GWRising wrote:

Correct Barry. I've seen Jarvis be hailed as a hero then five minutes later called the worst coach in the A-10 here. Penders was a great hire until he wasn't. Hobbs was the greatest after two A-10 championships but then apparently forgot how to coach according to the "experts". Next came Lonergan who alternated between coaching savant and terrible coach during his tenure. Mojo was great his first year and then he wasn't.

So we had a plan Thursday but not Saturday seems to be the consensus here. What, JC decided to take the day off? It's unfortunate that most of you have never been directly involved with college basketball because you would gain a entirely different understanding on the limitations on coaching. I promise you there are terrible lazy, coaches who win and really good coaches who don't. JC has a plan but that plan needs to be executed at a high level.

And to those who say the scheduling had no effect. I respectfully say you are full of shit. Try playing guys a lot of minutes on a Thursday night in an emotional hard fought game, getting home after 10 pm, then turning around and having to go to the airport for a 5 1/2 hour flight across time zones early the next morning. Then, before you have even adjusted to the time change you are playing a game at what feels like 10 pm -12 midnight. We were dead on our feet and dead mentally and it showed. It had almost zero to do with having a plan and everything to do with being unable to execute any plan because we had no legs or energy. If you want to fault JC for anything here go after the scheduling not the game plan although I think he was boxed into that schedule for reasons I won't go into here.. 

That said, I expect a much better effort tonight.
 

I've been a fan of GW since Hobbs, when I started as a freshman at GW. For each coach since that time, including Hobbs, I am on record with my opinion  that no coach should be fired before four years with a team, barring something exceptional.  With JC, I may even be willing to say he should not be fired before year 5, given COVID.  So, start there- I have NO INTEREST in seeing JC fired. I think he should be able to see out his 4-5 year vision before any assessment is made.  

That said, I do think criticism over scheduling is warranted. GW has to accept a game against Md. If that's when it fit, such is life. But to force the team to fly across the country and play just two days later is a bad decision (not to mention that it flies in the face of the concept that these guys can maintain anything close to a normal academic life).

I also don't pretend to know the inner workings of a program, and I won't question whether or not JC has a plan or not.  What I have said--and will continue to say until shown otherwise--is that the plan is not apparent from the outside. The plan started with touting Mezie during his initial press conference, only for Mezie to rarely play and to transfer out. Then, he recruited JNJ and Battle and Amir Harris and the plan was to build around them plus Mezie.  Then he got Lindo and Bishop to join the party, and the plan was to build around that group.

Then, Battle, Nelson and Mezie were gone, leaving Lindo and Bishop, plus a bunch of highly athletic transfers and two touted freshmen in Nixon and Freeman (who had effectively been recruited over before playing a game for GW).  This leaves us with an athletic, but older team with Lindo as a senior, Harris as a senior, Adams as a grad student, and Bishop as a junior. So the plan should be, I think, to have that team, with the core of older players, be ready to compete.

And, to this point, while there may be an on-the-court plan (I'm not arrogant enough to say there isn't one), I don't have any idea what it is.  I don't know what the defensive strategy is; I don't know what the offensive strategy is. I'm concerned that an injury to a single center left the team with virtually no depth at the position.  JC currently has a team with every player recruited by him with a plan in mind. Yet, GW is still expected by even the most optimistic of us to finish in the bottom quarter (maybe the top of the bottom quarter or the bottom of the third quarter) of the league. And the on-the-court strategy, coupled with the low expectations (even with a plan) makes me antsy.
 

He is going to get another year regardless of how things end up this time around.  As many have mentioned he is a great ambassador for the school, but clearly needs to have a winning record this season. Going to be tough to recruit with 3 losing seasons in the rear view mirror.  I have found his tenure particularly difficult because I have had trouble following what, if any, game plans he implements. Chucking up 3s and hoping to out score your opponent is not a long term strategy.  Supported getting rid of ML, but man could that guy coach a game. In any case, he is losing Lindo, Adams, and Harris at the end of this season so how much better can we expect it to be next season? So in sum I don't think he is coaching for his job, but to state the obvious his tenure has been less than impressive so far and there is reason to be concerned about the future. Not jumping ship yet; however, I have my life jacket out.

The sky isn’t falling. I didn’t see the UCSD game but I really enjoyed watching the other two games, which isn’t something I remember doing in quite a while. They were fun to watch.

I’d like to get a better sense of Mayhem and obviously hope for more wins but it’s early and the team has a lot of new pieces, let’s see how things go.

What is it with this group and always trying to fire a coach?? It's been 3 games guys let's relax lol

GW0509 wrote:

It wasn't my intention to say JC should be fired but instead wondering if he's coaching like he thinks he's on the hot seat.  For example, basically playing our starters the entire game for the first three games.  I think it was justified with the Maryland game, but did we really need to play Ricky 37 minutes against UCSD?  

That's a good point. If we truly don't have depth and this is necessity then this is going to be a very long year. But hot seat wise I'd say he's safe this year. Nobody is exactly kicking the door down to replace him atm

This looks like another case where the school offered a young guy a 5-year deal and couldn't afford to make a change at any point during his tenure. It has happened over and over. How many GW men's head coaches have left the school for a better deal elsewhere based on their success at GW? In my 50+ years of following the team, I could be wrong but only Mike Jarvis comes to mind. There may be one other but I'm at a loss to come up with his name. Not a great track record. In my opinion, the university has never devoted the financial and other resources necessary to put a top flight men's team on the court. That's why Georgetown has a nationally recognized program and we continue to flounder at the bottom of the A10. I personally think Coach Christian is a nice guy but being a nice guy, without more, will not result in basketball success. 

Thanks.

One possible way out of this mess is bringing in a solid Xs & Os assistant.  Soon.

After a couple of years of this junk, it's clear that the current group doesn't have the skills/background to put together a system to effectively get the best out of the players.  Recognizing this and acting on it soon may be the only way JC keeps his job.

Not sure who is available.  Maybe an ex-head coach who had the Xs & Os down, but couldn't effectively communicate with this players?

(No.  Not him.)

Last edited by BM (11/17/2021 12:53 pm)

BM's is spot on on a way to help start to remedy our deficiencies.  Though it would be great and healing in one way to have "him," realize that is shall we say, unlikely.
  Was it him who had the former Vermont coach, or Hobbs? Maybe even Penders did something like that. We've had a couple of guys like BM suggested in the past. 
  Always been uneasy at the lack of experience at asst. coach higher level on this staff. Both recruiting and game play. We could use an older, wiser head, much like the demographics of the board.

I hate Facebook!
Today I was reminded of what I had posted 6 years ago - our great win against UVA in a packed Smith Center. 
It takes a lot more than "attention to detail" and a "sunny disposition" to become a successful coach. Try adding great basketball knowledge translated into X's and O's, good recruiting, thorough opponent scouting, discipline, etc.
Unfortunately for all of us, you will not see a top 25 GW Team again in your lifetime FQ.