View Poll Results: What grade do you give Travis Steele

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  • A

    1 1.49%
  • B

    13 19.40%
  • C

    29 43.28%
  • D

    21 31.34%
  • F

    3 4.48%
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  1. #61
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    Agree with Moe and MOR. TS gets a D.

    The problem with being a promoted assistant coach is that you have to stop being the players’ buddy And some of them only know you as that. It may take him a year or two but on the evidence So far I don’t see a killer instinct in the guy. TS could have laid the groundwork for a demarcation point from Mack as he tried to do by insisting that the Defense would be improved. That hasn’t happened. In fact our defense is atrocious. Steele still talks about four minute wars and plays a packline and is poor on timeouts and cannot protect a lead. He’s Chris Mack lite. Remind me why we hired him. Not one player has progressed under Steele’s tutelage. Not one. He may earn the players’ respect eventually but it’s evident that he doesn’t have it now.

    I didn’t like the hire at all. We’ve gone to the well too often on the assistant coach hire. In my judgment and I’m sure some will disagree (it is a freaking messageboard and people will disagree) mack leaving was a chance to clean house and start fresh with a new coaching staff with a successful track record at another college job. Everyone knew Steele would get the job and I’m not sure why. Loyalty? Buy a golden retriever. I don’t know what qualifies him for a top 15-20 job in the country.

    Steele talks a good game but is too slick and rehearsed for my liking. I watched him all game long two rows up at The DC Georgetown game and he was lost.

    For the guy who earlier said you can’t run a play when you have no shooters... That’s when you need a X and O guy who can get the ball into Jones or Hankins hands or Scruggs hands. Ever see a back screen cut? A two man give and go? Simple stuff that works when you don’t have marksmen? That doesn’t happen.

    Another issue is that Steele never changes the tempo of a game. Up 10 12 whatever he never changes tempo and takes the air out of the ball wheln we have these leads. He cannot protect a lead.. That’s a rather important part of the HC job. MOR has it right. It’s Steele’s job to position his team and his players to succeed. Ill disciplined on offense and Ill advised threes for a poor three point shooting team. Memo to Steele: Bluiett and Macura graduated. He’s running an offense for players he doesn’t have.

    I will say it again. The biggest flaw is the team lacks discipline. And that is 100% on the head coach.

  2. #62
    Supporting Member OTRMUSKIE's Avatar
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    This year is and always was going to be a wash. I thought best case was PIG . Well barring a huge turnaround that’s not happening. What I think you’re seeing is just how damn good the 5 guys we lost made everybody else around them. People want to blame Steele but honestly other then Scruggs and Naji the talent is not there. I don’t care about ratings. If Mack was still here we would have maybe 14 wins at this point. People need to stop saying Steele is losing control of this team and this team can’t play defense, blah blah blah. No this team just sucks. Next year you can criticize but this year most people knew it could be bad.
    If I was going to school for school, I wouldn’t have picked the University of Cincinnati. Dontonio Wingfield

  3. #63
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    Quote Originally Posted by OTRMUSKIE View Post
    This year is and always was going to be a wash. I thought best case was PIG . Well barring a huge turnaround that’s not happening. What I think you’re seeing is just how damn good the 5 guys we lost made everybody else around them. People want to blame Steele but honestly other then Scruggs and Naji the talent is not there. I don’t care about ratings. If Mack was still here we would have maybe 14 wins at this point. People need to stop saying Steele is losing control of this team and this team can’t play defense, blah blah blah. No this team just sucks. Next year you can criticize but this year most people knew it could be bad.
    I agree this year's talent is over-rated and last year, not only was the talent better but those guys were proven long term vets.

    But, not so fast on giving Steele a pass for all of this. And, D. West is right. No matter what, Steele has got three years. It is the right thing to do...."the Xavier Way" so to speak.

    But, the last few posts above accurately describe, I think, situations which many of us have observed. The defense really does suck. (To be fair, defense wasn't Mack's strong suit either.) And, although I'm not a coach, I'm a long term observer of college hoops and I do not understand what Steel is trying to do with this team. I don't comprehend how, specifically, he has used players (Q, Welage and Hardin come to mind), I don't understand his substitution patterns. I don't see him try obvious in-game adjustments and I share with other posters the feeling that he just looks lost at times. On this last issue, I understand "looking lost" is quite subjective and others may see him and feel something quite different. But, his coaching moves (or lack thereof) aren't subjective. He isn't managing the game well during the game. In some cases he doesn't even appear to be trying to manage the game.

    I think some posters give way too much credence to this goofy idea that somehow the senior assistant is the player's buddy and the head coach is always the ultimate authority. I don't think, for a minute, that Steele's adjustment to head coach is complicated by going from "good cop" to 'bad cop". But, there is an adjustment, a big one, that comes with being the decision maker in chief---the buck now stops with him. Hopefully, Steele makes that adjustment and if he needs to hire his own Dino Gaudio, (an idea to which I've warmed as the season has progressed) I hope he has the budget to so do.

    For better or worse, Steele is the guy for the next few years. I hope he grows in his job very quickly or we could see this program back slide dramatically.

  4. #64
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    The one thing I always respected about Mack was that he seemed very confident in who he was. He knew he rubbed some people the wrong way over the course of his life/career, and he simply didn't care. He was who he was, and you heard that alot from him that "he can only be himself."

    I think it's a great point about him being Mack part II. He can't be Mack part II. What are the imprints that he's going to leave based on who he is? I think he's still figuring that out, as does likely every new coach in the main chair for the first time.

  5. #65
    Junior IM4X's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muskie View Post
    I think this team is better than when the season started.
    Oh how I wish that were true.

    Let’s see here... we lost 5 straight... the last one was by 22 points where Naji went 0-4 from 3 and had 6 turnovers in the game.

    There was some progress for a stretch of a few games, but this team has slid back down.

    We can grade him again at the end of the season, but I currently feel a D is what he deseves.

    I had him up to a c+ before this 5 game losing streak. He looked to have the team playing better defense and working the ball around for better shots on offense. Unfortunately, the team has regressed a bit. Hard For Steele not to take ownership of this teams inconsistency. The team hS shown they could play well together. Let’s see where this team is at the end of the season.
    Last edited by IM4X; 02-04-2019 at 02:47 PM.

  6. #66
    Hall of Famer Masterofreality's Avatar
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    QUOTE KFX
    "In fact our defense is atrocious. Steele still talks about four minute wars and plays a packline and is poor on timeouts and cannot protect a lead. He’s Chris Mack lite. Remind me why we hired him. Not one player has progressed under Steele’s tutelage. Not one. He may earn the players’ respect eventually but it’s evident that he doesn’t have it now.

    I didn’t like the hire at all. We’ve gone to the well too often on the assistant coach hire. In my judgment and I’m sure some will disagree (it is a freaking messageboard and people will disagree) mack leaving was a chance to clean house and start fresh with a new coaching staff with a successful track record at another college job. Everyone knew Steele would get the job and I’m not sure why. Loyalty? Buy a golden retriever. I don’t know what qualifies him for a top 15-20 job in the country. "



    This defense is historically bad. Among major conferences, only 4 teams have a worse adjusted defensive efficiency. Xavier's ADE is 104.5 which is 184th in the NCAA. Look people, even below average players, of which Xavier doesn't really have many of, are decent defenders- that is proven by Midget Mick annually...unless of course the system they're playing in is totally wrong for the personnel or just sucks- either because the Coach switches up at the wrong times or with the wrong people. Steele has zero idea of how to adjust based upon who Xavier and the opposition has on the court. McDermott, among others, totally schooled Steele yesterday. This team is, by all statistical measures, the worst in all of Xavier history.

    We may have run the string out too long as KFX indicates. Steele was only raised under Mack, and Miller, who ran the same defense and offense. There has been too much inbreeding with a definitive lack of fresh ideas. I'm not saying bring in the Pete Carill Princeton offense, but it seems Steele has zero concept of anything else other than what is father & grandfather taught him, and hasn't bothered to learn anything else from the outside.
    Very depressing. :-(
    Last edited by Masterofreality; 02-04-2019 at 03:20 PM.
    "I Got CHAMPIONS in that Lockerroom!" -Stanley Burrell

  7. #67
    Junior UCGRAD4X's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jumpin_Jamal_Forever View Post
    I think some posters give way too much credence to this goofy idea that somehow the senior assistant is the player's buddy and the head coach is always the ultimate authority. I don't think, for a minute, that Steele's adjustment to head coach is complicated by going from "good cop" to 'bad cop".

    For better or worse, Steele is the guy for the next few years. I hope he grows in his job very quickly or we could see this program back slide dramatically.
    This does seem to be a popular notion that I also find hard to embrace. Head coaches are also often described as a 'players' coach. Different coaches have different styles. The players seemed enthusiastic about the hire at the time as I recall. Pat assistants who successfully made the transition did not seem hamstrung by this same phenomenon.

    Yes, he is the coach and will be for a few years, at least. I sincerely hope I am wrong, but his early work is extremely discouraging. The worst slate of BE competition and X is at the bottom. Completely unacceptable under any circumstances. The buck stops with Steele.
    I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I drink 2XS.

  8. #68
    Supporting Member bleedXblue's Avatar
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    I'm struggling with Steele too, but we also have been in several close games this year, which tells me that with some minor adjustments and some more talent coming in next year, we should be able to close more of those games out. Add to that Steele is learning about himself as a coach and I think he will eventually start to adjust and learn from his mistakes. I do think that he has stuck too closely to what he watched and helped coach under Mack for the last 8-9 years. Hes going to have to become his own coach and instill his own brand of b-ball. It will be interesting to see where this all goes.......Im not jumping off yet. We ALL should know better than that.

  9. #69
    Supporting Member D-West & PO-Z's Avatar
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    Some various posts on this board early in Mack's tenure:

    "I am not ready to call for the firing of Mack yet but if this team cannot get back mentally then it should be considered at seasons end."

    "No one is saying fire him, he needs to earn his fat paycheck. His coaching and leadership so far this year has been a C at best. He can do better."

    "I'm questioning if Mack can light a fire under people when it's needed. He has some work to do to improve on player development."



    You aren't officially the new XU head coach until people are calling for your job.

    Not saying criticism at this point isnt warranted but you can just not make an guess on how Travis will shake out as a coach after less than a full season. Once again he gets 3 pretty much guaranteed and then lets see where we are at.
    "I’m willing to sacrifice everything for this team. I’m going to dive for every loose ball, close out harder on every shot, block out for every rebound. I’m going to play harder than I’ve ever played. And I need you all to follow me." -MB '17

  10. #70
    Senior X Factor's Avatar
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    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Wright_(basketball)

    I bet Villanova fans are glad they stuck with Jay Wright.

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