natetheskate wrote:
lusuperfan wrote:
Do we need another assistant to coach forwards? Granic has literally played 15 minutes in the last 5 and a half weeks. What has he done to earn him a spot in the doghouse and what's the point of even giving him a scholarship if you don't play him?
-Conditioning vs. the rest of the Valley programs' conditioning
-How he manages the team's depth, especially as the minutes pile up on our key players
-Noncon scheduling - the SDSU game was our highest non-con RPI team. Not only did we not even technically schedule it, but that win also looks less and less outstanding as they implode.
-Play-calling at the end of the game (Clayton's 3 out of the timeout vs. ISUr and tonight's Doyle drive to nowhere)
Okay let me see if I can pick some of these off. ....but basically I would say one is on Coach and the other is on us. At the meeting with the AD last month it was obvious the effect of money on asst. coaches , recruiting and scheduling. I love Joe Crisman but no experience=cheap, scheduling good teams requires guaranteed cash which we do not make up either through tv or tickets.....these games cost us money. We are near the bottom in almost every spending category. However some of the other stuff is Coach. You can count on if you make a DEFENSIVE mistake u r on the bench. Tough to be able to perform at coaches defensive expectations as a rookie....that makes this year tough on rotations , depth and egos.
I think some of these options might be unavailable given the financial situation, but there are ways where we can improve and get around it. That's only if we can not only identify the problem but make conscientious efforts to change.
Maybe we don't have the money to hire a new strength coach from another program (which would probably mean we need to give the new guy a raise from his old job). A change in how PM plays Custer and Richardson, dropping their minutes from 35 a game to 25 and getting Smith, Skokna, and Satterwhite in there for a few extra minutes to give those guys a rest might result in slightly fresher legs for those 2 in February.
If our financials are really that dire, scheduling philosophy should change too. We shouldn't bring in any D2 teams next year. Period. We barely brought in 1,000 fans to see those 2 games (the figures were similarly low for Alcorn St. and Norfolk St.), so the revenue incentive is just not there. If we're looking for non-competitive games to expand the bench and develop guys, use those dates to go on the road against Power 5 teams. Custer and Richardson's homecoming trip shouldn't be to UMKC for a home-and-home that, when UMKC comes to Gentile, will draw 2,000 fans on a really good day. Their trip should be a high 5, maybe 6 figure guarantee game at Kansas. If Tyson and Aundre get road games in their neck of the woods, they should be against Maryland and SMU/TCU respectively. Texas-Arlington forces their program to generate $300k in guarantee game revenue. I concede that $300k is excessive, but money does talk. If we needed an extra $25k for the charter to SIU to pull that game out, you can find that in this year's budget by not even scheduling those 2 D2 games, nevertheless replacing them with $150k in guarantee game revenue.