting paid 2.7 million dollars a year to lose to Ole Miss at home, get blown out 5x a season, fail to make NCAA tourneys and run off a fan base because he is too egotistical to let a genuine teacher do some bench coaching for him.
I'll never understand why he didn't hire Terry Tippett or someone who was a veteran teacher of basketball a long time ago. Our 5th grade girls team has better coaches and is more disciplined than his teams have been..and I mean that. Yeah B, we've turned the corner. I'm gonna keep on driving and find someting else to invest my time, energy, money and fervor to. I guess Pastner tried, but the saddest thing is he didn't give it his best. Folks can get mad at me but this is all true. Too bad Pastners ego developed faster than his coaching skills. It has caused what 20+ players to leave this program early?
I get it that our boosters are in a bind, which is why I think Pastner ought to man up and make it right but I doubt he will. He isn't mature enough. JMO guys. Glad the rest of you can take it. I can't and I wont. BTiger will have to cheer for me.
Thank you for letting me vent, I guess I see the potential with this years team an am just tired of watching them miscoached and mishandled to where they crash and burn when it is time for the bright lights. Not trying to be a miserable and I'm not going to hide begind an alias. This is how I feel, wish it were different. It hurts, it really hurts but I'm moving on.
Oh, here is what our coach looks like, I've bit my tongue on this one for years, its not Opie its Alfred E. Put it in the smack if you have to mods, sorry, I've just had all I can stomach of the here to date glorified AAU coach. I hope he proves me wrong.
![[Image: ?u=http%3A%2F%2Fthelibertyblog.org%2Fwp-...mp;amp;f=1]](https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fthelibertyblog.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F01%2FAlfred-E-Newman-what-me-worry.jpg&f=1)
Cliff Notes please....
Pastner bad
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Gotta clear a few things off my chest
