mcdaniels…
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I think he is a good and compelling person–and good recruiter. When I have watched his games I see really nice players who fail to combine together well in the half court in a sophisticated way.
I do think he inspires kids.
I do think his teams play hard.
However,I don’t see anything in their half court offense that indicates they can combine as a team to get better shots, any better, than you would expect from any group of talented players who randomly showed up, to a gym, and played together without a coach.
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There are plenty of people in this world who are intelligent and can talk about the benefits of education. Not many of them can also coach basketball at an elite level. We’re looking for a basketball coach. I mean the candidate shouldn’t be a murderer, but we’re looking for a basketball coach. Beilein, the man himself, wasn’t necessarily the best orator. But he could coach his ass off and successfully resisted the temptation to commit homicide.
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Yes, but the notion that Smart isn’t a basketball coach is, of course, pretty darned reductive, too. And most of us have a pretty fair idea of his relative success on the offensive side of the ball to date. I’m just arguing for a little more nuance, that’s all. And do think that his intelligence suggests that he could continue to grow and adapt, even flourish if the circumstances allowed. In short, I can see why he’s an attractive candidate despite apparent shortcomings I also acknowledge.
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I insinuated that Smart wasn’t an elite basketball coach. I’m aware he’s a coach. You’re seeing straw men and punching at them.
I guess I disagree with the idea that intelligence as we tend to measure it predicts growth in each of life’s pursuits. Smart may well be more intelligent than both Beilein and Izzo, but this isn’t a book-learnin’ contest. Many of the best players and coaches of all time ask to speak to an attorney when handed a Rubik’s Cube.
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What idiots they are. You ask for a ten-year-old.
Who is an “elite” coach that’s on the list? I get the preference of Juwan or someone else and I do like Juwan and would be happy with him, but he brings even more risk and less actual proof of coaching ability (especially on a college level) than any candidate. But beyond that, who fits that profile of what you said you’re looking for?
IMO Howard has an advantage in that he has not proven himself to be an average coach. The possibility he is good is still there.
There is proof Shaka is average (or below) when you watch one of Shaka’s games, imo.
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Yes Howard has the advantage of mystery and is high risk high reward
time to start scouting summer league games he coached
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Yeah, I don’t see one either. Juwan hasn’t yet proven he isn’t an elite coach, and that’s the best I can hope for if we’re down to this list of three. I thought Marshall was the best coach of the supposed realistic, or semi-realistic possibilities. Maybe his ACT scores were shit and we’ve moved on to Smart.
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The fact we haven’t already talked to him is concerning and not a good sign for this search unless we already have our guy.
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Come on Warde, get moving!!
I did actually watch one postgame interview. I liked what I saw, liked the way he thought about his players and their development, what he had seen from them during the game, how he was looking to their possible NBA careers. I do see him as quite soft-spoken, and foresee a certain kind of aggressive fan pouncing on his ridiculous reasonableness should he stumble. He’s a different person entirely, but we also saw this with John who–let’s face it–a lot of these same fans were riding mercilessly until a year or so ago.
This kind of goes to conversations about Shaka or anyone not being good with xs and os. A head coach at a major u has to wear a lot of hats, juggle a lot of tasks. . . and endure a lot of silliness, too.
One thing I feel people may be getting wrong about Juwan is the notion that because he’s in the NBA he couldn’t handle college ball strategically/schematically. We’ve seen how the two games have become lots more alike in the recent past, and how John stayed a step ahead by studying the NBA so assiduously. Juwan not only knows the pro game but has watched it from AAU up with his kids. He might or might not be a brilliant xs and os guy, but I think he would be smart enough to surround himself with people who would help him get it right. And the other. . . intangibles. . . I think he could crush it.
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There have been several reports that Michigan hadn’t talked directly to any outside candidates yet. They’re going through the search firm first.
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Hadn’t talked directly to ANYONE as of last night. They had set up a protocol. Getting to direct conversations on Day Four–if you have been making preliminary calls, conducting due diligence–is really not unreasonable, in my view. We’re all just insanely anxious to see things pop.
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First official known contacts that Michigan has shown in a coach. Pretty telling to me that he appears to be one of, if not the top priority. Still sounds like they haven’t talked to him but still.
It’s kind of funny, basically no matter who Michigan picks if it’s between the 3 most linked, they don’t really fit what Warde said in his initial release. Kind of seems like he’s just making things up as he goes.
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Well osu took 4 days to do a full blow search and land Holtmann. If we are going do an extended search at least get the assistants on more than month to month contracts. Michigan loves making coaching searches difficult. Reminds me of when Brandon decided to wait until after the bowl game to fire hoke, costing us a full blown run at harbaugh and full recruiting class.
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Brandon was a horse’s ass. I’m not ready to class Warde in the same way after such a short while, though he has had his stumbles. If you read between the lines there’s some consensus that they have settled, initially, on three candidates, which seems like it could make sense three-four days in, no? If Warde were functioning in an autocratic matter, like some high-powered SEC AD, there might be some pretty fierce shriekback from the other direction.
I think we should let it play out a little before we decide they have f’d it up.
EDIT: OSU officials may have had their eye on sports success to the exclusion of other critical values that I as an alum also hold dear: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-state-officials-failed-act-doctor-abused-177-athletes-over-n1006951
OSU losing Matta didn’t come out of nowhere, he was basically forced out. Comparing these situations doesn’t make sense
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