Welcome Coach Hewitt - Throwback Thread

[Quentin Daniels]

A fresh faced fan base was so idealistic and naive back then....some of at any rate.

http://www.caazone.com/boards/threads/welcome-coach-hewitt.106897/

 

[p8triotfan4life]

HA! Avatar picture of the year!

 

[Scythe]

I'd just like to quote my own post:

I think it's a "meh" hire, however I'm willing to see what he can do for a season before I judge heavily. I'm more interested to see what happens after he brings in his own recruits.

 

[MasonCrew]

Haha don'tyoumeanACC was/is my little brother. He was against the hire from the start and people just laid into him. I'm going to forward that thread to him.

Also, to clarify - he grew up a Mason fan as we had season tickets when he was in jr high/elem school until we got Hewitt, then my dad cancelled them cause he had seen what Hewitt did at GT (my little bro was there) and saw the writing on the wall.

It's also funny to read him say that Hewitt took the message boards very personally. Didn't Hewitt say our boards were impacting recruiting? I was always in the camp that his complete lack of understanding of the game was the reason.

 

[Pablo]

A fresh faced fan base was so idealistic and naive back then....some of at any rate.

http://www.caazone.com/boards/threads/welcome-coach-hewitt.106897/

So, am I correct that this was your initial post on the hire?

"I feel like this is a pretty good hire, but not a great hire. Like TOC was swinging to get on base and not strike out, but had no intention of trying to knock it over the fence.

I'm open to being told why I'm wrong and having my mind changed, but I look at those final season results at GA Tech and just can't get too excited."
Hugh Akston, Apr 30, 2011

 

[gmutom]

I'll play along since I endorsed the hire and even challenged the few who didn't. I will admit it's little comforting after reading the thread again to see that respected posters like KA, Five Two, Gunnie, lawdog (yes, lawdog!) and gmujim92 were among the many who also liked the choice. Hell, even Hugh said at the time he thought it was a "pretty good" hire.

I do want to give props to Herndon for actually being the one real vocal dissenter. I told him at the time he'd be proven wrong, and I do want it on the record that I ate crow with him in a different thread to admit he was right and I was badly off the mark. He was very gracious in accepting my apology.

Anyway, I'm happy to acknowledge I was not right and that I have finally seen the light. Hewitt has been a colossal failure, and nothing will change until he's shown the door.

 

[Pablo]

Yes, props to Herndon for getting it right from the start. BTW, my wife was right too: "Why would they hire someone who was just fired?"

 

[Walter]

I was against the hire before it was cool to be against Hewitt.

My first post in that old thread: "How many fired BCS coach who went back to a mid major program and had success? Steve Fisher but who else?"

My second post in that old thread:
"So how do we define success? I don't think either of those guys won NCAA tournament games or was able to have a Top 25 ranked team.

"Bottom line: For Hewitt to be considered a success at George Mason he will have to do something very few fired BCS coaches have ever done once they went back to the mid majors, i.e., win championships and win NCAA tournament games. And not just with Coach L's talent. Nestor even was able to win the first few years.

"AND I think we overpaid for an out of work coach. Who was bidding up the salary? Did anyone else want him? Georgia State didn't want him."

 

[gmutom]

Ok, props also go to Walter and Pablos' wife.

 

[dr. gunnie]

To be fair, Mason could have hired a high school JV coach and I would have (and still would) try to spin it to be positive. That's just the kind of person I am, I'm going to give anyone a shot until they prove that they can't do the job.

Hewitt has proved that he can't do the job.

 

[Walter]

To be fair, Mason could have hired a high school JV coach and I would have (and still would) try to spin it to be positive. That's just the kind of person I am, I'm going to give anyone a shot until they prove that they can't do the job.

Hewitt has proved that he can't do the job.

That is a good point. But O'Connor did not get the benefit of the doubt from me on that hire. Edwards likely will.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

So, am I correct that this was your initial post on the hire?

"I feel like this is a pretty good hire, but not a great hire. Like TOC was swinging to get on base and not strike out, but had no intention of trying to knock it over the fence.

I'm open to being told why I'm wrong and having my mind changed, but I look at those final season results at GA Tech and just can't get too excited."
Hugh Akston, Apr 30, 2011

You are correct, though like Gunnie I was trying to be a bit more positive than I actually felt. I looked at those final results with the level of players he recruited and thought I saw oncoming headlights down the tracks. How do you lose to Kennesaw State and Siena with Iman Shumpert and Glen Rice Jr. on your roster?

On the positive ledger, I'll also admit being wrong about the recruiting. Results aside, would not have thought we could sign multiple 4-star guys like Copes, Jenkins, and Gilbert.

 

[gmutom]

I think most of us who liked the Hewitt hire rationalized a little that it would work, because admitting the alternative was conceding our program was heading down the wrong path. Taking it a step further, I actually tried to rationalize that replacing Coach L with a younger coach (my infamous new car analogy) was a positive.

I now have buyer's remorse and would like nothing more than to get my old car back.

 

[Herndon]

I'll play along since I endorsed the hire and even challenged the few who didn't. I will admit it's little comforting after reading the thread again to see that respected posters like KA, Five Two, Gunnie, lawdog (yes, lawdog!) and gmujim92 were among the many who also liked the choice. Hell, even Hugh said at the time he thought it was a "pretty good" hire.

I do want to give props to Herndon for actually being the one real vocal dissenter. I told him at the time he'd be proven wrong, and I do want it on the record that I ate crow with him in a different thread to admit he was right and I was badly off the mark. He was very gracious in accepting my apology.

Anyway, I'm happy to acknowledge I was not right and that I have finally seen the light. Hewitt has been a colossal failure, and nothing will change until he's shown the door.

Meh, hopefully I told you that there's nothing to apologize for. None of us ever really know the future. I wish I had been wrong this time. LOL, lord knows I'm wrong about enough other things.

For example, the little nugget in that thread where I decried vcu's style of play as unsustainable, and not conducive to long term succcess at this level? GENIUS STUFF THERE FROM THIS GUY

 

[wijg]

Fun read through history. I was not on here during the days of Hewitt's hire, but I will admit to being for it. I believed him when he said that he had learned from his previous mistakes. There were some signs in his first year that things weren't right, but I ignored them. The second year, though, it became pretty clear that we were headed in the wrong direction.

In my own way, I am like Gunnie and many others in that I gave Hewitt a shot and supported him initially and I will support the next choice (unless it is Pat Kennedy...). The thing that we (well BE) need to figure out is how we can change course quickly in the future if the next hire does not go as planned. Because, I think most people knew by the end of last year that Hewitt needed to go. It sucks having to wait a year (or heaven forbid two) to make a change that we all knew was coming.

Maybe the answer is money, and hopefully BE will make it rain so that we have the resources to make the head coaching decision based on the merits instead of having to say we can't afford to get rid of a bad coach.

 

[Pablo]

Maybe the answer is money, and hopefully BE will make it rain so that we have the resources to make the head coaching decision based on the merits instead of having to say we can't afford to get rid of a bad coach.

I assume that if the Patriots have a season like last season (and it certainly appears that this will be the case) and Hewitt is retained for the final year of his contract, I expect that many season ticket holders will not renew their tickets. I know that I won't!

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

Ha, I said Hewitt was an excellent defensive coach. Apparently, his talent at GT made his defenses good and not the tactics. One thing I think all of us assumed at the time was that the assistants that we would get would be much better.....

My turning point was actually a game we won. The Richmond game a couple of years ago. A team with zero post presence and we consistently doubled down and let them kill us with 3s. I knew we had serious issues after that one.

 

[GSII]

And i hoped he would fix the x's and o's. Like many i was let down on that one.

 

[Dawgs99]

I fall into the category that Gunnie described, even though there were some questions marks about his abilities I was going to give him a chance to prove either way. The first 2 years I was concerned but not ready to jump off a cliff, after the last 13 months its painfully obvious that he isn't the guy. Even his recruiting hasn't lived up to the hype. I like the new guys but none of them blow me away. I'll take marginal talent with a coach who can motivate and scheme.

 

[KAOriginal]

I had high hopes that a program and coach found each other at the right moment and things were going to be good.

I admit I fell off the wagon early and panicked early, too early per some people. But 3 years later....my panic was justified.

SIGH