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Pat Kelsey may or may not have been a candidate, but his handling of the UMass situation had to have given pause to the search firm looking at candidates.
I get critiques for this season and certain decisions here and there but I just can't fathom why anyone is to the point they are concerned about the hire as a total. Steele is a first year coach who is learning on the job. Now some may argue we should have hired someone who already had head coaching experience and that is fine but even they would have had an adjustment and learning curve as we wouldnt have been getting another coach from another high level basketball school.
Both Mack and Miller went through the same doubts their first season and beyond by fans. Both had fans wanting them fired or questioning their hire and both are what most would call the two best coaches in Xavier history.
Again I get criticism about certain things this year but am very confused by serious doubt about Steele as a whole going forward. Way too early. Go back and find the fire chris mack posts on this very board, funny to read.
Its easy to look at this year, and how things have transpired and say it was a bad/wrong hire.
However.... I vividly remember the overwhelming majority of people here being excited and thrilled about hiring him. I also remember Mack stating that Steele was the correct choice for X (Take that as you want)
I also remember "Fire Mack" comments and requests continually for his first several years so this isnt exactly uncharted territory. What is uncharted, is having the competition level of the BE night in and night out, not only in players, but in opposing coaches for a new hire to contend with. The often regarded worst coaches in the BE are NBA hall of famers.... just saying.
This year is a pass. If next year is just as rough, without improvement, I dont see Steele here in year 3. There is too much money at stake for X to allow a screw up hire to linger.
Head coaches are always going to take up for their assistants and vice versa....always. That's how jobs are secured.
I want to make it clear that I have no idea if Steele is the right guy, it’s way too early to tell and both Mack and Miller had rough seasons early on where many were calling for their head. The biggest difference though is Mack and Miller got the benefit of learning in the A-10 where most of the time Xavier had more talent than their opponent. They had a little cushion that Steele does not
I heard something similar (about the players wanting Steele, not that they were gonna leave), so it does seem weird to me that this team seems to have bad body language at times and doesn't seem to have bought in to what Travis wants to do. You'd think if they campaigned pretty hard for the guy and got the guy they want, they'd be buying in a little better.
I've heard that Kelsey took the UMass job before even visiting the facilities. After he looked at the facilities, he didn't like what he saw and decided not to take the job. That said, when you suddenly leave one job without explanation (Xavier), and then take a job and then the next day decide not to take the job (UMass), you're likely going to make other schools think twice before hiring you.
Travis may end up being the right guy, and if he, not only will I be thrilled as a Xavier guy, but I'll eat a plate of crow long the way.
However, this thread was intended to point out that Christopher is 0 for 3 in Basketball hires BEFORE making this hire, so it does seem to fair to wonder if that part of the job is in his wheelhouse. Once is an aberration, twice is a coincidence, three times is a trend, so four times....seems to be worth a discussion.