GWRising wrote:

Don't think you are drinking the Kool-Aid. JC is very similar in some ways to Mike Jarvis. Won't be as strong a personality but approaches coaching and life similarly. I know that they have talked and do talk regularly. JC is a man of faith much like Jarvis. Believes that GW has a potential role in the national spotlight and should aspire to that. Will work tirelessly to get there leaving no stones unturned. Very interested in not falling prey to group think so always wants to hear alternative thoughts. Clearly a guy parents can feel comfortable sending their sons to.

Put another way, I will be shocked if he doesn't succeed here.

GWRising, thank you for this information. Since his hiring, I have been very positive on JC. After reading what you've written, I feel even more assured that GW has found, and brought in the the right man at the right time.  It's good to know that not only does JC love the game, but he loves the players, and hopefully will love GW.  I don't know how long he's under contract here, but I'm glad he's with the Colonials now, and I will be grateful for his guidance for as long as he his here.  Thank you again for sharing!

Dr Mike, while I would never argue that any coach should feel secure in their position irrespective of wins and losses (and frankly, I'm not sure who would make this argument), your response says to me that you might be missing the point of my post.  And, what 22andF mentions (well adjusted players who feel loved) is only part of the equation.  My point is that JC seems to go to meticulous detail when researching whether a young man will fit in with his culture.  Just the fact that he wants to see high school players play in different scenarios (close games, blow-outs, rivalry games, at practice, in AAU) struck me as being very thoughtful.  Maybe most if not all coaches would agree with this but I've never actually heard anyone ever say this.  What I have seen, at high major programs with far more established head coaches, is the head coach may not ever see the player play in person until it's time to close the deal.  In other words, he relies on the assistant to come forward and tell the head coach that he is now needed to make an appearance.  Sure, JC is young and hungry and maybe when he's a more established head coach at a big program, he may operate differently.  But for now, I feel very fortunate that we have a hands on coach who is honest and straightforward with players and does all he can to land who he wants.

And again, as long as he knows how to evaluate talent and brings in guys he truly wants, the wins should follow.    

Last edited by Gwmayhem (10/13/2020 11:12 am)

Dr. Mike, you've packed several statements in your post which I'm happy to offer opinions on:

1) Is GW committing to compete at the D1 level?  Well, this boils down to how one defines this.  I would agree that the investment is such that the program can not realistically compete for a national championship.  I am not sure that Mason, Butler prior to joining the Big East, or even VCU would have been able to say otherwise during their Final 4 runs either.  There is always the hope that you can make the field and then get hot at the right time.  But that's not at all the same thing as what the Dukes, Kentucky's and Kansas's are investing on an annual basis.

2) Is GW's goal to win the A10 Championship or earn a slot in the NCAA Tournament?  I'd have to say yes to this as evidenced by the school's history.  The fact is that GW has won A10 Championships and has gone to the Dance.  These are obviously far more attainable goals than winning a national championship. 

I'd say your counterargument to this is that we have certain conference members, like Dayton, VCU, St. Louis, UMASS, URI and Richmond who have greater followings and who invest more in their programs.  This is true and should put those programs with a leg up over other A10 schools.  However, GW competing against Duke or Kentucky is entirely different than GW competing against Dayton or VCU.  Often, the great equalizer or differentiator is the head coach.  St. Joe's has never been among the conference's big spenders but Martelli was a key to their frequent success.  Mark Schmidt wins at St. Bonaventure where few before him had ever done so consistently.    Meanwhile, Fordham invests more than you would think yet has been a perennial cellar-dweller.  

The hope at GW has always been to find the virtually unknown diamond in the rough.  John Kuester, Mike Jarvis and Mike Lonergan gave us hope because they each led smaller programs to success as head coaches.  Bob Tallent did not have a coaching pedigree aside from coaching GW's JV team, but his ties to GW were so strong that he was given a chance.  Gerry Gimelstob and Karl Hobbs enjoyed success as Assistant Coaches at major programs.  None of these guys were really household names (aside from Kuester who was a great college player who played in the NBA and Jarvis who coached Patrick Ewing in high school) based on their head coaching college careers.  The only time we landed a well-established college head coach ended up bombing spectacularly (Tom Penders).

So in Jamion, I believe you're barking up the right tree.  A young, fairly unknown college coach who has had some success at smaller programs.  If he's good, GW should do whatever it can (notice I said whatever it can and not whatever it takes) to keep him here for as long as possible.  (Like Jarvis, eventually, the higher paying majors come along and it's unrealistic to expect JC to stay at GW forever.)  Hypothetically, if JC were at GW for 10 seasons, and led the team to 5 NCAA Tournaments which included a Sweet 16 appearance, it's doubtful that we'd be having a discussion about the school's lack of investment in the program. 

AT Hiker wrote:

I know Jamion pretty well by now, having had a great deal of interaction with him. I have known at a personal level every GW coach since Carl Sloan and am more impressed by Jamion as a coach and leader than any of the other coaches in the last 50 years. Our best coach previously was Mike Jarvis, but he didn't bring the positive motivation and energy to his team the way Jamion does. I am optimistic we can do great things with Coach Christian!

AT Hiker, thank you for the personal insight.  I had a feeling that Jamion was a special kind of coach and leader.  Your confirmation is especially meaningful as you have known so many GW coaches, including the great Mike Jarvis.  

More accolades for our head coach.  Seth Davis's column in The Athletic cited the 40 most influential people in college basketball under the age of 40 (which includes anyone connected to the sport in addition to coaches...administrators, announcers, agents, scouts, sneaker reps, and even a referee were included).  The 40 were not ranked.  Here is what Davis wrote about JC:

Christian has his work cut out for him in trying to revive GW, a program that has been to just one NCAA Tournament since 2007, but he has the chops to get it done.  He was just 29 when his alma mater, MSM, hired him to be head coach in 2012.  Over the next six years, Christian took the Mountaineers to two NCAA Tournaments and finished first and second in the NEC the final two seasons.  He then spent one season at Siena, helping the Saints to win 11 games in the MAAC after winning four the previous season, before leaving for GW in 2019.  The Colonials finished 10th in the A10 in Christian's first season, but his track record suggests improvement is on the way, and the up-tempo, pressing style he learned during his season as an assistant to Shaka Smart at VCU should prove attractive to recruits.

This doesn't win you any games as Dr Mike might point out but it's still positive publicity from a well respected source.  Can't exactly be a bad thing.