RE: Whitford leaving Ball St. for Duquesne... maybe?
If I were Duquesne, I'd be looking at a couple things with Whit (these are the things that frustrate us BSU folks)...
- The running joke thread on the BSU fan site is regarding the race to see if BSU maintained the worst OOC SOS for the season. I think this year we came in 2nd best err... worst in that competition, after maybe being 5th the year prior. Building 20 win seasons is great and all, but IU-Kokomo and Longwood and North Florida and South Utah and Bradley and... sigh. No wonder our attendance is in the crapper.
- Trey Moses has turned out to be a good big man. But, in Whit's four years, he's the only big that's been successfully recruited (EDIT: I should say two, Moses and Teague, but only one back-to-the-basket post player). He has had a big ole whiff on every other big man recruit, and next year he maybe would have paid for it now that Franko (not his recruit) is gone. This year, of the four open schollies, only one commit in the fall. Granted, a solid 3-star guard, but three open schollies going into the late recruiting season. Two more have now been filled, one with a player (again 3-star) who we were gifted when Creen was fired at IU, and another project big who verballed the day before this Duq business started and had very little interest from anyone MAC or higher. Who knows if either will stay. The last two years had desperation pick-ups of graduate bigs that ended up being 7 foot scout team players, and also throw a practice player JUCO 6'8" into the mix and the 6'8" freshman who left for junior college after his redshirt. So, Whit is 1 for 5 in his big recruiting, with the 4 being total whiffs who have since left, and with two unknowns (Hollywood, a redshirt freshman this year, and the aforementioned project). Actually, I will say 2 for 6, as Teague was a solid pickup, but I'm speaking more about his inability to land true inside post players, and he is most definitely a slasher and mid-ranger and not really a post.
I won't be sad to see him gone in general, but I will be concerned for the state of the season next year. Who will leave? Who can a new coach get to plug the gaps? Of course, that's what Miami and everyone else in this situation goes through, so it's not really unique to BSU, but it seemed like we were on the cusp of getting somewhere finally, and maybe were just one big man recruit away from finally moving back to the top tier in the MAC. Sigh.
I have to agree with commitment from the administration being a reason he may be leaving. That and the writing on the wall about the fact BSU may have peaked under his watch at this point. The admin has shown little commitment to returning this program to what it once was. And... who am I kidding? Majerus was an accident, and Hunsaker was a first year head coach who rode in with Majerus. The start of BSU's 90's peak was full on accident based on Rick picking a school that was close to his parents and not anything the administration did. Ray turned out OK, but was again a first time head coach who worked out. Buckley was a first time head coach who took the program a step further down. Then Ronny came along and totally blew the thing up. I give Taylor and Whit some credit for salvaging and stopping the bleeding, but the program is nowhere near where it was with even Buck, let alone with Ray or Dick regardless of what the record states. Both of these coaches padded wins with sorry SOS, and the RPI reflects that (21 wins this year and in the 150-170 range, while Buck's .500 level teams were usually 130-150... actually, that's a reflection on the entire conference as much as the OOC scheduling, but I digress).
|