AMA w/ Marvin Lewis

[2011WinOverVillanova]

Maybe I’ll do Mr. met a mini solid for once and we can try to steer this back onto chit chat about AMA for Marvin Lewis.

 

[Ben Chwarmer]

He also blew a 15 point lead against Northeastern in the CAA semifinals, and they weren’t a 1 seed that year either (we were a 5th seed, one game over .500 in a vcu-less CAA after Blaine Taylor drank himself out of a job).

And let’s not forget being down 30-2 against vcu the year previous.

I also don’t like this excuse because vcu came in and were immediately successful, same with Davidson. I will grant a 1 year reprieve because 2014 was the best year for the A10 I think ever (6-bids that year). That was a rough year to join. But a good coach adjusts and we got worse.

That stuff happened, no argument. The Northeastern loss and the vcu game were brutal and fair criticism.

I just think two things can be true at once: Hewitt made real mistakes and he was dealing with structural issues that didn’t magically disappear. The roster construction was CAA-level, the resources lagged, and the league jump coincided with peak A-10 chaos. vcu and Davidson adjusted faster because they already had continuity, admin buy-in, and clear identities when they moved—Mason didn’t.

And yeah, a good coach should adjust. He didn’t adjust enough. But acting like Mason was a plug-and-play job where any competent coach would’ve thrived ignores the bigger point: the job itself was (and still is) harder than fans want to admit. That’s why Skinn succeeding despite those limitations matters—and why the admin can’t assume lightning strikes twice without backing him.

 

[pm57WOW]

Did people forget Paul Hewitt went to a national championship game? I’m not here to defend him—but blaming him for Mason’s downturn misses the real issues.

Hewitt caught a bad beat at Mason. He was hired to build a CAA-level roster, then dropped into the peak of the A-10. Lost Hancock (future national champ + MVP) and still finished 3rd. He wasn’t Larrañaga—but most aren’t. Context matters.

Mason is now on its 4th coach since Larrañaga. We’re one of only five universities with 35k+ students and no D1 football, yet never fully committed to basketball—building a band facility before fully investing in the basketball program. Only now is real investment showing up, and even then Mason sits roughly 6th–7th in A-10 NIL.

Tony Skinn is succeeding despite those shortcomings. That should be a flashing warning sign: pony up and keep him, because most coaches won’t win here under these conditions. Hold the administration accountable.

I'm not blaming Hewitt for anything. I'm just saying he "was what he was": A big "meh" as a coach. I compare Hewitt's coaching career to that of Lefty Driesell. Lefty Driesell also "was who he was". Lefty who had a gaudy .666 "career winning percentage", made "only" three elite Eights, won the NIT (when the NIT meant something) , and like Hewitt was a 'great recruiter. Lefty was' "eventually" was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame he before he passed away. I doubt that Paul Hewitt will be similarly honored. That's all I'm saying.

 

[mkaufman1]

I can’t believe we are now discussing Paul freaking Hewitt. lol.

Let’s get back to questions that we hopefully can have Marvin answer.

 

[DRK331]

Here are my questions for Marvin Lewis:

1. Has construction on the Basketball Performance Facility for men's and women's basketball started? When will it be finished by?

2. Will there be upgrades done to the locker room in EBA?

 

[mkaufman1]

Here are my questions for Marvin Lewis:

1. Has construction on the Basketball Performance Facility for men's and women's basketball started? When will it be finished by?

2. Will there be upgrades done to the locker room in EBA?

The locker room was upgraded years ago. But I’m hoping that someone asks about upgrades to EBA in general.

And of course the basketball facility should be on the agenda.

 

[OTSCPodcast]

Hewitt was the "Black Lefty Driesell" only with a "lower winning" percentage. Hewitt had a .557 career winning percentage (Siena, Georgia Tech and Mason) vs .666 for Lefty (Davidson, Maryland, James Madison, and Georgia State). However Lefty never made a Final the NCAA Championship Game , which Hewitt somehow managed to do in 2004.. . However, Lefty did make THREE Elite Eights and won the NIT in 71-72', when the NIT meant something..

Paul Hewitt was also a fantastic guy. Results weren't ideal, which the nature of college basketball is winning, but I had the opportunity to fly to Virginia for 2 years and work camps at Mason and Hewitt was always great to me. I was going to Missouri State at the time and when Nyla got fired from there and came to Mason, she helped get me in with that staff and they allowed me to come work camps. I still stay in touch with Chris Kreider. Great staff and I really believe they could have won at Mason had the circumstances been different.

 

[MasonSAE4]

The locker room was upgraded years ago. But I’m hoping that someone asks about upgrades to EBA in general.

And of course the basketball facility should be on the agenda.

Every time they announce some $10 million dollar patch job for the place, I die inside

 

[Ben Chwarmer]

I can’t believe we are now discussing Paul freaking Hewitt. lol.

Let’s get back to questions that we hopefully can have Marvin answer.

I’ll apologize for sidetracking the conversation, but it is relevant. This is our opportunity to make sure we don’t slide back into the Hewitt era—where coaching instability and weak program support held us back.

Coach Skinn clearly has the program humming, but prominent basketball insiders still believe Mason is middle-of-the-pack in the A-10 when it comes to NIL. That’s the disconnect.

My question for Lewis is this: why can’t Mason fully invest in basketball and dominate? We’re one of only five universities with 35,000+ students without Division I football. If basketball is the flagship, why aren’t we fully embracing it? JMU has aggressively used student fees to finance athletics—so why isn’t a larger state school doing something similar, especially given that we don’t have football?

 

[GMU79]

I’ll apologize for sidetracking the conversation, but it is relevant. This is our opportunity to make sure we don’t slide back into the Hewitt era—where coaching instability and weak program support held us back.

Coach Skinn clearly has the program humming, but prominent basketball insiders still believe Mason is middle-of-the-pack in the A-10 when it comes to NIL. That’s the disconnect.

My question for Lewis is this: why can’t Mason fully invest in basketball and dominate? We’re one of only five universities with 35,000+ students without Division I football. If basketball is the flagship, why aren’t we fully embracing it? JMU has aggressively used student fees to finance athletics—so why isn’t a larger state school doing something similar, especially given that we don’t have football?

This!

 

[GSII]

Was The Virus a nice guy. Yes. Could he coach? No. With all of the things you say we lacked structurally, he should have made up with his recruiting ability. His obsession, with 6'7 tweeners that couldn't shoot, left us with a bunch of Anali Okilogi's. The Virus is known for a contract heist from Georgia tech and Jaret Jack, taking him to the the final. He could get players just could not build teams.

 

[GSII]

I’ll apologize for sidetracking the conversation, but it is relevant. This is our opportunity to make sure we don’t slide back into the Hewitt era—where coaching instability and weak program support held us back.

Coach Skinn clearly has the program humming, but prominent basketball insiders still believe Mason is middle-of-the-pack in the A-10 when it comes to NIL. That’s the disconnect.

My question for Lewis is this: why can’t Mason fully invest in basketball and dominate? We’re one of only five universities with 35,000+ students without Division I football. If basketball is the flagship, why aren’t we fully embracing it? JMU has aggressively used student fees to finance athletics—so why isn’t a larger state school doing something similar, especially given that we don’t have football?

They doubled the coach's salary. That's a start.

You can only do so much with n.I.L that is mainly from boosters.

Rev Share? I think we will be at 3 Million next year for the mens team. Not sure though.

EBA improvements should be coming.

There is also, imo, an unfair racket to keep Mason like programs out of the n c a a tournament.There is no way we should have been out last year.It's all rigged to keep the power schools in with losing records.

I think the school has shown more support than ever before. Merten didnt double Coach L's pay. Maybe if he did, we wouldn't have experienced The Virus.

 

[mkaufman1]

I’ll apologize for sidetracking the conversation, but it is relevant. This is our opportunity to make sure we don’t slide back into the Hewitt era—where coaching instability and weak program support held us back.

Coach Skinn clearly has the program humming, but prominent basketball insiders still believe Mason is middle-of-the-pack in the A-10 when it comes to NIL. That’s the disconnect.

My question for Lewis is this: why can’t Mason fully invest in basketball and dominate? We’re one of only five universities with 35,000+ students without Division I football. If basketball is the flagship, why aren’t we fully embracing it? JMU has aggressively used student fees to finance athletics—so why isn’t a larger state school doing something similar, especially given that we don’t have football?

All good all good. Just was trying to moderate.

That said I hope many of these questions which have overlap (facilities, investment etc etc) are answered because we all are dying to know the answers many of the same topics. And like you and many of us here, nobody wants to see the basketball programs specifically go backwards. We’ve seen Tony get what he clearly deserves to date, and hopefully the bar continues to be raised financially.

 

[DRK331]

Here are my questions for Marvin Lewis:

1. Has construction on the Basketball Performance Facility for men's and women's basketball started? When will it be finished by?

2. Will there be upgrades done to the locker room in EBA?

3. Is there a long term plan for Tony Skinn? Tony is doing an excellent job here at Mason and he is 1 of 1. He should be the highest paid coach in the A10, and he should be given anything he wants (NIL budget, facilities etc) in order to make Mason the Gonzaga of the east coast. We need to go ALL IN on Tony and make Mason into a powerhouse program

 

[mkaufman1]

Here are my questions for Marvin Lewis:

1. Has construction on the Basketball Performance Facility for men's and women's basketball started? When will it be finished by?

2. Will there be upgrades done to the locker room in EBA?

3. Is there a long term plan for Tony Skinn? Tony is doing an excellent job here at Mason and he is 1 of 1. He should be the highest paid coach in the A10, and he should be given anything he wants (NIL budget, facilities etc) in order to make Mason the Gonzaga of the east coast. We need to go ALL IN on Tony and make Mason into a powerhouse program

2. The locker room was already upgraded years ago.

 

[GMU79]

Was The Virus a nice guy. Yes. Could he coach? No. With all of the things you say we lacked structurally, he should have made up with his recruiting ability. His obsession, with 6'7 tweeners that couldn't shoot, left us with a bunch of Anali Okilogi's. The Virus is known for a contract heist from Georgia tech and Jaret Jack, taking him to the the final. He could get players just could not build teams.

This, too.

They doubled the coach's salary. That's a start.

You can only do so much with n.I.L that is mainly from boosters.

Rev Share? I think we will be at 3 Million next year for the mens team. Not sure though.

EBA improvements should be coming.

There is also, imo, an unfair racket to keep Mason like programs out of the n c a a tournament.There is no way we should have been out last year.It's all rigged to keep the power schools in with losing records.

I think the school has shown more support than ever before. Merten didnt double Coach L's pay. Maybe if he did, we wouldn't have experienced The Virus.

Paragraph 5 is interesting. Unfortunately, I think you're right.

 

[GMUgemini]

They doubled the coach's salary. That's a start.

You can only do so much with n.I.L that is mainly from boosters.

Rev Share? I think we will be at 3 Million next year for the mens team. Not sure though.

EBA improvements should be coming.

There is also, imo, an unfair racket to keep Mason like programs out of the n c a a tournament.There is no way we should have been out last year.It's all rigged to keep the power schools in with losing records.

I think the school has shown more support than ever before. Merten didnt double Coach L's pay. Maybe if he did, we wouldn't have experienced The Virus.

I’m sure we all look at the various metrics websites. KenPom didn’t line us because of our offensive efficiency, but the delta between what our RPI would have been and what our NET wound up being was nearly 40 points difference. We would have been an at-large 10 years ago.

 

[DRK331]

2. The locker room was already upgraded years ago.

That is good, but I think it should be upgraded even more.

 

[mkaufman1]

That is good, but I think it should be upgraded even more.

What do you feel is inadequate about the current locker rooms?

 

[tblack33]

That is good, but I think it should be upgraded even more.

I personally want changes to EBA to improve the fan experience, but from a facilities standpoint, we are just fine nowadays. It’s no longer the arms race it used to be, it’s effectively binary (either you have dedicated facilities, or you don’t).

The biggest thing that matters in recruiting nowadays is what can you pay players. They’ll go to a spot with arguably worse amenities if it means a bigger take home pay check.