
Originally Posted by
MrSplitshot
That sums a lot of it up for me. I didn't expect this to be a good year, but I also didn't expect the wheels to fall off the wagon. When you have Meeks and Patterson on the floor, you should be winning more games. I know that 2 players don't make a team, but come on...
I'm not a fan of Billy's stubborn attitude. (ie: refusing to play and zone defense)
I'm not a fan of Billy's head games. (ie: "sending a message" to the starters in the Georgia game in the second half, but making the message last several minutes...enough to let Georgia grab a nice lead. In a game that critical, maybe a 1 minute sit and talk, but no more.)
I'm not a fan of Billy's X-O in game adjustments, because I haven't seen enough of them. (ie: In the South Carolina loss we came out in the second half and did exactly what kept getting us stuffed in the first half...virtually no change in game plan. I guess this could also be under the stubborn heading too.)
I'm not a fan of Billy's PR skills. (ie: The way he talks to the media, his little halftime interview smart aleck comments, his horrific post game pressers...he's representing the university to a huge national audience, the same university that the degree on my wall comes from...and there's no sense being a prick. He's uncomfortable, jittery, can't sit still, uses words like "really" and "whipped" waaaaaay too much. He reminds me of a drunk that's been off the bottle a little too long. (think "Shooter" from Hoosiers) He's standoffish and comes off condescending. Show that you're a leader, not just on the court and in practice, but when you talk to the fanbase via the media. "Coach" doesn't end when you step off the court. For what you pay these guys, they ought to be able to put together some halfway decent dialogue.
I'm not a fan of Billy's personal antics. (I know a lot of the stuff you hear is rumor, and that's that...but we know there have been some DUIs at other schools...and some of the things I've heard from pretty reputable sources about town are not good. Definitely wouldn't post anything I didn't know to be true for sure. Again, personal life is personal life, but when you take a job that's this high profile, you're forfeiting some of it. Sorry. Ask the President about his personal life.)
Now with ALL of that said...it might surprise you to hear me say that I don't think he ought to be set free at this point. His big strength is supposed to be recruiting and player development. Well, let's give him the time to get some of his recruits in here and work with them. Let's see what happens with that. Firing him would look horrible on the university, make it hell on getting a good new coach, and cause more problems. I have not been shown that he's a good coach yet, but this fanbase needs to have the patience to give him a fair shot. (And we absolutely don't have that patience as a whole, no doubt.) We don't have to like him all that much, but we should support our coach...because like it or not, that's what he is right now. I see this in the same way that you should never...NEVER...FRIGGIN NEVER...BOO your own kids on the court. That is absolutely classless. Bashing coach is a little more acceptable, but still.
You can't, as a coach, go out there and make the plays yourself. You (a) teach them the plays, (b) tell them what plays to run, and (c) motivate them to WANT to run them under your philosophies as a coach. You've either got some dud players, or you've got a coach that can't put A+B+C into place. I like the idea of 4 years. Year #2 is drawing to a close. We should see improvement in #3, and contention for a conference title in #4. If not, time to look at the options and excercise one at that point.
We need to beat Florida today...in the worst way...I just finished setting up the TV and surround sound at the new crib so that I can christen it by watching the game today at 2:00 so I hope the boys don't let me down. Beat the gators and win a couple in the conference tourney, and I think we can eek into the big dance.
GO BILLY. GO CATS!