Fire Steele?

[bleedXblue]

oh yeah and we should change the title of this ridiculous thread.......its almost as embarrassing as the play on the court last night

[vee4xu]

I have thought a bit more about this the past couple of weeks. I really blame Mack for all of this. Think about his recruiting classes the past several years. Blueitt was a de-commit and fell into Mack's lap, but otherwise, if it wasn't for Macura panning out so well X should have been screwed sooner. Semaj and Sumner leave early, but frankly I don't know how good they really would have been. Gates was for all intents and purposes a bust. Reynolds was a head case who showed up once in a while. Farr grew into a really good player. And the many transfers we haven't even gotten into. In total, Mack didn't recruit well and as X transitioned from the A-10 to the BE the misses really began to show up due to the higher level of BE talent. Mack knew what was coming and bailed leaving Steele with a flaming bag a crap on the front porch. Early on I wanted to blame Steele, but after further consideration, I say that the deconstruction was all Mack and the job of rebuilding is now up to Steele. Not gonna be easy, but that's what it's gonna take I'm afraid.

[paulxu]

I have thought a bit more about this the past couple of weeks. I really blame Mack for all of this. Think about his recruiting classes the past several years. Blueitt was a de-commit and fell into Mack's lap, but otherwise, if it wasn't for Macura panning out so well X should have been screwed sooner. Semaj and Sumner leave early, but frankly I don't know how good they really would have been. Gates was for all intents and purposes a bust. Reynolds was a head case who showed up once in a while. Farr grew into a really good player. And the many transfers we haven't even gotten into. In total, Mack didn't recruit well and as X transitioned from the A-10 to the BE the misses really began to show up due to the higher level of BE talent. Mack knew what was coming and bailed leaving Steele with a flaming bag a crap on the front porch. Early on I wanted to blame Steele, but after further consideration, I say that the deconstruction was all Mack and the job of rebuilding is now up to Steele. Not gonna be easy, but that's what it's gonna take I'm afraid.

Maybe his last class was a bust. But how can you say he wasn't successful with his recruits based on the BE transition and play.
All 5 years in the BE we went to the tournament and got a S16 and an E8.
Sumner a bust? He's now on the Pacers' roster.
If Macura "pans out", isn't that a case of a coach recognizing and utilizing talent?

Guess I just don't get the hate for Xavier's all time winning-est coach.

[bleedXblue]

Maybe his last class was a bust. But how can you say he wasn't successful with his recruits based on the BE transition and play.
All 5 years in the BE we went to the tournament and got a S16 and an E8.
Sumner a bust? He's now on the Pacers' roster.
If Macura "pans out", isn't that a case of a coach recognizing and utilizing talent?

Guess I just don't get the hate for Xavier's all time winning-est coach.

He definitely recruited some very good players no doubt, but he did not consistently turn out the kind of classes that are needed to compete and excel at the highest level. Maybe that just isn't doable at X? Maybe......

He was at the end of his tenure here depending heavily on 5th year guys and missed on a couple of classes pretty badly. Sumner leaving early for sure hurt us. Gates leaving early cost us a shooter we desperately needed this year.

Mack did nothing "wrong" in my eyes.......and its easy to point the finger is his direction after the fact. I do think he knew the challenge ahead of him at X and bolted like the previous 6 coaches have done.

[vee4xu]

He definitely recruited some very good players no doubt, but he did not consistently turn out the kind of classes that are needed to compete and excel at the highest level. Maybe that just isn't doable at X? Maybe......

He was at the end of his tenure here depending heavily on 5th year guys and missed on a couple of classes pretty badly. Sumner leaving early for sure hurt us. Gates leaving early cost us a shooter we desperately needed this year.

Mack did nothing "wrong" in my eyes.......and its easy to point the finger is his direction after the fact. I do think he knew the challenge ahead of him at X and bolted like the previous 6 coaches have done.

I don't disagree with any of this. Maybe X has reached a ceiling both in terms of players willing to come here and ability to compete in the conference. As for going deep into the NCAA tournament, that's true but in college basketball teams can go far with just one or two good players. But, they cannot go to the Final 4 or win it without an exceptional team and to my thinking, Coach Mack never had an exceptional team. Exceptional players yes, exceptional team, sorry, but no. And when you look at Villanova, the bell cow and the BE, they always, always have an exceptional team.

[GoMuskies]

oh yeah and we should change the title of this ridiculous thread

No, it's time for this thread with a question mark. The answer is no, of course, but this is very, very bad stuff.

[vee4xu]

No, it's time for this thread with a question mark. The answer is no, of course, but this is very, very bad stuff.

I have to agree with this. After such a bad season, especially the conference season, all options need to be on the white board. Now, you place percentages next to each option and firing the coach, at the moment, should be a very low percentage, but it cannot be ignored.

[bleedXblue]

Firing the coach right now isn't even in the conversation or being considered by ANYONE. Its foolish at best and I could be even harsher in my criticism but will keep it above board. Pretty disappointing for some veteran posters to go there right now.........

We have a good class coming in next year. Go ahead and fire the coach. That would set you back another 2-3 years. Add to that the Odom commit would be gone for 2020 and so would Zach Harvey.

I'm as frustrated right now as everyone else. Sure there are question marks with Steele. He's a first year head coach taking his lumps. This program has a chance to get back on track if Naji and Scruggs stick around for their Senior year. Next year is a rebuild year where we should be able to scratch out 18-20 wins. 2020 is when we could be GOOD again.

[GoMuskies]

Harsh away. I can handle it. I'm not in favor of firing even if we lose out (which I suspect we will), but also think this season has been bad enough that year #3 should be in question if year #2 is similar.

[Xer4ever]

Interesting post. I guess “coaching chops” could mean different things to different people. What does it mean to you?