Two sets of comments, one set general and one set specific.

The general comment is that the pickings are slim in mid-May, particularly for high school players who by and large have already made their fall plans.  The transfer portal, with its May 1 deadline for entrance, offers some hope.  But by and large, this is what happens after a coaching change.  The new coach largely inherits a roster that is not comprised of his own recruits.  Many will end up leaving after a season if they find that they either clash with the new staff or are not well suited to play a particular style.  2022-23 will be a "take what we can get" type of season.  And, if you would like to watch an even somewhat competitive team next season, you had best hope that James Bishop returns to the team.  (He may not be NBA ready but G-League and overseass possibilities are not out of the question.)

The specific comments have to do with the current perceptions of our program at this point in time.  If you are a recruit,  a family member of a recruit, or a coach or advisor of a recruit, and you've been paying attention, then you would have noticed most if not all of the following:

GW wins the NIT but shortly thereafter, verbal abuse allegations are levied against the head coach

The Washington Post misrepresents GW's high transfer rate under its coach (which wasn't egregiously higher than many other programs) but also supports several players' and one former employee's accounts of these abuse allegations 

The coach with alleged abuse allegations is nevertheless permitted to take his team on a scheduled trip to Japan, where he coaches the team in several exhibition games.  Simultaneously, behind the scenes, the coach takes the role of "whistleblower" against the school's athletic director.

The coach loses his job, and his power struggle against the athletic director, in exchange for a financial settlement which is reported by unofficial sources to be in the $2-3 million dollar range.  This settlement is agreed upon the night before the coach was to proceed with a wrongful termination lawsuit.

While the three remaining Assistant Coaches all retain their jobs and express their interest in being named the school's interim head coach, the youngest and least experienced member of the staff is named to the position.  After one season, the athletic director decides to extend the head coach's contract and remove the interim title.

With a new university president on board, an internal investigation on the athletic director results in his resignation.

11 months later, Deadspin publishes a meticulously detailed article which unearths a number of serious transgressions on the part of the school's athletic director, actions which would understandably result in the coach having complained.

The athletic director's assistant is named to replace her old boss.  Two unsuccessful seasons later, the basketball staff is terminated and a new coach is signed to a five year contract.  

Through three seasons under the new coach, the progress all had hoped for was not realized.  Transfer rates within the team likely reached an alltime high, aided by new lax rules regarding the abilities to transfer without sitting out a year, and an extra year of player eligibility made possible thanks to Covid.  The coaching staff was released with two full years remaining on their contracts.

With a new coach hired, GW would have its 4th head coach in the last 8 seasons.

While I'm sure this was an unnecessary rehash for most to read, I took the time of writing it out to illustrate the totality of what this program has been through over the past 6 years, and specifically what perceptions of our program might look like to the outside world right now.  Some recruits might be able to overlook a thing or two, and hopefully, there are many who will not care about the past at all and are only focused on the future.  That's great if we land enough of these players.

But as we sit around wondering why we're not signing any new players, please understand the clusterfuck that CC is up against.  This is not just one or two things.  This is a deep hole that frankly, JC's positivity could not climb us out of.  CC will likely bring a different approach and one that we all hope will ultimately be successful.  Until then, remember that we are not only dealing with my general comments that virtually all first-year coaches must endure, but also with a whole lot of specific, cumulative trash that must be overcome.  Not an enviable position as far as I'm concerned.
 

GW0509, there's just no way to truly get at how large or small a factor (or if a non-factor) the program's recent past has been or may be.  While I agree with your assessment from a player's perspective, it's also OK to value all of these things while still feeling a bit spooked by the revolving door that our last 3 coaches have gone through.  Moreover, what level of concern do the adults have, the parents and AAU/HS coaches and advisors have, regarding GW since the NIT Championship?  Even if folks aren't talking about these things does not mean these issues are not crossing their minds of the influencers who matter.  Yes, I agree that a prominent coach with a persuasive personality like Frank Martin should be able to overcome this.  Let's hope that CC falls into this category.

The Coach abusing but the players was used against GW in recruiting for years

There's a reason that Coach remains out of the sport 7 seasons later

I don't understand the panic about transfers, didn't we sign the entire transfer class including JoeBam last June? we're not even at the halfway point of May yet

 

Last edited by The Dude (5/13/2022 3:23 pm)

As you all know, recruiting quality players for GW men's basketball has always been difficult. And GWmayhem has also reminded us that the school and athletic department --through bumbling, ineptitude, and worse-- have made the current recruiting/transfer situation more problematic. Losing seasons, poor TV, radio, and newspaper coverage, small field house, and dwindling attendance make Coach Caputo's job even more difficult. I like the new coach very much and it looks like he has assembled a top-notch staff. Only time will tell if he can turn around what has in recent years been a debacle. Let's hope!

Iowa State did have a Top 50 freshman point guard, but all of its other rotation players were transfers.  And, their 22-13 record would likely have been even better had they played in any other conference than the Big 12.

GW0509 wrote:

The other name that’s out there that we had interest in pre-JC firing is RJ Luis from Mt Zion Prep. He’s supposedly taking a visit to UMass which incredibly keeps finding ways to get kids to transfer out to open up scholarships. I swear Frank Martin has now surpassed JC at being able to completely turnover a roster in a single off-season. I do wonder how Frank’s reputation will be after this season because not all these kids are going to get playing time.

Commits to UMass.  Pretty soon Frank is going to have to start kicking out kids he got to transfer in back in March.
 

Wonder how he's selling this?

Thomas wrote:

I'm assuming Frank Martin is telling these guys that he coached in the SEC, Big 12 and made a Final 4, that's how he's selling himself. That stuff probably works very well initially for a big-name coach who goes down a level. F.Martin also got high scoring guard Noah Fernandes to return. I'm interested to see where UMass is projected to finish this year with all the newcomers. Down below is UMass' scholarship chart, they've ran off a bunch of guys in recent years and had 2 or 3 guys graduate from last year's team, which explains all the openings

https://verbalcommits.com/schools/massachusetts  

I think what I'm most interested in is how Frank's able to sell the school when clearly there won't be playing time for everybody.  In this transfer portal era, freshman are transferring even when they are averaging 10+ minutes per game.  In the JC era it was a given that the entire bench would transfer out at season's end. 

On UMass, Luis will be lucky to crack non-garbage time minutes. Looking at their G Depth Chart, I'd say he's probably behind:
Fernandez
Diggins
Thompson
CJ Kelly
TJ Weeks
McCrory

Unless Frank has cracked the code of getting a kid to stick around for a few years to develop, I see Luis playing somewhere else in 2023.