Your Pick for the next Head Coach (2018)

[theblueram]

That coach isn’t coming to URI. Ever.

But we had one before. So, you really can't say ever.

He wasn’t knocking on our door after DH left now was he? Those guys are looking for P5’s, not lateral moves.

Rick Pitino was knocking on our door. He just had way too much baggage to take.

[DC_Rams]

But we had one before. So, you really can't say ever.

He wasn’t knocking on our door after DH left now was he? Those guys are looking for P5’s, not lateral moves.

Rick Pitino was knocking on our door. He just had way too much baggage to take.

He was also knocking on dirty hookers doors...your point?

[DC_Rams]

You all act as though Hurley made lemonade out of lemons. He had a 4 year class, that beared fruit. Hurley had a hand in the product you see on the floor. His success rate and experience as a head coach may have garnered an extra win or two, but for the most part this team is what it is. I don’t know how anyone can come to these extreme conclusions after Cox being on the job for 8 months. We have a rotation of 6-7 guys that can actually contribute. Next year we will have a minimum of 9 rotation guys. Big difference, will allow for flexibility in the lineup along with a host of other things. One thing for sure, I will not write off these kids and believe that they will not continue to develop in the off season. I’m a glass half full/optimist. As I have said in the past, after season 2, and no progress, all bets are off. After year one? It’s just stupid, imo.

Call me a honk or whatever, just my .02.

I agree that people seem to forget the growing pains we had with Dan as a coach. He definitely underachieved at times. I do believe the record would be similar with Dan as our coach but I don't believe the team would look this way.

Dan's teams got better. Even with a depleted roster I saw his guys develop. I saw a team bonding and connecting. A team that would run through a wall for their coach and their teammates.

I was actually defending Cox until recently. It's not about wins or losses it's about the eye test. The team is quitting on him. They are arguing and fighting in games. Some guys don't high five when they gut subbed out and walk to bench with their heads down. They look like they don't care what Cox is saying during huddles.

While watching Saturday there was a moment that stuck with me. 2 minutes were left, we called a timeout and the camera panned to our bench. Our guys looked like they could care less. I saw Tyrese looking up at the ceiling with a pout on his face. Dana and CT were talking to each other and not paying attention. Fatts was staring at his shoes. Jeff and Cyril seemed to be the only ones that seemed interested. All while Cox is drawing up a play in a key moment.

I then see Fordhams bench. Every single guy is focused on the head coach. They were locked in and looked like they were going to do whatever it takes to win. Laser focused. We may have a lot more talent, but I'd take that 100% of the time.

I do think it's fair to give Cox another year, but I wouldn't be upset if this was it. I hope i'm wrong. Go Rhody!

We have a new team. Different individuals with different attitudes and mindsets. They are who they are. Coach admitted he’s still trying to figure out what buttons to push and when. He was honest about that. Sometimes it’s not always as cut and dry.

[TruePoint]

Continue the development means, Fatts realizes he can’t throw up shots and he DEVELOPS his drive and passing skills. Cyril realizes that he can’t muscle every play and DEVELOPS solid moves in the post that get him more buckets! Not to mention continues to DEVELOP his free throws shooting ability.

Jermaine DEVELOPS his posting ability and begins to use his energy and motor to the good! DEVELOP Dana and Tyrese into more consistent players on both ends of the floor..even though Tyrese is playing solid defense now.

Oh, there is development all around this off season, and that also includes the coaching staff too! #nowheretogobutUP #GO RHODY

Why are they waiting until the off-season to do that stuff, why not now? Why are we regressing now?

This is starting to feel like a pile on. While I don’t share this new poster’s unmitigated optimism, I think it’s a little tough to say “why wait until the offseason” to correct the issues and make improvements. It is just much easier to do it in the offseason, as opposed to during the season where coaches and players have more short term tasks on their plates. The season is a grind, mentally and physically - and even more so when it starts going sideways on you as it has for this team over the last several weeks. Being able to step back and take the entire season in and identify areas where improvements are needed and put together a plan to make those improvements is something that is much more likely to happen during the off-season. That’s true for any coach and staff and their players, and probably more so for a first year coach and young players, especially if we think (as I do) that the current staff is not serving the coach or the players well and likely needs to see some turnover.

I’d love to see Big positive improvements over the last few weeks of the season, too, but I’d settle for stopping the bleeding and showing any sign of life. I don’t know that you have the time, energy, perspective or the bandwidth to do more than that right now. Especially if we don’t think Cox is getting what he needs from his staff to manage the season, never mind player development and strategy modification and such.

It is fair to say that we haven’t seen anything to indicate this coach is capable of the types of improvements this team needs. That’s part of the risk in hiring a new coach. There’s also nothing in his track record to say he isn’t capable. This season has gone about as bad as I could’ve imagined, but I don’t think you can totally dismiss the idea that it is a result of the combination of inexperienced players letting poor performance (particularly shooting the ball) compound and snowball and bleed into other areas and a coaching staff too inexperienced to know what buttons to push to get it back on track. The coaching staff has not done a good enough job, we are in total agreement on that. Having had a few days to think on it, I think I’m less convinced than some others here that the coach and the situation in general is hopeless.

[theblueram]

He wasn’t knocking on our door after DH left now was he? Those guys are looking for P5’s, not lateral moves.

Rick Pitino was knocking on our door. He just had way too much baggage to take.

He was also knocking on dirty hookers doors...your point?

He won a National Championship, went to final fours and would have came here. So, to disprove your point that a coach who won a NC and multiple final fours would not come here, I give you Rick Pitino.

[ace]

It cracks me up the way some people talk about this recruiting class and who’s responsible for it. It’s like parents when their kid is acting up (handle YOUR child) versus being sweet and adorable (look at MY baby) TP- I said it another post. There are things that coaching staffs can change during a season and things they have to wait out. They have to make sure they’re doing the first. Are players prepared for game day? Do they have a good scout on their opponent? Are the guys locked in the night before an afternoon game? It’s all so muddled now, but some people had others hyped up on some stuff that didn’t necessarily play out. Would it be so frustrating if those hopes hadn’t been so clearly laid out as facts? Maybe his hype squad made things harder for him in the long run. There’s always people who are at either extreme of positivity and negativity, but the good conversations on here fall somewhere in the middle.

[TruePoint]

I did not mean to say that there should be no goal of improvement of any kind during the season, so if my point was taken that way then it was just a bad job by me of explaining it. All I was trying to say is that a lot of the bigger picture stuff with the players is easier to teach and work on with endless repetition during the offseason, and that coaches are more likely to have the space and time needed to internalize the “lessons” that they learned (or should have learned) once the season ends. Obviously there are things that should be getting cleaned up and fixed during the season and I’m sure at least some of our issues are related to a failing in that department, as well. Just not sure how much of the problem is that the players aren’t prepared or the scouts are bad compared to it being a major problem that the whole team cannot shoot to the point that it is clearly impacting other areas. Like, yes, everyone can see the bad body language and the seeming lack of engagement. Can any of that be explained by the players being frustrated as hell that they can’t score? Of course, even if all the bad were 100% attributable to frustration over inept shooting (and it obviously isn’t), it is still part of the coach’s responsibility to make sure guys get over it and are focused on the next play, the next game, etc.

[rjsuperfly66]

I’ve seen some posts in here discussing identifying issues and addressing them now versus the off-season. The problem is it’s too late in the season to start completely altering how things are done. If you don’t like the half-court offense, it is too late to expect the staff to come up with a new system on the fly that looks cohesive and sharp. Same thing with defense - if a team has strictly run half-court man with non-switching principles for example, hard to say “oh a few games left, let’s start switching during X, Y, and Z.” It’s going to be a disaster and accomplish nothing besides more terrible losses. The only change I think that can be done at this point is a tempo change. If a team has pressing sets in their repertoire, I believe they can use that to try to force turnovers (and get easier baskets), or slow up clock (to defend for less time). It’s something a team has practiced extensively, it’s just being utilized differently. There are no magical switches that can be pressed other than giving that a try. If a team hasn’t figured out how to shoot yet, there is no drill that is going to make them better in the next three weeks.

[ElmCityRhody]

Rick Pitino was knocking on our door. He just had way too much baggage to take.

He was also knocking on dirty hookers doors...your point?

He won a National Championship, went to final fours and would have came here. So, to disprove your point that a coach who won a NC and multiple final fours would not come here, I give you Rick Pitino.

And he just won another championship !

[ace]

I did not mean to say that there should be no goal of improvement of any kind during the season, so if my point was taken that way then it was just a bad job by me of explaining it. All I was trying to say is that a lot of the bigger picture stuff with the players is easier to teach and work on with endless repetition during the offseason, and that coaches are more likely to have the space and time needed to internalize the “lessons” that they learned (or should have learned) once the season ends. Obviously there are things that should be getting cleaned up and fixed during the season and I’m sure at least some of our issues are related to a failing in that department, as well. Just not sure how much of the problem is that the players aren’t prepared or the scouts are bad compared to it being a major problem that the whole team cannot shoot to the point that it is clearly impacting other areas. Like, yes, everyone can see the bad body language and the seeming lack of engagement. Can any of that be explained by the players being frustrated as hell that they can’t score? Of course, even if all the bad were 100% attributable to frustration over inept shooting (and it obviously isn’t), it is still part of the coach’s responsibility to make sure guys get over it and are focused on the next play, the next game, etc.

I agree with almost all of that, which is why I emphasize less the skills than the attitude and approach. Right now, they have two guys on the bench who will get to play next year, plus the two guys coming in. What kind of culture are they absorbing or coming into? It’s all over the place. It seems like maybe the team isn’t listening to the right teammates or guys haven’t yet figured out how to be leaders or something. Winning makes everything look and feel better, but they have to get there.

[Billyboy78]

Not only do they not look prepared, most of them look like they'd rather be somewhere else. I have no doubt that David Cox knows the game and will learn even more as time goes on. What I'm not sure of is if he has the personality to be a head coach. Some guys have it. Some don't. He's known to be a nice guy. Maybe too nice. The guys who were already here and the guys he recruited know this. If he all of a sudden becomes a hard ass, the players see right through it and don't respect it. I wish I knew the answer, but it's not working right now.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Not only do they not look prepared, most of them look like they'd rather be somewhere else. I have no doubt that David Cox knows the game and will learn even more as time goes on. What I'm not sure of is if he has the personality to be a head coach. Some guys have it. Some don't. He's known to be a nice guy. Maybe too nice. The guys who were already here and the guys he recruited know this. If he all of a sudden becomes a hard ass, the players see right through it and don't respect it. I wish I knew the answer, but it's not working right now.

The most noticeable thing for me is the number of times - per game - you see negative player reactions. Whether it's because a guy gets pulled, makes a turnover, gets called for a foul...multiple times per game it seems the player reaction is eyes roll back and mind says "whatevs..."

I GET that that kinda stuff happens and comes out sometimes. Would be shocked if it NEVER happened...but I think we see that far too many times per game...manifestation of a defeated attitude. Hurls would not have allowed that.

[ElmCityRhody]

Absolutely correct

Hurley never would allow this

This is the crap I hate seeing in a head coach

CUT BAIT

[Taylor Swift]

He wasn’t knocking on our door after DH left now was he? Those guys are looking for P5’s, not lateral moves.

Rick Pitino was knocking on our door. He just had way too much baggage to take.

He was also knocking on dirty hookers doors...your point?

I guarantee you we’d hear about him perusing Allen’s Ave then.

[ElmCityRhody]

You have a coach across the pond BEGGING .. LOL !

[wpbrown8267]

ECR, you have to trademark CUT BAIT

It’s awesome you say it in every post

[TruePoint]

Is it, though?

[wpbrown8267]

Is it, though?

It’s not TP, I was being sarcastic

[reef]

Still think Pitino got a bad rap cuz of the hookers thing at Louisville. It was an assistant who provided them . I understand Pitino takes the fall cuz ultimately he is in charge but I find it hard to believe he knew about it

Kind of like the Arizona situation where the assistant paid the players to come to Zona without Miller knowing yet ultimately Miller is in charge yet is still coaching don't understand that at all

[daytonflyerfan]

Still think Pitino got a bad rap cuz of the hookers thing at Louisville. It was an assistant who provided them . I understand Pitino takes the fall cuz ultimately he is in charge but I find it hard to believe he knew about it

Kind of like the Arizona situation where the assistant paid the players to come to Zona without Miller knowing yet ultimately Miller is in charge yet is still coaching don't understand that at all

Oh, I think Miller knew about the payments. I have not followed that whole situation, but it seems like it is still playing out.

[RhodyKyle]

UCLA has the most desperate and delusional fanbase in the sport, including some ultra wealthy donors, and they don't currently have a coach. Even THEY aren't touching Pitino. That should speak volumes here.

[Rhodymob05]

Pitino is a guilty pleasure. Did he screw up? Yeaaa, is he one of the most successful coaches ever yeaaaaaa.

[ElmCityRhody]

ECR, you have to trademark CUT BAIT

It’s awesome you say it in every post

\you realize that i say it more now cas ppl tried to "stifle" me LOL

i wonder of ppl are going to block me ?

CUT BAIT (on ECR) JJJ

and by the way..

it would bring me much joy that if a year from now ppl call me out if Coach Cox is crushing it

i would love that

anytging for success to rhody hoops - anything !

this team keep sme going during the winter months and year round

i love this team more than the pro teams i root for

it sickens and pains me when i see this BS going on this year

SICKENS ME

[Gonebarongone]

It's amazing that 82% voted for Cox. JFC.

[ElmCityRhody]

count me on the Rick Pitino band wagon

i would think we can get him if we wanted him

i can't stand this losing and i am an optimistic kind of guy (believe it or not)

i choose to believe that he would do a good job for us and get us program enhancements and keep clean w/ the microscope that will be on him

i rather choose the risks of hiring him and what winning could do for our school than mediocrity

i know most are against this so proceed in using me as a human pinata !

CUT ECR !

[RF1]

Lots of lunacy here.

Despite all the disappointment with this season, URI is not firing David Cox after just year one of a five year contract.

URI will never hire the scum that is Rick Pitino.

[daytonflyerfan]

In many ways, IMO, UD and URI are at the opposite ends of the spectrum regarding our head coaches.

On the one hand, after a successful run with Archie Miller, many, including myself, would have been happy with giving the head coaching job to one of Archie's assistants, however, we did not take that route.

And there was significant concern as to none of Archie's assistants being the right guy for the job. So, we hired the experienced, but 2-years-earlier-fired-from-Alabama, Anthony Grant.

You guys took the opposite route.

Now, both fan bases are experiencing angst.

It's never easy, and the right answer is never clear.

[Gonebarongone]

In many ways, IMO, UD and URI are at the opposite ends of the spectrum regarding our head coaches.

On the one hand, after a successful run with Archie Miller, many, including myself, would have been happy with giving the head coaching job to one of Archie's assistants, however, we did not take that route. And there was significant concern as to none of Archie's being the right guy. So, we hired the experienced, but 2-years-earlier-fired-from-Alabama, Anthony Grant.

You guys took the opposite route.

Now, both fan bases are experiencing angst.

It's never easy, and the right answer is never clear.

That's the thing. Getting a hire right is a hard thing and every possible path has countless examples of failures to point to. My issue at the time is that this hire was short sighted and really was driven by saving a couple recruits. At least from the outside. The program had serious momentum and Cox seemed like a very uninspired choice given his resume. If we hired, say the associate HC of VCU with the same exact resume, this place would have gone nuts. Continuity is overrated. Kids are resilient. Get the best guy and, if we lose Harris or whatever? Godspeed. We got the best guy.

[Rhode_Island_Red]

Still think Pitino got a bad rap cuz of the hookers thing at Louisville. It was an assistant who provided them . I understand Pitino takes the fall cuz ultimately he is in charge but I find it hard to believe he knew about it

Kind of like the Arizona situation where the assistant paid the players to come to Zona without Miller knowing yet ultimately Miller is in charge yet is still coaching don't understand that at all

College basketball coaches are notorious control freaks. They know every detail of everything that happens in their programs. Please don't give me the "head coach didn't know" crap.

[TruePoint]

In many ways, IMO, UD and URI are at the opposite ends of the spectrum regarding our head coaches.

On the one hand, after a successful run with Archie Miller, many, including myself, would have been happy with giving the head coaching job to one of Archie's assistants, however, we did not take that route. And there was significant concern as to none of Archie's being the right guy. So, we hired the experienced, but 2-years-earlier-fired-from-Alabama, Anthony Grant.

You guys took the opposite route.

Now, both fan bases are experiencing angst.

It's never easy, and the right answer is never clear.

That's the thing. Getting a hire right is a hard thing and every possible path has countless examples of failures to point to. My issue at the time is that this hire was short sighted and really was driven by saving a couple recruits. At least from the outside. The program had serious momentum and Cox seemed like a very uninspired choice given his resume. If we hired, say the associate HC of VCU with the same exact resume, this place would have gone nuts. Continuity is overrated. Kids are resilient. Get the best guy and, if we lose Harris or whatever? Godspeed. We got the best guy.

Going back to the spring, you’ve pretended that the reason Cox was hired was to keep one recruit, or even one class of recruits. Even though you cannot be convinced otherwise, I will say again for anyone else out there who happens to be encountering this suggestion for the first time, that he was not hired to keep one recruit or to keep one player on last year’s roster from transferring. He was hired to give consistency and stability from the Hurley era to what came next. Certainly some element of that was about roster consistency, but i think it was viewed as more important to have a continuation of the culture and philosophy that was built during Dan’s time here. Whether that would work or not was always a question - there are no guarantees in hiring, as you acknowledged - but it was probably worth the shot. Promoting assistants isn’t some crazy idea that reflects some sort of shortsighted thinking on URI’s part; many programs have done it to great effect.

Hiring outside of the program if you’re URI carries many of the same risks as promoting an assistant - you will never know how a guy will do in that job for your program until he’s already there doing it. A retread that has to rebuild a roster and a culture from scratch did not seem like a desirable route to me at the time, and it still doesn’t but you can always do that at any time if Cox flames out. If there was a legitimately exciting up-and-coming candidate to take over, like Dan was when he got here, I would have entertained that as an alternative; that guy really never emerged as an option once Oats was not interested.

[rjsuperfly66]

If there was a legitimately exciting up-and-coming candidate to take over, like Dan was when he got here, I would have entertained that as an alternative; that guy really never emerged as an option once Oats was not interested.

Do you think part of that in monetary based?
Cox is getting paid what, $700K per season?
I'd have to guess given the fact they had Cox in their back pocket, they weren't interested in over-extending in the head coach salary pool.
Nate Oats was better off playing out this season as a Top 25/Sweet 16 candidate and look for a Hurley type deal at UCONN after this season if that is something he really wanted.
Going to be hard to get an exciting outside candidate paying $700K-$1 million.

[section(105)]

......with the hiring of Cox, which I was in favor of at the time, the administration was able, I think, to put on the back burner for a period of time, the urgency of the practice facility, charter flights, and any other program enhancements that Dan was perhaps aggressively seeking......they probably figured these things could wait a while for David to take firm and successfull control and build his own program in the A-10......

[ElmCityRhody]

......with the hiring of Cox, which I was in favor of at the time, the administration was able, I think, to put on the back burner for a period of time, the urgency of the practice facility, charter flights, and any other program enhancements that Dan was perhaps aggressively seeking......they probably figured these things could wait a while for David to take firm and successfull control and build his own program in the A-10......

THINK BIG DO WE

[TruePoint]

If there was a legitimately exciting up-and-coming candidate to take over, like Dan was when he got here, I would have entertained that as an alternative; that guy really never emerged as an option once Oats was not interested.

Do you think part of that in monetary based?
Cox is getting paid what, $700K per season?
I'd have to guess given the fact they had Cox in their back pocket, they weren't interested in over-extending in the head coach salary pool.
Nate Oats was better off playing out this season as a Top 25/Sweet 16 candidate and look for a Hurley type deal at UCONN after this season if that is something he really wanted.
Going to be hard to get an exciting outside candidate paying $700K-$1 million.

I think that URI was willing to pay market rate for a coach. It so happened that they hired a coach who, as a first time coach, demanded a lower salary. I don’t believe that was why they hired him, but it would have been stupid to pay a guy more than he’s worth on the market to make some kind of point. I know that it is true that certain boosters were willing to contribute to boosting Dan’s salary and some were willing to pay to hire Rick Pitino (that part of the story is true, but the discussion was never serious from URI’s standpoint), and I think the money could have been made available for a guy like Oats.

To 105’s point, I’m not sure that the school looked at it like hiring Cox would be a good way to pinch pennies and could excuse them not going forward with the planned enhancements. I think it is more the case that the money for those things dried up when the boosters lost enthusiasm following Hurley’s departure. It sucks, but you get the boosters you get and it’s pretty hard to swap them out. They hung us out to dry.

[hrstrat57]

How exactly can we say “boosters hung us out to dry” Curious.

Problem with Oats likely even if we enticed him with a 7 figure deal there’s likelihood he’d bolt us for P5 quick. Maybe not I never met the man.

We need someone who wants to be Bob McKillop, Joe Mullaney or Frank Keaney.

I hoped that was appealing to DH - become a local legend.

Amazing how it is crickets on the practice facility we couldn’t live without huh?

[TruePoint]

How exactly can we say “boosters hung us out to dry” Curious.

.....

Amazing how it is crickets on the practice facility we couldn’t live without huh?

I feel like you answered your own question. Unless and until we break ground on the practice facility, our boosters are front running cheapskates. Hear a lot about lights for a football program that half of the URI community wants to nominate for contraction, though.

[hrstrat57]

Ah yep thought you were talking coaching search TP

At this point if we are going to primarily keep running the UCLA high post offense in our sets I’d like to give Harris a spin or two at the five. We need to see if he can play. Someone posted that he is still a bit “bouncy” which i thought was great analysis. Keeping him in a straight line might settle that down. Langevine can bang the boards from the four when Harris is in five and Martin can slash from the three.



I dunno...

Let’s hope the team goes on a roll to get the buzz factor up again.

[RhodyKyle]

How exactly can we say “boosters hung us out to dry” Curious.

Because they were only willing to give the money if DH stayed rather than saying "here is the $2 million, go get a DH level coach." They proved that they don't care enough about the program to trust Thorr to find a comparable coach. The wait and see approach is what kills the momentum of this program.

To be clear, this is about only a couple of them. There are countless other donors who don't have the means to give 6 or 7 figure donations who give what they can regardless of coach or situation because they want to see the program always moving forward (myself included). These donors are not the problem.

[TruePoint]

How exactly can we say “boosters hung us out to dry” Curious.

Because they were only willing to give the money if DH stayed rather than saying "here is the $2 million, go get a DH level coach." They proved that they don't care enough about the program to trust Thorr to find a comparable coach. The wait and see approach is what kills the momentum of this program.

To be clear, this is about only a couple of them. There are countless other donors who don't have the means to give 6 or 7 figure donations who give what they can regardless of coach or situation because they want to see the program always moving forward (myself included). These donors are not the problem.

Yes, exactly.

[hrstrat57]

So is “trusting Thorr” the problem? No doubt $2m would have rocked the coaching search.

(Not my opinion just genuinely curious about the booster mindset)

[RF1]

Cox Contract General Compensation Info
April 9, 2018 to April 8, 2023
$300K/year base salary
$225K/yr as guaranteed portion of gate receipts
$125K/yr for athletic dept events participation
$25K/yr for radio appearances
$675K/yr total guaranteed base items
If terminated in first three years - will be paid out all guaranteed base items (above) through year 3 and base salary for remainder of contract. If terminated after year 3 - base salary will be paid out for remainder of contract


Other Comp
$12K/yr vehicle stipend
$8K/yr for club membership (beach or golf)
Various Bonuses based on meeting certain performance, revenue, academic, and honors metrics (these could be as high as $150K/yr if most met)


By my calculation, if URI let Cox go after this season, it would owe him some $1.95M dollars. It is sitting on some $1.25M from the Hurley buyout (which I would think is tentatively slated for the new practice facility). I still however don't see URI cutting a coach after just a single season, especially if that coach is a rookie head coach adjusting to the new role.

[Rhodymob05]

I think this fan base deserves some news on the practice facility.

[reef]

It won't happen after year 1

If we underperform next year I can see it happening after year 2

I was ok with the hiring of Cox when DH but now I am not sure he is cut out for the job. I guess time will tell

[Gonebarongone]

In many ways, IMO, UD and URI are at the opposite ends of the spectrum regarding our head coaches.

On the one hand, after a successful run with Archie Miller, many, including myself, would have been happy with giving the head coaching job to one of Archie's assistants, however, we did not take that route. And there was significant concern as to none of Archie's being the right guy. So, we hired the experienced, but 2-years-earlier-fired-from-Alabama, Anthony Grant.

You guys took the opposite route.

Now, both fan bases are experiencing angst.

It's never easy, and the right answer is never clear.

That's the thing. Getting a hire right is a hard thing and every possible path has countless examples of failures to point to. My issue at the time is that this hire was short sighted and really was driven by saving a couple recruits. At least from the outside. The program had serious momentum and Cox seemed like a very uninspired choice given his resume. If we hired, say the associate HC of VCU with the same exact resume, this place would have gone nuts. Continuity is overrated. Kids are resilient. Get the best guy and, if we lose Harris or whatever? Godspeed. We got the best guy.

Going back to the spring, you’ve pretended that the reason Cox was hired was to keep one recruit, or even one class of recruits. Even though you cannot be convinced otherwise, I will say again for anyone else out there who happens to be encountering this suggestion for the first time, that he was not hired to keep one recruit or to keep one player on last year’s roster from transferring. He was hired to give consistency and stability from the Hurley era to what came next. Certainly some element of that was about roster consistency, but i think it was viewed as more important to have a continuation of the culture and philosophy that was built during Dan’s time here. Whether that would work or not was always a question - there are no guarantees in hiring, as you acknowledged - but it was probably worth the shot. Promoting assistants isn’t some crazy idea that reflects some sort of shortsighted thinking on URI’s part; many programs have done it to great effect.

Hiring outside of the program if you’re URI carries many of the same risks as promoting an assistant - you will never know how a guy will do in that job for your program until he’s already there doing it. A retread that has to rebuild a roster and a culture from scratch did not seem like a desirable route to me at the time, and it still doesn’t but you can always do that at any time if Cox flames out. If there was a legitimately exciting up-and-coming candidate to take over, like Dan was when he got here, I would have entertained that as an alternative; that guy really never emerged as an option once Oats was not interested.

You are making a classic mistake in evaluating the risk. It's not whether an insider hire has more risk than an outside hire. There are countless examples of both being good and bad. It's whether the guy inside is the best of a group of three vs the outside guy being the best of a much larger group. The latter has a much better chance of success. Now, you want to tell me they chose Cox out of an initial group of 50-75 guys? I just don't get the sense that is what happened. And Oats was more certainly not the only guy who was worth moving on.

[Cameron_Dollar]

I was troll that carried the Rick Pitino banner.
I was the troll that said David Cox was not the right hire.
I was the troll that said we should be looking at successful head coaches from mid major conferences with a track record if we weren't going the Pitino route.
I was the troll that said if we are looking at assistant coaches (like David Cox), then why not look at Preston and ARD.
I was the troll that said Dapper Dan had a deal in place with UCONN the day before Kevin Ollie was fired.
I was the troll that said an assistant coaches should never be given the head coaching job because of an incoming recruiting class.
I was the troll that said Pittsburgh offering more money than UCONN got us out of a bidding war for the dapper one and allowed us wipe the slate clean with him and his staff.
I was the troll who was accused of not caring about the program and had to give a chronological history of our landmark games games of which i was in attendance and I still did not establish credibility with many of you who now sound very hypocritical.

That being said, I will go on record and say that any conversation that includes the firing of David Cox is ridiculous. In addition to the losses incurred through graduation, Cox had to endure the coaching defections to UCONN, leaving him very little and compounded by the late hiring, a very small pool from which to choose. He is a decent person and is well respected by his peers. He needs to find his way and step out from the big shadow that was cast by Hurley on his way out the door. This last part of my post probably belongs on another thread but I will leave it here. If I was a betting man, the staff at Fairfield will not be retained. That would make Tyson Wheeler available. With our shooting woes, I can't think of a better fit for this program. To go one step further, I would gauge the interest of Bonzie Colson. He was an overachiever as a player, had success at BC coaching the bigs and had a son who wasn't too shabby. I would not renew Carroll, who appears to be the most disinterested person in the building on game nights and Ty Boswell another product of AAU culture. Give the freshmen a chance to get a full year under their belts and hope there is another diamond in the rough from what is coming in. This problem is very fixable and the conference looks to be somewhat mediocre for the foreseeable future. We can be in the hunt sooner rather than later.

[rjsuperfly66]

I would not renew Carroll, who appears to be the most disinterested person in the building on game nights and Ty Boswell another product of AAU culture.

That's the danger of making a deal with the "devil." Can pretty much forget about recruiting anyone else from Expressions (Terrence Clarke, Taelon Martin, Alexis Reyes, etc.). And does that force out Tate who was an Expressions recruit? These AAU folks tend to dry up pipelines rather fast.

[Seawrightspostgame]

I too have wondered about the assistant coaches. Another team I follow moving on from retread coaches has made me suspect of them in certain situations. I also wonder if it is helpful for a young coach to have guys on the bench with similar resumes.

But when Fatts hit that 3 toward the end of regulation I thought how different everything would be if a few more shots went down this year. Shot making covers up everything. But this team plays and moves too slow. If they perceive themselves as measured, then they should ratchet it up to reckless. They also look tired lately with Langevine moving gingerly up and down the court.

[Billyboy78]

I would not renew Carroll, who appears to be the most disinterested person in the building on game nights and Ty Boswell another product of AAU culture.

That's the danger of making a deal with the "devil." Can pretty much forget about recruiting anyone else from Expressions (Terrence Clarke, Taelon Martin, Alexis Reyes, etc.). And does that force out Tate who was an Expressions recruit? These AAU folks tend to dry up pipelines rather fast.

I think the Expression pipeline shifted to UConn as soon as Dan left. Todd Quarles loved what Dan did for Jared.

[TruePoint]

That's the thing. Getting a hire right is a hard thing and every possible path has countless examples of failures to point to. My issue at the time is that this hire was short sighted and really was driven by saving a couple recruits. At least from the outside. The program had serious momentum and Cox seemed like a very uninspired choice given his resume. If we hired, say the associate HC of VCU with the same exact resume, this place would have gone nuts. Continuity is overrated. Kids are resilient. Get the best guy and, if we lose Harris or whatever? Godspeed. We got the best guy.

Going back to the spring, you’ve pretended that the reason Cox was hired was to keep one recruit, or even one class of recruits. Even though you cannot be convinced otherwise, I will say again for anyone else out there who happens to be encountering this suggestion for the first time, that he was not hired to keep one recruit or to keep one player on last year’s roster from transferring. He was hired to give consistency and stability from the Hurley era to what came next. Certainly some element of that was about roster consistency, but i think it was viewed as more important to have a continuation of the culture and philosophy that was built during Dan’s time here. Whether that would work or not was always a question - there are no guarantees in hiring, as you acknowledged - but it was probably worth the shot. Promoting assistants isn’t some crazy idea that reflects some sort of shortsighted thinking on URI’s part; many programs have done it to great effect.

Hiring outside of the program if you’re URI carries many of the same risks as promoting an assistant - you will never know how a guy will do in that job for your program until he’s already there doing it. A retread that has to rebuild a roster and a culture from scratch did not seem like a desirable route to me at the time, and it still doesn’t but you can always do that at any time if Cox flames out. If there was a legitimately exciting up-and-coming candidate to take over, like Dan was when he got here, I would have entertained that as an alternative; that guy really never emerged as an option once Oats was not interested.

You are making a classic mistake in evaluating the risk. It's not whether an insider hire has more risk than an outside hire. There are countless examples of both being good and bad. It's whether the guy inside is the best of a group of three vs the outside guy being the best of a much larger group. The latter has a much better chance of success. Now, you want to tell me they chose Cox out of an initial group of 50-75 guys? I just don't get the sense that is what happened. And Oats was more certainly not the only guy who was worth moving on.

I’m actually not making that mistake, you’re just not understanding the process. First of all, there aren’t 75 candidates for a head coaching job at this level. If you cast a really wide net and are willing to be really creative maybe you end up with 10 resumes on your desk, and of those probably five you can move directly to the trash bin pretty quickly. This isn’t a coder job at a tech startup; there aren’t thousands of people doing this kind of work. College basketball is a closed universe - everyone in that universe knows who the potential options are way beforehand. Most well informed media and even some really well informed fans can identify the reasonable candidates for any level of job that opens up after a season. They don’t list the job on Indeed and then interview a bunch of applicants that they’d never heard of before.

So they ended up with a half dozen or so people then whittled it down a little more, and yes they did advance Cox thru to the last round. He still had to beat out the best candidates that they could find elsewhere that were interested in the job. And, yes, they probably wouldn’t have hired him if it was just a blind resume contest. But these hires aren’t made in a vacuum. They affirmatively wanted to try to continue the Dan Hurley era (or at least transition it smoothly) rather than start all over again from scratch, so Cox’s candidacy had a premium to it which was definitely to his advantage. That’s a reasonable approach to the situation, in my opinion, but it is somewhat of a gamble. It is true that he may not have been hired over the same other candidates if the job was to take over a different program or the coach here had just been fired, but he definitely wouldn’t have been hired at URI unless they were convinced he was up to the task.

[RhodyKyle]

https://247sports.com/college/unlv/Arti ... 125955243/

"Names are already being bandied about. Speculation runs rampant when people are unhappy, and the name on every tongue is Rick Pitino."



I can't think of a better match than Pitino and Las Vegas. So many italian restaurants and so, so many hookers.