I’m not saying he should rush to make a pick but I hope this exhaustive search for a new coach don’t last for months because the transfer portal pickings will be slim very soon and we need several key pieces to compete next season. We also can’t leave our incoming freshmen in limbo....they might jet if we take too long. I like the idea of letting Roy pick his successor. I’m sure Roy already know who that is...so let’s get on with it.
Hurry up Bubba .....transfer portal is closing
- Thread starter King Coach
- Start date
If one of the rumors are true he probably hasn’t had the chance to ask one of his candidates yet since Gonzaga is still playing in the tournament... I think we have a coach by the end of this week regardless if it’s Wes,Stack, Hubert or Few
yes i think we'll know by the end of the week. a few conversations have already been started.
Well, I do think he'll move as expeditiously as possible. But if there's a chance he can pull in a really big fish by waiting longer, then I think you do it. To paraphrase Mack, this is a 20 year decision not a 2 year decision.
Donovan has accomplished what no UNC basketball coach ever has: win back to back NCAA Championships. And that at an old time, hardcore football school.
And Donovan did that along with 2 other Final Four appearances and another 3 Elite 8 appearances. He won at that level, at a football school, while also being indispensable to raising money for Catholic schools in the area to be able to keep tuitions down and offer more scholarships based on need. In his spare time he played a major role in helping the children's hospital raise money for expansion.
Read a couple things over the weekend that seemed to indicate the Roy was charting the direction in the search and that direction was aimed at those in the UNC family. I guess on some level Roy has earned the right, but this is a different equation than when Dean left. Dean wanted to give Gut his day in the sun and left him a national championship caliber team to do it with. And it showed later that it wasn't a long term answer due to the fall off in recruiting. Roy is not leaving a national championship contender to his successor. There is some rebuilding to be done to get UNC back to that level. And there isn't the obvious choice of a Roy out there that everyone knew was the ultimate answer. Of the current candidates with UNC ties, all are a hope and a prayer. I just hope Bubba does take control and looks at actually is the person best positioned to get the program where it is used to being other than basing the higher solely on having some type of UNC pedigree.
He's no longer the man for the job, but he is the man for finding the man for the job? They're going to screw this up for a long time.
Hubert is our next head coach. Still not sure about it but will support him 100%. Last time we relied heavily on staying in house when the best candidates were elsewhere, we ended up with Doherty and that shit show. I hope Davis has a better fate but if not, then Bubba Cunningham butchered this thing like no other. Didn’t even take the time to interview all those that were a fit. I hope they doesn’t bite him in the ass.
Roy, like Dean, was allowed to name his successor. Let’s hope it works out well.
I was one of those skeptical of naming Hubert head coach due to his lack of being a head coach prior. I felt Wes may have been the better option (note I said felt, not feel). But I have watched Hubert's words and actions since taking the job, have to say I am way more impressed that I thought I would be. I like that he has brought in not only his own staff but his staff is 100% family members. IT gives us that advantage of our recruiting coaches have all lived thru the experience of every aspect of being a UNC player, allows them to talk from a place of truth, of honest candor about what they are asking a recruit to do. I like that the staff is younger in that they are able to more relate with the kids they recruit. I see his embrace of the past as a strong spring board to get us back to what UNC is on the court while maintaining what is special off the court.
But a couple more game specific aspects I really love, things that over the last few years had become problems for me in what Roy wanted done. Last season, we all watched a team lose more games than I think most of us expected. Now of course covid was a factor in that but I could not blame it all on covid. I considered, still do, the single most difficult issue we had was a lack of scoring. I saw our guards struggle to score, in fact be very careless with the ball while feeling they had to force things to happen. Truth is our PG was more a driver slasher type of scorer but his ability to use that ability was seriously hampered because the paint was just so clogged with both defenders as well as our own players. To make matters worse, we had a wing 3 that was a very poor jump shooter. Made it double hard to get any kind of floor spacing that allows easier clean looks.
Hubert is looking to bring one of our big men outside more by a combination of more high low looks as well as more jump shooting from our 4s and at times our 5. That (if we can hit open shots) will force defenses to bring out their defensive 4, meaning 2 less bodies in the paint more room for Caleb to operate, very comfortable with his ability to score with more room in the paint to operate. Caleb should be able to see more outlets with less bodies so he can kick to an open shooter or finish thru the lesser clutter, huge change.
The other aspect that I see as extremely important is the emphasis with Hubert is more effort than execution, with Roy it was all about execution. Think about it, when your primary focus is on execution it just is going to take a lot of experience across your team to execute properly and all together. The problem is that it has become much harder to get and keep those kids that will develop that long term experience and even hard to keep in place a core of players that all are able to execute perfectly together. I am not down playing the value of execution or experience but rather sharing how much harder it is now days to be able to attain that level of experience across all positions that allows for solid execution.
Hubert's focus is on playing hard, a freshman may not be ready or able to execute like a Jr but he can play hard. Saw way to often last season, over the last few that we didn't always seem to come out at the opening tip playing as hard as we needed. We would dig a hole and have to find a way to dig out of it in the second half and usually we did that by playing harder. What needed to happen was being ready to play from the opening tip no matter who the opposing team may be. It was amazing how often our execution increased when our effort level increased. Play HARD, play smart, play together, no accident the first part is play hard...
So far, love these things I see Hubert doing, they go directly to the heart of what I saw the problems as being, do feel we need at least 1 more big man, hopefully we can bring in a center from the portal but even if we don't, realize, we look to be in great shape with several really good big men in the 2022 class so we should be fine down the road even if we have to go smaller next season than we prefer.
But a couple more game specific aspects I really love, things that over the last few years had become problems for me in what Roy wanted done. Last season, we all watched a team lose more games than I think most of us expected. Now of course covid was a factor in that but I could not blame it all on covid. I considered, still do, the single most difficult issue we had was a lack of scoring. I saw our guards struggle to score, in fact be very careless with the ball while feeling they had to force things to happen. Truth is our PG was more a driver slasher type of scorer but his ability to use that ability was seriously hampered because the paint was just so clogged with both defenders as well as our own players. To make matters worse, we had a wing 3 that was a very poor jump shooter. Made it double hard to get any kind of floor spacing that allows easier clean looks.
Hubert is looking to bring one of our big men outside more by a combination of more high low looks as well as more jump shooting from our 4s and at times our 5. That (if we can hit open shots) will force defenses to bring out their defensive 4, meaning 2 less bodies in the paint more room for Caleb to operate, very comfortable with his ability to score with more room in the paint to operate. Caleb should be able to see more outlets with less bodies so he can kick to an open shooter or finish thru the lesser clutter, huge change.
The other aspect that I see as extremely important is the emphasis with Hubert is more effort than execution, with Roy it was all about execution. Think about it, when your primary focus is on execution it just is going to take a lot of experience across your team to execute properly and all together. The problem is that it has become much harder to get and keep those kids that will develop that long term experience and even hard to keep in place a core of players that all are able to execute perfectly together. I am not down playing the value of execution or experience but rather sharing how much harder it is now days to be able to attain that level of experience across all positions that allows for solid execution.
Hubert's focus is on playing hard, a freshman may not be ready or able to execute like a Jr but he can play hard. Saw way to often last season, over the last few that we didn't always seem to come out at the opening tip playing as hard as we needed. We would dig a hole and have to find a way to dig out of it in the second half and usually we did that by playing harder. What needed to happen was being ready to play from the opening tip no matter who the opposing team may be. It was amazing how often our execution increased when our effort level increased. Play HARD, play smart, play together, no accident the first part is play hard...
So far, love these things I see Hubert doing, they go directly to the heart of what I saw the problems as being, do feel we need at least 1 more big man, hopefully we can bring in a center from the portal but even if we don't, realize, we look to be in great shape with several really good big men in the 2022 class so we should be fine down the road even if we have to go smaller next season than we prefer.
You also have to consider what would have happened to our basketball program had Bubba gone in another direction. Davis quit a great gig with ESPN nearly ten years ago to begin being groomed for this job. If Miller had been hired, we most likely would have lost our entire coaching staff with the exception of May and Marshall. I don’t see Robinson, Davis or Fredrick staying on.
I agree with most of what you said, but wanted to address this part. Roy often said he didn’t feel like he should have to coach effort. I never agreed. Effort is something that is very much learned, especially with the young. What they consider 100% effort at 18, is often proven not to be the case. They have to learn what that really means. With so much smoke being blown up the arses of the type of players we recruit, it is becoming increasingly difficult to teach max effort. I think Roy got tired of dealing with that, along with all the extraneous BS that is now part and parcel of college sports. For his sake, I’m glad he got out of the muck.
Like you, I hope Hubert will focus on teaching max effort, in practice and in games. Then whatever offense/ defense we’re running, the results will be better for it. BTW, I hope we tweak both our offense and our defense. I think it’s time.
