McD at UNI

I think GMac represents the epitome of the Peter principle. He reached his level of competence at UNI, a mid-major school. When he attempted to move to a BCS school, he failed. Not only does it take better players to compete in the Big 12, it takes better coaching, and I do not believe GMac has shown us anything at all that shows he is capable of coaching at this level. If anyone can point to a single thing that says he is capable of coaching in the Big 12 against coaches like Rick Barnes, Bill Self, Frank Martin, etc.......tell us what it is.

I also question his success at UNI, the same as I question Lickliter's success at Butler. I think in both cases, it would appear that a large portion of their success may have depended on the work of their top assistants. Both Butler and UNI have barely missed a beat since the GMac and Lickliter left and their top assistants took over. In fact, it could be argued that in both cases, the programs are even stronger today than they were under those GMac and Lick. I don't know....maybe GMac is the kind of coach that needs really strong assistants around him, and he has not found that here. It does have to make you wonder, doesn't it?

I'm sorry, but I have not seen anything that GMac has done that shows me he is capable of being even a "good" let alone great coach in the Big 12. Nothing.

Butler and UNI are hardly comparable. Butler has been a strong program on strong footing with some great coaches coming out of their program. UNI was dead in the water when Mac got there.

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Originally Posted by khaal53

Butler and UNI are hardly comparable. Butler has been a strong program on strong footing with some great coaches coming out of their program. UNI was dead in the water when Mac got there.

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I wasn't really comparing UNI to Butler, except that in both cases both were mid-major programs and both have had continued success even after their head coaches left. The key thing is in both cases, the top assistants took over the programs, and the success continued. It is not relevant at all how successful the programs were before GMac and Lickliter got there. At least not to this discussion.

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Originally Posted by khaal53

It sucks that Mac ruined the 3 NCAA tourney games for UNI when he was there. Who coached them during the regular season?

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As was mentioned earlier in the thread, he didn't seem to win a lot of big games during the regular season either. It really makes it appear to me that he has trouble coaching up. His teams rarely beat a better opponent. We have been seeing it at ISU for 4 years. He is winless here against the top 25. He has a pretty great record against Nebraska and Colorado, but can't seem to beat anyone else in the conference.

I'm starting to think that maybe his UNI teams were the same way, they just got as far as they did because they were more talented than the rest of the conference, where ISU isn't. They couldn't close the deal in any of the NCAA games, and I also seem to remember them typically losing to the other top tier Mo Valley teams like SIU and Creighton.

If you can recruit and deliver like that great, which he seemed to do just fine at UNI, but ISU is a whole different level. Here, you are going to have to win with less. It is just like our football program. You need a guy who can find diamonds in the rough, develop talent, and coach players up. You aren't going to out-recruit the big boys here. Chizik wasn't a good fit for that reason, where he may be just fine elsewhere. Maybe Mac is in the same boat.

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Originally Posted by Dryburn

I wasn't really comparing UNI to Butler, except that in both cases both were mid-major programs and both have had continued success even after their head coaches left. The key thing is in both cases, the top assistants took over the programs, and the success continued. It is not relevant at all how successful the programs were before GMac and Lickliter got there. At least not to this discussion.

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My point is that Butler would've still been good no matter what. This good? I don't know, but it's hard to compare coaches without comparing the respective programs as well.

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Originally Posted by aeroclone

As was mentioned earlier in the thread, he didn't seem to win a lot of big games during the regular season either. It really makes it appear to me that he has trouble coaching up. His teams rarely beat a better opponent. We have been seeing it at ISU for 4 years. He is winless here against the top 25. He has a pretty great record against Nebraska and Colorado, but can't seem to beat anyone else in the conference.

I'm starting to think that maybe his UNI teams were the same way, they just got as far as they did because they were more talented than the rest of the conference, where ISU isn't. They couldn't close the deal in any of the NCAA games, and I also seem to remember them typically losing to the other top tier Mo Valley teams like SIU and Creighton.

If you can recruit and deliver like that great, which he seemed to do just fine at UNI, but ISU is a whole different level. Here, you are going to have to win with less. It is just like our football program. You need a guy who can find diamonds in the rough, develop talent, and coach players up. You aren't going to out-recruit the big boys here. Chizik wasn't a good fit for that reason, where he may be just fine elsewhere. Maybe Mac is in the same boat.

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I'm probably not going to comb back through the UNI record books, but using the NCAA tournament games to deduce he can't "win the big one" isn't the most solid way to make your argument. His record against ranked teams is attrocious here at ISU, but I'm sure he won his fair share of big games. Off the top of my head I know he won the MVC tourney in 2003.

I'm not arguing on Greg's behalf that he has been/will be great for ISU, but some of the revisionist history here is off the charts.

EDIT: For the record I applaud your original post, it's interesting at least. I just am of the opinion that it isn't a fair comparison. The gap from his UNI teams to any of those NCAA teams is much larger than most any of the gaps he has faced with an ISU team as far as talent goes.

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Originally Posted by BigBake

The difference is Mac was never able to recruit the caliber of player needed to win in the Big 12. I don't bash him for not trying. Everybody knows you go after the best players you can.

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I would argue that Mac has never been able to recruit the caliber of player he had at UNI. We've never had a PG as good as Ahelebe.

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Originally Posted by khaal53

I'm probably not going to comb back through the UNI record books, but using the NCAA tournament games to deduce he can't "win the big one" isn't the most solid way to make your argument. His record against ranked teams is attrocious here at ISU, but I'm sure he won his fair share of big games. Off the top of my head I know he won the MVC tourney in 2003.

I'm not arguing on Greg's behalf that he has been/will be great for ISU, but some of the revisionist history here is off the charts.

EDIT: For the record I applaud your original post, it's interesting at least. I just am of the opinion that it isn't a fair comparison. The gap from his UNI teams to any of those NCAA teams is much larger than most any of the gaps he has faced with an ISU team as far as talent goes.

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OK, nobody is down playing what he accomplished there. But, as a UNI fan also, it got frustrating watching UNI lose games the same way over and over again. Just like it is for people here.

His first NCAA team got hot. Southern came in on senior night, undefeated and UNI kicked the **** out of them. It surprised everybody. I sat on my couch in tears after we beat Missouri State.

I'm not sure if he would have done any better than Jake did the first two years. When you have to play Jared Josten as a point guard, you are really weak in that area. JJ had played a lot of 3 prior to that.

But Greg was determined to leave, and he chased other jobs. But he was able to do that because his name was hot because he had done a great job building the program at UNI.