Was it a fair move?  Probably not.  Was it a good move as in an upgrade?  I have little question that it was.

Unfair because Jamion was absolutely entitled to another season since he had 2 years remaining on his contract and he guided the team competitively in the A10 if not in the OOC.  But this is where the argument ends for Jamion.

First, I really believe that Jamion got this job because of two nights where he led his MSM and Siena teams to victories in the A10.  He very much fit the profile of a young up and comer who did not require to be paid along the lines of the top half of coaches in the A10.  But practically from the onset, I believe he might have been in over his head.    A few things stood out.  First, he badly miscalculated, initially, on the caliber of player he would need to succeed at GW.  He inherited Battle and caught a huge break when Martelli was fired and Jameer Jr became available.  Beyond this, he brought Sloan Seymour with him from Siena and felt that Siena recruits like Shawn Walker Jr, Lincoln Ball and Tyler Brelsford (who was the best of these three but hasn't exactly thrived elsewhere) would be good enough to win with at GW.  He was already inheriting a talent-deficient roster and proceeded to make things worse on himself.  He began to right the ship by going into the transfer portal and bringing in talented players like JBIV, Ricky, Brendan, Brayon and Joe Bamisile.  This is also why it was a bit unfair to sever ties with him when they did...from a talent perspective, things were starting to look up.Compare this to CC who spent a long time at Mason, a long time at Miami, and who understood from Day 1 the level of talent that would be needed.

Now, let's add to this all of the other things that CC seemed to "get" from Day 1.  How to sell the city as part of his recruiting pitch.  How to focus on DMV talent.  How to capitalize on the importance of international talent from both a historical perspective and a practical one (since international players are ineligible to receive NIL funds).  Even if NIL is too recent a development, the fact is that Jamion showed little interest outside of a certain player in New Zealand for the most part to attempt to attract foreign born players. 

Then there's the outreach towards students and student groups.  The lobbying for things like building a new practice facility and chartering flights to road games.  The role he is taking in helping to raise funds for his program and for his players.  I comprehend that JC was here during Covid...nobody was approving the building of a practice facility during those years.  However, would Jamion have tried hard to make things like this happen?  Would that be considered part of his DNA?  While I can't answer this definitively, what I can say is that these things are definitely part of CC's DNA.  CC strikes me as a driven guy who gets things done.  Jamion struck me as a candidate for Mayor or a motivational speaker.

Lastly, there's the matter of coaching.  maybe this is just an optics thing but CC looks like he's actually doing it (coaching).  There were many discussions here about how Jamion never looked like he was calling any plays.  And on his coach's show, Jamion went to his blackboard and showed how one play could have hundreds of derivatives and that his coaching manual was like 1,000 pages, or something to this effect.  It was honestly a ridiculous segment given how he rarely looked as if he was doing much by way of coaching the team.



 

Gwmayhem wrote:

Was it a fair move?  Probably not.  Was it a good move as in an upgrade?  I have little question that it was.

Unfair because Jamion was absolutely entitled to another season since he had 2 years remaining on his contract and he guided the team competitively in the A10 if not in the OOC.  But this is where the argument ends for Jamion.

 

Agree with the rest of your post. Just wanted to add another unfair aspect was that one of his three years was the COVID year where either due to sickness on our own team, sickness on the other team, or an insurrection at the Capitol, our schedule was completely upended.

Also let’s not forget that JC had bad injury luck. His second year, I don't think we ever got Bishop, Battle, Moyer, and Lindo on the court at the same time. His third year we lost Ira Lee before he could play a game.

Again, I agree that all other aspects of his tenure necessitated a change, but if I were JC a part of me would think I was cursed.

The change was absolutely necessary! Jamion was very poor at making in-game adjustments and that cost us a lot of games. An example: GW at Mason in his last year. GW had a 13 point lead in the second half and lost the game because of a lack of adjustments and other things. Conversely, Caputo coached a team with no bench to a winning record in the league and .500 overall. This season, with two players from last year with any real playing time and all the rest new the team, we are, admittedly against a weak OOC schedule, 11-2. Their is much talent on this team and over time they will get better. I'm in amazement that you even brought the Jamion--Caputo issue up!

Alum1, I don't believe our schedule was designed to build up our own NET as much as it was to: a) help build the conference ratings and b) acclimate a largely new team to the world of college basketball.  Any reference to GW's own NET, KenPom, etc. carries the implication that GW could be an at large candidate.  Unless we go 14-4 or better in the conference, I'd say there's just no shot at this.  At 13-5, we finish 24-7 headed into the A10 tournament and I'm not convinced that even a loss in the A10 championship game would get GW in given the OOC schedule.  That would be something..finishing 26-8 and not receiving an at large bid. 

So, let's go 14-4 so we may see what ends up happening.
 

GW0509 wrote:

Gwmayhem wrote:

Alum1, I don't believe our schedule was designed to build up our own NET as much as it was to: a) help build the conference ratings and b) acclimate a largely new team to the world of college basketball.  Any reference to GW's own NET, KenPom, etc. carries the implication that GW could be an at large candidate.  Unless we go 14-4 or better in the conference, I'd say there's just no shot at this.  At 13-5, we finish 24-7 headed into the A10 tournament and I'm not convinced that even a loss in the A10 championship game would get GW in given the OOC schedule.  That would be something..finishing 26-8 and not receiving an at large bid. 

So, let's go 14-4 so we may see what ends up happening.
 

Last year Fordham's OOC strength of schedule was DFL and they went 12-6 and got a double-bye.  Just sayin'!
 

I'm referring to receiving an at large bid to the NCAA tournament.  There's not much point to be overly concerned with GW's NET ranking unless this is within the context of receiving an at large bid.

Until this new practice facility gets built, and until GW has a collective that can scrape together six figures for elite talent when opportunity strikes, I think that we need to recalibrate expectations for the foreseeable future.

Each of our most successful past coaches over the last 30 years had a unique ability to do a certain something that helped them punch well above their weight class. Mike Jarvis was on the leading edge of recruiting foreign talent. Karl Hobbs (with Steve Pikiell and Darrell Brooks in particular) was able to polish diamonds in the rough when the A-10 was on a downswing. Mike Lonergan kept a great class at home, leveraged our history as a good home for foreign talent, and was able to promise guys like Cavanaugh, Creek and Armwood that he could Coach them up to elite professional levels despite taking a "step down" in conference. More importantly, they were all able to promise guys the ability to play in DC and a pretty raucous gym when things were rolling. 

Now, I'm not sure how many guys are thinking in four-year increments, and now that the payments are above the table, there are fewer players thinking about their "college experience." Coach Caputo ticks off all the intangible boxes: he has the local and regional experience, he's an entertaining interview on radio and TV, and he seems to work relentlessly. 

But I think the money talks now louder than ever, and I think we need to tailor our expectations and evaluations accordingly.

I think the right call was made. I think the first step for improvement for a school like GW is to beat the teams that we are supposed to beat (i.e., teams from lesser conferences). This shows the coach is bringing in adequate talent and knows how to coach them to maximize their talents. I went through past results on ESPN.com and looked for losses against teams from lesser conferences. It shows pretty clearly that since 2002 (the farthest the data goes back), GW has had two good runs. The first was a three year stretch under Hobbs from 2004 to 2007, and the second was a four year stretch under Lonergan and Joseph (coaching Lonergan recruits) from 2013 to 2017. This is not a perfect exercise, as we played more or less low majors in certain years, but I think everyone can agree that those are the years we look at as being successful and want to get back to. CC is ahead of schedule based on this, not losing to any low majors in his second year, unlike Hobbs and Lonergan, who didn't do it until their third and fourth years, respectively. JC showed no progress in this regard through his three years at GW.

Caputo
  23-24: 0
  22-23: 4 (UC San Diego, Radford, American, Seattle)
JC
  21-22: 5 (UC San Diego, Cal State Fullerton, UMass Lowell, Kent State, Boston)
  20-21: 5 (Navy, Hampton, UMBC, Delaware, William & Mary)
  19-20: 6 (Towson, American, Morgan State, Kansas City, Harvard, Vermont)
Joseph
  18-19: 5 (Stony Brook, Siena, Vermont, Princeton, Harvard)
  17-18: 1 (Rider)
  16-17: 0
Lonergan
  15-16: 0
  14-15: 0
  13-14: 0
  12-13: 2 (Youngstown State, Mt. St. Mary's)
  11-12: 2 (Loyola MD, James Madison)
Hobbs
  10-11: 5 (Boston, Hampton, UNC Wilmington, George Mason, Navy, Harvard)
  09-10: 1 (Harvard)
  08-09: 5 (Vermont, Hawai'i, Coppin State, Longwood, Richmond)
  07-08: 2 (UMBC, Binghamton)
  06-07: 0
  05-06: 0
  04-05: 0
  03-04: 3 (Appalachian State, Old Dominion, Fairfield)
  02-03: 2 (Old Dominion, American)
  01-02: ?

Last edited by DC Native (1/03/2024 4:19 pm)