I could be convinced of either C or E and I think it all comes down to whether or not he wants to allow his young son to have some stability now that he's older and going to school.

JC's track record is one of striving for the next rung on the ladder, and I don't mean that in a bad way.  He starts as an assistant at a small school in the middle of nowhere, then moves up the ranks of D1 as an assistant, then takes the HC role at a small school in the middle of nowhere which is also his alma mater, then moves up the ranks of D1 as an HC.  I think his shine as an up-and-coming name has worn off a bit these past two years, especially with the embarrassing losses he's overseen.  I think he can rehabilitate his career trajectory if GW can get back to threatening NCAA bids and he shows he knows how to play the transfer game.  I think that skill is going to be the thing most HCs will have to prove going forward.

With that said, most of his moving around took place either pre-kid or pre-schooling kid.  Now he's in a position where you'd like to give your kid some stability and be able to develop friendships.  If GW has a couple years of success, JC may look around and think it's better to settle down and allow his son to have a few years of normality. 

Of course, that is all contingent on what support he gets financially from the school and from alumni.  If he has 2-3 years of success and nothing changes, I think he'd look to leave just because what else would he need to prove?  If I were in his shoes, that would be the sign that I needed to leave, even if it meant uprooting my kid from his school.

Very interesting perspective GW0509.  It's hard not to make a comparison to ML who referred to GW as his dream job.  Of course, ML has 5 children so the notion of uprooting the family is perhaps more arduous than in JC's case.  

Then again, JC was raised in VA, went to school in MD, coached at two schools in VA as well as I believe a short stint in PA before returning to MSM (from VCU).  He has essentially only left the area one time to take the Siena job.  This all speaks to how wedded JC may in fact be to the DMV area.  His parents are relatively close by and his brother is helping to coach the Wizards.  Should he become very successful and receive higher paying jobs outside of the area, it may not be a slam-dunk that he accepts such an offer.

How can any discerning fan pick anything but “H”. “H” is flashing and staring at me. A coach starts last year at 1-6. Losing to Navy, Hampton,  UMBC,Delaware, William and Mary and Charlotte. Would any good or successful coach have this record? To lose Jameer Nelson, Maceo Jack prior to the end of the season tells about underlying problems with the coach. To lose Jamison Battle brings pain to all fans. This coach has the ability to attract players and he seems to be succeeding in this respect. He seems to be a “nice guy”. Leo Durocher told everyone how nice guys finish. I think that JC’s tenure will be short lived.

Dr Mike wrote:

GWMAYHEM, thanks for this good post.

Similar to the Board of Trustees decision to cut loose LeBlanc based on his record, decision-making, communication, strategic planning and ability to manage a complex university and changing higher education environment, I see similarities with JC.

I have seen enough to conclude he is the wrong head coach for GW. I base this conclusion strictly on winning. I am not a person that attempts to find some silver lining that tries to justify anything other than winning. We participate in intercollegiate sports to win, no consolation prize. The Board of Trustees made this distinction with LeBlanc. A similar decision should be made with JC.

JC will benefit from GW's presidential search. The search will take a year and then another year for the new president to install his/her cabinet and another year before the new president gets to athletics. So, JC is safe until the end of his current contract. 

GWMAYHEM, your post also raises another question--With a new president and administration what are the expectations for GW men's basketball  and the evolving college basketball landscape? This brings us back to many of the post from last year.  GW is more than satisfied with traditional coach speak--the team played hard, the players are practicing hard, players are learning the system, we played well but came up a bit short.

I have lost confidence that GW is serious about men's basketball. Coaches are paid a lot of money to win games regardless of the conditions, regardless if the game is home, away or on a neutral court. GW is a good case study of a university participating in a great basketball conference but not willing to fully engage to win the conference championship.    


 

It's unfortunate that you would base your decision on winning especially in light of a two-year tenure in the middle of the pandemic after acquiring the worst GW team in 30 years. Of course, you also would have concluded at the same juncture that neither Hobbs nor Lonergan was the right coach as both sported losing records at the end of year two. This despite the fact that both achieved "winning results" unseen previously at GW after year 2 -  A-10 championships and an NIT championship. To determine that a coach (after a year when he inherited a 9-win program and another where the pandemic dramatically affected things) does not provide enough "winning" is premature at best and foolish/unfair at worst as borne out by GW's own recent history.
 

JC is going to have to coach to talent whether its at GW or anywhere and that is the rarest coaching ability.
I'd love a core and an emerging identity, but the new transfer rules really make that hard to expect.
GW picked a bad time to be bad. We are fans of a poor team at a school where more money for men's basketball is not in the offing.

John Rothstein is reporting that many low to mid majors are forgoing guarantee games because they allow the high major a Live Evaluation of the low/mid major's players.

So FQ, BM and others where does this leave a school like GW? Does the A10 have scheduling goals or requirements? And doesn't this just hammer GW and so many other schools in 3 big ways?

1. GW will not be able to build towards At Large Bid contention.
2. Not enough ok to good players will stick around long enough to lift GW MBB up.
3. Quality of play. The degree to which NBA free agents fit in is a huge question; so much worse the younger the player.

Since the NIT team GW has been mostly a collection of players where the sum does not exceed the parts.
So to me the new transfer rule has created a situation that is beyond the current coach. IMO there are now structural obstacles to GW's success that would give the brain of Rick Majarus pause.

In short I think what GW is facing, especially with the negative synergy between the pandemic/finances/LeBlanc, is a really tough future.
 

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

He is fired after four years, maybe after three if this year is as bad as the last two.  I have been underwhelmed with his recruiting so far (of course this years remains to be seen), disappointed with his inability to hold onto those few quality players that have come our way post-Lonergan and disappointed that even with the bar almost touching the floor, we lost far too many games against teams we had no business losing too, no matter who was on the court for GW.     (FWIW...I still find it amazing that none of the fanbase has ever seen any of next year's team play live).    Wishing him all the luck in the world, of course, but... 

LSF before the transfer rule change I would agree with you pretty easily; however bt the pandemic/rule change and the $$$ pressure I advocate patience. Of course I'd feel better if GW was able to/chose to have a national AD search. The overall crusher of the pandemic driven pressure is that it ruthlessly finds all weaknesses.
I'm sure the President and the Trustees do not care if the Men's Basketball Team fails to win a game this year.
 

To quote from A.P.P. Don't Ask Me

I see JC bringing us a winning season and great improvement in 21/22 and an NCAA bid in 22/23 which will endear him to almost all GW fans and keep him here for the foreseeable future.

I predict two things:

1. JC will turn the program around
2. Many of the names on the board will change when this happens, yet again.