Two years ago CB was offered the head coaching job at WMU. He isn’t stupid or naive. He knew that he was lucky to have received the offer.
He went in with his eyes wide open
And he knew that the task was enormous.
His job was to right a sinking/sunken ship, in 2 years
This, in the setting of:
1. An extremely late start with recruiting for the 2020-2021 season.
2. Covid.
3, The (newly instituted) transfer portal
4. A paltry budget
5. A 2 year contract with no buy out.
6. And no meaningful (not once) public support from anyone at the university.
Each of you have an opinion about CB’s successes and failures.
What, if anything, happened over the past 2 years?
Some observations about the current state of the WMU basketball program:
The talent level in the program has improved substantially, and the future is promising. 75% of the teams scoring will return next year. There are multiple young players in the program who have the potential to develop into solid (or better) MAC players for a winning MAC program..
You have no idea how hard it is to convince kids (and their families) to come to a university to play in a program whose coach who is perpetually on the last year of his contract. A fact, by the way, that isn’t lost on other coaches who are competing to recruit and influence these same kids and families. It’s a minor miracle that (at the time of this message) WMU currently has the #2 rated recruiting class in the MAC, and the 62nd rated class nationally for 2022-23.
Though the start to this year was very bad, the team showed clear and substantial improvement over the last half of this season.
The level of play (especially defensively) improved dramatically.
This, with 9 new players trying to learn new schemes and roles.
And with the team's best returning player either absent, or gutting it out on one leg.
The culture (more discipline and less selfishness) in and around the program has improved greatly. This process has been long and hard. Those who watched until the end this year saw that the kids remained “bought in”. That’s not common in team sports during seasons like WMU just had. CB preached to his kids that programs have a chance to be good if they are led by their coaches. And programs have a chance to be great if they are led by the players. By the end of the year, WMU’s basketball program was much closer to the latter than the former.
I don’t know if any of you were at the game, or watched on TV Friday night. I won’t forget seeing Mileek McMillan bent over at the end of the bench after the game, sobbing uncontrollably. Unable to stand upright. The reason - his team lost a tough game at the buzzer and they finished the season 4-16 in conference play, rather than 5-15. Two teammates helped him get to the locker room. The program now matters to these kids.
CB raised more money for the WMU basketball program than has been done in many years. Basketball office renovations, summer school monies, a substantial “fund” for the WMU BB program, etc. All behind the scenes.
And he has rebuilt recruiting relationships in the state of Michigan. No small feat given where things stood 2 years ago.
There’s more.
The decision has been made to move on.
It is debatable but not unreasonable to believe that Clayton should have accomplished more in the 2 years he was given.
It isn’t debatable that the program is in a much better place than when CB took over.
Thank you to Clayton and his staff.. Sincerest and best wishes to everyone on the staff, and their families going forward.
Thank you very much Clayton! You did all that you could do with the limited time and resources you had to work with. You are a great man of character and i wish you well. I was hoping you would be given one more year. Blessings to you and your family.
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Thanks coach
