....First of all, as HD6 pointed out, it's interesting to have the discussion over Stansbury as NAFOOM begins the Bianco debate, which is interesting, too. I think that both sides get sidetracked on both coaches and we spend days arguing over their body of work and the condition of the programs before the coaches got there. With Rick, we all basically agree that what he has done over 12 years has been good, not great. We also should agree that he has been associated with the majority of the success we've had in basketball. There's really not any point in arguing over whether or not being a consistent contender in the western division is good or not. It is what it is. For me, the issue is whether or not we are going to continue to improve. Rick took 3-4 years to grow into his role, and then we landed a 3 seed, a 5 seed, and a 2 seed in back to back to back seasons. We capped off that period with an 8 seed and lost to Duke. Since then, we've missed the tournament twice and gotten an 8 seed and a 13. If we don't make it this year, it will be a severe underachievement, and as of this moment, we are really still behind the 8-ball as far as that goes.
If we were getting results like we got in the early aughts and were getting top 6 seeds 3 out of 4 years, even if we had yet to play in the Sweet 16, there should be no talk of firing him. He would be consistently putting us in position to take the next step, and we would eventually do it. The problem is that we haven't been in a position to take the next step since Bowers stepped off the court. That's 6 years now. An 8 seed does not put you there, much less a 13 seed. To compare to Bianco, we are certainly not playing in Super regionals year in and year out.
As far as Bianco goes, the same applies. If he is consistently getting them to Supers, he'll break through eventually. He may be a choke artist. He may mismanage his rotation. But if they keep playing in Supers and hosting them, they'll get to Omaha.
I question whether or not Rick will get us back to the position of getting a 2 - 6 seed ever again. It's been a long time and we seem to be declining. That, to me, is what the discussion should be about.
And we at State seem to be so appreciative of what coaches at State do when they have success, we have the tendency of letting them hang around and destroy what they built through laziness or distractions or just doing a poor job. See Sherrill and Polk. We do not need to let this happen in basketball.
If we were getting results like we got in the early aughts and were getting top 6 seeds 3 out of 4 years, even if we had yet to play in the Sweet 16, there should be no talk of firing him. He would be consistently putting us in position to take the next step, and we would eventually do it. The problem is that we haven't been in a position to take the next step since Bowers stepped off the court. That's 6 years now. An 8 seed does not put you there, much less a 13 seed. To compare to Bianco, we are certainly not playing in Super regionals year in and year out.
As far as Bianco goes, the same applies. If he is consistently getting them to Supers, he'll break through eventually. He may be a choke artist. He may mismanage his rotation. But if they keep playing in Supers and hosting them, they'll get to Omaha.
I question whether or not Rick will get us back to the position of getting a 2 - 6 seed ever again. It's been a long time and we seem to be declining. That, to me, is what the discussion should be about.
And we at State seem to be so appreciative of what coaches at State do when they have success, we have the tendency of letting them hang around and destroy what they built through laziness or distractions or just doing a poor job. See Sherrill and Polk. We do not need to let this happen in basketball.
