Our losses get better and better...

[USFMikeB]

As I have stated MANY times. Im NOT happy with the basketball program BUT ALL I am asking of the darksiders is what do they expect to do?

Fire RMC, right now? Wholl finish coaching the season?, Who is going to pay his buyout?. Where is the money going to come to hire that new coach?

This are ALL questions i want you guys to answer, im sure if you have the answers Woolard will listen. Until then it makes no sense all this fire the coach after every loss.

You guys seem to think that USF basketball is this plum job people are dying to take. In reality with our support,money and league affiliation is probably one of the toughest and one were an up and coming coach would probably pass on.

WELL SAID

[joementum]

I think that South Florida is a very very very attractive job.  One that would bring any coach from a solid mid major school.  Do I think we could hire away Gary Williams.  No.

If you look at our thread we congratualted Mac on a fine win.  We did not disparage.  But my fellow bull fans on this board preached that we played a "tough" out of conference schedule.  As a member of the darksiders i wanted to make sure that comment did not go un-checked.

I think the one common denominator among the group is our desire to win.  I think the way in which we reach that goal is where the difference lyes.

I, speaking for myself only, don't think that firing mac would be a good move now.  If we would have lost to wake and bcc, I would have endorsed the hanging.  We didn't.

Mac needs to win 5 conference games to keep his job.

My guy tells me Woolard wants to move on.

[joementum]

And how can the AP Top 25 be totally irrelevent.....

Aren't you a big believer in the RPI...???

[Cubanbull]

Tell me reasons why USF would be an attractrive job for an up n coming coach?

Is it our fan support? No even in our best years our crowds dont match what same coach can get in many A10- Missouri Valley schools.

Is it money? Nope our coaches make less than top A10 and MVC schools.

Is it facilities? Nope some of those schools play and practice in better facilities than Sun Dome.

Is it recruiting grounds? Nope Florida is NOT a big basketball recruiting state

Is it chance of winning? No he would have a better shot beating and going to the NCAA in those leagues than at USF because we are in a BIG dissadvantage  compared to most BE schools.

So at USF you have a good chance at fighting to make an NIT here and there and an NCAA every 5 years or so. Yep that will get you noticed. More likely get you fired.

Look at all our coaches and tell me where have they ended up? Not one ever moved up , Seth realized it and was trying to bail last few years.

[Bullpride08]

UNLV looked like a loss to an average team.....until everyone realized they are good. Same can be said about UAB, which gave Florida all they could handle(tied with 1:05 to play), and eventually lost by 5.

Am I wrong?

You're not wrong Shoop, our first 7-8 players are very competitive from a Big East perspective.  If Buckley would bother rebounding more it can be a very decent team.  Particularly when Howard returns.  The problem is if Aris Williams knee becomes a persistent problem then we can be in real trouble down low...Gransberry is amazing and most likely will follow Jones to the NBA, but as Jones will tell you, it's impossible to do it by yourself.  That's where this team is soft.

As the season wears on this team will get better with Gransberry, Verdejo, and Howard.  I am still guessing 5 to 6 conference wins in a much weaker Big East this year.  Then the question will remain whether 14-15 wins is good enough, or is he just tredding water with the talent he has.  Trust me this team will improve darksiders, and the starting talent is very competitive so some tough questions will need to be answered this off-season...the key one being what is enough?  What is the proper barometer for improvement?

[joementum]

in three years this guy has won seven conference games and everyone just thinks mac is going to roll with all the "new" talent.

Why is USF an attractive job?

Because you get to coach in the Big East Conference.  Probably the most televised and high profile basketball conference in the country.  You get to coach against Boehiem, Petino, Calhoun.  You get to play against storied programs like Seton Hall, St. Johns, Georgetown.

You get to live in the state of Florida.

And the next coaches salary won't be in the gutter.  

And Va Tech is a bottom feeder job???

Greenberg left because he had little support among the fans and boosters.  His days were numbered - so he jumped ship.

Before Mac -- i think we only had 2 coaches in 13 years or so.

[usfgrad84]

I would have to think USF is  absolutely an attractive job for an up and coming coach for a lot of reasons.  First of all, don't underestimate the power and draw of the BE. You cannot compare USF in CUSA vs what it is now.  You just need time to see how it develops, but it is a very powerful thing.   Any coach with any kind of competitiveness wants to go up against the best competition.  The BE is the best basketball competition in the nation.  Also, the Big East affiliation is beginning to generate some cash so we should be able to pay some competitive salaries.  Last time I checked we had a brand new ATHLETIC facility (it's not just for the football team).  As strange as it may seem, there was a day when we drew pretty well at the Sun Dome.

If a change is made, and we can get a guy that is the complete package, that is, media savvy, a good recruiter and a good game day coach (yes, there will be guys out there that can do that) the USF job is a very attractive one.

I grew up in CT and had a lot of friends that went to UCONN.  We used to be at about the same level they were.  Go back 20 years or so.  UCONN was no better than we were.  They didn't have half as much to offer than we did at that point, but they got the right guy at the right time and he created a tremendous program.

Get the right guy and this can be a tremendous program.

[MikeG]

joemental-- you get all your facts twisted around whenever you write.

You started out responding to the original question and made points about how we haven't beaten a ranked team. We argued that point as being moronic -- as there are numerous schools also failing to beat ranked teams in Div 1 (almost all of them probably). Then you use this twisted argument to try to say people are defending CRM? Where exactly did this leap of conscious come from?

the bottom line is you have no answers to the situation-- just gripes and worse than that-- you are a broken record repeating the same nonsense over and over again.

OK-- WE GET IT- YOU HATE THE COACH

How about we wait and see how the season pans out? If you are correct-- feel free to wag your fingers at all of us who were saying basically the same **** thing anyway. Firing CRM right now makes no sense at all. Let Woolard do his job and evaluate this situation properly.

[Cubanbull]

Until our program gets seriouis moneywise about our basketball program we will have a tough time in Big East no matter who our coach is. The facts are that we are putting our money on football,(rightly so this is Florida) and it will be football that will feed our other programs. Look at UF,FSU,UM and they have all benefitted from football money in kick starting their basketball programs.

Virginia Tech is NOT a major step up in basketball, it is the Virginia Tech FOOTBALL program that has brought that school its name and now its money that they are investing in basketball.

I see USF following same pattern it will be FOOTBALL that will eventually lead to basketball success.

[MikeG]

Until our program gets seriouis moneywise about our basketball program we will have a tough time in Big East no matter who our coach is. The facts are that we are putting our money on football,(rightly so this is Florida) and it will be football that will feed our other programs. Look at UF,FSU,UM and they have all benefitted from football money in kick starting their basketball programs.

Virginia Tech is NOT a major step up in basketball, it is the Virginia Tech FOOTBALL program that has brought that school its name and now its money that they are investing in basketball.

I see USF following same pattern it will be FOOTBALL that will eventually lead to basketball success.

I agree that this is what we are doing currently and the past 5-10 years.

Here's the rub though-- how much more would it cost us to get the hoops team moving in the right direction- good results on the court, fans in the stands etc? I think this little project could pay for itself in ticket sales alone if done properly. Then we could have an additional sport out there bringing our school more name recognition and success.

Hoops has definitely taken it on the chin to prmote football. Football consumes so much more resource/money. We aren't totally throwing it to the pooper but if I were AD Woolard, I would consider the timing of getting it back on track. So far we have cleaned it up and worked on a shoestring budget. Perhaps that has given Woolard a reason to maintain the situation with CRM realizing that we will continue to suffer somewhat in the early going. I really don't know butit could make sense.

We just made a major move with baseball. If that pans out well, the timing may be right to do something more significant with hoops. The real question is when and what. CRM seems to have the rest of the season to prove himself. I don't see alot of other choices in the short term.