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Post by Spirit of Bruce on Jan 6, 2015 21:23:29 GMT -6
The bottom line is our program has wasted a lot of time and resources chasing Showalter's players that would be better used elsewhere. Also, Showalter is a walk-on at Wisconsin, not a scholarship player as he would have been here.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 6, 2015 22:30:27 GMT -6
The bottom line is our program has wasted a lot of time and resources chasing Showalter's players that would be better used elsewhere. Also, Showalter is a walk-on at Wisconsin, not a scholarship player as he would have been here. Zak is a former walk-on who played his cards right by almost any tangible measure. He's playing on scholarship for a great coach at a Big Ten power that sells out on a regular basis and whose every game is broadcast nationally. www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/zak_showalter_801184.html
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Post by PantherU on Jan 7, 2015 9:51:38 GMT -6
Easily the most successful coach in Wisconsin high school basketball in decades. Has coached several D1 players. Plugged in to the coaching community, which is essential for recruiting. Exciting, up-tempo style of basketball, which this program is sorely lacking. But I guess in your mind this is all irrelevant because he didn't spend five years as an assistant at Prarie View A&M. It took me three milliseconds to come up with the name Tom Diener. Ask James Wright how he feels about Tom Diener. So, you're wrong. Is Showalter the most successful since? Sure. But let's see him try to get that success in the City Conference, or even the Greater Metro. High school coaches don't make the jump to D-I head jobs. It's extremely rare. The only times you see it are when the coaches come along with a prized recruit. Keith Dambrot at Akron is the last one I can remember who has had success. Akron got it in their heads that they could get LeBron James. At the time, the NBA was considering that 19-and-over rule. Akron figured he'd want to be on a team with his buddies and coached by his coach. It didn't work out in getting LeBron, but Akron got a good coach. Except Dambrot had already been a D-I head coach, in the early 90's at CMU (fired for saying the N-word during a team meeting, the players didn't mind but the campus did).
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Post by PantherU on Jan 7, 2015 10:33:11 GMT -6
Zak took a walk-on spot at Wisconsin over a scholarship at Milwaukee. Steve Showalter is college buddies with Rob Jeter, and he wouldn't even point his own kid to the program. High school coaches - especially one with the stature of Showalter - have a great deal of influence on their players.
Steve Showalter has never influenced his players to come to Milwaukee. Is it because he dislikes Rob Jeter, one of his good friends? Or is it because he doesn't think much of this university?
Steve Showalter is not an answer. Steve Showalter is not a friend to this program, so - as SoB (lol) said - do we really want to hand the keys of the program over to him?
Semling and Miller are great names for the job. Milwaukee will certainly have its pick of proven winners when they hire a new coach. _________________________
While I want to make it perfectly clear I am not in the "fire Jeter" camp, I will play along.
Here's the name I think should get the job: Drew Diener.
You want a winner? In his early 30's, he's already put out a national championship at Cardinal Stritch. You want up-tempo and high scoring? Here are the past 4 years' scoring averages:
2013-14: 81.0 ppg 2012-13: 75.5 ppg 2011-12: 75.4 ppg 2010-11: 74.9 ppg 2009-10: 79.8 ppg
Milwaukee over the same time:
2013-14: 70.4 ppg 2012-13: 62.2 ppg 2011-12: 64.2 ppg 2010-11: 68.7 ppg 2009-10: 69.7 ppg
You want to recruit Chicago? Look at his roster. He's a SLU grad who spent time on DePaul's coaching staff (his brother Drake played there) and he already has a gang of loyal Chicagoan alumni who played for him and will help him maintain a network in the city.
You want to recruit Milwaukee? What name commands respect in living rooms in this city more than the name Diener? If you grew up living and breathing City Conference hoops, you're likely to hold Tom Diener in similar reverence to college coaches like Bo Ryan. Now his nephew is going to come in and recruit your kid? He's not just a kid himself - he's got a national championship on his resume and he coaches the same kind of basketball that City schools play.
You want a coach who will win? National Champion. In his early 30's.
That's the name.
!BUT!
Whoever the next coach is won't make a lick of difference unless the university - from the Chancellor on down - plays ball and lets in students who may not be up to academic standards. I'm not saying we become a basketball factory - on the contrary, I believe you provide this service to these students from the inner cities of Milwaukee (and also Chicago) to see what they can do if provided the opportunity to succeed at the collegiate level. Let's be a model.
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Post by uwm97 on Jan 7, 2015 10:51:40 GMT -6
Jimmy, you're better than that. So because James Wright may not have liked Tom Diener, Showalter wouldn't make a good college coach? What type of linear thinking is that?
Yes, Tom Diener has won five state titles, but none in 14 years. Showalter has won three straight and probably a fourth in two months. Whatever.
Because it's rarely or ever done for a high school coach to jump to D1 doesn't mean it shoudn't be considered. The UWM program isn't exactly Gonzaga or Butler, so let's come to grips with reality here. If you think it would be beneath the university to talk to a coach of Showalter's caliber, you're cutting off your nose to spite your face. Get over yourself. Outside of catching fire for four games early last spring, this program has been largely nondescript and unimpressive since 2006. Even the die hards have become bored and apathetic with how stale this thing has become. It's time for some different thinking and perhaps a new approach.
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Post by uwm97 on Jan 7, 2015 10:55:15 GMT -6
Jimmy, I think Drew Diener would be another good name to interview. That is thinking outside the box and not going down the Greg Gard/name your Bo Ryan assistant bottomless pit. This program needs a new personality and a new brand of basketball.
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Post by BBFran on Jan 7, 2015 12:47:01 GMT -6
I hate adding anything to a thread like this, but 97, the idea that we would hire a high school coach is utterly absurd. Show me a D1 program anywhere in the country that has hired a high school coach and been successful. The differences are so profound between running a successful high school program and running a D1 program that they can scarcely be compared.
As for the "style of play" canard, I remind everyone that at Platteville Bo Ryan ran a full court press and averaged over 90 points a game in some years. Yet he has never used that style at the D1 level, because it's almost impossible to do it successfully. High scoring is better achieved by efficiency than by pace. Rob's better teams have had no problem scoring. I have been watching college basketball for almost 50 years and one thing I can tell you is that fans want winning basketball far more than they want "high scoring" or "fast paced" basketball.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 7, 2015 13:26:08 GMT -6
Does Steve Showalter own a Pounce doll into which he sticks pins?
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Post by uwm97 on Jan 7, 2015 14:00:24 GMT -6
As for the "style of play" canard, I remind everyone that at Platteville Bo Ryan ran a full court press and averaged over 90 points a game in some years. Yet he has never used that style at the D1 level, because it's almost impossible to do it successfully. Signed, Dr. Tom Davis Keno Davis Shaka Smart Bruce Pearl
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Post by BBFran on Jan 7, 2015 14:28:26 GMT -6
Great. And of course if I wanted to spend the time I could name 100 or more D1 coaches with similar or greater success who do not employ that style.
All you are doing is stating a personal playing style preference. Playing style strikes me as having almost zero importance in choosing a D1 coach. The best coaches are capable of coaching different styles and then concentrate in the style they believe is most likely to be successful. Extraordinarily few D1 coaches employ the style you prefer. That tells me a lot.
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Post by uwm97 on Jan 7, 2015 14:47:51 GMT -6
Of course I prefer that style of play. But you know what I want the most? A coach who can do better than 139-152 against D1 opponents in his career. I want a winner.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 7, 2015 14:51:35 GMT -6
Seems like old times on here.
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Post by pnthr97 on Jan 7, 2015 15:53:36 GMT -6
Seems like old times on here. Agreed. For what it's worth, unless his contract was renegotiated, his buyout after this year exceeds $900,000. Also, the university could arguably have fired him (or threatened to do so as a means of renegotiating his contract) for the APR violation. I have not heard anything suggesting the university has renegotiated any portion of his contract.
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Post by PantherU on Jan 7, 2015 17:33:16 GMT -6
His contract was amended before last season, getting rid of any automatic one-year renewals.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 7, 2015 17:47:41 GMT -6
His contract was amended before last season, getting rid of any automatic one-year renewals. Right, and nothing says that UWM and its donors have to pay his successor $465,000 a year plus perks.
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