As a Toledo fan I enjoyed having Dakitch around. He was demostrative, intense, kinda funny looking and not overly successful - all good attributes for your rival's coach. However, I think he was a capable coach. He knows the game well, got his guys to play hard and run his stuff. His downfall was 2 things; the West Va debacle and losing players. The WV job thing was bad and left a cloud over him while he remained at BG, sort of like telling your girlfriend you just want to be friends and then coming back a week later and saying you want to be a couple again - something is lost. Secondly, his style combined with BG just being kind of a boring place to spend your college years led to a lot of transfers the past 5-6 years.
To assume Orr is an automatic improvement is a reach. He's never gotten a contract extended as a HC and limited MAC and Midwest connects. He did allright at Seton Hall, but was mostly coaching Amaker's recruits (and Amaker can recruit as well as he can't coach).
BG is a place that does well with stability in the program. You aren't gonna get many blue chip guys to start off there, there's not a lot of resources and the facility is a mixed bag. A good coach at BG needs to take their time, have a good plan for success considering the recruiting limitations, and get the students to come out regularly. Anderson is a relic, but it can be a good home court when it's fairly full and there is some postive energy around the team. The better BG teams were built around team play and players who were a bit overlooked as recruits (Daniels was a late bloomer, Stacey was an undersized forward). The next coach will need to be patient as well as abel to find decent taletn that wants to play at BG, and able to keep them there and develop their skills.
Still as a rocket fan I'm rooting for a Rollie Massimino comeback or yet another Dakitch departure and surprising return.
Who was the guy competing w/ Dakich? (Guess it was 10 years ago).
Just curious. I liked him better than Dakich, although Dakich certainly looked good his first 5 years.
Vandelay, do you have any idea what you are talking about?
Louis Orr would be a fine signee for BG. He was at Seton Hall for 5 seasons, so I wouldn't give all of his credit to Amaker as most of the players for the last 4 years were his.
He's a quality guy. I believe you'd be happy to have him. The big question, which NIU also faces, is how well will a major conference coach adjust to the MAC? Plus, with Dakich in a lame duck year, recruiting is a problem as well as a pretty shallow talent pool left after a bad season.
A lot of coaches moving down have not had success, which is why everyone is trying to find the hot young coach on the rise.
First Patton and now Ore. Is there some reason that MAC schools are trying to hire coaches that were fired at power confrences after modest success at best?
I don't know why any MAC AD would think that this would be a good hire. Look at Jim Boone at Eastern Michigan or that sinking ship that Ronny Thompson is running if you want to know why its important to hire a coach with some connections to your area.
Yes, Boone and Thompson had trouble recruiting in areas they have no primary experience, but Patton and Orr are proven high major coaches who have good reputations.
Thompson's main (only?) selling point is his surname.
Boone was hired because he had a clean reputation.
Surprisingly, EMU didn't get a lot of offers from coaches like the Patton and Orr's of 7 or 8 years ago.
The finalists were Boone and Rob Judson. ;-)
factman Wrote:Vandelay, do you have any idea what you are talking about?
He doesn't like Dakich and readily admits it so I totally blow off any analysis he tries to make regarding him because we know his true feelings and they are anything but objective.
Boone was also good buddies with Diles. He's rep wasn't so clean after he got to EMU. He sent his assistants to do his dirty work(chew out profs. for not passing students, sending Glen, Boone's top assistant, after a fan in Jan. 2005 after a loss to Buffalo, I know the fan that it happend to. BTW, Diles didn't repremand Glen for his actions.) The big issue was giving Steve Pettyjohn, his transfer from RMU, a captain's role even before he played a game for EMU. That was shady.
Redwingtom Wrote:factman Wrote:Vandelay, do you have any idea what you are talking about?
He doesn't like Dakich and readily admits it so I totally blow off any analysis he tries to make regarding him because we know his true feelings and they are anything but objective.
Talking about an axe to grind: all Vandelay did was link an article in the Blade and made no comment on it whatsoever.
Can we say random knee jerk reaction?
axeme Wrote:Talking about an axe to grind: all Vandelay did was link an article in the Blade and made no comment on it whatsoever.
Can we say random knee jerk reaction?
What do you mean he made no comment whatsoever? What was this:
Vandelay Wrote:I hope this is true for Falcon hoop fans. This would be a serious upgrade from the guy you had over the past decade.
That wasn't a comment...it was an observation...yeah..that's it...an observation.
The article states that Orr has expressed an interest in the job...does that make him a "leading candidate"?
BGDrew Wrote:axeme Wrote:Talking about an axe to grind: all Vandelay did was link an article in the Blade and made no comment on it whatsoever.
Can we say random knee jerk reaction?
What do you mean he made no comment whatsoever? What was this:
Vandelay Wrote:I hope this is true for Falcon hoop fans. This would be a serious upgrade from the guy you had over the past decade.
Seemed like a flat observation to me: a guy from a high major program who has taken his team to levels Dakich was unable to. Whatever you think of DD, and I really enjoyed him, actually, Orr accomplished more in one of, if not the toughest basketball conference in the country than Dan did at BG, even relatively speaking. A coach who has proven he can win in the Big East
is a serious upgrade from a guy who was around .500 in the MAC. Don't know why that is taken as disrespect, except that you don't like who said it.
Liam9903 Wrote:First Patton and now Ore. Is there some reason that MAC schools are trying to hire coaches that were fired at power confrences after modest success at best?
I don't know why any MAC AD would think that this would be a good hire. Look at Jim Boone at Eastern Michigan or that sinking ship that Ronny Thompson is running if you want to know why its important to hire a coach with some connections to your area.
Louie Orr actually took an underacheiving squad coached by Amaker and took them to post season 4 of 5 years. In fact they went to the NCAA tourney the year he got fired. He got fired because he would not hire a certain assistant coach that the AD thought was needed for recruiting.
The new coach had a horrible start.
Louie would be a coup to get.
axeme Wrote:BGDrew Wrote:axeme Wrote:Talking about an axe to grind: all Vandelay did was link an article in the Blade and made no comment on it whatsoever.
Can we say random knee jerk reaction?
What do you mean he made no comment whatsoever? What was this:
Vandelay Wrote:I hope this is true for Falcon hoop fans. This would be a serious upgrade from the guy you had over the past decade.
Seemed like a flat observation to me: a guy from a high major program who has taken his team to levels Dakich was unable to. Whatever you think of DD, and I really enjoyed him, actually, Orr accomplished more in one of, if not the toughest basketball conference in the country than Dan did at BG, even relatively speaking. A coach who has proven he can win in the Big East is a serious upgrade from a guy who was around .500 in the MAC. Don't know why that is taken as disrespect, except that you don't like who said it.
It is not just this one comment. Vandelay lost all credibility on this subject with his rant on the Buffalo fiasco.
Kind of interesting that I post an article about a posisble BG candidate and strongly support this hiring if it happens for the good of the MAC and BG basketball and still get creamed by a few BG fans here.
Let's see, do you want a proven quality coach who had a winning record during his Big East coaching career or do you want a guy who had a dozen players quit over the past few years and run what was a very good program down the tubes? You decide.
I'll take Orr to coach my favorite basketball program any day over Dakich - wouldn't you?
A couple of points....
The search has just started and Orr's name is the only name to come up. That makes him a leading candidate?
The second issue I think mst BG fans would have would be the decision to take yet another shot at Dakich...the guy is gone, Nick...let it go. And (though you didn't do it this time) why keep taking shots at Wamer for losing his objectivity wiht Dakich when you've done the same thing?
Orr's a candidate and you think he'd do a good job...I don't know if he would, he didn't last too long at Seton Hall...but you think he'd be a good hire. WHy not just post the link, say Orr would be a good hire and leave it at that.
If you want to take shots at Dakich when you know people in BG liked him, be prepared for the blowback
Now that Stan Heath is out at Arkansas, he might be an addition to the list of potential coaches. He did a solid job at Arkansas and kept Kent together for his short tenure.
Dakich took a pretty mediocre program actually, and got them a lot closer to the NCAAs than Larranaga had. Two of his teams should have been at-large selections, in my opinion. Was it time for him to go? Most probably. But to rewrite history like Dakich came and destroyed BG hoops is absolutely false.