Dear Mr. Jones,
I was not a fan of your hiring to be the men's basketball coach at ODU. My perception was that years of being mired at AU, after an inglorious end to your tenure at UVA, had left you to be a middle-aged and uninspiring coach, particularly with today's athletes. My initial perceptions of your ability to restore ODU basketball to prominence were dead wrong.
Your team this year, despite being incredibly undersized, outrebounded and outhustled most opponents. Your gameplans were well conceived, and I rarely felt the team was ill-prepared for the competition (even if physically outplayed at times). Your player rotations made sense, and you let the "hot hand" stay in the game. You added stability, restored confidence, and managed to put together a very respectable .500 team that finished strong and made post-season play. This team was extremely easy to root for, and the strong TED crowds during this season of transition showed me that you have righted the ship and are moving this team in the right direction.
Recruiting has been a question since your arrival. Many fans rightfully acknowledged your coaching abilities while questioning your recruiting abilities. With that said, you brought in a serviceable JUCO in Ebondo, and secured the recruits that were left rudderless after the 2013 season concluded. This year, the inside presence so obviously missing has been addressed with three exciting recuits/transfers. While every fan wants to get 4-star lineups, you seem to be confident in going after quality recruits and transfers to fill the squad......and the impending transfer of Stith and enrolling of Carver are signs of your Aim High strategy.
I am delighted in the progress in which you led the team this year. You have earned this fan's respect and loyalty. I was wrong about your hiring, and happy to admit as such. Congratulations on a successful start at Old Dominion. Fair winds and following seas!
Sincerely,
ODUsmitty
P.S. Mr Selig, while I was not a fan of the hiring process, I have learned why you are an Athletic Director and I am Chemical Engineer. Please accept my apologies for thinking that I could do your job better than you could do mine.
(04-22-2014 08:02 PM)ODUsmitty Wrote: [ -> ]Dear Mr. Jones,
I was not a fan of your hiring to be the men's basketball coach at ODU. My perception was that years of being mired at AU, after an inglorious end to your tenure at UVA, had left you to be middle-aged and uninspiring coach, particularly with today's athletes. My initial perception of your ability to restore ODU basketball to prominence were dead wrong.
Your team this year, despite being incredibly undersized, outrebounded and outhustled most opponents. Your gameplans were well conceived, and I rarely felt the team was ill-prepared for the competition (even if physically outplayed at times). Your player rotations made sense, and you let the "hot hand" stay in the game. You added stability, restored confidence, and managed to put together a very respectable .500 team that finished strong and made post-season play. This team was extremely easy to root for, and the strong TED crowds during this season of transition showed me that you have righted the ship and are moving this team in the right direction.
Recruiting has been a question since your arrival. Many fans rightfully acknowledged your coaching abilities while questioning your recruiting abilities. With that said, you brought in a serviceable JUCO in Ebondo, and secured the recruits that were left rudderless after the 2013 season concluded. This year, the inside presence so obviously missing has been addressed with three exciting recuits/transfers. While every fan wants to get 4-star lineups, you seem to be confident in going after quality recruits and transfers to fill the squad......and the impending transfer of Stith and enrolling of Carver are signs of your Aim High strategy.
I am delighted in the progress in which you led the team this year. You have earned this fan's respect and loyalty. I was wrong about your hiring, and happy to admit as such. Congratulations on a successful start at Old Dominion. Fair winds and following seas!
Sincerely,
ODUsmitty
P.S. Mr Selig, while I was not a fan of the hiring process, I have learned why you are an Athletic Director and I am Chemical Engineer. Please accept my apologies for thinking that I could do your job better than you could do mine.
You can sign my name at the end, as that reflects my sentiments exactly.
+1 to everything said. I was very vocal in my surprise and opposition to the hiring of Coach Jones. I met him at the Coaches Caravan and came away impressed. Getting a .500 season out of the guys this year was a testament to his great coaching ability and the roster as it stands today is a complete 180 from where it was at the end of last year. The staff of him, Richardson, Stith, Barrett along with Donahue (went from Assoc HC at American to DBO here) deserves all of the praise and the next two years of ODU basketball should be real fun to watch.
That's a first-rate letter Smitty, which I fully endorse.
My only quibble is with the p.s., which I would re-state as follows:
"P.S., Mr. Selig: I suppose some measure of congratulations are also due to you. Since you would take the blame had Coach Jones not been such a clear success, you are entitled to at least some of the reflected credit.
But I hope and trust that you will have learned a valuable lesson from the debacle that was made of the hiring process. Coach Jones deserved a far better introduction to the ODU community than the one that you gave him. His success this season, I believe, is more in spite of your contributions than due to them, an I continue to have a nagging sense that you were more lucky than good in your hiring of Coach Jones."
Time for the spin zone... Lets here from that crowd
Not ready to eat my hat yet, but I like where things are going. I actually uttered "We could be...good next year" and "I think Jones is turning it around" today.
Very nice Smitty. Everyone is vulnerable to criticism and it clearly affected both of them.
JJ quickly won me over with his transparency and focus on the task at hand.
(04-22-2014 08:18 PM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote: [ -> ]That's a first-rate letter Smitty, which I fully endorse.
My only quibble is with the p.s., which I would re-state as follows:
"P.S., Mr. Selig: I suppose some measure of congratulations are also due to you. Since you would take the blame had Coach Jones not been such a clear success, you are entitled to at least some of the reflected credit.
But I hope and trust that you will have learned a valuable lesson from the debacle that was made of the hiring process. Coach Jones deserved a far better introduction to the ODU community than the one that you gave him. His success this season, I believe, is more in spite of your contributions than due to them, an I continue to have a nagging sense that you were more lucky than good in your hiring of Coach Jones."
At this point I think Wood Selig has proven he is Really good at his job,not lucky.
(04-22-2014 08:40 PM)ODUR8R Wrote: [ -> ]Very nice Smitty. Everyone is vulnerable to criticism and it clearly affected both of them.
JJ quickly won me over with his transparency and focus on the task at hand.
I am so glad to have been wrong about JJ
Oh if Selig only had integrity LOL!
![[Image: aenfield_zpseafdf1be.png]](http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r522/Gizmotronic/aenfield_zpseafdf1be.png)
Jeff Jones was a great coach even before he came to ODU. I had no doubt he could turn the program around. I commend those who gave their support from day one.
Thanks Burger Meister!!!! That was my feeling. I wonder how has been elevator guy is doing?
Hey, I am big enough to admit when I am wrong.
...and I am very happy to do so!
Like the letter. I think the staff that Jeff put together is what's making this thing work. Everyone seems to be working towards the same end game.
You can make me a reservation at the "Eat Crow Cafe" too. I was very much against the Jeff Jones hire, and I've never been happier to have been completely wrong. My faith in Monarch basketball has been restored and I can't wait for next year.
(04-22-2014 09:02 PM)Sirloin Burger Wrote: [ -> ]Jeff Jones was a great coach even before he came to ODU. I had no doubt he could turn the program around. I commend those who gave their support from day one.
A lot of people on this board didn't want to give the guy a chance because they thought there were better candidates in the pool. And by better I mean younger, more attractive (ie playing style and sideline antics) coaches in the pool. When reality there wasn't. Was Andy Enfeld originally a canidate before USC came and swooped him up? Yes. But what a lot of people don't understand is the guys who made up dunk city weren't even his recruits. So while he was able to win, he didn't even recruit those guys. Look at what FGCU did this year... Way too much talent on that team (sarcasm alert).
People looked at Jeff and saw old white man. Hell he was even referred to as a retread. What people didn't look at is how he assesmbled his staff. Do you think that staff occurred by chance? Jeff knows basketball. Jeff knows how to win games. And Jeff knows how to get kids and parents to come to odu.
Jeff took a crappy product and turned it around in one year. That's not luck that's skill. And while it's mighty big (again sarcasm) of people to admit they were wrong, it's not even necessary because Jeff didn't take the odu job to turn naysayers into believers of his coaching ability. He took it to turn a dying program into a solid mid major
He has done well with what he has been given so far and has earned himself some more time to get it done in my eyes, but until we get back back to being a top 50 team, I'm not quite ready to sing Kumbaya yet. Next year we have a low floor with all these new pieces and trying to put them together, but we also have a high ceiling. Let's see how the results pan out.
(04-22-2014 08:18 PM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote: [ -> ]That's a first-rate letter Smitty, which I fully endorse.
My only quibble is with the p.s., which I would re-state as follows:
"P.S., Mr. Selig: I suppose some measure of congratulations are also due to you. Since you would take the blame had Coach Jones not been such a clear success, you are entitled to at least some of the reflected credit.
But I hope and trust that you will have learned a valuable lesson from the debacle that was made of the hiring process. Coach Jones deserved a far better introduction to the ODU community than the one that you gave him. His success this season, I believe, is more in spite of your contributions than due to them, an I continue to have a nagging sense that you were more lucky than good in your hiring of Coach Jones."
Agree!
