TK is a good coach. I am under the impression that the vast majoring of people on this message board would agree with that statement. But TK is not THAT good of a coach.

Don’t get me wrong, under TK’s 11-year tenure, the Rockets have accomplished some nice things — they won the MAC twice, the division five times, made it to the MAC Tournament title game twice and qualified for the NIT three times.

Not bad. But for God’s sake, are the Rockets ever going to make it to the NCAA Tournament? It would be nice just once to make it that far.

Is TK turning into Stan Joplin 2.0? Joplin was a good coach, but it was pretty obvious after he had been given 12 years that it was probably time for a change.

Have we reached that point with TK? I’m not for firing TK, but how many more years are we going to be let down time and time again? The performance against Richmond was incredibly frustrating. Blowing an 11-point lead — granted, it was a lead the Rockets held in the first half — shooting 40% and allowing the Spiders to shoot 49% even without two of their best players is hard to stomach.

Are we going to be content with TK being here for 15 years and not having gotten the Rockets to the NCAA Tournament even once? At some point, don’t you have to cut your losses and bring in a rising mid-major coach or an assistant from a major program?

I’m not for doing that now, but in 3-4 years? Maybe.

I thought Joplin was a much better coach. Then again, I was mostly a college student watching his teams beat OSU, Xavier, and win other big games inside Savage Arena. TK wins enough games but I don’t like the live and die by the three philosophy, how his teams don’t play great defense, and his 7 man rotations that tire out his teams come March.

That’s why I’ve pushed to fire TK, mostly because we suck in March. Others will disagree but I don’t think Toledo makes it to the Big Dance under his helm

If we’re at the crossroads it’s a great opportunity to make a deal with the devil to get into next year’s NCAA.

Last time we had this conversation we ended up with gene cross.

(03-20-2021 03:12 PM)pono Wrote:  Last time we had this conversation we ended up with gene cross.

After the then president tried (actually did) shortcut the deals MOB had made with two other coaches who ultimately walked. One had some connection to Micharl Jordan, I do remember that. Can't remember the other one.

There are two sides to this coin ... and one edge.

The edge is for the AD to do like in FB, sign up a number of PC programs to play and tell TK to sic' em. Considering the number of quality FB teams Toledo signs up, getting matching BB games should not be hard. And this MAC Mantra that "nobody wants to play us" is crap. Yes, it's a road game. Get it in your contract that P5 road loses don't count against the contract incentives.

10 years as HC already proves you can win the division/mac and get to the NIT, now the AD has to PUSH TK to take the next step. ... After a few years of that, then judge the results.

(03-20-2021 03:12 PM)pono Wrote:  Last time we had this conversation we ended up with gene cross.

For those of you who want to get rid of TK, you will have your chance after next season when the new AD is hired and he has to decide whether or not winning 20 games regularly, having very good students in the classroom and little to no issues off the court is good enough. Now TK can make that point moot by figuring out what is missing in his post season tournament preparation/strategy and get the Rockets to the Promised Land next season. If that does not happen, then we truly can have this debate!

Looking forward to next year and new additions to the program it appears there is a lot of interest in Cooper Jacobi. Appears to have good HS stats but isn’t the top draw on the team. Same as Acunzo was. Is there any reason why Jacobi only received 5 D1 offers, three MAC schools, Indiana State and IUPUi? Maybe he’s just thought to be another good MAC recruit???

More talent coming back and coming in than any time since the Miller Swaney era. Not at a crossroads. If we can't win it one of the next 4 years then the new AD will have that conversation with Coach K

(03-20-2021 07:47 PM)Somersetco Wrote:  Looking forward to next year and new additions to the program it appears there is a lot of interest in Cooper Jacobi. Appears to have good HS stats but isn’t the top draw on the team. Same as Acunzo was. Is there any reason why Jacobi only received 5 D1 offers, three MAC schools, Indiana State and IUPUi? Maybe he’s just thought to be another good MAC recruit???

committed to UT early (summer before sr year). wasn't getting offers during his senior year since he was already signed. would have had 10-12 MAC A-10 Valley type offers at least had he waited till spring to sign considering he's had a great senior season for a high profile team

(03-20-2021 07:14 PM)Basketball Jones Wrote:  For those of you who want to get rid of TK, you will have your chance after next season when the new AD is hired and he has to decide whether or not winning 20 games regularly, having very good students in the classroom and little to no issues off the court is good enough. Now TK can make that point moot by figuring out what is missing in his post season tournament preparation/strategy and get the Rockets to the Promised Land next season. If that does not happen, then we truly can have this debate!

I won't count Year One against TK, because that wasn't his fault, but in 5 of the last 10 years under his tenure, the Rockets haven't won at least 20 games.

It's nice to have good students in the classroom, but ultimately winning games in the MAC Tournament and getting to the NCAA Tournament while challenging regularly for a league title is what we really judge coaches on.

As for not having issues off the court, are there a lot of teams with players who have issues off the court? Not really, people are generally well behaved.

"Now TK can make that point moot by figuring out what is missing in his post season tournament preparation/strategy and get the Rockets to the Promised Land next season. If that does not happen, then we truly can have this debate!"

Sherlock, it's not supposed to take someone 11-12 years to "figure out what's missing." Did Jeff Boals need that much time? Did Bobby Hurley? Did Nate Oats? Did Charlie Coles? Did Keith Dambrot?

Bob Nichols had 1 in his first 13 seasons and that one was when you had 7 teams in the league. Thought he was our benchmark. Just a counter argument.

(03-21-2021 06:20 PM)nworocket Wrote:  I won't count Year One against TK, because that wasn't his fault, but in 5 of the last 10 years under his tenure, the Rockets haven't won at least 20 games.

Not counting his first year, he has 201 wins (avg 20 wins/season). 1 other season was 19 wins, 3 17, 1 15.

(03-21-2021 06:20 PM)nworocket Wrote:  "Now TK can make that point moot by figuring out what is missing in his post season tournament preparation/strategy and get the Rockets to the Promised Land next season. If that does not happen, then we truly can have this debate!"

Sherlock, it's not supposed to take someone 11-12 years to "figure out what's missing." Did Jeff Boals need that much time? Did Bobby Hurley? Did Nate Oats? Did Charlie Coles? Did Keith Dambrot?

It took Loyola Chicago's Porter Moser 14 years to get his first NCAA Tournament appearance. Prior to his first appearance, his record was 194-206 at Arkansas-Little Rock, Illinois State, and his first 6 years at Loyola.

Since then, he has become one of the most successful mid major coaches in the country with a Final Four appearance and advanced to his second Sweet 16 today with a dominating win over 1 seed Illinois. He is currently one of the hottest coaching candidates for Power 5 jobs. While many coaches "figure it out" quickly, Moser is an excellent example of a coach who took a while to figure it out.

(03-21-2021 07:04 PM)RocketBBallFan Wrote:  

(03-21-2021 06:20 PM)nworocket Wrote:  "Now TK can make that point moot by figuring out what is missing in his post season tournament preparation/strategy and get the Rockets to the Promised Land next season. If that does not happen, then we truly can have this debate!"

Sherlock, it's not supposed to take someone 11-12 years to "figure out what's missing." Did Jeff Boals need that much time? Did Bobby Hurley? Did Nate Oats? Did Charlie Coles? Did Keith Dambrot?

It took Loyola Chicago's Porter Moser 14 years to get his first NCAA Tournament appearance. Prior to his first appearance, his record was 194-206 at Arkansas-Little Rock, Illinois State, and his first 6 years at Loyola.

Since then, he has become one of the most successful mid major coaches in the country with a Final Four appearance and advanced to his second Sweet 16 today with a dominating win over 1 seed Illinois. He is currently one of the hottest coaching candidates for Power 5 jobs.

Only if he takes Sister Jean with him.

(03-21-2021 07:01 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote:  

(03-21-2021 06:20 PM)nworocket Wrote:  I won't count Year One against TK, because that wasn't his fault, but in 5 of the last 10 years under his tenure, the Rockets haven't won at least 20 games.

Not counting his first year, he has 201 wins (avg 20 wins/season). 1 other season was 19 wins, 3 17, 1 15.

Facts don’t matter.... to the guy who wants to get rid of basically all of the coaches in the UT athletic dept.

(03-21-2021 07:37 PM)utpotts Wrote:  

(03-21-2021 07:01 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote:  

(03-21-2021 06:20 PM)nworocket Wrote:  I won't count Year One against TK, because that wasn't his fault, but in 5 of the last 10 years under his tenure, the Rockets haven't won at least 20 games.

Not counting his first year, he has 201 wins (avg 20 wins/season). 1 other season was 19 wins, 3 17, 1 15.

Facts don’t matter.... to the guy who wants to get rid of basically off of the UT athletic dept.

a little late to be drinking.

Acunzo’s transfer is a prime example of the situation TK and all mid-major coaches have to face. TK takes a lot of heat here for not developing depth, but in today’s environment, players such as Acunzo will not be content to be a depth piece - they want starter minutes, and have the ability to go find a situation that will provide that.

I think TK did a masterful job this year of managing a roster that became critically short on size and depth due to injuries, until those deficiencies finally caught up with them. He saw early on that having Komagum in games took away the team’s most dynamic offensive trait, which was being almost impossible to defend due to having five legitimate offensive threats on the floor at one time.

a year from now will be the crossroads-if no MAC title or NCAA bid

I doubt the new AD will terminate TK for any reason except a number of losing seasons in a row.