Are you happy we hired Kim English as our Head Coach?

[TweederGMU]

Conducting a Poll. Please vote accordingly, it is anonymous. Curious to see where people stand deep in Year 2.

 

[mkaufman1]

Lol someone already voted no. @GMU79 where you at?

 

[GMUSSTN]

I was NOT happy we hired Paul Hewitt.

I was absolutely happy we hired DP, though, and CKE currently fits into that boat. It didn't work out with DP, so I wanted him fired. It wasn't like with Hewitt where he just seemed like he wasn't even trying anymore and didn't really care if we won or lost. He was barely engaged with the program. DP was trying, it just wasn't working. Seems that's how it's going with CKE right now. He deserves time to turn it around, and I want him to be the guy to do it.

 

[mkaufman1]

After Hewitt and DP we all wanted the rising star, who was hungry, who could recruit the everlasting "sleeping giant" that is GMU Men's Basketball.

Finally, Mason went out and got what was identified as a top notch recruiter and up and coming stud. The idea was to take what DP laid out groundwork for, build on top and finally make the NCAAs. He has been just that, bringing in guys who have mostly been rated 3 stars, with equivalent offers. However, the coaching hasn't always been great and there's been a ton of close losses.

Sure, the results through 2 years haven't been great, and last night was really rough. Will this work out? I don't know, but I will continue to be patient with him.

 

[BBride]

Mason needs someone like Phil Martelli with a ton of HC experience while helping Juwan Howard. I don't think Felton is that guy.

 

[GMU79]

Lol someone already voted no. @GMU79 where you at?

Wasn't me!
Though I don't blame you.

 

[mkaufman1]

Wasn't me!
Though I don't blame you.

Lol curious who it was then.

 

[Copes4Three]

Time to fire English and bring back the GOAT which was Hewitt. At least we played in a post season tournament. Dp couldn’t recruit and English can’t coach

 

[Verdad]

Time to fire English and bring back the GOAT which was Hewitt. At least we played in a post season tournament. Dp couldn’t recruit and English can’t coach

DP played in a post season tournament, though it is entirely reasonable for any fan to have wiped that debacle from their memory

 

[Copes4Three]

But in all seriousness last year after losing to Fordham in the first round who had players leave during the year lol he was placed on the warm seat. Okay new year, transfers, hype around Fernandez. senior team and we have a terrible record in games decided less then by 5 points. That’s not excusable. This team is focused on their life after graduating so the real question becomes based on what we have seen do you trust English to retool a brand new roster with enough talent to at least be a top four team? To be clear having English was to put at a top 4 level not floating around 500. The expectations for English should were way higher than Paulson should have been because of the SEC roots.

 

[Copes4Three]

DP played in a post season tournament, though it is entirely reasonable for any fan to have wiped that debacle from their memory

DP had no expectations. Team was built of kids who worked and competed hard and didn’t have enough talent. That’s why Dp was good at first because he worked with PH recruits. Once they left he really couldn’t recruit well enough to lift the program even though he was a good coach imo. English was brought in to take mason to the next level and so far I just haven’t been impressed

 

[GSII]

It's all About coaching. Look at Schdmit at Bonaventure. There is something wrong with Kim's philosophy And scheme. What else can explain these guys looking so lost? RP dribbles for half the shot clock. Wtf.

 

[GMU79]

Lol curious who it was then.

Beats me. But at least I'm not the turd in the punch bowl this time.

 

[Bricker]

Voted yes simply because KE is the type of person we need to launch Mason back to relevance. It was a good hire and the correct hire -- regardless how it works out. I'm not happy with things right now, but I'm not going to get my pitchfork yet.

I can think of more than a handful of successful coaches who laid an egg during their first 2-3 seasons.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

It's all About coaching. Look at Schdmit at Bonaventure. There is something wrong with Kim's philosophy And scheme. What else can explain these guys looking so lost? RP dribbles for half the shot clock. Wtf.

Bad example. That guy is probably as good of a coach as you will see at the A-10 level. He's a unicorn.... I think it's more of an issue of CKE overvaluing certain players (talent evaluation), overestimating his capability of teaching, and a lack of identity. I'm not going to harp on the "identity" thing too much because the flip side is a guy who has a set in stone "identity" and doesn't adapt to his personnel. The latter drives me totally insane. So I think CKE is on the better end of that spectrum, but there does have to some core set of values that we stick to in order to succeed.

I voted "need more time". At the time I was very excited, but there was a part of me that wondered if Tony was a better fit for us just knowing the program, the area, and level. CKE was used to walking into 4 and 5 star's houses as opposed to grinding for the diamond in the rough high 2 or low 3 star.

 

[Herndon]

Time to fire English and bring back the GOAT which was Hewitt. At least we played in a post season tournament. Dp couldn’t recruit and English can’t coach

DP recruited 2 guys who are currently starting at top 25 programs, a guy starting at Southern Illinois who is in first place in a conference just about as good as the a10, and the guy who has been masons best player the past 2 years.

It's also too early to say that English can't coach. He's a guy that's going to live or die via recruiting, so let's let his first freshman Class make it to their junior year before we start killing the guy.

 

[Dawgs99]

DP recruited 2 guys who are currently starting at top 25 programs, a guy starting at Southern Illinois who is in first place in a conference just about as good as the a10, and the guy who has been masons best player the past 2 years.

It's also too early to say that English can't coach. He's a guy that's going to live or die via recruiting, so let's let his first freshman Class make it to their junior year before we start killing the guy.

This is where I am also. I will reserve final judgement until the kids he's recruited from the HS ranks are playing the majority of the minutes.....then we will know one way or the other. I still believe that he can get it done here, but changes are needed.

 

[HoopsAdmin]

I am in the "glass is half full" camp.

When you make a commitment to hire a young up-and-coming coach, you are committing to letting him learn on the job and letting him grow and develop. It's different than hiring someone like Hewitt or DP. We have to let KE go back to the drawing board this summer and fix his broken system based on what he's now learning. I know many of us feel like he's trying to put in an SEC-style or pro system with mostly mid-range A10 talent. He's got to evolve to running a system that fits the players he's getting.

Either way, this could be the origin story of a legend, or it could be another blip in a downward spiral. We gotta ride with it.

 

[mkaufman1]

This is where I am also. I will reserve final judgement until the kids he's recruited from the HS ranks are playing the majority of the minutes.....then we will know one way or the other. I still believe that he can get it done here, but changes are needed.

No disagreement but my concern is that this may be a thing of the past. With the transfer portal being so popular (and probably never dying down unless they change the rules back), will we ever see our high school recruited players, play 2-3-4 years at Mason again? I hope so, but I really dont' know.

I do hope that at the very least with using the portal as a supplement, when we are recruiting as a whole we continue to recruit guys rated well and with comparable offers. That at the very least should give us MORE of a chance on the court.

It is only going to get tougher. Fordham is doing better, URI Umass and GW all have new coaches who are expected to have success. We can't forget about the other programs either. Everyone recruits very well in this league.

 

[GMU79]

5 No votes at this point.
And no, I did not vote 5 times.