Official Announcement of TJ as the New Iowa State Mens BBall Coach

[ribsnwhiskey]

It wasn’t in bad shape.

TJ was making it his program. Those self-inflicted growing pains may have been worth it if given enough time, I don’t know. Or care. JP is correct in saying we’re hiring him to win here. We aren’t in good shape- so transition slippage at UNLV isn’t too concerning. But we don’t need to suggest UNLV fans are stuck in the 80’s when they struggled more in Year 2 of TJ than the year before he was hired, and a lot of the roster turnover was reminiscent of McD.

That last part is noteworthy imo. A fine line between needing to establish your culture and have your guys, and struggling to make talent your guys.

Luckily TJ is covered by 0-18. We underperformed. Any similar pains he had at taking over UNLV won’t be easily noticed. And if he’s learned from that experience- we could be good, quickly.

When TJ was hired, they hadn't been to the tournament in 5 years. Whether it was in bad shape or not is subjective, but you don't normally fire a coach when things are in good shape. I don't think UNLV fans are stuck in the 80s, but their team has had 1 sweet sixteen appearance and 8 total NCAA tournament appearances in 30 years. So they are stuck somewhere.

 

[josh4isu]

Well I sure as **** hope so.

We better beat it by the second week of November. That's what SUNY-Buffalo type schools are for.

Agreed. And as you remember those teams weren't exactly easy for this years team to beat either.

 

[peteypie]

Last I checked Covid was a global pandemic, not a local one to the Las Vegas area. I have no doubt it influenced UNLVs season, but literally every team in the country dealt with and is still dealing with it. I just don't buy it as an excuse to completely look past their relative struggles this year.

But if you noticed, with less chance to prepare, teams with many new players in both basketball and football struggled more. Older teams flourished. Not that hard to differentiate that covid effected iowa Hawkeyes differently than Kentucky. Just no time to gel

 

[CYEATHAWK]

how do you know he didn’t gauge interest from some bigger names and they all said no thanks to even interview. At this point he might of said if going to hire a risk I’m going with a known risk. I love that so many think they know all the details of how this went down.

I'm going on what people here who say they are "in the know" stated that JP was hell bent on this hire because he didn't get it 6 years ago. And from watching those podcasts.........I would say the people who were in the know...........knew.

 

[Cyclonick182]

Put me in the camp that was underwhelmed until Niang put his seal of approval on the hire.

 

[cyclonehomer]

They finished 7th in the Mountain West and lost most of their best players. In no way were they in pretty decent shape. Maybe not horrendous shape.

I'm not an expert in UNLVs basketball history. But they were on a steady upward trajectory, winning more conference games each year under Menzie and TJs first season, before a drop off this year for what could be a number of reasons. I just dispute the idea that UNLV needed a massive rebuild, like we're looking at here.

 

[josh4isu]

Put me in the camp that was underwhelmed until Niang put his seal of approval on the hire.

Yeah if one of the 5 best players in school history loves the hire....I do too.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

I'm not an expert in UNLVs basketball history. But they were on a steady upward trajectory, winning more conference games each year under Menzie and TJs first season, before a drop off this year for what could be a number of reasons. I just dispute the idea that UNLV needed a massive rebuild, like we're looking at here.

Had McCoy stuck around, I'm of the thinking it would have made it much harder for them to fire Menzies.

 

[Statefan10]

They should get more credibility than all of us. But what do you expect them to say?

Well if they didn’t like the coaching hire they probably wouldn’t say anything. Speaking of that.. did anyone else see what Hallice said?

 

[marothisu]

When TJ was hired, they hadn't been to the tournament in 5 years. Whether it was in bad shape or not is subjective, but you don't normally fire a coach when things are in good shape. I don't think UNLV fans are stuck in the 80s, but their team has had 1 sweet sixteen appearance and 8 total NCAA tournament appearances in 30 years. So they are stuck somewhere.

In the early 90s they were great. Since 1993-94, they've had 24 winning seasons out of 28 total. They made it beyond the 2nd round (true 2nd round) once which was 06-07 under Lon Kruger. They have not made the NCAA tournament in 8 seasons. UNLV has been a pretty successful program historically, but in the last 8 seasons they're 133-121 which is OK but not great. ISU has gone 150-103 even with the terrible year this year (148-81 coming into this season).

 

[Mr.G.Spot]

I'm going on what people here who say they are "in the know" stated that JP was hell bent on this hire because he didn't get it 6 years ago. And from watching those podcasts.........I would say the people who were in the know...........knew.

They need to say how they know something.....

 

[WhoISthis]

When TJ was hired, they hadn't been to the tournament in 5 years. Whether it was in bad shape or not is subjective, but you don't normally fire a coach when things are in good shape. I don't think UNLV fans are stuck in the 80s, but their team has had 1 sweet sixteen appearance and 8 total NCAA tournament appearances in 30 years. So they are stuck somewhere.

I don’t think they’re stuck anywhere.

First, you’re implying they’re discontent because of not having NCAA wins or appearances. Just like us with Prohm, it’s beyond that. TJ’s team played bad basketball. Fans aren’t going to be happy with largely self-inflicted regression. If TJ had a track record, maybe they think it’ll be worth it in the end. Instead they’re looking at more transfers and losing their top recruit. Circumstances can derail good coaches- we know that.

Second, any program is just a couple years away, particularly one that historically recruits well. If it takes you years to rebuild in today’s MBB, you’ve hired the wrong guy. And there’s reason to believe that was the most likely path. That’s even more true when it didn’t even need to be a tear down, you just had to have “your guys”.

Look at the coaches that proceeded TJ. They’re not stuck as much as they recognize mediocre play and coaches. TJ will need a better staff and to have less damaging turnover here, although 0-18 makes it tough to not have instant momentum

 

[WhoISthis]

They finished 7th in the Mountain West and lost most of their best players. In no way were they in pretty decent shape. Maybe not horrendous shape.

Why did they lose them?

 

[Cycl0nepower]

I'm not an expert in UNLVs basketball history. But they were on a steady upward trajectory, winning more conference games each year under Menzie and TJs first season, before a drop off this year for what could be a number of reasons. I just dispute the idea that UNLV needed a massive rebuild, like we're looking at here.

I agree they need less of a rebuild. They can get pretty good recruits at UNLV, but a lot of guys want to play p5. Amauri Hardy had a really good year and went to Oregon which is a great program. Also Covid ****** things up. Duke and Kentucky didn’t make the tournament this year. C’mon.

 

[CySmurf]

And it wouldn't have killed JP to cast a wide net. But here we are.

I'm not disagreeing with that statement at all. I wish he had...but he didn't. So I'm going to support the guy he hired and hope he can do exciting things.

 

[WhoISthis]

But if you noticed, with less chance to prepare, teams with many new players in both basketball and football struggled more. Older teams flourished. Not that hard to differentiate that covid effected iowa Hawkeyes differently than Kentucky. Just no time to gel

Maybe we should give Prohm another year? He didn’t have as big of inherent talent advantage over the rest of the conference as a place like UNLV. Early departures. Covid pause. No home court advantage like normal. Injuries/illness to Foster and Hinson. Transfers. What could we have expected?

There are always reasons for poor play. Is it surprising we went immediately with a candidate with such attachments? Yes. Just how bad would TJ have needed to be for him to not be an immediate choice?

 

[CyLyte2]

Last I checked Covid was a global pandemic, not a local one to the Las Vegas area. I have no doubt it influenced UNLVs season, but literally every team in the country dealt with and is still dealing with it. I just don't buy it as an excuse to completely look past their relative struggles this year.

Every team in the country had 33 days off? Yeah, I don’t think so. It took any team in the country and suspended their activities for 33 days in the middle of the season they are never going to be the same team.

 

[jsb]

Every team in the country had 33 days off? Yeah, I don’t think so. It took any team in the country and suspended their activities for 33 days in the middle of the season they are never going to be the same team.

A lot of teams did. I think most teams that had to pause were over 20 days. The COVID excuse for TJ is the weakest. I can almost get behind the ******** about cleaning house

 

[Cycl0nepower]

Why did they lose them?

If you understand college basketball, than you know that players commit to the coach more than the school. When a coach leaves a lot of players typically transfer. Look at how many players bounced from Wichita State after Marshall got canned. Are you trying to insinuate that players don’t want to play for T.J.? Countless former cyclones have expressed how good the hire is and he had the 16th best recruiting class in the nation this year at a mountain west school.

 

[RustShack]

Teams with high turnover last year were in a much worse position than teams with a bunch of returners. It even effected a lot of the blue bloods, who have more talent than most schools.