Seeing things on one page
- Thread starter gary2
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Maybe Heather needs to do some exit interviews
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As I said in another post, players dont really like Capel, which is the thing that's surprised me the most. He's not a player's coach. One of the most important thing to look for in our search next March is for a guy the players actually like. I would interview former players of prospective candidates to get a vibe.
He didn’t have to relate with players at Duke as they were mostly one and dones so they tolerated him and were playing for K anyway
You might be right, but do you have any actual evidence of this beyond the usual conjecture?
No, just conjecture and the fact that no HS kids want to play for him and the ones that do quickly leave. He also comes across more like an "old school" basketball coach than a cool dude player's coach.
Neither is his mentor Coach K or K’s mentor Bobby Knight. The challenge he has had is recruiting players that want to play for a coach like that. He clearly hasn’t done that and good luck finding players that will buy into that framework, especially in a basement program.
The Coach K coaching tree is not a very good one. It will be interesting to see what Scheyer does at Duke, but the rest have all failed to build any sustainable programs.
I know this is not a popular opinion to many and I know the finances wouldn't allow it; but I would've liked to see Sean Miller hired at Pitt (some way some how). Instant credibility with transfers and high school recruits. Would bring excitement back to the program along with a much better chance of getting back to the tournament.
As I said in another post, players dont really like Capel, which is the thing that's surprised me the most.
Well, then he bamboozled everyone as that was bullet point one on his resume after ‘knows coach K’.
‘They’ll come here for me’.
The performance is up there with other epic Pitt debacles so far.
Right now, not saying overall, Xavier is a much better program than Pitt.
No its not. A program like Xavier wouldn't hire one of the very worst coaches in college basketball history if they were a better program like Pitt.
I'm interested in the net-net of the transfers after all of the dust settles. I predict that when Capel is done doing more of his damage with these transfers, we will be much worse off as a team and program than we were at the end of this past season. I know the guys who are in the portal weren't exactly world beaters. But we have to remember whoever we get in the portal will still be coached by Capel. And that is not a good situation at all.
We lost 2 league-average guards in Horton and Femi. Replacing them with Nike and Cummings is pretty close to an equal trade. Our other losses werent ACC players so you'd have to think we can upgrade.
Last year vs Next Year
PG - Femi vs Cummings
SG - Burton vs Burton
SF - Jeffress and Horton vs Nike
PF - Gueye vs Transfer
C - Hugley vs Hugley
PG, SG, and C is a push. SF swings Nike's way. PF is Gueye.
OK, let's assume on paper that the players we get in the portal are better than what transferred out. I'm willing to be optimistic. The wild card is the head coach and the coaching staff. We are still stuck with them. That blows this up real fast.
If it’s not Heather then certainly one of the Associate ADs is collecting information and player feedback. It’s pretty standard fare for all programs.
Or that those involved like Heather or JC are’t totally aware of the players intentions before they enter the portal .
The only player that’s left the program talent wise that I wished had stayed was Toney , while X was much better than Femi he wasn’t making Pitt a winner and his act was getting old .
Losing players from a team with minimal talent shouldn’t bother anyone . Hugley and Burton were the two players that they couldn’t afford to lose .
If JC was a horrible coach to play for why is Nike wanting to stay for another yr ?
Femi leaving is puzzling to me , major minutes at Pitt is far above the talent level he showed . He’s not an ACC level pg it will be interesting to see where he goes and if his play improves .
Xavier has been a better “overall” program than Pitt for a very long time by postseason success, including during the Dixon heyday at Pitt. And postseason success is how everyone, including coaches and players, measures success in college basketball.
Yes, at this point it’s laughable for Pitt to scorn a program like Xavier. It’s not even close.
People have to realize that “school” is a misnomer to associate with revenue sports programs. These are quasi-professional sports and the school name on the uniform may as well as be a company sponsor. It’s just a question of how, not if, slimy a school is willing to allow the program with its name on it to go to be successful. Xavier (and many, many others) clearly is willing to go much further than Pitt is.
It’s crazy to not see this. Dixon, despite a proven coach, can’t draw flies here in his final years … goes to TCU, is permitted to hire shady assistants, and presto, suddenly can draw impressive recruits and annually make tournaments. The same exact thing happens with Stallings and Capel, each not just struggling, but absurdly absolutely bereft in their ability to attract ANYONE here? Come on, they didn’t suddenly forget everything.
The common denominator here is Pitt leadership. As bad as football might be, college basketball is incredibly filthy. It’s totally about payola, and the sleaze extends goes back to junior high age kids, with shady traveling programs, then on into AAU at the high school level, well before colleges dive into the swill. Heck all the foreign basketball leagues that so many lower level players go off into are shady operations as well. How is it even possible that teams in Russia and Israel exist and that so many American players there could barely hit a backboard with their shot can go there and make any kind of sustainable money? Basketball is a giant cesspool. It’s been the world’s worst kept secret for decades.
And Pitt simply won’t allow the program to get into the sewer with the successful programs. So here we are, begging for scraps.
People have to realize that “school” is a misnomer to associate with revenue sports programs. These are quasi-professional sports and the school name on the uniform may as well as be a company sponsor. It’s just a question of how, not if, slimy a school is willing to allow the program with its name on it to go to be successful. Xavier (and many, many others) clearly is willing to go much further than Pitt is.
It’s crazy to not see this. Dixon, despite a proven coach, can’t draw flies here in his final years … goes to TCU, is permitted to hire shady assistants, and presto, suddenly can draw impressive recruits and annually make tournaments. The same exact thing happens with Stallings and Capel, each not just struggling, but absurdly absolutely bereft in their ability to attract ANYONE here? Come on, they didn’t suddenly forget everything.
The common denominator here is Pitt leadership. As bad as football might be, college basketball is incredibly filthy. It’s totally about payola, and the sleaze extends goes back to junior high age kids, with shady traveling programs, then on into AAU at the high school level, well before colleges dive into the swill. Heck all the foreign basketball leagues that so many lower level players go off into are shady operations as well. How is it even possible that teams in Russia and Israel exist and that so many American players there could barely hit a backboard with their shot can go there and make any kind of sustainable money? Basketball is a giant cesspool. It’s been the world’s worst kept secret for decades.
And Pitt simply won’t allow the program to get into the sewer with the successful programs. So here we are, begging for scraps.
Can anyone explain how the results on this page jive with Heather’s remarks regarding transfers and coaching staff player interactions referenced in this article?
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This is what is Heather’s expressed desire:
You don't want to just say it's OK to lose a student athlete to the portal," Lyke said. "Every time a student athlete leaves a program, it's an important time for a coach to reflect as to why they're leaving but more importantly, what they could have done differently as a coach.
Lyke's plan for Pitt to weather those storms stems from how she sees relationships, trust and connections between the student-athletes and a program's staff rather than simply the name and reputation of a team or university
"The only way to combat it is to place a high value on the relationship with your student-athletes," Lyke said. "If you study organizational relationship and retention, you find that brand loyalty is less valuable today than ever. It's not about playing for X school, it's about the relationships between the people. We place a stronger emphasis on that and valuing those relationships is the best counter to to the Transfer Portal."
That's where Lyke truly sees Capel as a coach who can make an impact and help Pitt adapt to these times. She's often spoke of his ability to establish a true connection with his players on and off the court
These are the results she received:
How can any conclusions drawn from exit interviews, justify keeping Capel, when the desire is so different from the result?
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Easy answer why they kept Capel. It’s been said more than a few times. And you know the answer. You just want to continue to rant and rave so have at it.
Post should be pinned.
What is funny, in the 80's, we were "industry leaders' in doing whatever it takes to get players. We all know who we got, we almost got guys like Don MacLean, Brian Williams, Jamal Magliore, Adrian Autry, Brian Reese. Hell, our recruiting was chronicled in Armen Ketiyhen's book.
Now? We think we are the Naval Academy.
I do think he builds a bond with his players. I don’t read reports of players bad-mouthing him after the fact. I read 1 parent(Horton’s Dad) comment on “what goes on between the lines”is the problem. So my n of 1 suggests the players that leave are disgruntled with lack of productivity which is compounded by losing. Yet he was the only player who left that was considered to play a key role in the few games he was allowed to play. Can’t draw a conclusion from that.
2 hard facts about Capel’s tenure, he has not won enough and he has recruited…and I’ll go out on a limb without fact-checking…the worst among ACC coaches. How does one overcome that when trying to recruit through the transfer portal with 7 open schollies? I’d say he’d be lucky to get 1 more impact player. What’s left will be 6 warm bodies and pray for a coaching miracle.
I feel badly for the guy because I thought he was the answer and still like his character. I think we are beginning to see why a few before him didn’t take this job and many after will laugh at it. It was a career ender for Stallings and looks to be a career ender for Capel(at least as a head coach).
What coach right now wants to inherit this situation knowing their career is on the line? I think ADHL knows that and the buyout amount. All that’s left is to hope this underdog team of currently 7 achieves modest goals of respectability for the University.
It’s not like a recent thing, with one bad luck coach. Dixon (who is highly regarded) suddenly couldn’t attract anyone, he was grasping for any semi warm body by the end. Stallings …. well, he just wasn’t trying very hard for sure, but he also was a coach who had had success, yet was totally stonewalled getting ANYONE. Then Capel, who everyone figured, well he isn’t a brilliant tactician but at least he will upgrade the talent…if only the NUMBERS of players. But then even HE can’t attract ANYONE??? I mean come on.
it seems to go back to the Khem Birch saga. Which had a bit of yuck to it but in context of the rest of the sport was ivory snow in comparison. But it seemed to scare the Pitt aristocracy to its core. It’s like as a result of that, Pitt drew the big red line…any kind of recruiting that even hinted of being unseemly was verboten…and the recruiting market was all too happy to erase us from contention. It’s like we don’t even exist since then.
it has been reported that Pitt “now” has 2 staff members dedicated to following the portal.Can anyone explain how the results on this page jive with Heather’s remarks regarding transfers and coaching staff player interactions referenced in this article?
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It was only after re-reading the article linked above, that I became aware that is because of Lyke.
Lyke believed Capel mishandled portal recruiting last season and suggested/mandated a change.
Wow!
While Lyke acknowledges that a mad scramble for instant success isn't the way to run a program year-to-year, she doesn't deny the prevalence of the Transfer Portal in college basketball and how Pitt has to be better at recruiting through it.
"You can't just open it up and look at who's there, you have to do your homework on all those people. We've prioritized that research because of the opportunity to find good kids who didn't fit wherever they were. There are very talented student athletes out there and a full vetting of that is a priority for our coaching staff right now because it can help a team quickly."
Lyke acknowledged that part of Pitt's plan for better utilizing the Transfer Portal moving forward has been to assign two staff members dedicated to study players within the portal.
I agree , I’m sure the knowledge that they wanted to bring in someone to play the point was involved in his decision.
Why would anyone want to stay and try to improve your skills , easier to move on and find a spot were your better than everyone else .
Well. Not sure where, but on Planet Earth, Nelly Cummings is NOT a Point Guard..
Maybe Bill Belicheck would play him at Point, but..
Call 911 or drive to Western Pysch if you know how to drive and self commit . Try and bring an ID with your actual name on it . Good luck !
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