It’s time to move on from Collins

[TheC]

The hope was that he could recruit a different kind of talent to NU but that hasn’t happened. For NU to compete with inferior athletes they need to be impeccably coached and Collins just isn’t a good X’s and O’s coach. He’s not working out here. Our program is going backwards.

 

[lunker35]

The hope was that he could recruit a different kind of talent to NU but that hasn’t happened. For NU to compete with inferior athletes they need to be impeccably coached and Collins just isn’t a good X’s and O’s coach. He’s not working out here. Our program is going backwards.

I have to agree (ducks). He’s been here a long time now and his coaching is just abysmal.

 

[freewillie07]

I’m almost ready to have this discussion. I’ve said before that he has until the end of the 2021-22 season (Kopp/Nance senior years) and I still stand by that... but this was hard to stomach.

 

[Medill '03]

I have to agree (ducks). He’s been here a long time now and his coaching is just abysmal.

The recruits just don't look any different to me. I mean, I know Beran and Nance were highly regarded, but who needs to gameplan against them? Collins is still living with the consequences of the class when he brought in Gaines. If he loses his job (and he won't this year), you can look back to that year when everything fell apart.

 

[catcrazy]

He needs to be fired. There is zero reason to lose that game. He is paid millions of dollars for that. He should give his entire salary to charity if he is going to coach like that

 

[IdahoAlum]

This is what bad coaches do — figure out ways to lose winnable games. Collins has mastered the art. I don’t think NU will get rid him because of the institutional inferiority complex that implies we can’t do any better. But I don’t expect this program to ever be competitive for an NCAA berth again while he’s here.

 

[peatymeanis]

The hope was that he could recruit a different kind of talent to NU but that hasn’t happened. For NU to compete with inferior athletes they need to be impeccably coached and Collins just isn’t a good X’s and O’s coach. He’s not working out here. Our program is going backwards.

His recruits are terrible. Collins has no eye for if a kid is actually capable of playing a 5 on 5 basketball game. Pete Nance is a junior and he can't do the most basic fundamental skills. Christ these guys are so bad.

 

[Styre]

This is what bad coaches do — figure out ways to lose winnable games. Collins has mastered the art. I don’t think NU will get rid him because of the institutional inferiority complex that implies we can’t do any better. But I don’t expect this program to ever be competitive for an NCAA berth again while he’s here.

NU won't get rid of him because he still has four years left on his contract after this one, and they simply won't buy out that much.

Any other high major program would have dumped him after last season.

 

[HawkCat]

The recruits just don't look any different to me. I mean, I know Beran and Nance were highly regarded, but who needs to gameplan against them? Collins is still living with the consequences of the class when he brought in Gaines. If he loses his job (and he won't this year), you can look back to that year when everything fell apart.

Decided to delete what I initially posted and post something relatively positive. Young is not athletic, but he plays with heart and grit. He should be starting at the 5.

 

[catcrazy]

I’ll contribute to his dismissal fee

 

[GatoLouco]

I’m almost ready to have this discussion. I’ve said before that he has until the end of the 2021-22 season (Kopp/Nance senior years) and I still stand by that... but this was hard to stomach.

I’ve always been on the 21/22 season timeline. But it’s really hard to swallow giving, by that time, 10 years for a guy to learn how to... well... coach

 

[catfans5]

Absolutely agree that Chris has to go.

 

[SpiroCAT]

WIthout a doubt the worst game of coaching I've seen out of Collins:
1) Defense is soft. Numerable times tonight players just kept backing up letting the Pitt players get closer to the basket.
2) Large number of times CATS defenders ducked under the ball screen and gave up good shot.
3) Could not beat the press at the end of the game.
4) What is Collins doing with Nance? Is he a 4 or a 5? Does he play with his back to the basket or is he a shooter from 15 feet away. Collins is wasting his talent because he can't decide what to do with him.
5) The idea this year that the CATS were going up tempo and shoot threes is great until a) you go cold shooting, and 2) you don't get any rebounds.
6) Nobody rebounds on the offensive end. No second chance shots--just one and done. Not a great offense when you go cold shooting.
7) Innumerable times that CATS defense broke down because a player did not keep his body between his man and the basket.

Collins is a good recruiter and a semi-decent offensive coach, but is a horrible defensive coach. He needs to get someone on his staff who can teach defense.

We will be lucky to even our win total in the Big Ten from last year. While the CATS have gotten better, the rest of the Big Ten Men's BB teams have gotten much better. We have slid relatively farther in the hole.

I'm done with them for this year.

 

[cedricmelons]

Who would even take this job and have any better chance of success than Collins though? Not that that's a reason to keep him.

 

[Medill '03]

Decided to delete what I initially posted and post something relatively positive. Young is not athletic, but he plays with heart and grit. He should be starting at the 5.

Recruiting services may prefer Nance over Young, but you can actually trust Young to do something, at least on offense.

 

[freewillie07]

Recruiting services may prefer Nance over Young, but you can actually trust Young to do something, at least on offense.

Young is coached by Brian James, as I understand it. Is Nance?

 

[NUCat91]

Attacked due to his success, but that's the way it goes. We're no longer satisfied with Carmody-level winning, and he hasn't continued. Time to go.

 

[lunker35]

Attacked due to his success, but that's the way it goes. We're no longer satisfied with Carmody-level winning, and he hasn't continued. Time to go.

He’s been worse than Carmody. I’m too lazy to look up the records but we had some really mediocre seasons with Carmody and I’d happily take mediocre over what we’ve seen the last few years.

 

[Styre]

He’s been worse than Carmody. I’m too lazy to look up the records but we had some really mediocre seasons with Carmody and I’d happily take mediocre over what we’ve seen the last few years.

Records entering this season:

Overall
Collins 109-119 (.4781)
Carmody 192-210 (.4776)

Big Ten
Collins 43-87 (.331)
Carmody 70-150 (.318)

 

[CatManTrue]

Records entering this season:

Overall
Collins 109-119 (.4781)
Carmody 192-210 (.4776)

Big Ten
Collins 43-87 (.331)
Carmody 70-150 (.318)

Wow. I’ve seen enough. Time for CCC to be ushered out.

Next year’s team could be stacked if we have the right coach running the ship.

Question is: who could that be?

 

[jne381]

Last night's game was ugly. Northwestern is not without the capabilities to win that game, but this team needs discipline within their game. They are sloppy, take bad shots too quickly, and get in their own heads at the end of games. Collins is failing this team as a coach. I am not on the fire the coach wagon, but Collins must do something different.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

You guys are all dreaming if you think some highly regarded Coach is dying to come here and deal with admissions, lack of comparative fan support, no history ( except made by the current Coach) , meager media attention, a college town that isn’t a college town, and a student body that the players have little in common with.

 

[IdahoAlum]

I can think of several million reasons why a good, young mid-major coach would consider the challenge. But I don’t think anybody is going to get the opportunity for awhile. Sadly I think we are fated to endure more of same for awhile.

 

[GatoLouco]

I can imagine the #1 criteria to look for a coach for NU would be recruiting resilience. We often tend to think just about the admission standards, but all the reasons mentioned above are just as big an impediment.

So chances are Jim Beilein ain't coming to NU. I agree that it would likely have to be #1 a young ambitious coach.

 

[Hungry Jack]

You guys are all dreaming if you think some highly regarded Coach is dying to come here and deal with admissions, lack of comparative fan support, no history ( except made by the current Coach) , meager media attention, a college town that isn’t a college town, and a student body that the players have little in common with.

Other than that, it's the best coaching job in the country!

 

[nu greek]

Do former alums Tavares Hardy and Pat Baldwin makes sense as Head Coaching candidates when the time comes? They know the admission requirements and "culture" of the program. Take PBJ out of the equation. Porter Moser?Billy Donlon? I have never been a huge Collins fan, though his Hometown and Duke pedigree have brought some attention to the program. Any thoughts?

 

[7th Cir. Cat]

Tavares Hardy has actually been a head coach before. He's had two seasons at Loyola MD. I would be on board with that. That's more coaching experience than Fitz had!

 

[GatoLouco]

Add, for example:

Matt McMahon - Murray State
Scott Nagy - Wright State
Craig Smith - Utah State
Casey Alexander - Belmont
Mike Rhoades - VCU
John Becker - Vermont
Wes Miller - UNC Greensboro
Levelle Moton - UNC Central
Leon Rice - Boise State
Michael Huger - Bowling Green
Nathan David - Bucknell
Mark Pope - BYU

Not advocating any names in particular. Anyone would need to be object of a lot of due diligence. But there's never a lack of promising coaches. I'd hate to see going the "assistant from a farm system" route again.

 

[GeauxCatsGeaux]

Personally, Collins's biggest sin for me was the Rosemont season. Not following up the tourney run with a good season with essentially the same roster was a gigantic missed opportunity to build a program. There were a lot of reasons, namely playing in Rosemont, that hurt us, but I'll never forget BMac saying "we were out of shape coming into the year" in his postseason press interview. The program hasn't been good since. I have no problem letting him ride out the remainder of the contract though - they've shown some promise here and it's way too early to write off this season. But that patience might just be because I'd rather not allocate any resources that could be used to help football in any way.

 

[Alan Smithee]

Records entering this season:

Overall
Collins 109-119 (.4781)
Carmody 192-210 (.4776)

Big Ten
Collins 43-87 (.331)
Carmody 70-150 (.318)

To be fair, look at the facilities Collins has to try to recruit with. They’re all at least a year old.

 

[No Chores]

Decided to delete what I initially posted and post something relatively positive. Young is not athletic, but he plays with heart and grit. He should be starting at the 5.

Agreed. We lost this game because of our horrendous rebounding, plain and simple. Pitt out rebounded us by 20. Most importantly, Pitt had 19 offensive rebounds to our 4. Young had 3 of our 4 and Gaines had the other one. Nance, Beran and Kopp had zero offensive rebounds, which is pathetic. Rebounding is a learned skill, and apparently Collins or the rest of the staff don't know how to teach it. This game should not have been close. Collins blamed the loss on poor defense at important times, but I don't agree with him. It was the rebounding, or lack thereof, that killed us.

 

[Jonny2TheP]

Agreed. We lost this game because of our horrendous rebounding, plain and simple. Pitt out rebounded us by 20. Most importantly, Pitt had 19 offensive rebounds to our 4. Young had 3 of our 4 and Gaines had the other one. Nance, Beran and Kopp had zero offensive rebounds, which is pathetic. Rebounding is a learned skill, and apparently Collins or the rest of the staff don't know how to teach it. This game should not have been close. Collins blamed the loss on poor defense at important times, but I don't agree with him. It was the rebounding, or lack thereof, that killed us.

Not defending it, but for most of the game, we were putting no effort into offensive rebounding and more focused on getting guys back on defense. This actually worked for the 1st half, but didn't in the second half.

I don't agree with this approach overall. If we want to be a team that plays fast, then you need to attack the offensive boards and give yourself more opportunities. We are predominantly an outside shooting team, which should give us more chances for offensive rebounds when we actually try to do so.

 

[GatoLouco]

Collins blamed the loss on poor defense at important times, but I don't agree with him. It was the rebounding, or lack thereof, that killed us.

When was it that CC took (at least some of) the blame for any of our losses last season?

He did switch to zone with 11 to 12 minutes to go in the game, I believe having allowed 18 points in the 2nd half up to that point. Went on to allow 31 more. And frankly, if Johnson had not committed his 4th with 11 to go, it probably would have been worse.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Add, for example:

Matt McMahon - Murray State
Scott Nagy - Wright State
Craig Smith - Utah State
Casey Alexander - Belmont
Mike Rhoades - VCU
John Becker - Vermont
Wes Miller - UNC Greensboro
Levelle Moton - UNC Central
Leon Rice - Boise State
Michael Huger - Bowling Green
Nathan David - Bucknell
Mark Pope - BYU

Not advocating any names in particular. Anyone would need to be object of a lot of due diligence. But there's never a lack of promising coaches. I'd hate to see going the "assistant from a farm system" route again.

These names will fire up the fan base.

 

[HawkCat]

These names will fire up the fan base.

Winning with an unknown up-and-comer would fire up the fan base more than hiring a well-known name who underperforms.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Winning with an unknown up-and-comer would fire up the fan base more than hiring a well-known name who underperforms.

Key word being winning. If Lori Lightfoot coached the team and won, I would approve the hire.

Not many in any of our lifetimes has been able to do it.

 

[Jonny2TheP]

Add, for example:

Matt McMahon - Murray State
Scott Nagy - Wright State
Craig Smith - Utah State
Casey Alexander - Belmont
Mike Rhoades - VCU
John Becker - Vermont
Wes Miller - UNC Greensboro
Levelle Moton - UNC Central
Leon Rice - Boise State
Michael Huger - Bowling Green
Nathan David - Bucknell
Mark Pope - BYU

Not advocating any names in particular. Anyone would need to be object of a lot of due diligence. But there's never a lack of promising coaches. I'd hate to see going the "assistant from a farm system" route again.

Another name of a guy who is doing an under the radar nice job at a smaller program is Daren DeVries at Drake. He became their coach in 2018 after the previous coach left after one season to take the job at Colorado State. He pretty much came in with almost nothing on the roster and has responded with two successful seasons off the bat, both 20 + win seasons. This year Drake is 5-0 with a win at Kansas State (though that win doesn't look as good after KSU lost the other night to a winless D2 school named Fort Hays State).

Anyways, not saying anything about getting him or any of these guys to NU- just throwing another name out there of a guy doing a nice job at a smaller program.

 

[julescat]

It's time to move on from Chris Collins (nice and decent guy but not a good HC). But Phillips doesn't have the balls to whack his prize hire.

 

[NJCat]

It's time to move on from Chris Collins (nice and decent guy but not a good HC). But Phillips doesn't have the balls to whack his prize hire.

It may be more that he doesn't have the budget to whack him, buying out 3 (?) remaining years of his contract will cost ~$10 Million.....

 

[GatoLouco]

Another name of a guy who is doing an under the radar nice job at a smaller program is Daren DeVries at Drake. He became their coach in 2018 after the previous coach left after one season to take the job at Colorado State. He pretty much came in with almost nothing on the roster and has responded with two successful seasons off the bat, both 20 + win seasons. This year Drake is 5-0 with a win at Kansas State (though that win doesn't look as good after KSU lost the other night to a winless D2 school named Fort Hays State).

Anyways, not saying anything about getting him or any of these guys to NU- just throwing another name out there of a guy doing a nice job at a smaller program.

Right! Point being, there are always a lot of names to look at.

In the end if you have contacts that follow a program very closely, they can be your scouts. There are also, for sure, excellent coaches out there, not setting the world on fire. LaVall Jordan was not exactly over performing at UWM and seems to be working fine for Butler. Is PB at the same school the same situation? Don't know the answer.