Dan Hurley, we hardly knew ya...Archie, what you got for us?

[LoveThoseRams]

After watching Dan and his Huskies dominate over the last several games and win a National Championship, it got me thinking.

What is the ceiling here at Rhody with Archie Miller and staff? How far can he take the program?

We have the facilities. We are building our NIL Collective.

Now for building a roster...what is it going to take to get talented players to buy in?

[PeterRamTime]

Well Florida Atlantic was one missed jumper away from playing in the national title

Sky's the limit!

[jcru]

Who knows?

But we keep plugging along and keep trying to find the right mix of coaches and players until we see just how far it is.

[Rhody15]

Sweet 16, potentially Elite 8 if we got the right matchup.

[steveystuds06]

It's all about matchups. I think our last tournament team could have beaten San Diego St, and they were just in the Natty. But ya I think Sweet 16 and Elite 8 are realistic. But I want a team that doesn't make me want to pull my eyes out of their head first. Baby steps

[steviep123]

I do think that if we build the program as we can and should we can get to the SDSU/FAU point. SDSU has been an ncaa regular lately and was a likely 1 or 2 seed like Dayton when Covid Cancelled. They aren't a one trick pony. There is no reason why we can't be a top of conference team like X and Temple where and beyond. I do think if Dan stayed and the infra was in place, he really would have made us close to the Gonzaga of the east. Can Miller do the same? He may have if he had been in Dayton longer, so why not here?

[RI_Bred]

Saw something that said SDSU is the most applied-to school in the country...location, location, location?

URI location is pretty cool...minus the cold winter part.

[section(105)]

Hopefully, what Archie has for us is incoming impact players, soon.

[Rhody15]

Saw something that said SDSU is the most applied-to school in the country...location, location, location?

URI location is pretty cool...minus the cold winter part.

SDSU and URI do not even compare when it comes to location.

[RI_Bred]

Saw something that said SDSU is the most applied-to school in the country...location, location, location?

URI location is pretty cool...minus the cold winter part.

SDSU and URI do not even compare when it comes to location.

Obviously. SDSU is a unbelievably picturesque campus with California co-eds...URI is grey and Jersey. But pretty nice in the Spring.

[PeterRamTime]

I do think that if we build the program as we can and should we can get to the SDSU/FAU point. SDSU has been an ncaa regular lately and was a likely 1 or 2 seed like Dayton when Covid Cancelled. They aren't a one trick pony. There is no reason why we can't be a top of conference team like X and Temple where and beyond. I do think if Dan stayed and the infra was in place, he really would have made us close to the Gonzaga of the east. Can Miller do the same? He may have if he had been in Dayton longer, so why not here?

Side rant:

I hate that we have to let the casual fans know that SDSU wasn't a one trick pony.

It was really annoying hearing all the casuals talk about SDSU like they're a nobody all week. Literally wasn't surprising at all that they went on this run. Since 2002 they've gone to 13 NCAA tournaments and 5 NIT's. Easily the fourth most dominant program on the entire west coast behind Gonzaga, Arizona and UCLA in that time frame with players like Kawhi Leonard.

On topic

I think he would have no doubt kept Dayton rolling. His last two years ended with disappointing first round losses, but they were still 7 seeds back to back years. I think he at worst goes to the NIT in 17/18 and has them back in the dance in 19 and on. I just remember at the time Dayton seemed like a class above the rest of the A-10. They were just like those Temple and Xavier teams of old.

[Obadiah]

Actually San Diego State has positioned itself very well over the last ten years in strengthening its athletics program especially football and basketball. Since the 2005-06 season SDSU MBB has achieved 20 win seasons every year except one. In football they have made 20 consecutive bowl appearances and opened a new 35,000 seat football stadium recently.

In addition to enhancing it athletics programs and facilities across the board, the school has made extensive moves to burnish its academic reputation. These twin initiatives have placed SDSU in an attractive place in future conference re-alignments

[Rhody15]

SDSU should be a shoo in for the PAC 12.

Tremendous basketball program and their football has been consistently in bowls with multiple 10+ win seasons.

[Jdrums#3]

Saw something that said SDSU is the most applied-to school in the country...location, location, location?

URI location is pretty cool...minus the cold winter part.

SDSU and URI do not even compare when it comes to location.

I believe he’s talking about spring/summertime exclusively regarding RI. That’s how I took it, anyway.

[DeanDome88]

Saw something that said SDSU is the most applied-to school in the country...location, location, location?

URI location is pretty cool...minus the cold winter part.

The URI players get to attend summer sessions and take advantage of the beach. It should still be a selling point.

[reef]

Actually San Diego State has positioned itself very well over the last ten years in strengthening its athletics program especially football and basketball. Since the 2005-06 season SDSU MBB has achieved 20 win seasons every year except one. In football they have made 20 consecutive bowl appearances and opened a new 35,000 seat football stadium recently.

In addition to enhancing it athletics programs and facilities across the board, the school has made extensive moves to burnish its academic reputation. These twin initiatives have placed SDSU in an attractive place in future conference re-alignments

Also with USC and UCLA going to the Big 10 you would think that’s great news for the Aztecs possibly getting into the PAC 12

[Blue Man]

There's no reason we couldn't be in that position.

Archie is the right coach. Facilities are one thing - but again just because we started running in the race, doesn't mean we caught up to anyone.

At least we have a practice facility now, but you can't just do that and say "we're good, winning time!"

The investments have to be constant and growing to keep up and just stay as far behind as we are.

Remember - Archie's assistant coaches pool is $750k. Dan's top assistant at UConn makes more than that. Heck, Kenny Johnson made that at Louisville.

When Dan left here, you know what UConn had that we didn't? A staff of people that took care of EVERYTHING outside of coaching. I'm so happy that URI committed to basketball when we went and got Archie. He'll turn us around and hopefully that money comes back full circle and gets reinvested so we can have the kind of success that plenty of these other schools have.

Gonzaga wasn't always Gonzaga. Butler jumped up 2 levels after Brad Stevens. SDSU. FAU. Loyola. VCU. George Mason.

A matchup can change the course of basketball history (see our seeding in 2018). But Archie will give us a squad that breaks through at some point - the key will be supporting the program so it repeats.

Not for nothing before Dan, UConn was heading for irrelevancy in the AAC. Even with them rebuilt, UConn hadn't won an NCAA game since 2014 until a month ago. What had FAU done before this year? It can turn around and turn around quickly. Stay the course. Trust in Arch.

[Obadiah]

There's no reason we couldn't be in that position.

Archie is the right coach. Facilities are one thing - but again just because we started running in the race, doesn't mean we caught up to anyone.

At least we have a practice facility now, but you can't just do that and say "we're good, winning time!"

The investments have to be constant and growing to keep up and just stay as far behind as we are.

Remember - Archie's assistant coaches pool is $750k. Dan's top assistant at UConn makes more than that. Heck, Kenny Johnson made that at Louisville.

When Dan left here, you know what UConn had that we didn't? A staff of people that took care of EVERYTHING outside of coaching. I'm so happy that URI committed to basketball when we went and got Archie. He'll turn us around and hopefully that money comes back full circle and gets reinvested so we can have the kind of success that plenty of these other schools have.

Gonzaga wasn't always Gonzaga. Butler jumped up 2 levels after Brad Stevens. SDSU. FAU. Loyola. VCU. George Mason.

A matchup can change the course of basketball history (see our seeding in 2018). But Archie will give us a squad that breaks through at some point - the key will be supporting the program so it repeats.

Not for nothing before Dan, UConn was heading for irrelevancy in the AAC. Even with them rebuilt, UConn hadn't won an NCAA game since 2014 until a month ago. What had FAU done before this year? It can turn around and turn around quickly. Stay the course. Trust in Arch.

I could not have said it better. The most important concept captured is the need for URI to show continuous improvement through better funding for the entire Athletics program with special emphasis on MBB and WBB. Agree or not, the truth is that achievements in URI Athletics immeasurably adds to the reputation of the school. Just look at UConn for confirmation of that.

[Rhody72]

.... The most important concept captured is the need for URI to show continuous improvement through better funding for the entire Athletics program with special emphasis on MBB and WBB. Agree or not, the truth is that achievements in URI Athletics immeasurably adds to the reputation of the school. Just look at UConn for confirmation of that.

Some signs to watch. You can't pay your next coach less than less than your past coach. Make your facilities tops in the conference, not just good enough to check the box. Be a leader and not a follower as in putting together your NIL Collectives at this late date. Increase salary and travel money for assistant coaches. Get future prospects to attend URI summer basketball camps and pay their AAU coaches to work the camp as well. Pay our coaches more in lieu of paying them from camp revenue which you then use for building relationships that will get top recruits. We need to compete.

[Obadiah]

.... The most important concept captured is the need for URI to show continuous improvement through better funding for the entire Athletics program with special emphasis on MBB and WBB. Agree or not, the truth is that achievements in URI Athletics immeasurably adds to the reputation of the school. Just look at UConn for confirmation of that.

Some signs to watch. You can't pay your next coach less than less than your past coach. Make your facilities tops in the conference, not just good enough to check the box. Be a leader and not a follower as in putting together your NIL Collectives at this late date. Increase salary and travel money for assistant coaches. Get future prospects to attend URI summer basketball camps and pay their AAU coaches to work the camp as well. Pay our coaches more in lieu of paying them from camp revenue which you then use for building relationships that will get top recruits. We need to compete.

Not much to disagree with here, R72. In drawing a contrast between you and Blue Man, for example, it would turn on the belief as to whether what you say, can or will be done - my guess is Blue Man would be positive, your view, I dare say, would be more "fatalistic"?? But who knows.

[TruePoint]

If we instituted a rule that we “can’t pay the next coach less than the last coach” it would make us unique(ly stupid) among college athletic departments. You identify and try to hire the best coach that you can get for the relevant program at the time, and you pay that person commensurate with their value on the market. If your last coach was an experienced and accomplished coach and your next coach is “up-and-coming” then following this rule would be the height of foolishness. Other circumstances may require a different set of considerations and in some cases those considerations could lead to paying the next guy more than the last guy. But it has to be case by case, like everything in the world should be, and “rules” like that are what leads to stupid bureaucratic decision making.

[Rhody72]

... You identify and try to hire the best coach that you can get for the relevant program at the time, and you pay that person commensurate with their value on the market. If your last coach was an experienced and accomplished coach and your next coach is “up-and-coming” then following this rule would be the height of foolishness. ..."

I'm saying that you re-open the search and continue to look for a coach whose market value is as good or better than the departing coach. You may need to put together a more impressive search committee (not one headed by a Bob Beagle), hire a consulting firm to find a top coach, increase the compensation, hire an interim coach as a last resort, etc. We've been hit over the head twice in the past 25 years in hiring a less qualified head coach. Do you want to try again?
I'm not saying hire a less qualified and overpay them, but that would at least maintain in the budget the money for the coach
that you want.

[Blue Man]

... You identify and try to hire the best coach that you can get for the relevant program at the time, and you pay that person commensurate with their value on the market. If your last coach was an experienced and accomplished coach and your next coach is “up-and-coming” then following this rule would be the height of foolishness. ..."

I'm saying that you re-open the search and continue to look for a coach whose market value is as good or better than the departing coach. You may need to put together a more impressive search committee (not one headed by a Bob Beagle), hire a consulting firm to find a top coach, increase the compensation, hire an interim coach as a last resort, etc. We've been hit over the head twice in the past 25 years in hiring a less qualified head coach. Do you want to try again?
I'm not saying hire a less qualified and overpay them, but that would at least maintain in the budget the money for the coach
that you want.

You literally wanted to give Dave Cox $1.5M when we hired him, and wanted to give him a raise when it was clear he was terrible at the job. In fact, you wanted to extend him and give him a raise and basically doom this athletic department to purgatory. Your opinions are meaningless in this arena.

When you hired and managed people did you grab new employees without job experience at the rate of your top producers? How many companies did you bankrupt?