McDermott: 2-8 presser transcript
- Thread starter ChrisMWilliams
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Watching the way that he has recruited especially the last two years with all of the Spring signings. I never understood what he was thinking in building this program.
It has never once been explained why it was a good idea to play senior walk ons at the expense of freshman and sophomore scholarship players. Every year we have walked into the season with question marks in the guard court. Well that's because for some reason Mac played Petey and Haluska instead of DG most of his freshman year, and Buck, and Boozer the last two years.
I love Sean and Petey as much as the next guy, and appreciate their hard work and dedication. But what good is it to win 14 games instead of 10, and then come into the next season with all of the questions???
I have no idea, but I think it is hard for a coach not to put the best possible team out there. Petey and Sean were our best option to win those years (and note that Sean didn't play much last year). It's hard to basically tell a team you know they won't win.
Not 100% what you are asking...but if you asking about programs that have turned it around. I would look at a team in our own conf. Mizzou. There have been major issues with that program after Stewart, but they have turned it around. Their coach had drug issues, recruiting issues, players being arrested and the whole program in turmoil because of this.
It wasn't after Stewart it was that other coach---Quinn Snider. I wonder what he is doing now? Probably counting his money.
Seriously, I can appreciate the fact that you are a fan of the coach. But a lot of what you are defending him on saying it's not his fault falls directly under his job description. If the player doesn't do what he is supposed to then there are natural consequences that a coach is supposed to use to ensure that they learn to run the offensive and defensive sets correctly. This was a problem before Lucca, and Booz, and all of this depth disappeared.
Can you honestly watch this team and say they give 100 % effort at all times??? Can you honestly look at this team, and compared to peer teams, see strong fundamentals??? It's not just this year, it has been this way since Greg got here.
As far as DG, I agree he is probably not a great point guard at this level.
You disagree that he knows that Mac wishes he would have cleaned house? I am going to take his word at what he says he knows. If you want to argue he shouldn't have cleaned house, that's fine. The roblem I have is the people excusing him for all the leavings of the first then saying he should have cleaned house.
Chris,
Do you think JP needs to say something if he wants McD to return next year ?
I always believe that if JP believes that McD is the right man, he has to issue a public support / show of confidence. Explain the situation is and why he thinks McD is the right man.
The fact that JP has been silent quite concerns me - reminds me of last days of Dan McCartney.
I am not happy with how the team performed but I'm going to support McD and the team while he's still the coach.
Do you think JP needs to say something if he wants McD to return next year ?
I always believe that if JP believes that McD is the right man, he has to issue a public support / show of confidence. Explain the situation is and why he thinks McD is the right man.
The fact that JP has been silent quite concerns me - reminds me of last days of Dan McCartney.
I am not happy with how the team performed but I'm going to support McD and the team while he's still the coach.
I don't get how so many can still accept that this is all just bad luck on GMac's part.
When he took over, some players left, and some recruits decided not to come. Why? Obviously, the only reason one can give is that they did not choose or want to play for GMac. Now whether that was fair of them to do that on their part or not is another discussion, but bottom line that is fact.
Since then, all of the players he has had any sort of "problem" with are his own recruits! He brought these players in because he thought they could be Big 12 basketball players and more importantly, because he thought they would play for him! So many seem to forget that. Some of you act like these players were shoved down his throat or something against his will. These were his players! His choices!
Also, there is still no clear explanation of why WJ left after 2 years. He was on the Big 12 All-Rookie team, then honorable mention All Big 12 the next year, on his way to becoming All Big 12 and maybe even an NBA draft pick eventually, and suddenly he just decides to up and leave the coach who recruited him, to sit out an entire year before he could play again. Not only was GMac apparently blind-sided by this, there has never really been a clear explanation as to why WJ left. Was it the style of play? Was it the coaching? Did he feel he was not going to develop properly under GMac? I have never seen those questions asked or answered. Maybe I missed it.
Then, this year, you had a player who was not able to play for a year and was willing to sit out. He received a lot of support from the coach, the fans, and the school. Then suddenly, in the middle of the season, he abandons his teammates, the coach, the fans and the school with a bogus claim that he needed to return home to accept a chance to play professionally that may not be there at the end of the season. Later, it is found out that his professional team actually wanted him to stay in the U.S. and finish out the season. So what made the kid leave now? Again, was it the coach? Lack of development? What? Still, no answers, because once again, GMac was supposedly blind-sided.
Mid-season, a first-year player walks out on his team. Where does that happen? At how many programs in the country would a first year player even think of doing something like that? It's not like the player is Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson. Yet, he felt it was all right to walk out on his team?
This is the 4th year. The players are GMac's recruits. There are likely 2 players on the team that will make it to the NBA soon. Many coaches would kill to have that kind of talent on their team. Yet, this team cannot win. There is no need to go into all of the performance problems with this team. It has gotten so bad, and so obvious, that many on here can now predict how a game will be lost once it has begun.
Yet, all we hear about is all of the bad luck that GMac has had. When do we reach the point that we start to realize that this cannot all be just bad luck, and that there is probably something fundamentally wrong within the program, or at the very least his ability to run it.
What evidence is there that GMac can run a successful Big 12 program?
When he took over, some players left, and some recruits decided not to come. Why? Obviously, the only reason one can give is that they did not choose or want to play for GMac. Now whether that was fair of them to do that on their part or not is another discussion, but bottom line that is fact.
Since then, all of the players he has had any sort of "problem" with are his own recruits! He brought these players in because he thought they could be Big 12 basketball players and more importantly, because he thought they would play for him! So many seem to forget that. Some of you act like these players were shoved down his throat or something against his will. These were his players! His choices!
Also, there is still no clear explanation of why WJ left after 2 years. He was on the Big 12 All-Rookie team, then honorable mention All Big 12 the next year, on his way to becoming All Big 12 and maybe even an NBA draft pick eventually, and suddenly he just decides to up and leave the coach who recruited him, to sit out an entire year before he could play again. Not only was GMac apparently blind-sided by this, there has never really been a clear explanation as to why WJ left. Was it the style of play? Was it the coaching? Did he feel he was not going to develop properly under GMac? I have never seen those questions asked or answered. Maybe I missed it.
Then, this year, you had a player who was not able to play for a year and was willing to sit out. He received a lot of support from the coach, the fans, and the school. Then suddenly, in the middle of the season, he abandons his teammates, the coach, the fans and the school with a bogus claim that he needed to return home to accept a chance to play professionally that may not be there at the end of the season. Later, it is found out that his professional team actually wanted him to stay in the U.S. and finish out the season. So what made the kid leave now? Again, was it the coach? Lack of development? What? Still, no answers, because once again, GMac was supposedly blind-sided.
Mid-season, a first-year player walks out on his team. Where does that happen? At how many programs in the country would a first year player even think of doing something like that? It's not like the player is Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson. Yet, he felt it was all right to walk out on his team?
This is the 4th year. The players are GMac's recruits. There are likely 2 players on the team that will make it to the NBA soon. Many coaches would kill to have that kind of talent on their team. Yet, this team cannot win. There is no need to go into all of the performance problems with this team. It has gotten so bad, and so obvious, that many on here can now predict how a game will be lost once it has begun.
Yet, all we hear about is all of the bad luck that GMac has had. When do we reach the point that we start to realize that this cannot all be just bad luck, and that there is probably something fundamentally wrong within the program, or at the very least his ability to run it.
What evidence is there that GMac can run a successful Big 12 program?
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"Do you feel like you were behind the eight ball, in that respect when you took this job?"
I can't think of a better way to describe the sad state of this program ... the issue in a mid-season press conference is how deep the hole was four years ago?
There is no question that despite his claims, he knows that Cyclone Nation is not happy. He is definitely fighting for his job in the court of public perception.
The sad part is. all he has to do to be the most popular guy in Ames is to win.
We're stuck in a neverending debate..and the only way out is winning.
GMac has had two major hurdles: 1) starting with 4 players and 2) WJ transferring. Some people think that's his fault - I can see that. Some people think those are bad breaks - I can see that too. But no one's mind is going to be changed.
But when we talk about other b12 teams that have had success (A&M, Mizz, KSU, etc.) one benefit those guys all had was keeping the existing talent: Turgeon is still coaching Gillespie recruits, Martin is still coaching Huggins recruits, and Mike Anderson had a 6'8" 235lb nephew transfer in, and he took JT Tiller with him from UAB. GMac decided not to bring any UNI guys with him.
GMac has had two major hurdles: 1) starting with 4 players and 2) WJ transferring. Some people think that's his fault - I can see that. Some people think those are bad breaks - I can see that too. But no one's mind is going to be changed.
But when we talk about other b12 teams that have had success (A&M, Mizz, KSU, etc.) one benefit those guys all had was keeping the existing talent: Turgeon is still coaching Gillespie recruits, Martin is still coaching Huggins recruits, and Mike Anderson had a 6'8" 235lb nephew transfer in, and he took JT Tiller with him from UAB. GMac decided not to bring any UNI guys with him.
This is an interesting post. I really think, "in hind sight," Mac should have brought an experienced assistant that has coached at the Big 6 level. I believe that he has said that he had no idea what type of player that he needed to recruit. I really believe that he had no idea how to deal with the type of player that you need to win at this level.
A Melvin Watkins type bench coach could have done him a world of good.
But for him to say that he had no idea those guys would leave says two things to me. First, he did not connect well with them initially and, two, he didn't do the leg work necessary to re-recruit them and make them feel that they were going to be a big part of the program going forward.
You think about it, they were already here, so the toughest sales job was already done. I know that Sadler went to Australia to re-recruit Maric, and he won some games because of it.
So basically he wishes he would have ran off Rashon Clark, Jessan Gray and Jiri Hubalek?
Does he ever wish that he would have done a better job of keeping the players who were on the team and not running off signed commit Laurence Westbrook?
Would any players have come? They seem to love Jacobson.
I couldn't help but notice that GMac today "took credit" for telling UNI recruits like Koch, Eglseder, etc. to keep their commitments to the school after he left for ISU, insinuating his advice was a big factor.
I guess I'd like his influence on them verified by the players themselves.
kg- I think it is only fair to ask you the same question. You put the percentage in an earlier post regarding the coach resigning at "zero chance". Do you sit in at the McDermott dinner table for family conversations? Do you sit in on meetings with Pollard and the coach? Do you meet with boosters regarding the direction of the program?
Inquiring minds want to know.
