Wish he had chosen a more readable font.

Most of the WE have left the program.  I guess they didn't feel like a TEAM. Communication seems to be lacking. But a Division 1 coach should know you can't please everyone. But it helps when you are winning and have a plan.   

Sounds like a really nice guy who is in over his head.

Last edited by DC Native (3/09/2021 12:07 am)

Dr. Mike I think you are pretty close to dead on. I think your best points are that JC is at sea now bc of the rapidly changing landscape (like a lot of coaches are now I bet) AND MOST importantly he needs more support. Separate facilities are not happening anytime soon. So it is down to staff and 2 coaches leaving mid-season the last 2 years worries me the most. Sure wish we knew the truth there.

Player movement is only going to increase and stable staff is more important than ever.
 

Good time for a 2 year comparison review

Jarvis:
year 1:     19-12          
year 2:      16-12
year 3:      21-9     (sweet 16)

Hobbs:

year 1:      12-16
year 2        13-17
year 3       18-12

Lonergan

year 1    10-21
year 2    13-17
year 3    24-9  (NCAA bid)

Christian:

year 1     12-20
year 2      5-12
year 3     5-12

As Jamion enters his 3rd year, I no longer want to hear that the team is young, they have not played together before, they are still learning, there is talent coming in, etc.    I am ready to see results, but what I am seeing is a team that is returning 2 talented players, a 3rd player (Harris) who has played very little basketball in 2 years and 3 returning freshman, none of whom showed very much in their first year. and maybe a 3 point specialist who can do nothing else.  What I am seeing is a program that has now strung together 5 straight mediocre to bad seasons and some tiresome promises that things are getting better.   Me thinks that us few remaining diehards are getting restless and tired of excuses.   I know it isn't the case, but to me, Jamion's tweet sounds like someone lobbying to keep his job.   DC Native and Dr. Mike both said the same thing (although it took Dr. Mile a lot more words to say it) namely its time to start wondering if Christian is the right man for the job.  Yes, I still believe that a coach is entitled to at least 3 years to build a competitive team, but by entering the 3rd year, the building blocks should be in place, and they just aren't at GW, only the promise that things will get better.  Hopefully in this era of free transfer of players we will bring in the players necessary to not field another sub 500 team, but I think that precious few of us can be said to overflowing with optimism..

Some great points by Dr. Mike.  Time to weigh in:

1) Maybe it's saying the same thing, but I am less concerned about whether JC is the right guy for the job and more concerned about when we will see some tangible improvement.

2) The best defense of JC's progress to date is that every new coach gets a pass in Year 1 and Year 2 saw a 35 day pause.  It's lazy to predict that a team that went 5-12 would project to roughly a 9 win season over the course of a full, uninterrupted season which may very well have not been the case.  This likely would have resembled a 13 win team give or take.  

3) I don't sense panic out of JC.  I honestly don't believe that this is how he is wired.  I do think he is a "wears his heart on his sleeve" type of guy, and I believe his statement was indicative of this.

4) A concern that I do have is you can only hear words which sum up to "don't worry, we got this" so many times without seeing results.  JC loves his team, loves his players, and believes the plan is working.  To which I say that a few too many players are leaving him and if the plan of a 5-12 team is working, maybe it's time to let us in on exactly what's working.

5) Great suggestion about bringing in an experienced head coach.  GW, under Karl Hobbs alone, has demonstrated a right and wrong way for doing this.  When Steve Piekell left for StonyBrook before the 2005-06 season, GW lured Phil Rowe, a former head coach and athletic director at UNH, to join KH on the bench.  Rowe may have already been in retirement or delayed the start of his retirement to essentially serve as a sounding board and consultant.  That team went 27-3.  When the Hobbs era became rockier, GW (not Hobbs) brought in Brian Ellerbe, a former Michigan head coach.  Ellerbe was much younger than Rowe and with KH on somewhat shaky ground, it was impossible not to perceive Ellerbe as KH's replacement should the school decide to make a change.  

So while I like the idea of an experienced head coach joining this staff, it must be someone who does not pose a real threat to replace JC.  If an Oliver Purnell or a Doc Sadler were definitely finished coaching, either would make for a great consultant to JC.  At the same time, it would be essential that JC embrace this idea.  Short of this, then JC is swimming or sinking on his own.

6) The model for extending JC's contract at this point may be the decision to have extended ML's contract after his first two seasons.  While the won-loss records of JC and ML are similar over those first two years, the difference is that ML had already brought in and coached The Core 4 for a season and Zeke would be playing for GW the following season.  Despite the record, the school had seen enough to know what the future trajectory looked like.  Since I don't think we could make this statement about JC's tenure right now, I would wait another year, leaving two years left on the contract, before considering an extension.

 

The hand wringing and the psychological analyses here are amazing. I guess those of us who have seen this time and time again - Hobbs second year, Lonergan second year - should not be all that surprised. The GW fan knows so much that isn't so.

The simple fact is JC is going nowhere, he is not floundering but has a plan, he has the support of GW leadership, he is transparent (hence the statement yesterday) unlike the predecessors you all used to complain about for their lack of transparency. 

Over the next month or so, you will learn that he is bringing in at least three players - the sum of which (talent-wise) will definitely exceed the sum of the three that have gone. That's how you get better. All the rest at this point is just noise. Let's revisit this discussion a year from now.

 

Lots of good ideas here, especially Dr, Mike who nails our floundering, including getting a senior level coach on the bench. 
Didn't hear what the coach actually would do to make it better in that largely defensive (entire first part) tweet.
We just lost our best player. JNJ and Maceo were able to compete in the A-10, but out at midseason. Just like Mazz last year.
Transfers can be valuable, as Dr. Mike pointed out, strategically sprinkled in around a core of developing players. Even one-year rentals like Moyer can be effective. Also see Mo Creek or Alex Mitola.  But they are not the entire answer. You build a team identity at our level with freshman recruits who buy in and stay 3 or 4 years.
  We're not Kentucky, which seems this year to be learning a lesson about one-year turnover--even attracting All Americans.
  Joe Mac wasn't the greatest talent in the A-10, but he often was greatly effective at clutch times.
What about this team, with the roster turned over entirely in just two years, in large part at the coach's desire or lack of understanding, seems like it is on an upswing? That we beat Fordham twice? We won the title of second worse doormat in the A-10. George Mason thrashed us at the end.
  Do you have any feel that it is anywhere even close to the Pops, Mike, Omar, Carl, etc development of learning and getting better through losses and team play?
Or the Joe, Kevin, Pato, Tyler (3 year transfer, with sitting out a year) and Yuta classes?
Now, Jamison Battle, whom any team would love and spent the season begging for the ball in position, is gone, a year after being on the A-10 All Rookie team.
What exactly would inspire any sort of confidence in player and most important, program development for the future?
 

I want to know more about this GW leadership at this time. How are they to be evaluated?  Just wondering.