Sounds like the assistant coaches wanted a change as well due to being handcuffed by JB running a very tight ship. If so hope that changes with respect to recruiting and type of player with a new face.
Itās the head coach. I know youāll never accept that but Iām telling you, itās true. Bacari is a solid coach. More than solid. His hands our tied in every way possible.
Iāve heard stories from people inside practice planning meetings that Bacari has voiced his displeasure about the lack of time he gets to spend working on post defense, rebounding, back to the basket footwork etc. You cannot instill aggressive play if you are not given a chance.
That doesnāt dispute what I said in that different coaches may be better suited in different systems and with different personnel.
I donāt dispute that his hands were tied in certain ways. But that still doesnāt mean there will be 0 change with a new assistant coach. Thatās a ridiculous assumption without knowing who the new assistant coach is.
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Williamson and Washington both seem like good choices to replace BA. Donāt want to jump to fast, but I would be totally shocked if BA doesnāt go to U of D. Who is the better defense coach Williamson or Washington?
I would assume Williamson since Pitt typically has decent defenses, though he wasnāt there for very long. And Oakland has hung its hat on the offensive side of the court under Kampe.
If the new assistant coachās hands are tied, we will get similar results. Expecting a new coach to come in here and improve post play while not being able to work on individual back to the basket moves consistently in practice, rebounding, defending the post etc is wishful thinking
The ole sayāin āitās not the arrow, itās the Indianā fits well here.
JB has been running his practices during the season the same way since he was at west va (and probably his entire career) Itās not going to change. Thereās no point in bringing a defensive minded coach on the staff when JB literally does not run a single defensive drill in practice during the regular season.
And before you call me out on how would I know this, Iāll tell you I know a former player of his personally who is now a coach. I had a chance to catch up with him last week and couldnāt believe what I was hearing.
Youāre making the false assumption on what I would expect to see improvement in.
But go ahead and get defensive and make points that arenāt about what Iām arguing
Youāre expecting some form of improvement right?
All signs point to more of the same no matter who is hired though.
With that being said, can you be more specific on what you expect to improve. Iām sincerely interested.
Head coaches call the shots. Itās like that everywhere and Beilein certainly likes to have plenty of control. That being said, we saw some pretty big changes in the program the last time that there was assistant coaching turnover.
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We saw an uptick in recruiting thatās for sure.
Iām speaking more from a developmental standpoint.
Interesting. I know several former and current players and Iābe not heard this.
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Coltrane, ask them how much or if they worked on defense at all after the first month-or-so of practice.
I bet you get some funny answers or at least get the players you know to break a smile while answering.
Dylan, do you recall other names who were considered when BA and Lavall were hired? Saddi is the only one I can come up with
There are plenty of areas to work on at every position. It doesnāt need to be focused on post moves (which why would we focus on that when we donāt give our bigs very many post up touches), rebounding was not really an issue this year as we were one of the better defensive rebounding teams in the conference, or post defense.
Areas we could see improvement: how to utilize oneās body/length, reading the PnR, PnP, setting screens, off ball movement, mentality, offensive rebounding, shooting, knowledge of the playbook etc etc etc.
And it doesnāt always matter how good of a coach you are if you canāt reach certain players. Nick Saban certainly didnāt reach every single one of his players and yet there are players that got better after they left Alabama, whether it be transfer or pros.
Iām not even saying that I think that our big men will get better with new coaches. I am talking about our assertion that it is a complete certainty - as in, no chance - that the wonāt get better with a different assistant coach. That is a ridiculous assertion. Youāve already made up your mind without knowing: 1 - knowing who the new assistant is, and 2 - before the new season has started and weāve seen our big men play the new season.
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Youāre using the exception to the rule with your Saban analogy. I suppose you are right though. Kids could get better with a fresh face.
My understanding is Bacari is a darn good coach who knows what heās doing. Itās going to be very difficult to replace him with someone better. I guess we could but it would have to be an assistant that is head coach worthy because thatās what we are losing.
Bacari knows how to teach everything you described effectively. Heās proven it. Itās not like the light switch went off these past couple of years for him.
This is a good discussion though. I like your take.
Those were the big three at the time.
Yes, Beilein has totally hampered BAās career opportunities.
You might undermine your case by speaking so categorically, Bear. We know that Beilein emphasizes offense over D, but during stretch runs of every season we have seen the teams tighten up on D and players/coaches talking about working harder on it in practice. So to say that itās not happening at all makes little (apparent) sense. What am I missing?
Coach speak. Coaches say a lot of things that arenāt true in interviews.
Similar situation went on when RR was our football coach. When players were asked by the media if they work on defense, of course the players at the time answered yes. Come to find out after RR was let go, those same players claimed they were tackling dummies only for the offense.
You canāt expect a coach or a player to say āNo we donāt work on defenseā if a reporter asks. Thatās just not going to happen.
Beileinās practices are 75% offense and 25% defense and have been for years. When it comes to the end of the season, there is more emphasis on defense because of scouting reports and how important it is to win each game. His scouting reports are unbelievably detailed and what they will do in many factors changes on a game to game basis (how they will double post, how many they send to the boards, how to handle PnR, what plays they run at the end of the shot clock) and there are more. Not every coach does that.
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