(04-26-2021 09:29 PM)thanksjim Wrote: (04-26-2021 07:30 PM)Muskrat Wrote: I can't imagine they would not extend Senderoff's contract.
Personal opinion, I realize the grass isn't always greener on other side, but I feel Kent State can do better than Senderoff, I feel they have settled to certain degree under him. Similar vibe about Duncan (baseball) as well. Timing seems important though. Not just make a change for the sake of change.
In this era/climate for mid-major college basketball and playing in the Mid-American Conference, define 'doing better.'
Compared to the rest of the MAC ... what is better?
Is it Buffalo where success means a roster has been hit by the police blotter at least once a year, every year, going back to Hurley?
Is it Toledo, where the Rockets are pretty good, but not good enough.
Is it Bowling Green, where the Falcons have had their moments, but not many of them.
Is it Ohio, where the Bobcats have gone through a series of highs and lows the last 20 years.
Ditto for Akron.
Which program do you want Kent to look like? Which program is 'doing better' than Kent State? Not just for one season, but 5-10-15-20 seasons. More importantly is the university willing to do what it takes to 'do better.'
Yes, there is probably a coach out there who is better than Senderoff. But does he want to coach at Kent? Will he accept what Kent pays him. Will he be a 'team' player within the athletic department, or a lone wolf? Will his program look like Buffalo's, or Akron's or Toledo's or Ohio's ... and will that satisfy you. Or will you want to 'do better' all over again.
I'm not trying to be sarcastic, just realistic, particularly now when coaches no longer build teams as much as they put them together, year after year.
I'm seeing Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina ... right on down the line clamoring for one-and-done's in November then the transfer portal in April. This is no longer the 1980s, or even the 2000s. It's a different college basketball world.
What are coaches and teams like Senderoff and Kent State supposed to look like any more? What is 'doing better.'
Progams/teams can be decimated in the blink of an eye; look at Cleveland State, even Akron and Ohio, and those are programs that hit bottom and recovered. Now look at Cincinnati? Complete implosion. Personally ... perhaps the best way to 'do better' is for the new Kent AD to set some new markers down, a new yardstick for success (in all sports) that coaches and teams will have to measure up to. Something really tangible. What that is, I don't know.
Graduating players is nothing anymore when so few of them are around for four years to get a diploma where they started, anyway. It's a new game, a new world for college basketball. Frankly the most stable thing left is the coach, if he is a successful one, who is competitive and wins despite all this stuff. Kent may very well be able to 'do better.' But then again .... maybe not.