I feel the same way about Savino as Martin. They probably would've maintained some semblance of consistency. But neither of those guys were going to sniff a final four at Cincinnati. Flash back to 2018 and ask me which of those guys has the best chance to win big here, and i'm picking the young, up and coming mid major HC over the career assistant and a poor man's Bob Huggins.
(01-04-2021 02:46 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote: In other words, we didn't have a lot of good options at the time. Still don't.
Options will be better now if you make the move in March. You basically get first pick to get your guy. If things are full on collapse two months from now you dump the coach. Options this March are going to better then getting last pick two years ago. Heck the entire tournament is in Indy. That is two hours away and will become a one stop shop for people looking to hire coaches.
This isn’t football where ties to a region for recruiting are nearly as important.
You telling me that with a national search, John Brannen as a one call hire 10 minutes away would be the best possible candidate for this job, with the program at this level, with a new arena, etc? I was skeptical then. I’m still skeptical.
(This post was last modified: 01-04-2021 02:59 PM by rath v2.0.)
It's fair to be skeptical of Brannen.
It's also fair to put blame on Mick for the last few recruiting classes.
Would this be a tourney team if Mick were still here? I think so, he would rock fight his way into the tourney and then give up 75+ to a skilled offense team when he got there.
I'm OK with a transition year or two if it means a system/culture change that has a chance to advance in March. Now whether Brannen will be able to implement that remains to be seen. But I was tired of rock fights and fools gold in November and December with Mick.
(01-04-2021 02:58 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote: This isn’t football where ties to a region for recruiting are nearly as important.
You telling me that with a national search, John Brannen as a one call hire 10 minutes away would be the best possible candidate for this job, with the program at this level, with a new arena, etc? I was skeptical then. I’m still skeptical.
With a national search, yes I do think Brannen likely ends up the choice. Who else?
The Luke Fickell hire was pretty similar from an optics standpoint. I'm not sure it's fair to Bohn to think that he did his homework in one case and not the other.
CLF wasn’t our 1st call and we performed a search.
Brannen wasn’t likely the top potential hire for a school at our level if a national search was performed. As I have said, his resume at Wisconsin Green Bay we never call him. Heck, nobody else called him and other programs had a 2 week head start in ther searches.
We hurried due to UCLA hiring Mick so late.
(This post was last modified: 01-04-2021 03:21 PM by rath v2.0.)
(01-04-2021 03:17 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote: CLF wasn’t our 1st call and we performed a search.
Brannen wasn’t likely the top potential hire for a school at our level if a national search was performed. As I have said, his resume at Wisconsin Green Bay we never call him. Heck, nobody else called him and other programs had a 2 week head start in ther searches.
We hurried due to UCLA hiring Mick so late.
In defense of Brannen. It's not like he was some nobody. He was mentioned as a candidate for several schools. Whether or not they called is a different story. But he seemed to be on the same "lists" that Cronin was.
I wonder what our interest in Steve Forbes was at the time. He was a good example of a mid-major coach that clearly had a better resume than Brannen and only ended up at Wake Forest. I'd think Bohn almost certainly would've reached out to him. If guys like that aren't answering the call then, again, someone like Brannen is pretty much exactly who you'd hire.
(01-04-2021 03:17 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote: CLF wasn’t our 1st call and we performed a search.
Brannen wasn’t likely the top potential hire for a school at our level if a national search was performed. As I have said, his resume at Wisconsin Green Bay we never call him. Heck, nobody else called him and other programs had a 2 week head start in ther searches.
We hurried due to UCLA hiring Mick so late.
In defense of Brannen. It's not like he was some nobody. He was mentioned as a candidate for several schools. Whether or not they called is a different story. But he seemed to be on the same "lists" that Cronin was.
Those were speculative is my guess. With 3 weeks head start for job searches before UC even had an opening, he was still in Highland Heights for some reason.
(This post was last modified: 01-04-2021 04:14 PM by rath v2.0.)
(01-03-2021 01:27 PM)jarr Wrote: He was sleepwalking through this his last few years, left the cupboard bare, geta strung along by UCLA till mid June leaving little to no other options.
To me the jury is still out on Brannen, but early returns are not looking good. Mick got 5 years to get mediocre, Brannen should get 3 unless the wheels really fall off and recruiting does not pick up.
There are some good pieces right now that jist haven't been put together, but Davenport, Harvey, Eason, and Saunders I believe could create a good nucleus in 2 years.
If Brannen doesn't work out, it is time to take a serious look at Pitino which should have been done in the first olace.
I have no idea what planet you live on when you state Mick Cronin had a mediocre career at UC. The covid crap has ruined a lot of sports teams the past 2 years. Look at UK's bb team this year. Their fans are depressed over all those losses. You always painted a negative picture for years, JARR. Start paying attention to what is going on right now.
01-05-2021 04:23 PM
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(01-03-2021 01:27 PM)jarr Wrote: He was sleepwalking through this his last few years, left the cupboard bare, geta strung along by UCLA till mid June leaving little to no other options.
To me the jury is still out on Brannen, but early returns are not looking good. Mick got 5 years to get mediocre, Brannen should get 3 unless the wheels really fall off and recruiting does not pick up.
There are some good pieces right now that jist haven't been put together, but Davenport, Harvey, Eason, and Saunders I believe could create a good nucleus in 2 years.
If Brannen doesn't work out, it is time to take a serious look at Pitino which should have been done in the first olace.
I have no idea what planet you live on when you state Mick Cronin had a mediocre career at UC. The covid crap has ruined a lot of sports teams the past 2 years. Look at UK's bb team this year. Their fans are depressed over all those losses. You always painted a negative picture for years, JARR. Start paying attention to what is going on right now.
He's probably looking at the Two Conference Titles, below .500 record against primary basketball rivals (Xavier and Louisville) and One Sweet Sixteen appearance in 13 years as mediocre and disregarding overall record. Many people have different benchmarks for success.
We might get this turned around starting this week or we might have been Royally Kragthorped...there are data sets to reasonably support either proposition, IMO. Reason why it’s not worth getting angry at anyone who feels differently.
However, having the media and the AAC coaches both pick UC to finish 4th in the conference this year, I don’t think anyone on Earth foresaw such a precipitous fall to begin the season. Can’t fail to make the Sweet 16 if you are at home watching the 1st round.
(01-03-2021 01:27 PM)jarr Wrote: He was sleepwalking through this his last few years, left the cupboard bare, geta strung along by UCLA till mid June leaving little to no other options.
To me the jury is still out on Brannen, but early returns are not looking good. Mick got 5 years to get mediocre, Brannen should get 3 unless the wheels really fall off and recruiting does not pick up.
There are some good pieces right now that jist haven't been put together, but Davenport, Harvey, Eason, and Saunders I believe could create a good nucleus in 2 years.
If Brannen doesn't work out, it is time to take a serious look at Pitino which should have been done in the first olace.
I have no idea what planet you live on when you state Mick Cronin had a mediocre career at UC. The covid crap has ruined a lot of sports teams the past 2 years. Look at UK's bb team this year. Their fans are depressed over all those losses. You always painted a negative picture for years, JARR. Start paying attention to what is going on right now.
He's probably looking at the Two Conference Titles, below .500 record against primary basketball rivals (Xavier and Louisville) and One Sweet Sixteen appearance in 13 years as mediocre and disregarding overall record. Many people have different benchmarks for success.
In basketball, the tournament is all that matters. 1 sweet 16 in 13 years is terrible.
(01-03-2021 01:27 PM)jarr Wrote: He was sleepwalking through this his last few years, left the cupboard bare, geta strung along by UCLA till mid June leaving little to no other options.
To me the jury is still out on Brannen, but early returns are not looking good. Mick got 5 years to get mediocre, Brannen should get 3 unless the wheels really fall off and recruiting does not pick up.
There are some good pieces right now that jist haven't been put together, but Davenport, Harvey, Eason, and Saunders I believe could create a good nucleus in 2 years.
If Brannen doesn't work out, it is time to take a serious look at Pitino which should have been done in the first olace.
I have no idea what planet you live on when you state Mick Cronin had a mediocre career at UC. The covid crap has ruined a lot of sports teams the past 2 years. Look at UK's bb team this year. Their fans are depressed over all those losses. You always painted a negative picture for years, JARR. Start paying attention to what is going on right now.
He's probably looking at the Two Conference Titles, below .500 record against primary basketball rivals (Xavier and Louisville) and One Sweet Sixteen appearance in 13 years as mediocre and disregarding overall record. Many people have different benchmarks for success.
In basketball, the tournament is all that matters. 1 sweet 16 in 13 years is terrible.
The second round separates the men from the boys, and it's a lot easier to get to the Sweet 16 with decent seedings. You really want to go in as a 5 or better. That's where the regular season makes a huge difference.
(This post was last modified: 01-05-2021 09:00 PM by Former Lurker.)
(01-04-2021 02:58 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote: This isn’t football where ties to a region for recruiting are nearly as important.
You telling me that with a national search, John Brannen as a one call hire 10 minutes away would be the best possible candidate for this job, with the program at this level, with a new arena, etc? I was skeptical then. I’m still skeptical.
If you recall Kenyon Martin was very public about his displeasure that Nick Van Excel couldn't even get an interview for the position.
(01-04-2021 02:58 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote: This isn’t football where ties to a region for recruiting are nearly as important.
You telling me that with a national search, John Brannen as a one call hire 10 minutes away would be the best possible candidate for this job, with the program at this level, with a new arena, etc? I was skeptical then. I’m still skeptical.
If you recall Kenyon Martin was very public about his displeasure that Nick Van Excel couldn't even get an interview for the position.
Not sure how true this is, but someone I trust told me when all this happened the university was looking to cut clean from the Huggins/Cronin era. Frank Martin's name was also tossed out as well and was not considered.
/
Thank Mick for this mess
