Assistant Coach Position
- Thread starter Cat Fan in Buckeye Land
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Really who has he recruited to NIU? Are you impressed with the talent they have there and the .371 winning percentage they have in the MAC conference over the 8 years Monty and him have been there? NIU is considered to potentially be one of the top 3 jobs in the MAC but they have mediocre talent on their roster. Seriously one thing I cannot stand about college basketball is when assistant coach's get a reputation for being a great recruiter and have nothing to show for the "great" recruiting they have done. Lets just leave it as Borovich got the job, saying he is "great" anything based on his past job performance results is nothing but embelishment.
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Really? For basketball? They haven't made the NCAA Tournament since 1996, during their brief stint in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference.
Its considered to be a potential to 3 job in the conference according to most coaches (Ball Sate and Ohio are considered the best jobs) Buffalo has been at the top but its almost a miracles what Hurley and then Oates did there, But currently NIU is not and currently it stands as one of the worst programs which Borovich and Montgomery have a stake in.. Here is a quote from a MAC coach
Why NIU is potentially one of the best JOBS in the MAC: Facilities. Quality practice facility and very nice arena. The school is also close to Chicago and that talent base– which can be a blessing but navigating the high schools and AAU coachs can be a curse if you are not trusted or liked by them. Admissions can get anyone into school so they can take chances on guys.
The reason it is not a top 3 job: “General apathy towards basketball from both administration and also the fan base, they tolerate mediocrity as witnessed by the coaching hires and extended the current staff despite mediocre results.
He'd be moving from one apathetic fan base to another.....
I’ve heard the prior guy he is replacing was not particularly well liked by the players etc. So in addition to the recruiting (and whatever else), might be an upgrade to the overall vibe of the program. But who knows really, that’s just speculation.
This^
Sadly this is supposedly true and was the case at his last two stops as well. Which begs the question how did he get a head coaching position and why did CC enable him?
It's possible CC was somewhat happy for him to move on. Maybe the thought for UMKC is that his approach works better as a HC than an AC. Maybe they haven't heard those murmurs. Or maybe they've heard and don't care / decided they like him anyway as he has a pretty decent resume (if one looks past all the moving around) for a UMKC head coach.
If some of the speculation about how the Cushing departure went down is correct (I honestly have no idea whether it is), it's possible something similar happened here. Again, speculation, but keep in mind that we potentially got 'fooled' into hiring him from Michigan based on similar rationale.
CC knew him from high school days, and he had connections to the NU program, plus was a defensive mastermind supposedly. If the whispers are true, then hopefully with the change on the staff, the overall chemistry will improve for the team.
A little late, but wanted to thank you for the insight. He seems like a peculiar hire given the lack of results at NIU.
I heard the same thing about his father. Maybe they're okay being the bad cops in a program. Didn't seem to hurt either of their careers.
This seems like a fairly plausible scenario to infer. Donlon moving on is not a coincidence in my opinion. We’ll see if that fixes the “chemistry” problems that seemed to hamper this team over the last year or two.
I don't think there was a lack of chemistry problem last year. I think there was a lack of a point guard problem.
Greenstein said it was "close" in the Tribune, so I'm assuming it's happening. But maybe I shouldn't assume anything with NU basketball.
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