(03-05-2016 09:18 AM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  If anyone thinks UC is going to can Mick after the season I want what you're smoking. As already noted, it would not make any sense at this stage to fire Mick from a financial perspective. The university is keeping a certain football coach around for another year that has done far more harm to the program in three years than anything Mick has ever done to his. I share in the disappointment of only one Sweet 16 during his tenure but I also remember feeling disappointment with his predecessor for many early round Tournament exits despite having superior talented teams. Mick certainly appears on television to be mentally drained or exhibiting "low energy" at times and maybe his complete recovery from health issues has taken longer than he anticipated. He deserves another year to coach this program IMHO.

Now, transferring the OP to tomorrow at 12 noon it really is this simple...

Win and we're in. Lose and we have to win the conference tournament. That's it. I don't have a crystal ball or a magic bracketology formula but it's what I believe to be true. I'm just thankful that the Cats have an opportunity to go get a quality win in front of the home crowd on Senior Day. Emotions and energy levels should be high and I believe the team will play like they know what they have to do with their backs against the wall.

I would disagree with you at pretty much every point of this post.

As to those who say "Well, who would you hire?" as a way of deflecting criticism of Mick...well, we could have said EXACTLY the same thing about any of the coaches we have had to dismiss over the years. As long as you have a coach under contract, you can't go looking for someone else. Would you have stuck with Tony Yates? Would you have stuck with Rick Minter? No...you terminate the Coach under contract, THEN you go out and evaluate candidates.

There are ALWAYS candidates out there. But you can't go to Step Two without doing Step One first.

(And, yeah I get that Mick isn't getting fired. But the question will be, just how much damage happens to the programs while they stagnate until such time as we do pull the trigger?)

Jerry- I think the difference here is that with someone like Yates the program was in bad shape. Mick has been undeniably successful. He took a decimated program and has been to the tournament 5 straight years. He is a good coach. Have we peaked under Mick? I think there is mounting evidence that this may be the case, but this isn't replacing some failure... and to me you don't ditch a successful coach without having the guy you think can absolutely take them to the next level in mind and possibly lined up.

Yates and Cronin is not a good comparison. I liked Tony as a person but with Yates you had the worst of both the Huggins and Cronin tenure. Many of the athletes had very poor reputations in the classroom and courtroom. He was a pretty good recruiter but could not get the best out of his talent. Yates had three losing seasons in a row.

I wish we had played a lot better this year. Everyone had a lot higher expectations and to say the season is not a disappointment up to this point would be a lie. But we still have some games left. We still have an excellent shot at making the tourney.

You don't can a guy after one 20+ win disappointing season when he's made the tourney 5 years in a row.

Like everyone else, I don't like the vibe I am getting right now- but maybe I am wrong.

Let's see what happens.

Fair enough...

Not for the first time I am glad that I am sitting in the peanut gallery and not in the AD's chair.

I bet there will be a roster shakeup after the season. There may a cause for the bad chemistry. Perhaps several of the players are difficult.

I think it's fair to say that Mick has had to deal with more adversity than people give credit for. At first it was the decimated program he took over. We improved every year and made the tournament in year 5 and sweet 16 in year 6. Then conference turmoil came. I understand programs in lesser conferences perform at a high level but the difference is for us it's instability. We were in a NE/Midwest conference and now we're in a southern conference. That matters.

I'm not trying to absolve him of all blame for the underachieving this year but I don't see this as a Pastner situation. Mick deserves to be able to coach in a renovated 5/3 hopefully in the B12. If we missing the tournament becomes a pattern I'll feel differently but I think given the circumstances Mick has done a C+/B- job.

I think a lot of this has to do with not only how good everyone thought this team would be, but the continuation of just down right ugly basketball. I know many people who do not watch the Cats anymore because of the brand of basketball Mick trots out every year. Add to the the ignorant comments that come out of his mouth, " offense for friends and family, we do not pay attention to wins and losses, the team just was not tough enough for the millionth time, did not get enough deflections, yada, yada, yada". Even national commentators talk about the fist fight in a phone booth, or the rock fight that UC brings. If I wanted to watch that I would watch Rugby and boxing. It just gets very old watching the same slow, grind it out style game after game. But hey, we got Cumberland and Washington coming next year, so we will be much better. It is always wait till next year with this program. I will still watch and support the team, just cause I love UC, but I completely understand the frustration level people are having.

(03-05-2016 03:36 PM)rosewater Wrote:  I bet there will be a roster shakeup after the season. There may a cause for the bad chemistry. Perhaps several of the players are difficult.

Did you watch Cobb and Shaq on the bench? The were smiling and happy. About what?

(03-05-2016 07:15 PM)doss2 Wrote:  

(03-05-2016 03:36 PM)rosewater Wrote:  I bet there will be a roster shakeup after the season. There may a cause for the bad chemistry. Perhaps several of the players are difficult.

Did you watch Cobb and Shaq on the bench? The were smiling and happy. About what?

I did notice that the two were not into the game. The smiling was even during the beat down in the first half.

Mick has taken us to the ncaa five years in a row and won 20games again this year. Probably not fireable. But dang it, this year has been a let down for sure.

And for me it's his comments that trouble me (sammy's homework more important, doesn't care about winning/losing games, etc.) the most.

I know he probably had an epiphany moment when he was out last year with his health and I can't say I blame him for it but if his head isn't in the game anymore we need to move on.

So i'm not saying get rid of Mick for lack of performance as much as I'm wondering if he is the right man for this any more.

(03-05-2016 04:18 PM)rtaylor Wrote:  I think a lot of this has to do with not only how good everyone thought this team would be, but the continuation of just down right ugly basketball. I know many people who do not watch the Cats anymore because of the brand of basketball Mick trots out every year. Add to the the ignorant comments that come out of his mouth, " offense for friends and family, we do not pay attention to wins and losses, the team just was not tough enough for the millionth time, did not get enough deflections, yada, yada, yada". Even national commentators talk about the fist fight in a phone booth, or the rock fight that UC brings. If I wanted to watch that I would watch Rugby and boxing. It just gets very old watching the same slow, grind it out style game after game. But hey, we got Cumberland and Washington coming next year, so we will be much better. It is always wait till next year with this program. I will still watch and support the team, just cause I love UC, but I completely understand the frustration level people are having.

This.

I don't care if we have Lebron James and Steph Curry coming...if Mick can't coach offense, keeps the pace slow and focuses hours upon hours of practice time to defense it won't matter.

therein lies the issue