(04-02-2019 07:43 AM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote: (04-01-2019 08:21 PM)Tribal Wrote: (04-01-2019 07:48 PM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote: (04-01-2019 07:36 PM)Tribal Wrote: Fact is, Shaver was fired following an ill-advised "vision" and now we don't have a coach and our best players/All-Met recruit are looking to jet.
So sad.
Fact is, Shaver was fired and now we don't have a coach. The rest is conjecture. I mean, this is a W&M board; of course someone's going to call you on that.
Our best players and prize recruit aren't looking to jet? Really, because the last I checked, every single last one of them either entered the transfer portal, entered their name for the NBA draft, and/or suddenly removed any mention of W&M. That's not conjecture. Over the past 80 years, how many Tribe players opened themselves up for transfer but stayed? Good gawd, Knight, Milon, Pierce, Audige, and Loewe publicly stated they are exploring other options. This time last year, they wanted to be here.
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Exploring options is not looking to jet. How many of the past 80 years have has a transfer portal existed? Words have meanings, and as Tribe2011 said above, everything isn't all or nothing. Those players might still want to be here, but are preparing to not be here if it's a bad situation for them. It can be both things.
My department has been bought by 4-5 different companies. Each time, I tidied up my resume because it would be foolish not to. Change brings uncertainties, and it makes sense to prepare yourself for different outcomes. All we know is that the players have entered the portal, we don't know that they're gone. They might be, but they also might not be. As far as I know, nobody's left campus.
Leaving a job or transferring from a school is a two step process. First you mentally leave and then you physically leave. Of course no one has physically left the school/basketball program yet, which leaves room for hope. However, there is no denying that Huge's decision to fire Shaver has led a number of players to explore their options, and mentally envision themselves somewhere else. Funny thing about opportunities, when you go looking you're very likely to find one. It's open season on our players and former commitment/incoming freshman. The mere fact these kids are rightly exploring their options, and being courted by other schools, makes it very likely some or all will end up finding a fit somewhere else. I really hope I'm wrong and a new coach is named soon and swoops in to fix this mess, but I don't see how this all gets put back together at this point.
The posters saying or suggesting there was a pending player mutiny that Huge was heading off need to provide some shred of evidence or stop smearing Shaver with conjecture.
If you go back over Shaver's 16 years at WM, he probably has the lowest rate of players transferring out of any coach/program in the CAA. Yet, we are to believe that a team that finished the season on a 5 or 6 game winning streak to end league play and didn't quit on the season or coach, was falling apart behind the scenes?
And yes, I can't claim that if Shaver was retained that no player would have left. But, I can claim will equal confidence that if Shaver had been retained we would not be looking at a mass exodus and potentially replacing six of our best players and the entire starting lineup. This is fact.
You also can't tell me that any potential hire isn't going to weigh the fact that all our best players are currently exploring options and being actively recruited by bigger programs in their decision making process.
Regardless of the ultimate outcome this was a foreseeable and unforced error that showed poor judgement and a lack of understanding of what is to coach a WM basketball program in the context of the resources alloted, academic standards, and the lack of basketball pedigree. I get it, if you have a P5 mindset of virtually unlimited resources and blue-blood basketball pedigree, then 16 years without making the dance is unacceptable. But, WM isn't name brand, we can't fire a very good coach and expect to lean on the historical strength of the program, name recognition, and conference affiliation to land a better coach and recruits. Shaver built the program up to the point where we had sustained success, but it took the better part of a decade to get to that point, starting from vapor. If this hire goes poorly, it could be another decade before we get back to the place we were 3 weeks ago. This is what Huge failed to realize before making her decision IMO. The fact that she did not anticipate the fan backlash supports this point.
I will be rooting for the new hire, whoever it ends up being. If next season is successful and WM goes dancing sometime in the next 5 years then Huge should get ample credit, though I will never agree with the decision not to let Shaver coach this team next year before making the call. If this program takes a big step back and fails to make the tournament in the next five years, then Huge should hold herself accountable to the same standard she held coach Shaver and resign.