WP: What Happened to George Mason Basketball?

[Walter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...bc9ebe-a317-11e4-91fc-7dff95a14458_story.html

 

[Walter]

Answer: O'Connor pissed off Larranaga and then hired Hewitt.

 

[Bricker]

Wow-- this is the kind of article we've been wanting for some time. Bravo to Goff and the Post.

 

[gmutom]

Long overdue article. In the past I would have been embarrassed by this type of publicity, but I want this to run on the front page of tomorrow's print edition (as in A1, not the Sports section). The more heat Cabrera and Edwards feel, the more likely they will be to make changes on and off the court.

 

[Bricker]

Man, and that Hewitt quote is amazing:

“We have good enough players,” Hewitt said. “We haven’t capitalized on some situations we have created for ourselves and offensively we’ve been woefully inconsistent.”

So, you completely understand the problem-- yet refuse to do anything to address it? Got it.

It's amazing how tone deaf he is... at least that's a grain of consistency for us.

 

[MASONscott]

Appreciate that this is significant progress from the administration (Please oh Please let Edwards be the real deal).

<Mason’s dip, coupled with heightened competition in the A-10, have prompted Edwards to begin outlining plans to upgrade the program.

The university has formed a committee to explore major renovations to Patriot Center (built in 1985) or constructing a new on-campus arena. Edwards and other athletic department officials have toured facilities such as the University of Richmond’s Robins Center, which reopened last year with fewer seats and upgraded infrastructure and amenities.

Edwards is also looking to increase the number of charter flights and improve the team facilities and support system.

“We recognize that athletics, principally basketball for us, is a marketing opportunity for the institution, and we want to maximize that,” he said. “And we know the competition is not taking their foot off the gas. Now it’s that point where the transition into the Atlantic 10 is underway and we have to take the next step.”

He has weighed George Mason’s athletic budget to that of other universities without football, such as vcu and Wichita State. The Patriots are well behind, according to the Knight Commission, the reform panel that operates a data base of athletic and academic spending.>

 

[GMUgemini]

That article is both encouraging and discouraging. Encouraging because Edwards actively wants to upgrade our athletic facilities for basketball and give them the resources it needs to compete. Discouraging because nothing will happen with Hewitt until after the season.

 

[A.-Siegfried]

I told you the people that think Edwards/Cabrera don't care were dead wrong.

 

[gmutom]

Discouraging because nothing will happen with Hewitt until after the season.

As tempting and rewarding as it would be to can him now rather than at the end of the season, nothing good will come out of it. None of our assistants will be retained at the end of the season if he is fired now, so promoting one of them as an lame-duck interim head coach won't do anything to change our standing with Gilbert or any other recruits we are offering.

At this point, I don't even care about the $85,000 bonus as long as he is canned at the end of the season. That will still give Edwards ample time to do a thorough coaching search and then hire somebody who can dig us out of this mess.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

To answer the question.....



The school let me get away,

and tried to replace him with me.

and thus ends the mystery of the missing wins.

 

[dr. gunnie]

At this point, I don't even care about the $85,000 bonus as long as he is canned at the end of the season. That will still give Edwards to do a thorough coaching search and then hire somebody who can dig us out of this mess.

We can get 3 or 4 more chartered flights with that $85,000!!!

 

[gmutom]

We can get 3 or 4 more chartered flights with that $85,000!!!

True, but don't we run the risk of being an even bigger joke going into the A10 tournament with a lame-duck assistant? Granted, we're only going to be playing one game there regardless, but it still casts an even bigger spotlight on the 3-ring circus we've become.

 

[JimP]

We can get 3 or 4 more chartered flights with that $85,000!!!

Seriously. I guess we can debate whether keeping him through March 1st is good or bad for the team, but what a joke of a bonus. Again, what was TOC thinking? Was he really that desperate to get Paul freaking Hewitt?

I'm not embarrassed to say my household income is about the same as Hewitt's $85,000 bonus, (infuriated though) but TOC ought to be embarrassed he agreed to such a ludicrously timed bonus. Hewitt oughta be ashamed to accept it.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Good article.

Edwards is doing the right thing, assessing the situation. God, would love it in ten years or so if we had a venue comparable to Richmond's redone one. One luxury box right here--guaranteed.

Although the attendance will go up before the year ends, that and a drop in fundraising should guarantee Hewitt's exit at the end of the year if there is not radical improvement.

It simply will not happen midseason though. Even with the bonus deadline most likely.

 

[dr. gunnie]

True, but don't we run the risk of being an even bigger joke going into the A10 tournament with a lame-duck assistant? Granted, we're only going to be playing one game there regardless, but it still casts an even bigger spotlight on the 3-ring circus we've become.

We could go into the tournament with Jackie Moon as our coach and I still don't think we would be any bigger of a joke than we are now.

 

[gmutom]

We could go into the tournament with Jackie Moon as our coach and I still don't think we would be any bigger of a joke than we are now.

Haha, touche.

 

[Raider_SPE]

True, but don't we run the risk of being an even bigger joke going into the A10 tournament with a lame-duck assistant? Granted, we're only going to be playing one game there regardless, but it still casts an even bigger spotlight on the 3-ring circus we've become.

Tom, if by the end of conference season we sit in the play-in game as a result of numerous double digit losses to the upper 3/4 of the conference, there should be no reason not to let him go and have one of our assistants take a crack. Maybe it will rejuvenate our team a bit. It would sure as hell get me fired up.

 

[smccart5]

I am disgusted. In particular the part where O'Connor says, "we did not expect to be back to the final four any time soon. That kind of magic does not happen every day.

HOLY HELL! It was not "magic"!! It was a good coach with experienced players who got hot at the right time, but they had proven all season to be very talented. Also- Wichita State, vcu...and all the others have proven that it is NOT A FLUKE.

This disappoints me so much because it is obvious that Tom did not truly believe in George Mason. He was very happy with a mediocre team who did ok every now and then. This article proves to me what so many have been saying over the past few years...that the admin DID NOT CARE. I am so furious but almost glad that I can finally see that Tom O'Connor was an absolute horror who should be ashamed.

I really hope that Edwards and Cabrera care.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

That's ridiculous just because TOC said he didn't expect to return to the Final Four anytime soon, you take that to mean he was fine with mediocrity.

I mean, I don't expect vcu to return there either any time soon, to be honest. Only 30 teams have been there three times in the history of the NCAA, for goodness sakes.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

We could go into the tournament with Jackie Moon as our coach and I still don't think we would be any bigger of a joke than we are now.

Wait.....is he available???

I don't think Coach Moon would have lost to Cornell at home.