People should remember that Mojo won 20 games and finished sixth in the A10 his first year as coach. The problem was that he couldn’t recruit to replace the talent that Lonergan brought in. I wonder what Mojo could do with this team. I’m betting we wouldn’t be 1-4…

I was not arguing that Mojo was as good a coach as Lonergan, I was only pointing out that he proved he could coach to a winning record with talent. I haven’t seen that from JC yet.

FQ - Thank you for this post, as it captured a lot of the things I've been feeling as well. Here's sort of a running list of the thoughts I've had going through this thread:

1. In regard to Vogel, I'm not too familiar with all she does on a daily basis to comment on her job performance, but I don't think that JC was a bad hire given all the information that was available at the time. While I understand FQ's points about the efficiency numbers of his teams, a NEC cracking the top 200 in kenpom is a banner year, and not doing so shouldn't be considered unsuccessful. His one year at Siena was a rousing success based on where the MAAC's coaches picked Siena to place that season. I can't knock the hire based on the information that was available at the time. Quite frankly I was happy that we weren't forced to go the re-tread route with the absolute shambles the program was in at the time.

2. I think the absence of Ira Lee is massive. It only took one half of the Maryland game for me to understand how much our ceiling (and floor frankly) were lowered due to our lack of ability to competitively rebound for 40 minutes.

3. What continues to bother me the most about the JC tenure is two-fold. It is a lack of clear role definition from the beginning of the season, combined with what I consider to be "shiny new toy syndrome." I had this fight with GWRising last year when Maceo transferred out mid-season of his senior year. For a program that preaches concepts such as "accountability and love", there seems to be a constant lack of accountability for first year guys in the program who JC sees potential in. In year one, JNJ was given the keys to the car as the shiny new toy, he turned the ball over relentlessly and we gave away a couple free home games to Morgan St. and American. It wasn't until game six that Potter, our most experienced and prepared point guard, was given the keys back and we were instantly better. Last year, James arrives and gets to do whatever he so pleases with the ball, which seemed to contribute to JNJ and Maceo getting disillusioned with their roles and leaving. This year, I watched the Maryland game and could not help but think James looked like a passenger as he watched Joe B put up a shot anytime he touched the ball. Don't get me wrong, James was the right dude to hitch the wagon to last year, Joe B could turn out to be our best player, BUT COACH THEM AND HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE. Create a clear structure of role definition and expectations of how to play in the half court, and when guys veer too far creatively outside of that team concept you create, reel them back in. I've yet to see any of that in JC's first three years. Without it, I fear we will become nothing but a revolving door for talented transfers who come hoping to raise their stock and leave just as quickly realizing there isn't a path to winning. 

4. For the majority of JC's three years we have looked offensively inept. Yet, I don't think it's because he can't coach halfcourt offense. When Armel was our point guard, the team did a really good job of ball reversal off the initial high pick and roll. Armel was great at collapsing the defense and hitting the skip pass to the opposite corner, which allowed us to move the defense. I don't think JC doesn't know what needs to be done, I simply don't think he's enforcing it. 

I'm with the overall tone of the board right now. I'm really frustrated that we lost to Umass-Lowell. I also think we will look a lot better at some point in the season than we do right now. That being said, I share the sentiment that the coach has lost my faith in his ability to turn things around here. I've seen enough to believe that upgrading the talent won't be enough and that to truly take a step forward, he needs to fundamentally change the way he holds players accountable and creates roles for them. Suffice it to say, I don't think that is a change he will be making any time soon. 

Great Post, Class of 13.  I think you pretty much nailed it.

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

As much as any of our deficiencies over the first 5 games, the one thing that really sticks out at me is the second half scoring (especially those first 5 minutes in the second half, which Al McGuire use to call the most crucial part of a game).  
St Francis-46    GW-36
Maryland-42     GW-34
UCSD-45          GW-36
Fullerton-40     GW-29
UMass-Lowell-41   GW-21 (not a typo).

In other words, we are being outscored in the second half by an average of just under 12 points per game.   I don't have the patience to go through each game, but my recollection is that those five minutes coming out of the half are especially atrocious.
BTW...did anyone watch the coaches show on Saturday morning?   The show was filmed in California, after UCSC but before Fullerton.   I am going to suggest to NBC Sports Washington that they add a laugh track for when the coach is speaking. The interview with Bamisile was good, however.   He acknowledged that he left Virginia Tech because he wasn't in their future plans (as if we needed to be told why any player leaves a high major to come play at GW, or any lower level team for that matter).  He comes across as very likable.  

LSF, I’ve posted this a couple of times, but I do know that in our first 20 possessions of the second half (more than 5 minutes - more like 10-12), we have scored exactly 10 points in each of the last 3 games.  That’s beyond horrible and illustrates the point you are making.  It’s also noteworthy that we’ve given up at least 40 points in the second half of every game this year. That’s terrible, too.

Also, I did watch the coach’s show. One other noteworthy thing was that it was very clear Eric Atkins is in charge of the offense. 

That isn’t working and JC needs to change it.

Btw, does anyone else recall other GW coaches using an offensive and defensive coordinator approach?  I can’t recall hearing about our team being coached this way before - definitely not under Jarvis, ML, or Hobbs. They might have had one coach for big men and another for guards, but I don’t recall one coach being in charge of offense and one defense.

Free Quebec wrote:

One other noteworthy thing was that it was very clear Eric Atkins is in charge of the offense.

I find it hard to believe that Atkins learned this crap under Mike Brey.  It's also been going on for more than the few months that Atkins has been at GW.  Sounds like JC's trying to pass the buck.

Last edited by BM (11/22/2021 2:35 pm)