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http://johnsoncitypress.com/Detail.php?C...S&ID=64326

There are a lot of interesting variables here.

The biggest is it would appear there has been an olive branch sent in the great Science Hill/ETSU basketball divide.

I have no idea if there are any current players that ETSU would like to have on Science Hill. It should be mentioned that every last one of George Pitts' players went to Junior Colleges, except for those who went to Gary's Shoes and Accessories.

So Pitts' players couldn't have gone on to ETSU even if they wanted to.

The main thing here is to ask if Mister had been on the SHHS staff a couple of years ago if Omar Wattad would have been more interested in ETSU. Also, will the next player to go from Science Hill to ETSU be "scholarship worthy?"

The next thing is, for a change, it is the Science Hill coach who is on the hot seat. I would imagine if the Hilltoppers were to have a poor season with Mister on the bench, fans would want him to be the next Science Hill head coach.

And if that happens, how soon before we hear fans want him to lead ETSU?

As Jennings mentions in the article- "I'd love to coach at ETSU someday."

Interesting to say the least, I wonder whether Mister wanted to come back as an ETSU assistant after turning down the job in CA and got turned down by Bartow. I can't really see him wanting to be a HS assistant and not a college assistant.

I also found it interesting that Good was moving from King back down to a high school job.
What would have been really interesting if Jennings had became a assistant under Pitts at King. Talk about a tangled mess. Think about it, two local basketball hero's teaming up. That could put alot a pressure on Bartow to get things turned around. I could see people pushing for Pitts to get the job at ETSU with Jennings coming along as the assitant and the heir apparant to the head coaching job. If Pitts really wanted the ETSU job he should get Jennings on his staff ASAP.

I don't see Jennings making a jump from high school assistant to ETSU head coach though.

RodShaw2 Wrote:I don't see Jennings making a jump from high school assistant to ETSU head coach though.

Jennings is hardly a typical high school assistant. How many high school assistant coaches are former NBA players?

Give me a break, Pitts (while maybe a nice guy) is over the hill and in the twilight of his coaching career. Should he serve as an assistant to Jennings if Jennings were the head coach at ETSU?

Just my thoughts, other's opinions will obviously differ...I know nothing about basketball.

If Mister wants to be the HC coach at ETSU then he'll have to pay his dues, either by being a college assistant or HC at a small college(like say Tusculum, Maryville College, Walter State, etc) I really can't see ETSU, or any other "mid major" hiring a coach out of the HS ranks. Yes Mister is no ordinary HS coach, but NBA experience still does not qualify him to be a D1 college coach. D1 college ball is about more than X's and O's, there is still recruiting and just the overall management of the team, plus other coaches, the media, etc.

BucDoctor Wrote:

RodShaw2 Wrote:I don't see Jennings making a jump from high school assistant to ETSU head coach though.

Jennings is hardly a typical high school assistant. How many high school assistant coaches are former NBA players?

Give me a break, Pitts (while maybe a nice guy) is over the hill and in the twilight of his coaching career. Should he serve as an assistant to Jennings if Jennings were the head coach at ETSU?

Just my thoughts, other's opinions will obviously differ...I know nothing about basketball.

Thats why I thought it would make sense for Jennings and Pitts to join forces. Pitts get to be head coach at ETSU for a while and Jennings knows he want have to play 2nd fiddle for to long. Thats if Pitts has any interest in the job. Jennings would be a hell of a recruiter at State and like him or not Pitts seems to be a good X's and O's coach.

R

BucDoctor Wrote:I know nothing about basketball.

Neither do I, but you don't see that stopping me, do you?

Rod- With Tony Skole keeping his job after the season he had, why would you think Murry Bartow would ever be fired?

Only way Bartow is leaving is if he becomes an assistant at a higher paying school for as long as Dave Mullins is the AD.

The problem it seems to me is that as long as Mullins is AD there is no pressure on Bartow at all. The man just renewed his contract and we are stuck with our coach for the next several years no matter what happens. All of the arguments for or against Mister appear to me to be unimportant since we are stuck with this coach.

Of course, as I've said, NOT firing his coaches might be the best thing Mullins has done on the job.

No coach can succeed at ETSU right now. Even if you felt Bartow played zone too much or recruited too many JUCOs, do you really think he's in a position to succeed?

Point well taken.

PittsburghBucs Wrote:Of course, as I've said, NOT firing his coaches might be the best thing Mullins has done on the job.

No coach can succeed at ETSU right now. Even if you felt Bartow played zone too much or recruited too many JUCOs, do you really think he's in a position to succeed?

It depends on you definition of sucesss, if we're talking about making the NCAA tourney then yes Bartow has been a position to succeed. We can blame Mullins and Stanton all we want, but Mullins and Stanton aren't the reason ETSU lost 92-67 to Belmont two years ago on our home court. Mullins and Stanton are responsible for a lot of things, getting outcoached on a regular basis is not one of them(unless you count the fact that Bartow was hired by Mullins/Stanton).

I wouldn't hold Bartow blameless, but the loss you mention might have more to do with Mullins and Stanton than Bartow.

Here's why.

Ask the people in the administration how they are doing, and they will say sensational. David Mullins was telling every member of the media he wanted to talk to that ETSU had enjoyed the greatest season in the history of their athletic program in 2007- the season of the disapointing loss to Belmont.

ETSU believed they couldn't be beaten. What is so hard about the Bucs now is they try to make triumphs out of nothing (WE HAVE OUR SOFTBALL STADIUM BEING BUILD ON TIME!) and refuse to acknowledge their shortcomings.

This comes right from the top. Not Bartow. Mullins and Stanton.

Now, yes, Bartow's zone allowed Belmont to shoot from three that day. And he wouldn't get out of it. And it resulted in what I believe was the worst loss in ETSU basketball history.

But when Bartow got this job, ETSU was still in the Southern Conference and hadn't dropped football yet. In his first two weeks on the job they dropped football and he had his conference taken away from him.

He rarely has been given four years on his contract to get quality recruits, hence he is forced to get JUCOs. He's had his home arena sabatoged in such a way even his biggest games have to be played in front of 6,000 empty seats.

All things considered, I can kind of forgive the guy for sticking with the defense that he used to get into the game against Belmont in the first place.

PittsburghBucs Wrote:But when Bartow got this job, ETSU was still in the Southern Conference and hadn't dropped football yet. In his first two weeks on the job they dropped football and he had his conference taken away from him.

He rarely has been given four years on his contract to get quality recruits, hence he is forced to get JUCOs. He's had his home arena sabatoged in such a way even his biggest games have to be played in front of 6,000 empty seats.

Do you honestly believe Bartow would not be getting outcoached in the Southern Conf on a weekly basis by guys like Bob McKillop, Houston Fancher at App State, and dare I say ETSU's own John Shulman. Bartow has consistently been outcoached by Rick Byrd, and Gardner Webb's Rick Scruggs who are coaching A-Sun level talent. Lord only knows how ETSU would fair in the Southern with Bartow coaching teams not flooded with Ed DeChellis's players. Hell Bartow already managed to coach ETSU out of a win against Cincinnati in the NCAA tourney with DeChellis players back in 04.

I blame Smith for going inside when the Bucs were down by three points with 13 seconds left for the Cincy loss, though I do wonder if DeChellis was there if he would have told Smith "Don't be a knucklehead like last time and do it all yourself!"

The last-shot strategy wasn't there for Davidson against Kansas in this year's tournament. McKillop got NO blame for that. If Davidson had been able to convert I strongly believe the Wildcats would have at least played for the National Championship- considering what a dog UNC laid in the Final Four.

But to answer your question, the Bartow-led Bucs probably would have fared quite poorly in the So Con. In his second year the Bucs went from 27 victories to 7 (10 if you count the three sub-D-I teams they beat up on).

But how much of that is on Bartow? Some- he deserves criticism for not saying to Tim Smith "DAMMIT- PASS THE DAMN ROCK EVERY NOW AND THEN! YOU'RE A POINT GUARD FOR GOD'S SAKE!"

But was it Bartow's fault Brad Nuckles got hurt? Was it Bartow's fault instead of giving him an extension after the NCAA season they didn't, leaving recruits to wonder "Is this guy going to stick around or go to a better school while ETSU drops?"

Did A.J. Jackson leave because of Bartow or because he realized he could play in Pittsburgh instead of Bumfuk?

I don't know and you don't either.

However, even if you think Bartow is a lousy coach- and I am not sold on him being a bum- who do you think Mullins and Co. would bring in to replace him?

With the program in much better shape, Mullins turned down some of the top assistants in college basketball to interview three men- two of whom have already been fired by the other schools that hired them.

The other was Bartow.

I'm wondering, how many assistants from major colleges would want to come here and take lip from a former tennis coach who doesn't give straight answers? How many would like to come recruit in an arena with 6,000 empty seats guaranteed by law, and when they ask if he would get a new arena he is told "Oh, after we get the soccer, softball, and baseball fields built. We'll start the baseball field tomorrow."

Tomorrow comes and it's the next day. Then the next. Then the next.

What coach would want to come here now? I'm sure there would be some, but what kind of resume would they bring?

Current coach at Chicago State? A Division II coach? A coach already on the ETSU staff? Possibly an A-Sun assistant?

You want that instead of Bartow?

PittsburghBucs Wrote:I blame Smith for going inside when the Bucs were down by three points with 13 seconds left for the Cincy loss, though I do wonder if DeChellis was there if he would have told Smith "Don't be a knucklehead like last time and do it all yourself!"

The last-shot strategy wasn't there for Davidson against Kansas in this year's tournament. McKillop got NO blame for that. If Davidson had been able to convert I strongly believe the Wildcats would have at least played for the National Championship- considering what a dog UNC laid in the Final Four.

But to answer your question, the Bartow-led Bucs probably would have fared quite poorly in the So Con. In his second year the Bucs went from 27 victories to 7 (10 if you count the three sub-D-I teams they beat up on).

But how much of that is on Bartow? Some- he deserves criticism for not saying to Tim Smith "DAMMIT- PASS THE DAMN ROCK EVERY NOW AND THEN! YOU'RE A POINT GUARD FOR GOD'S SAKE!"

But was it Bartow's fault Brad Nuckles got hurt? Was it Bartow's fault instead of giving him an extension after the NCAA season they didn't, leaving recruits to wonder "Is this guy going to stick around or go to a better school while ETSU drops?"

Did A.J. Jackson leave because of Bartow or because he realized he could play in Pittsburgh instead of Bumfuk?

I don't know and you don't either.

However, even if you think Bartow is a lousy coach- and I am not sold on him being a bum- who do you think Mullins and Co. would bring in to replace him?

With the program in much better shape, Mullins turned down some of the top assistants in college basketball to interview three men- two of whom have already been fired by the other schools that hired them.

The other was Bartow.

I'm wondering, how many assistants from major colleges would want to come here and take lip from a former tennis coach who doesn't give straight answers? How many would like to come recruit in an arena with 6,000 empty seats guaranteed by law, and when they ask if he would get a new arena he is told "Oh, after we get the soccer, softball, and baseball fields built. We'll start the baseball field tomorrow."

Tomorrow comes and it's the next day. Then the next. Then the next.

What coach would want to come here now? I'm sure there would be some, but what kind of resume would they bring?

Current coach at Chicago State? A Division II coach? A coach already on the ETSU staff? Possibly an A-Sun assistant?

You want that instead of Bartow?

I use to be of the opinion that Bartow was probably the best we could do with the administration that is currently running ETSU, now I`m not so sure. There were some things that happen last year that I thought HS coach could have done a better job on. Now that A-Sun semi final game has put a minor stop gap into my opinion on Bartow, but we'll have to see if it continues(I`m not holding my breath). Now as far as who ETSU would replace Bartow with, who knows. I'm pretty sure we could find someone who actually runs some kind of half-court offense, doesn't sit in a defense that plays to the other team's strength, doesn't kill his own team's mometum with timeouts or subs.

On the Cincy loss, I don't blame Smith because ETSU should have never been in the situation to be down 3. The blame lies on the idiotic decision to trap Cincy, pulling Gerald Fields all the way out to half court leaving Cincy's best shooter WIDE OPEN for a 3 with like 2 seconds left on the shot clock which sealed at the very least OT for Cincy. In a BEST CASE, ETSU would have tied the game with a 3, that does not put the loss on Tim Smith shoulders, the game was loss the possession before Smith's drive to the basket. ETSU should have never been down 3 needing prayers to tried to tie the game, ETSU shot 26% from 3 in that game so odds are it would not have matter if Smith has passed the ball for a 3pt attempt anyway, which brings us back to the fact that ETSU should not have needed a 3 to tie in the first place.

I'm not sure the zone defenses do play into other team's strengths.

Belmont- yes, it does.

The rest of the conference? Well . . . .

My bottom line is that Bartow has been put into a position to fail. Even if he is a poor strategist, to fire him would be to be getting rid of an innocent bystander.