The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(03-10-2022 12:13 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 12:10 PM)ODU_NYG Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 11:12 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:21 AM)ODUODUODU Wrote:  I'm on the JJ should go side of the fence and I see a lot of JJ should go justification's by other posters.

I'm curious to hear the justification on keeping him other than he's cheap...

Please, no need to state why he should go here...

The programs APR is in a good standing. It was close to disaster when he took over.

They have led CUSA in attendance like the last 5 or 6 years.

He’s had 7 seasons out of 9 at .500 or better.

This was his first season with a record under .500 in conference play.

He’s only one year removed from a top 4 regular season finish in CUSA.

They’ve finished in the top 4 in CUSA 6 out of the 9 years in the league.

He’s implemented multiple charitable drives that are a positive reflection on the school.

He’s loyal. And he’s used his platform and cancer fight to help others and spread the word on the dangers of prostate cancer.

(03-10-2022 11:54 AM)Chillie Willie Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 11:49 AM)ODU_NYG Wrote:  I know the purpose of the thread is just for positive reasons to keep him...BUT him beating cancer (which is amazing and I'm happy that happened and am happy when anyone does this), attendance and charities don't really count IMO when considering how good of a D1 basketball coach he is.

Those absolutely count, as well as integrity and running a clean program. Just not as much as recruiting, developing, and coaching.

This is my whole point. At some point the losing seasons and and overall mediocrity are going to start erasing anything positive he's done. We can't even talk about BT without brining up the main reason he got fired, and he was as good a coach as we've ever had.

Look, I think he's a good coach and I've met him and his wife and liked them both and I really want him to succeed. Maybe he'll turn it around, but who's confident he can do this? Being a good role model and solid citizen only gets you so far.

This thread is a list of justifications for why he should be retained. So I painted the total picture of all the positives he has done here. If you want to discuss why he should be fired, there's a number of threads available to do that in but that's not what this thread is.

You're right and I apologize. No more further comments from me.

(03-10-2022 10:40 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:34 AM)monarx Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:28 AM)757ODU Wrote:  He could do a lot better with better assistants around him.

Not saying you’re wrong, but why do you think that? Stith was terrible as a HC in Myrtle Beach, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good assistant. Richardson seems to be good too. And even if not, Jeff hires and fires the assistants, so that’s on him too.

Loyalty to friends can make you do silly things. We saw it with Bobby and his offensive staff and were seeing it now.

If we absolutely have to run it back with JJ.....I could scrape up A LITTLE hope if there was at least a shake up with assistants. Not very much, but a little.

Fresh eyes. Fresh connections to the portal. Maybe they identify a player from the school they are leaving who could excel with a larger role....? Would it help? I don't know. But I don't think it would hurt.

I said in a comment last week, would love to see what he could do on the court with an elevated level of recruits/transfers. That seems to point to a blue chip recruiter. Can Jeff get someone who could do that and bring stronger players in across the board?

I think Jeff knows his basketball stuff really well. Some don't like his style. What might that look like with better players? I think it could change for the better. He's certainly experienced and smart enough to take advantage of his team's strengths.

His team has won games over the years where the players weren't as good as the other team's. I saw that last Saturday, where by my eyes, MTSU seemed to have the higher level of players. But playing 75% of your games in that hole and expecting to win routinely is a tough ask. Even more so away from Chartway arena. You need to show up with equally good if not better players and then all the preparation, Xs and Os, and in game management helps even more to win games. And you still steal a few where you might be the slightly lesser talented team. That can make you a 22-8 team instead of 13-18.

I like the guys on our team. I've watched a ton of college bb the past few weeks. I can't help watching a game and seeing a player or two and thinking if ODU had those couple of guys playing for us how different we'd be from what we were this year.

Anyway, in the spirit of this thread,, thats what I'd like to see happen and how you justify staying with him. Players make a difference.

Reason #1: You don't have to worry about another program hiring him away from us.

Reason #2: I think he's a decent guy.

(03-10-2022 10:40 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:34 AM)monarx Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:28 AM)757ODU Wrote:  He could do a lot better with better assistants around him.

Not saying you’re wrong, but why do you think that? Stith was terrible as a HC in Myrtle Beach, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good assistant. Richardson seems to be good too. And even if not, Jeff hires and fires the assistants, so that’s on him too.

Loyalty to friends can make you do silly things. We saw it with Bobby and his offensive staff and were seeing it now.

BINGO!!!

(03-10-2022 10:21 AM)ODUODUODU Wrote:  I'm on the JJ should go side of the fence and I see a lot of JJ should go justification's by other posters.

I'm curious to hear the justification on keeping him other than he's cheap...

Please, no need to state why he should go here...

CUSA tourney championship only three years ago. JJ forgets more about basketball than we know. NIT final four w/the most amazing victory in the Ted’s history against Murray State.

However, two losing seasons in the last three years cannot be overlooked - and the Myrtle Beach massacre. No mas.

Since we are just bringing up justifications...

We have also played the last 2 years without possibly our best player. That may not matter if the team is stacked but with the improvements in conference, that has had some impact. We weren't good enough to lose our best player and still win the conference.

We seemingly run a clean program where kids behave (or are kicked off) and graduate.

The players love Jones.

(03-10-2022 08:17 PM)Monarch Pride Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:21 AM)ODUODUODU Wrote:  I'm on the JJ should go side of the fence and I see a lot of JJ should go justification's by other posters.

I'm curious to hear the justification on keeping him other than he's cheap...

Please, no need to state why he should go here...

CUSA tourney championship only three years ago. JJ forgets more about basketball than we know. NIT final four w/the most amazing victory in the Ted’s history against Murray State.

However, two losing seasons in the last three years cannot be overlooked - and the Myrtle Beach massacre. No mas.

So your justification for keeping a coach around is that he has more knowledge than the average fan?

(03-11-2022 12:45 PM)757ODU Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 08:17 PM)Monarch Pride Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:21 AM)ODUODUODU Wrote:  I'm on the JJ should go side of the fence and I see a lot of JJ should go justification's by other posters.

I'm curious to hear the justification on keeping him other than he's cheap...

Please, no need to state why he should go here...

CUSA tourney championship only three years ago. JJ forgets more about basketball than we know. NIT final four w/the most amazing victory in the Ted’s history against Murray State.

However, two losing seasons in the last three years cannot be overlooked - and the Myrtle Beach massacre. No mas.

So your justification for keeping a coach around is that he has more knowledge than the average fan?

It’s a keep JJ justification thread. There’s very few reasons that would justify that, so ya gotta take what you can get. I’d add Jeff hasn’t been arrested while our HC. Yes, the bar is that low.

(03-10-2022 12:17 PM)ShenValleyMonarch12 Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:40 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:34 AM)monarx Wrote:  

(03-10-2022 10:28 AM)757ODU Wrote:  He could do a lot better with better assistants around him.

Not saying you’re wrong, but why do you think that? Stith was terrible as a HC in Myrtle Beach, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good assistant. Richardson seems to be good too. And even if not, Jeff hires and fires the assistants, so that’s on him too.

Loyalty to friends can make you do silly things. We saw it with Bobby and his offensive staff and were seeing it now.

If we absolutely have to run it back with JJ.....I could scrape up A LITTLE hope if there was at least a shake up with assistants. Not very much, but a little.

Fresh eyes. Fresh connections to the portal. Maybe they identify a player from the school they are leaving who could excel with a larger role....? Would it help? I don't know. But I don't think it would hurt.

The ONLY thing that can anyway help next season is what comes from this off season recruiting/transfer efforts. If JJ stays, don't expect anything different from the last 10 years.

He finished 2nd in the conference last year. He got us to the NCAA a few years ago. One bad season or two is not justification for firing. I think he should stay another year.

(03-11-2022 03:28 PM)ODBlue Wrote:  He finished 2nd in the conference last year. He got us to the NCAA a few years ago. One bad season or two is not justification for firing. I think he should stay another year.

He most definitely did NOT finish 2nd in the conference last year. He finished 2nd in the division last year with the 4th best record in the league. In reality, when you account for the weird scheduling last year and the unbalanced divisions, ODU was at best the 5th best team in CUSA last year.

I the spirit of contributing something on topic:
1. He seems to be a really good man
2. We need a baseball stadium

He has a great coaches show:

Wasn't too long ago that number was over 6K

(03-15-2022 03:41 PM)Monarchblue Wrote:  Wasn't too long ago that number was over 6K

Right. Quality of play is a clear factor. But COVID is as well. Some folks didn’t want to risk it and some didn’t want to mask.

Attendance is down nationwide.

JJ's style of play is very calming for our older fans after they get too worked up by Matlock reruns.

(Before you lambast me...I'm one of the older fans. And my wife likes Matlock reruns.)

Oh, I just thought of some more good reasons to keep JJ:

- Reducing our fanbase saves time & money in soliciting donations.
- Fewer fans in the stands reduces wear & tear on the seats.
- Not recruiting players lowers our NLI and scholarship costs.
- JJ's slow play makes it unnecessary to ever use that pesky third digit on the scoreboard.

(03-15-2022 04:23 PM)Maryland Monarch Wrote:  JJ's style of play is very calming for our older fans after they get too worked up by Matlock reruns.

(Before you lambast me...I'm one of the older fans. And my wife likes Matlock reruns.)

Oh, I just thought of some more good reasons to keep JJ:

- Reducing our fanbase saves time & money in soliciting donations.
- Fewer fans in the stands reduces wear & tear on the seats.
- Not recruiting players lowers our NLI and scholarship costs.
- JJ's slow play makes it unnecessary to ever use that pesky third digit on the scoreboard.

I appreciate the humor but this thread is not a fire JJ thread. Plenty of other threads for this stuff.

(03-15-2022 04:30 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(03-15-2022 04:23 PM)Maryland Monarch Wrote:  JJ's style of play is very calming for our older fans after they get too worked up by Matlock reruns.

(Before you lambast me...I'm one of the older fans. And my wife likes Matlock reruns.)

Oh, I just thought of some more good reasons to keep JJ:

- Reducing our fanbase saves time & money in soliciting donations.
- Fewer fans in the stands reduces wear & tear on the seats.
- Not recruiting players lowers our NLI and scholarship costs.
- JJ's slow play makes it unnecessary to ever use that pesky third digit on the scoreboard.

I appreciate the humor but this thread is not a fire JJ thread. Plenty of other threads for this stuff.

Cut me a break, Drunkard. This sucker is dying on the vine after only a page and a half! We've got to do something to spice it up. Gallows humor is a long-standing emotional outlet for the disenchanted.

Money.