🏈 From AD Bill Battle: In Support of Coach Grant

[riz]

What I don't like, nor understand, has been the constant transferring over Grant's tenure. At this point I'm wondering who will transfer next.

I was extremely happy when we hired Grant. I liked what he did at VCU, so did Florida. If you remember, he was set to take that program over when Donovan took the Magic job, then changed his mind and came back to Gainesville. He would be Florida's coach today. So it wasn't just us that thought highly of him and what he had accomplished to that point. I have to say today, something isn't right. There can't be an excuse for not being able to find a consistent 3 point shooter over the time he's been here. If we can't get a shooter or two, we'll never be any better than what we are now. And the transfers? What the hell?

Of course, I'm pretty stupid, so what do I know.

 

[rammerjammer]

I guess a lot of it boils down to timing. Every year at this time some small school plays Cinderella at the tournament and moves on to a bigger better job. I guess with Pearl out there and probably the best option, it was more of a "strike while the iron is hot" mentality. I'm sure there are others that could be successful here if Grant doesn't pan out, but timing is everything.

 

[TheChief]

Say what you will about Pearl, and believe me I've said plenty, he can flat out coach. I don't like the man. I don't like the way he screams and rants. I don't like his attitude on the court. I despise Tennessee and everything associated with it. But Pearl can coach. If he goes to Auburn, that team will own a big portion of the SEC beginning as early as next year. Grant and Bama won't touch him for years.

 

[TerryP]

How much talent is in the state of North Carolina? You're saying in state talent precludes Alabama from being competitive? You're grasping at straws.

I'm grasping at straws and you're trying to draw a comparison between North Carolina's programs and Alabama's?

Did I say the in-state talent precludes Alabama from being competitive?

In answer to your first question there are 32 players from the state of NC that play in the ACC; another 22 that play in CUSA. That state dwarfs the state of Alabama at producing premium talent.

Adding to that, when you put a name like Roy Williams and combine that with the established tradition of the 'Heels it'll open any door in the country.

I mentioned the talent found in-state as one area where the state of Florida differs from the state of Alabama.

I'm going back to what I've said repeatedly. Grant has done a poor job of marketing our program; to the fans, the students, the boosters, and to prospects. It's an area that deserves criticism. Is that a fireable offense? No. Does it put him in a situation where he's on a short leash and will be looking for a job unless things turn around? Of course it does.

 

[TerryP]

Look at Coach K's record. It took five years only.

It took five years for what? Two appearances in the NCAA's both years bumped in the second round. He made it to the finals in his sixth year. In the mid-80's...

A comparison of what's going on in college basketball today and what happened 30 years ago? Come on now...

 

[ElephantStomp]

[MENTION=18020]terry[/MENTION] What about all the transfers? That's some decent talent that's gone or good talent by Alabama standards anyway.

 

[TerryP]

What I don't like, nor understand, has been the constant transferring over Grant's tenure. At this point I'm wondering who will transfer next.

I was extremely happy when we hired Grant. I liked what he did at VCU, so did Florida. If you remember, he was set to take that program over when Donovan took the Magic job, then changed his mind and came back to Gainesville. He would be Florida's coach today. So it wasn't just us that thought highly of him and what he had accomplished to that point. I have to say today, something isn't right. There can't be an excuse for not being able to find a consistent 3 point shooter over the time he's been here. If we can't get a shooter or two, we'll never be any better than what we are now. And the transfers? What the hell?

Of course, I'm pretty stupid, so what do I know.

In the last year 40% of the players in D1 have transferred to another school. We're talking what...300+ D1 schools that have basketball teams? The exact number is around 450 or so...

Bottom line, it's not something that Alabama is dealing with by itself.

FWIW, the guy that's looked at to replace what Releford brought this year? A transfer.

 

[TerryP]

<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> @terry <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> What about all the transfers? That's some decent talent that's gone or good talent by Alabama standards anyway.

One, see my post to riz.

Two, it's certainly an area of concern. If we had Lacey and Gueye on the squad this year I certainly believe it would have made a difference.

That said, with so many transfers across the landscape of college basketball I don't see how you can lay the fault entirely on a head coach. It's too prevalent.

Where do these players get their expectations? Is that just another by-product of what the AAU has done to the game over the last decade or so?

 

[TerryP]

I guess a lot of it boils down to timing. Every year at this time some small school plays Cinderella at the tournament and moves on to a bigger better job. I guess with Pearl out there and probably the best option, it was more of a "strike while the iron is hot" mentality. I'm sure there are others that could be successful here if Grant doesn't pan out, but timing is everything.

A fantastic point.

Assuming Grant was let go—where do we go? Who is out there right now that we could offer and they'd be interested in taking the position?

Facts reveal taking chances on assistants has horrible odds of success. Hiring a coach from a mid-major? That's a crap shoot as well.

 

[riz]

In the last year 40% of the players in D1 have transferred to another school. We're talking what...300+ D1 schools that have basketball teams? The exact number is around 450 or so...

Bottom line, it's not something that Alabama is dealing with by itself.

FWIW, the guy that's looked at to replace what Releford brought this year? A transfer.

Fair enough. But we haven't had near the amount transfer in as we have had transfer out. We haven't just had "no names" transferring either.

 

[riz]

And don't get me wrong, I'm not on a witch hunt here. Frankly, I've become apathetic about it. But I will say this, I don't think that's the way a University wants its alums thinking/acting.

 

[TerryP]

Fair enough. But we haven't had near the amount transfer in as we have had transfer out. We haven't just had "no names" transferring either.

A few "no names."

Half of the 2010 class is still here and the entire class of 2011 is still on campus . 2012's signee was Pollard and that's not a transfer. All of 2013 is still here as well.

One thing to note is the vast majority of those transfers were guys recruited by Gottfried. With Grant's classes, he's had three that aren't here anymore (one being Pollard.) The other two were from the 2010 class.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not on a witch hunt here. Frankly, I've become apathetic about it. But I will say this, I don't think that's the way a University wants its alums thinking/acting.

Having a 3% decline in season packages plus empty seats during games has people's attention. The empty seats define apathy among the fan base as well as anything could.

Coming full circle again here...we didn't see all those chair-backs a year ago.

 

[riz]

Having a 3% decline in season packages plus empty seats during games has people's attention. The empty seats define apathy among the fan base as well as anything could.

Coming full circle again here...we didn't see all those chair-backs a year ago.

Honeymoon.

 

[TerryP]

[MENTION=19574]riz[/MENTION] [MENTION=11327]rammerjammer[/MENTION] [MENTION=15045]TheChief[/MENTION]

Here's a guess on Pearl...

I just glanced around the 'net a bit and don't see a thing about this story from guys like Katz, Bilas, etc.

I do see Hokanson still pushing the story line and he's pointing to the NCAA and the show-cause as being the hold up.

As I've said the last two days, negotiations are happening and at this point, it appears the hold-up is the NCAA working through approving the hire due to the show-cause. While Pearl and Auburn are still working through some other issues, that appears to be the main issue at this point.

Here's my guess:

In the end Auburn doesn't land Pearl, Hokanson blames it on the NCAA's "approval." This turns the conversation to Emmert, which in turn turns it to the friendship he and Saban share.

We're left with Saban didn't want Pearl to coach basketball at Auburn and it's his fault he wasn't hired.

 

[TheChief]

<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> @riz <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> <!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> @rammerjammer <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> <!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> @TheChief <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->

Here's a guess on Pearl...

I just glanced around the 'net a bit and don't see a thing about this story from guys like Katz, Bilas, etc.

I do see Hokanson still pushing the story line and he's pointing to the NCAA and the show-cause as being the hold up.



Here's my guess:

In the end Auburn doesn't land Pearl, Hokanson blames it on the NCAA's "approval." This turns the conversation to Emmert, which in turn turns it to the friendship he and Saban share.

We're left with Saban didn't want Pearl to coach basketball at Auburn and it's his fault he wasn't hired.

Really?

 

[riz]

<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->@riz<!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> <!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->@rammerjammer<!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> <!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->@TheChief<!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->

Here's a guess on Pearl...

I just glanced around the 'net a bit and don't see a thing about this story from guys like Katz, Bilas, etc.

I do see Hokanson still pushing the story line and he's pointing to the NCAA and the show-cause as being the hold up.



Here's my guess:

In the end Auburn doesn't land Pearl, Hokanson blames it on the NCAA's "approval." This turns the conversation to Emmert, which in turn turns it to the friendship he and Saban share.

We're left with Saban didn't want Pearl to coach basketball at Auburn and it's his fault he wasn't hired.

That would be beautiful.