Please write Brad Edwards

[JimP]

I'd be interested to hear what some of you asked BE to do. I am just as upset with what has happened the past few years but remember we are only 2 games into Edwards tenure as AD for our basketball team. What do you expect him to do..fire Hewitt and have who coach the team the rest of the year? Hewitt is not a good coach, but for some reason the players really like him, and I would argue that we probably have some of the worst Assistant Coaches in the country. Fire him now and this team would finish with about 3 wins, players would probably leave after the fall semester and no one will show up to the games. Sounds exactly like something the AD wants to have happen in his first year...
Having said that, I am not opposed to writing him but that letter should have been written this past summer or mid way through this season(at the earliest).

I guess it's good the players like him. I remember years ago I worked in a Fairfax County daycare program that Nsilo Abraham worked in. (this was around 2002 or so) I asked him if he liked Larranaga and he told me no. I never got into the specifics of why with him. I wasn't following the team in the '90's, so I don't know why. Maybe some of you guys know. Maybe his PT declined.

Anyway - I'm rambling, but coaching is the same as teaching, you shouldn't care whether your students like you or not. (not that you're saying you should) I'm sure other players didn't like Larranaga, but he still got pretty good results. Players like Hewitt, but he can't get meaningful W's out of them.

Maybe Hewitt will put this on the bulletin board before tonight's game. Go GMU - er I mean GMU's got no shot tonight!

 

[Masonfan3]

I guess it's good the players like him. I remember years ago I worked in a Fairfax County daycare program that Nsilo Abraham worked in. (this was around 2002 or so) I asked him if he liked Larranaga and he told me no. I never got into the specifics of why with him. I wasn't following the team in the '90's, so I don't know why. Maybe some of you guys know. Maybe his PT declined.

Anyway - I'm rambling, but coaching is the same as teaching, you shouldn't care whether your students like you or not. (not that you're saying you should) I'm sure other players didn't like Larranaga, but he still got pretty good results. Players like Hewitt, but he can't get meaningful W's out of them.

Maybe Hewitt will put this on the bulletin board before tonight's game. Go GMU - er I mean GMU's got no shot tonight!

I definitely agree with you that you shouldn't care if players like you or not. I can also say that I know for a fact that during the early to mid 2000's there were a decent amount of players that did not like Larranaga but he got W's so that's all that mattered.

 

[Pablo]

I guess it's good the players like him. I remember years ago I worked in a Fairfax County daycare program that Nsilo Abraham worked in. (this was around 2002 or so) I asked him if he liked Larranaga and he told me no. I never got into the specifics of why with him. I wasn't following the team in the '90's, so I don't know why. Maybe some of you guys know. Maybe his PT declined.

I met Nsilo (his sister is an assistant on Mason women's basketball team) when he was here and enjoyed talking to him (although I never asked him what he thought of Larranaga). However, I thought it was interesting that he gave up his final season of eligibility to student teach (the D-1 transfer did have a significant reduction in PT in his 2nd and final season playing for the Patriots (1998-99)).

 

[GMUgemini]

The real problem with firing Hewitt mid-season is who are you going to put in the interim head coaching position -- Houston, Kreider, Skeeters? Do any of those guys sound like they would make going to Mason games any more enjoyable than they are now?

I suppose the benefit is start the bloodletting early -- let those who will transfer, transfer. We might find ourselves in a Delaware-type situation, though, of a few seasons ago and having to dress team managers in a "just in case" scenario. But I suppose even in Necessary Roughness they managed to win one game with team/equipment manger-type players (and Kathy Ireland of course).

 

[PoorManProfit]

I think Hewitt is a happy guy. That guy has a ton of cash in his bank accounts.

 

[Pablo]

 

[wijg]

The only real benefit I see to firing Hewitt mid-season (other than the satisfaction) is that then we know he is gone. Until he is actually gone, there is always some sort of chance he gets to stay. I mean, the guy must be quite personable as anyone who has ever met him and talked about him seems to say good things. And even though he seems to frequently blame the players (see post game interviews from last year), they still seem to stand by him and like him. It is almost Jim Jones-esque. So, there is no telling if he can talk Edwards (et al.) into keeping him. A good reason to make sure people politely express their displeasure with Hewitt to Edwards to make sure they at least know their is discontent in the fan base so they can't say they didn't know when they get to the end of this season.

 

[Pablo]

http://blog.redskins.com/2014/06/10/brad-edwards-on-first-redskins-moment-joe-gibbs-influence/:

"And while he had other coaches instructing him on football, no one figure was more influential on Edwards both on and off the field than Gibbs.

'I think the years that I was here, certainly under Joe Gibbs, were the most formative of my entire life and I try to manage the way coach Gibbs managed, the way he treated people, the way he always ended things well. He wasn’t a screamer, he wasn’t a yeller, but he had an insane work ethic.

He had high expectations and standards and he held you accountable, but he always made you feel like he wanted you. He wanted to see you succeed.'"

 

[Irish44j]

It's not a coach's job to have the players like him. He's not their friend or their buddy. He is there to work their asses hard to make them good basketball players (and good students, presumably). If they're working their asses off, the players probably don't like the coach much. But winning solves that.

I'm sure the players may like lax practices and Paul is a nice guy. I'm betting Coach L's teams liked being a top conference team every year even if they didn't like him. Like I'm sure our players now aren't enjoying being the laughing stock of the A-10

 

[gmujim92]

We look like a team that has literally not spent one second practicing basketball.

We can't even inbound the ball consistently, much less execute a basic press break.

This is as poorly coached a group of athletes as I have ever seen -- and now that Larranaga's guys are gone, there's nobody around to mask Hewitt's sheer lousiness.

I'd be fine with Edwards walking into our locker room and serving Hewitt's walking papers now. It's about time.

 

[smccart5]

We look absolutely awful. Can't inbound, taking bad shots, picking up our dribble constantly...

With that said Shevon Thompson looks really solid- possibly the best looking guy i've seen for Mason (as a freshman). Did you see him catch a bad pass and then finish? He looked like an actual basketball player

 

[gmujim92]

We look absolutely awful. Can't inbound, taking bad shots, picking up our dribble constantly...

With that said Shevon Thompson looks really solid- possibly the best looking guy i've seen for Mason (as a freshman). Did you see him catch a bad pass and then finish? He looked like an actual basketball player

He's not a freshman

 

[smccart5]

He's not a freshman

who is a freshman these days? honestly all of our first yr players are better than any class i've seen

 

[gmujim92]

who is a freshman these days? honestly all of our first yr players are better than any class i've seen

You must not have been following this team for long.

The Thomas-Campbell-Vaughan-Carter class was way better than anything Hewitt has recruited.

Not even close.

 

[smccart5]

You must not have been following this team for long.

The Thomas-Campbell-Vaughan-Carter class was way better than anything Hewitt has recruited.

Not even close.

True their Jr. year was my first.

 

[patriot2000]

who is a freshman these days? honestly all of our first yr players are better than any class i've seen

That's the thing, though. Hewitt recruits guys that look great, but then what? Neither he nor his assistants are coaching them up.

 

[smccart5]

That's the thing, though. Hewitt recruits guys that look great, but then what? Neither he nor his assistants are coaching them up.

Exactly. This is why i'm convinced it's a coaching issue

 

[smccart5]

i'm not surprised the band doesn't waste their time going to PR anymore. We used to use these early tournaments to mess up the big boys November.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Just sent this to Brad.

It's time for a change. Paul Hewitt has run a once proud program into ruins. We have regressed every year of his tenure and it will take years to repair the damage he has done. So, get a head start and let him go now. I have been a loyal supporter of GMU for years and have suffered through the likes of Ernie Nestor and Paul Westhead but this is flat out embarrassing. There is an end to my patience and financial support of the program. The time has come.

 

[patriot2000]

The product on the floor isn't my only problem. I felt so connected to the program and so proud to be associated with it, even if just financially, until 2011. I haven't written Edwards and I'm not sure I will. But if I do, it will be to list for him all the reasons I have become apathetic toward his entire department, and not just to bitch about the embarrassing losses. The ONLY thing about the entire experience of being a Mason MBB fan that has not gotten worse is the band. There is a chance this will be the first season since 1995 that I may not make it to a game. And I don't think I'll be missing anything. Sad.