Mens Hoops Coaching Staff - Let's Discuss

[joeg1]

I guess this fits in this topic....

JM complained twice (JMU post game presser and Weekly Report) about the lousy atmosphere at the Mack during the JMU game.

By my estimation, he has done little to remedy the situation- certainly no Jay Wright or even Mo Cassara when it comes to helping in this regard.

I'm not sure what Wright (other than win) or Cassara did to help the home court atmosphere either, and certainly not more than HU's current coach. Mihalich sent out that good letter to season ticket holders this year, participated in that video before the Stony Brook game this year, cleaned up a program that was in shambles after the six players arrests, and has kept it clean, with players graduating, ever since.

So it's not like he hasn't done his part. But that's also not his job. His job in getting fans to show up, is simply to win and to run a clean program. In that regard, he took a 7-win team, and in two years, turned it into a 20-win team, and a year later, into a 24-win team which to date, is the only one to win a men's CAA basketball title (regular season) of any kind, in the decade and a half the school has played in the conference. In that regard, he's already done his job so far to help boost attendance. It's up to the marketing department or anyone else involved to capitalize on that more effectively. Easier said than done. They have a tough job with the many factors that go into suppressing attendance for Hofstra Basketball in a tough market in which to draw, but it's up to them to find a way to do that, rather than being on the head coach, especially when the head coach has a program showing progress year to year (this current transition year notwithstanding, so far, and we'll see how that still shakes out).

Well, I beg to differ on a few points- first and foremost, the HC is the CEO of the program, so everything is HIS job. Wright and Cassara both did a better job engaging with the stakeholders. JM, like Pecora, seems to view this as a nuisance. If it helps the team, he should be doing it, whether it's meeting students and alumni, or being visible in the community. Second, the whining is unseemly, and subconsciously (or not) builds an excuse for himself and his players. He needs to practice what he preaches and toughen up.

[Wags]

I guess this fits in this topic....

JM complained twice (JMU post game presser and Weekly Report) about the lousy atmosphere at the Mack during the JMU game.

By my estimation, he has done little to remedy the situation- certainly no Jay Wright or even Mo Cassara when it comes to helping in this regard.

I'm not sure what Wright (other than win) or Cassara did to help the home court atmosphere either, and certainly not more than HU's current coach. Mihalich sent out that good letter to season ticket holders this year, participated in that video before the Stony Brook game this year, cleaned up a program that was in shambles after the six players arrests, and has kept it clean, with players graduating, ever since.

So it's not like he hasn't done his part. But that's also not his job. His job in getting fans to show up, is simply to win and to run a clean program. In that regard, he took a 7-win team, and in two years, turned it into a 20-win team, and a year later, into a 24-win team which to date, is the only one to win a men's CAA basketball title (regular season) of any kind, in the decade and a half the school has played in the conference. In that regard, he's already done his job so far to help boost attendance. It's up to the marketing department or anyone else involved to capitalize on that more effectively. Easier said than done. They have a tough job with the many factors that go into suppressing attendance for Hofstra Basketball in a tough market in which to draw, but it's up to them to find a way to do that, rather than being on the head coach, especially when the head coach has a program showing progress year to year (this current transition year notwithstanding, so far, and we'll see how that still shakes out).

Well, I beg to differ on a few points- first and foremost, the HC is the CEO of the program, so everything is HIS job. Wright and Cassara both did a better job engaging with the stakeholders. JM, like Pecora, seems to view this as a nuisance. If it helps the team, he should be doing it, whether it's meeting students and alumni, or being visible in the community. Second, the whining is unseemly, and subconsciously (or not) builds an excuse for himself and his players. He needs to practice what he preaches and toughen up.

I get your points, and agree more on the latter than the former. But put it this way: would you rather have a coach who does everything you suggested above, but who can't win more than 12-14 games per year, in any year, or one like the one HU currently has, who took over a 7-win program, and went from that to 10 wins, to 20, to 24, plus a regular season title and within a couple plays of reaching the NCAAT? Above all else, a coach's job is to win and run a clean program (he's pretty much done that so far, relative to what he took over). Everything else is secondary for a head coach, by far (and I gave a few examples where he did stretch himself; and another now, in relation to being a part of the community that I hadn't mentioned before... when he visited that sick patient and it meant the world).

Marketing departments obviously don't coach. They try to fill the building, because that's THEIR job. And coaches coach.

[Flying Dutchmen]

Well, I beg to differ on a few points- first and foremost, the HC is the CEO of the program, so everything is HIS job. Wright and Cassara both did a better job engaging with the stakeholders. JM, like Pecora, seems to view this as a nuisance. If it helps the team, he should be doing it, whether it's meeting students and alumni, or being visible in the community. Second, the whining is unseemly, and subconsciously (or not) builds an excuse for himself and his players. He needs to practice what he preaches and toughen up.

I have to agree with Wags on this one, Mihalich has been as engaged with the fans as much as Mo and TP were, more engaged IMO, and he's brought in good players that you want to root for. I frankly don't want the coach doing too much more than that during the season, we have to be focused on winning games.

This has been discussed ad nauseum, but there are a lot of extraneous factors that keep the attendance down, well beyond the coach's scope of responsibility. When he was hired, I honestly thought Mihalich would be a stop-gap coach to straighten up the program and make it desirable for a young prospect coach. Mihalich has been considerably better than that and we're lucky to have the staff we have, which seems to grasp the problems of running a mid-major program successfully. The fact people don't show up to our games is more of a reflection of an athletic program on a shoe-string budget which lacks either awareness or money (likely both) to effectively drum up on-campus and local interest.

Bringing it back to the coaching again, the team has a tendency to play with a passive nature, especially defensively. We're bottom 20 in the nation in generating turnovers. We let our opposition dictate the pace of the game, we don't challenge enough shots both inside and on the perimeter. I had to turn off the game on Saturday after CofC hit 3, three-pointers in a row, mainly because of our non-existent perimeter defense. My big issue is I think we need to pressure the ball handler once he's over half court. Every team just ends up settling right into their offense, our zone already sucks because our lineup is too small, and we get picked apart. Just keep pressuring, we can't play worse defensively as it is, a few more turnovers would have won us the last three games. I get that we emphasize not getting into foul trouble, but it's in our players heads way too much, we play too soft.

Rok doesn't play defense the first 10-15 minutes of the game because he doesn't want to pick up fouls, every coach in the CAA has noticed that. We really benefit on jumping out to a lead because it allows us to dictate the pace of the game when the opposition looks at the scoreboard and they're down double-digits. But we struggle to start fast, because we do not get stops because nobody wants to pick up the early foul.

I have faith we will make the adjustments, we might have enough firepower to win the CAA with the emergence of JWF.

[joeg1]

I agree Rok plays off to avoid foul trouble early, so Greer is needed to help, which is ok if done properly.

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[joeg1]

Also, I really like JM and the players he's brought in. But he's not above criticism. imo he's been out coached the past couple of games and the Mack comments rubbed me the wrong way

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[Polito]

Have to agree that HU is no longer a commuter school. That is a 90's statement / excuse and is simply not true anymore. When I first attended I was certainly in the minority hailing from out of state - but by the early-mid 2000's that really began to change. Today, there are PLENTY of students on campus and in apartments in the surrounding areas to fill the student section in that arena.

I also agree Rok plays very tentative at the start, but my question is WHY?? It's not like he's playing a full 40 anyway - the staff is going to use Sabety, as they should, and there are other times when they may even use Walker going forward. Why not play your game from the tip?

This pussyfooting around with a 6'9 240 beast has to stop. Play ball. This team finally has some post depth, so it should not be a factor now.

I also STILL do not see Rok taking advantage of the opps he has. I agree with you all that the guards need to feed the post more, I have been all over that too, BUT I also see Rok playing WAY too soft on offense and not using footwork or post moves to put the ball in the basket when he gets it.

He got very used to getting the ball from Green literally standing under the basket and all he had to do was put it right back up. Now I think he needs to start playing the position and create his points when he gets the ball. I'm going to keep watching him, but I'm pretty disappointed in what I've seen thus far... he needs to be much more aggressive - when he gets the ball, IMO 90% of the time it's for the purpose to score a high % shot. The other 10% kick out.

The other challenge I haven't heard much on here is another frustrating one: Rok is missing a LOT of easy buckets - whether layups, putbacks, should be dunks, etc. JM mentioned a key miss the other day, and there have been way too many from an upper classmen like him.

There is NO ONE in this conf right now who can stop him IF he actually plays to his size and skill. I for one am waiting to see it on a consistent basis...

[HUSID80]

Have to agree that HU is no longer a commuter school. That is a 90's statement / excuse and is simply not true anymore. When I first attended I was certainly in the minority hailing from out of state - but by the early-mid 2000's that really began to change. Today, there are PLENTY of students on campus and in apartments in the surrounding areas to fill the student section in that arena.

I also agree Rok plays very tentative at the start, but my question is WHY?? It's not like he's playing a full 40 anyway - the staff is going to use Sabety, as they should, and there are other times when they may even use Walker going forward. Why not play your game from the tip?

This pussyfooting around with a 6'9 240 beast has to stop. Play ball. This team finally has some post depth, so it should not be a factor now.

I also STILL do not see Rok taking advantage of the opps he has. I agree with you all that the guards need to feed the post more, I have been all over that too, BUT I also see Rok playing WAY too soft on offense and not using footwork or post moves to put the ball in the basket when he gets it.

He got very used to getting the ball from Green literally standing under the basket and all he had to do was put it right back up. Now I think he needs to start playing the position and create his points when he gets the ball. I'm going to keep watching him, but I'm pretty disappointed in what I've seen thus far... he needs to be much more aggressive - when he gets the ball, IMO 90% of the time it's for the purpose to score a high % shot. The other 10% kick out.

The other challenge I haven't heard much on here is another frustrating one: Rok is missing a LOT of easy buckets - whether layups, putbacks, should be dunks, etc. JM mentioned a key miss the other day, and there have been way too many from an upper classmen like him.

There is NO ONE in this conf right now who can stop him IF he actually plays to his size and skill. I for one am waiting to see it on a consistent basis...

Polito, totally agreed on all counts...And as for the fans, I am concerned that since we assonated football we are getting very different students to attend Hofstra; students who ae not really interested in supporting intercollegiate athletics...just my own personal opinion.

[joeg1]

Students never attended football games in adequate numbers. That was one of the pretexts Rabinowitz used to kill the program. MBB, on the other hand, had gone through periods of good attendance...most recently the Jenkins era. It can be done.

[HUSID80]

Students never attended football games in adequate numbers. That was one of the pretexts Rabinowitz used to kill the program. MBB, on the other hand, had gone through periods of good attendance...most recently the Jenkins era. It can be done.

They did attend when there were good home games and good scheduling...playing at 1 pm on Saturdays was a disaster for attendance and played right into Stu's plans to scuttle the program

[Wags]

I also agree Rok plays very tentative at the start, but my question is WHY?? It's not like he's playing a full 40 anyway - the staff is going to use Sabety, as they should, and there are other times when they may even use Walker going forward. Why not play your game from the tip?

1) Tough to do when those who control the ball mostly ignore you and don't involve you.

2) He knows he gets into foul trouble easily, so he probably is leery of committing offensive fouls early.

3) The bunnies he's been missing around the rim might have affected his confidence, and in turn, his level of aggression.

All three need to fixed ASAP. The last two are on him, the first one is on the guards and possibly the staff.

[HofstraPride1]

When I first got to Hofstra in fall 1998 I remember ever home game kicking off at noon so Fox Sports NY could broadcast, but eventually more night games were included. Unfortunately it didn't seem to matter as attendance got worst and worst once program struggled after 2001 playoff berth.

[stuball888]

It struggled after Gardi left

[HUSID80]

And we got rid of night games

[HofstraPride1]

And we got rid of night games

There were usually at least one or two night games a year in last few seasons but agreed they should have had more.


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[Polito]

Totally agree that Rok is playing soft to avoid fouls, but my question is WHY?? What does he and/or the staff think he's saving himself for??

He's not playing 40 min, so what the heck is the difference - play your game - if you foul out, it's called Next Man Up - that's sports - learn to play your position better.

But at least PLAY YOUR POSITION for goodness sake - this pussyfooting around is ridiculous and it isn't working - it's helping to lose games. Tell him to get out there and play ball. If he's out early, then c'est la vie, you play Sabety. And if he goes out you play Walker.

HU finally has post depth, USE IT! Not like what they're doing now is lighting the conf on fire.


I too wish JM was a bit more charismatic with the students and the community, however I agree 100% he has done, and is doing, his part. There is no excuse for the dead arena, and that is on the admin to fix. They are fully aware and are truly working to improve it. And we are right there with them to help and do our part, which I am very proud of everyone here for manning up to help fuel this movement.

And night football games at HU drew well, the very few they had. UConn was a fantastic game and had about 9k there - solid lively crowd - but moot point, football isn't returning anytime soon so doesn't matter... this is about improving hoops attendance. And that can, and will, absolutely be done.

And all of US are leading the charge.

[Pride97]

Totally agree that Rok is playing soft to avoid fouls, but my question is WHY?? What does he and/or the staff think he's saving himself for??

He's not playing 40 min, so what the heck is the difference - play your game - if you foul out, it's called Next Man Up - that's sports - learn to play your position better.

But at least PLAY YOUR POSITION for goodness sake - this pussyfooting around is ridiculous and it isn't working - it's helping to lose games. Tell him to get out there and play ball. If he's out early, then c'est la vie, you play Sabety. And if he goes out you play Walker.

HU finally has post depth, USE IT! Not like what they're doing now is lighting the conf on fire.

Completely agree. If i remember correctly Rok had zero fouls towards the end of the first half of the JMU game and he still wasn't playing aggressive D. I don't get it. They are 1-3. How much worse would they be if Walker had to play a few minutes due to foul trouble. Also, and i know this is noted a lot, I hope Sabety can find a way to keep his aggressiveness, but limit his fouls. He is absolutely a spark off the bench and can change momentum quickly with a big block or huge dunk. The inside game is there in the conference for the taking and they need to find a way to do so!

[Mike34]

Rokas is too afraid to foul - very obvious in this game - agree with all of the above on that.

[bobe13]

Have to blame the coaching staff for this season both for coaching and the players they recruited. It is going to be a long season.

[joeg1]

how is Bernardi getting these kind of minutes? Is JM out of his mind?

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[Mike34]

JM horrible coach. The end. He got lucky having great players in the past who distracted us from the real coaching issues.