(01-16-2019 01:56 PM)CG_Hawk06 Wrote: I'll pick on W&M here for a sec too just for fairness (and since I'm cruel). Shaver is a quality coach, IMO but for whatever reason that school has just been unable to put together a team that can get to the NCAAs. Now, I wouldn't necessarily describe W&M coaching as incompetent but for our sake in recent years when we had high quality teams, I'm appreciative of their inability to create sustainable tournament success.
Academic standards are the biggest impediment to W&M's basketball success over the years. Being the top academic school in the country among public institutions limits your ability to bring in quality talent. They can never bring in JUCO kids, and only rarely do they add D-I transfers except for the Grad Transfer variety.
Since joining the ECAC (later CAA) in 1977, the 5 head coaches prior to Shaver had limited success at W&M:
1)
Bruce Parkhill was the first in that group, coaching for 6 years. he went 89-75, and in his final season, he led the Tribe to the NIT....then promptly left to take the Penn State HC gig.
2)
Barry Parkhill, Bruce's Assistant Coach, who I can only assume was Bruce's brother (2 years younger), lasted 4 seasons and went 43-68.
3)
Chuck Swenson, formerly a Duke assistant, was there for 7 years, and went a dismal 52-115. He then returned to Duke as a DOBO.
4)
Charlie Woolum, who had been Bucknell's coach the previous 19 years, went 69-94 at W&M. He did win a CAA regular season title in 1998, however. He's now the radio color commentator for basketball.
5)
Rick Boyages then took over after being the top assistant at Ohio State. He went 33-52 over 3 seasons before returning to Ohio St.
So in total, since joining the league, those 5 coaches went 286-341 (.456), with one NIT appearance and one regular season title over 26 seasons. Only one of the 5 previous coaches can be considered a success.
In Shaver's last 15+ seasons at W&M, he's gone 216-258 (.456) with 2 NIT appearances and 1 regular season title. Not really any better than his predecessors overall, but when you look at the last 9 seasons, one can see why W&M supporters are happy to have him. In that span, he has four 20+ win seasons, while his predecessors had two 20+ win seasons over 26 years. And in the past 5 season, the Tribe have finished no lower than 4th in the league.
It's a tough place to win, and Shaver has done as well or better than any coach could hope to do there over a long period of time.