Basketball Pike hires Marlon Williamson as assistant coach
- Thread starter ruhoopshq
- Start date
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Because RU72 and others breathlessly posted updates about how many people wanted this job and you'd assume a long laundry list of candidates would produce someone better than a guy who was most recently a MAC/NEC assistant for losing programs.
That said: If this is what it takes to make sure Ace gets to campus, I get it.
Loyal Son doesn't mean he jumps to the front of the line ahead of everyone else.....sorry, he's not getting hired. He can carve his path somewhere else and no one has heard of him in any recruiting circles I know about. He does a good job at Princeton, let him take another job at a mid major and cut his teeth some more.
RU has the 2nd ranked recruiting class in 2024 as of today and you want to hire some Ivy League assistant coach, to recruit who??
Or
You hire a proven assistant coach who has recruited at this level and has more AAU connections and is well known by our best recruiter, Brandin Knight
I'm the clueless one....of course, anyone blindly following insane Ivy League rhetoric I guess is now the standard for elite basketball players, who knew???
It’s okay to say you like this hire without putting McConnell down.
He’s more than qualified.
Sensing a trend with you. It’s always black or white and when you pick one side, you go out of your way to crap on the other side, to the point of sounding extremely clueless.
It makes your points look silly.
CMU is bad this year because their best player Kevin Miller had a season-ending injury. He transferred to Wake after the season ended.
MacConnell:
--Recruited and coached up the only NJ college player who is a serious NBA Draft candidate.
--Was the offensive coordinator for a team that made the Sweet 16 this season, which ran a superb offense and is full of players he recruited.
--Started a scholarship fund for Rutgers MBB managers with his own money.
That you feel the need to crap all over him says way more about you -- the most sanctimonious, insufferable poster on this board -- than it does about him.
And Pikes singles and doubles (your words), turn into triples and homers. Was Brandin Knight a single? A double?
Actually, what is silly is saying in May, that a transfer out a program is a loss.....when the season starts in November.
There is a level of "the sky is falling", which is why the Spencer nonsense is just that.....we act as if there's no replacement or no other player anywhere, can replace a departing player.
Some players are more important than others. I don't see Spencer as a deal breaker, others do.....it's fine.
When the roster is set, the 2024 recruiting takes shape, you and others will still look for something to complain about. The goal is to not overreact and become a doomsday person. Kids transfer every day. One leaves, another player seizes the opportunity.
I don't expect people to be positive and think positive things about RU.....people are ingrained to have doubt about RU.....some fans are conditioned to losing.
Breaking that thought process, requires legitimate looks at the entire roster. And it is my opinion, that RU can find a replacement for Spencer, that does more things than what he showed last year. You can be OK that 19-14 with Cam Spencer as a key player is good enough.....I don't agree and think he's not worth losing sleep over.
If you and others want to spend the next 4 months crying, knock yourself out, don't expect myself and a LOT of others who don't post, but always find a way to say....."hey, I don't post on rivals, those people are out of control, but you give a voice of reason or a balanced viewpoint".
This thread is about the new assistant head coach hire.
My post to you was specifically about your poor and inaccurate take on McConnell. A former RU alum, RU basketball manager and candidate who is definitely qualified for a BIG10 assistant (coaching and recruiting wise).
Let’s keep the Spencer talk to the 5 other threads you’ve gone off the rails in, can we?
In today's NIL world, no school has anything until ink dry on signing day. And even then you then have to have fundraising and stay on top of the kid so as not to lose them to transfer portal. It's gonna get exhausting for coaches.
He's as qualified as Smoke, that's for sure. BMac will be a head coach in April 2024.
Everyone is drinking the Ivy League Kool aid. I'm not buying into the hype machine. Let these coaches carve their own path and not placing people in front of others just because they happened to be a RU alum or someone's favorite.
There are other candidates as qualified or more qualified, just because the names didn't make anyone's "Let me throw my buddy or someone's clients name into the ring', doesn't mean the other names that others didn't hear about, suddenly become "underwhelming ".
I have multiple non-RU people that speak highly of the hire......and we can pull back the thread from a couple of years ago, when the some of the same fans bashed Pike for hiring TJ Thompson.....and the same names were being pushed back then.
Let Pike run his program as he sees fit.
You know I'm one of the biggest basketball-first fans out there, and I'm on the executive board of the NIL collective. I trust Pikes inherently after the last 4 years. I've posted over the boards VERY RARELY since my most active stretch from 2004-2006. I've publicly admitted BMac is a close friend. The idea that it's Ivy League Kool Aid is insane. I could not care less about Ivy League basketball. This is about Brett MacConnell being a deserving candidate for ANY ASSISTANT POSITION IN THE NATION. So please, just stop lying about him so that you feel better about justifying a point. Thanks, I'm done here.
I doubt anyone besides Pike’s inner circle knows how this process went or how seriously or not seriously Maconnnell was considered for the job. All I know is that this was not a knee jerk search. It appeared to be careful and measured. I personally would be behind whoever Pike chose. Unlike the revolving door and and questionable hires Schiano has made, Pike has had continuity and success with his staff. He’s definitely earned my credibility in terms of judging coaching talent. Williamson is supposed to be a solid recruiter and coached with Knight, arguably our most important assistant coach. I would think it’s important to have his buy in on the hire.
Bringing in talent, and the right type of talent for your program, is the name of the game. If that’s what this coach is really good at, I’m all for it.
Bringing in talent, and the right type of talent for your program, is the name of the game. If that’s what this coach is really good at, I’m all for it.
I doubt he was hired just to keep Knight happy. That's a myth created on this board.
Do you think the coaches read these posts and get a good laugh or ignore them altogether?
Dixon wound up at TCU, who have been more successful than Pitt. Careful what you wish for.
If you follow enough breadcrumbs, this hire makes a lot of ¢ and 
.
.
I would think (hope!) option 2, if they're smart lol! On days like the last few, though, my dark side really takes over and I start to think things like Smoke was hired because Pike is getting ready to throw in the towel and retire early...real early...like tomorrow. GO RU!
P5 programs don’t require you to follow breadcrumbs to understand a hire.If you follow enough breadcrumbs, this hire makes a lot of ¢ and
You come out of the gate flexing.
No one talks about him in recruiting circles? You do know Maconnell ran the elite camps for Hoop Group? He ran their AAU tournaments. Maconnell has an open door at any AAU or grassroots organization in the country.
I like the hire of Smoke. But to say he has better recruiting contacts than Maconnell is comical.
Your takes just keep getting worse.
I have no problem with the hire, he is the low coach on our staff and he potentially expands our recruiting footprint, but let’s be honest, Pike saved him from a bad situation at CMU, and he has spent much of the last decade at sh**ty programs, he career was going nowhere fast.
The reason not to hire Brett Macconnell is that he was offered a couple of head coaching jobs this past year and it is only a matter of time when he would leave so it you can argue that it doesn’t make sense to bring him aboard, especially if it upsets the balance of our existing staff, because Brett is clearly not a #3 guy. He just helped take a team to the sweet 16, his offensive system is widely lauded and he is well respected as a recruiter. The only head coaching job Smoke will be offer is AOT if Omar Cooper decides to focus on his NIL agent business.
Who reported that Mag was leaving? I missed that. I saw posts asking about Mag but I thought it was just idle speculation.
I've heard of a Marlon Byrd and Marlon Anderson and Corless Williamson. Now Marlon Williamson.
There was the infamous "hearing bad news" tweet which obviously isn't an actual report so I guess could let that slide.
But there was also the "insider" post:
"Yes,Rutgers is losing someone but everything will work out."
Didn't actually end up losing anyone.
Like you said, it was speculated to be Mag (and later confirmed to be Mag I believe). But nobody actually left.
Note - this was weeks before Cam stuff was even on the radar.
As far as MacConnell goes, I suggest you take a chill pill. You come off as a know it all, yet you are so off the mark on some of your opinions.
And no one is not letting Pike run his program. Who is doing that? What a weird statement.
The candidate for the Democratic nomination for President? OK, a bit of an odd choice. But it will bring attention. Let's see how it plays out.