Look you haven’t made an actual argument about why he’s bad. Your entire argument is other people think he’s bad. I’ve said it multiple times those people are absolute morons. We are talking about a school that fired Marvin Menzies as he was building them back up. Yeah Chris Beard was a better coach but you don’t fire a good coach to get another good coach.
UNLV hasn’t made the tournament in 8 years now. They have no justification for being an immediate top 25 team. We want to be a top 25 team but whoever the coach is I don’t expect that for at least two or three years because of where we are at. While basketball is a quicker rebuild then football it almost always takes a couple of years to get going.
Prohm had a good first two years but it was a don’t break it situation. UNLV is very much not that situation.
UNLV is a great job and their fans should have high expectations. You are only looking at the UNLV job through Cardinal & Gold colored glasses. Should ISU fans have lowered their expectations after the Morgan/McDermott era? Heck no!
The only thing holding UNLV back from being a consistent Top 25 program is hiring the right coach. The exact same issue holding ISU back.
Plus UNLV has some built in advantages and should be a MWC power:
- Vegas Baby!!
- Findley Prep is in its backyard. Plus there are a number of elite Prep Schools popping up in AZ.
- Number of P5 HS athletes within 4-5 hours of campus.
The shear fact that TJ took the UNLV job and left SDSU program that been to NIT and NCAA Tournaments in each of his first 3 years indicates TJ felt UNLV was top MWC program and perennial NCAA Tournament team.
TJ might be a great coach- but his record this year raises doubts. He stepped in and had a great 2019/20 season with Menzies players. But in year 2 his team has taken a step back and next year could be even worse if his 2 best players, Hamilton and Jenkins don't return. Their starting center Diong is a senior and I believe Diong has decided not to take his extra year.
So it is very reasonable for Cyclone fans to question TJ's resume. Especially after what we have just gone through with Coach Prohm. I would be stunned if TJ's name is mentioned with any other P5 basketball head coaching openings this spring. That tells me the only people pushing TJ for the Cyclone job, are people who have a personal relationship with TJ.
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Finally, you continue to mention TJ said he would not have recruited so many HS recruits if he would have known there would be Covid. I think it's a logical soundbite based on the impact Covid has had on society, but not realistic.
I bet TJ looked at his roster going into the 2019/20 season and felt he could recruit a big HS class in the fall of 2019 because he had a very talented group of 8 sophomores/ juniors and was set his first 2 years. Plus he could fill any gaps for the 2020/21 season with the spring 2020 transfer market.
But then things went sideways for the 2020/21 season:
- Amauri Hardy UNLV's 2nd leading scorer transferred to Oregon
- Donnie Tillman (a TJ Tfr) their 4th leading scorer ended up being a headcase and transferred to NMSU
- Jonah Antonio one of their top bench players transferred to Wake Forest
- Cheickna Dembele stopped playing due to injuries
Also it is worth noting that when TJ signed 8 players in his fall 2019 class (6 HS & 2 JUCO), he only had 4 scholarship available. So he anticipated attrition or he would have had to pull 4 scholarship offers.
Menzies Players
Cheickna Dembele - Post RS Jr. 2019/20
Amauri Hardy - Guard Jr 2019/20
Diong - Post Jr 2019/20
Hamiilton - Guard So 2019/20
TJ Underclassman Transfers Immediately Eligible
Donnie Tillman - Forward Jr 2019/20: Pac 12 6th man at Utah
Jonah Antonio - Guard Jr 2019/20: JUCO Tfr Played on Australian Ntnl Team
** Plus TJ brought in 2 senior transfers: Elijah Mitrou-Long from Texas and Vitaliy Shibel from Arizona State **
TJ Transfers Sit Out - Eligible 2020/21
Moses Woods - Soph Tfr Tulane
David Jenkins - Jr Tfr SDSU played for TJ and was Summit League All Conference