Eh, it was a no win situation once the school made clear that the funds weren’t there for a buyout. If Gragg gives his full support, it just looks disingenuous as everyone with eyes can see there’s serious problems. You’re not fooling any recruits or coaches who want to negative recruit against you. Any honest statement has to reckon with the underperformance of the last 5 years, and that basically gets you to a statement that is similar to what Gragg put out today.
Sort of to be expected out of a guy in a position that is basically political
He needs to look outside "the family" and hire some assistants who will shake things up. Something along the lines of Martelli at Michigan, or Sadler at Nebraska, along with a young, aggressive assistant who is hungry would be ideal.
I mentioned in another thread, but the first person on my list to go would be Borovich. Does anyone know what his responsibilities are and what he has brought to the team?
Yeah, I don't understand the criticism of Gragg on this thread. Admittedly, the "Collins must go" crowd (including me) have been more vocal than everyone else, except for the "admissions must die" group. Nevertheless, it is the way of the world in college sports. AD's et al are publicly acknowledging that things must improve, and the multi-millionaire coaches either perform or leave. Trev Alberts said something along the lines of 'Scott Frost placed a big bet on himself'.
No matter what happens, the 2023-24 season is a teardown. (Berry, Nicholson Roper, Barnhizer, Simmons, Hunger are the current scholarship players from that team. They might score 40ppg.)
Does anyone really have any strong feelings about the competency of any of our assistants?
I disagree with this on many levels. 1) Going to the NCAA should always be a good thing. If we have to be the seven-year locust, it's better than being the never-year locust 2) With the team coming back, it would take nothing short of a miracle for us to make the tourney. If he got us there, he'd deserve an extension, albeit not a Dr. Jim extension. 3) I suppose there is a > 0% chance that PBS/PBJ come down for a 'rehab' year, leading us to the tourney, and...never mind. Disregard #3. But I stand by the other 2
I wonder if "leeway" was part of the conversation Gragg and Collins had..........that would certainly be a "change" Gragg insisted upon......
What the heck, making the tourney will be a bad thing? Isn't that the goal, having a team competitive enough to make the tourney? I mean, I get it if your goal is getting rid of Collins regardless anything else, but shouldn't we be happy if he manages to deliver again?
Hopefully it was strongly suggested that he improve his staff since the current AC’s can’t seem to help with CC’s shortcomings
What recruiting lol- the incoming class is an empty shopping cart
I haven’t seen any evidence to say that they can help CC overcome his shortcomings. If they are doing good jobs then CC must be even worse than most of us imagine. Just feels like this staff needs a shakeup at a minimum
I think it's worse than that. He's the only one with a losing record every year.
That's not the point. If they were concerned about recruiting, they would have fired CC.
Right? It's not like he's setting the world on fire. He is, however, setting the program aflame
Meh. If he could fire him, he would have done so, as Collins has earned it. But the buyout is too high, so the best Gragg can do is to say "win, or else" which signals that he should be capable of hiring a new coach after another crappy season. I doubt he has much confidence in CCC, so why should he proclaim it now only to reverse course in 12 months? That would make him look dumb.
Sadler is a GREAT Xs-and-Os coach. He took UTEP to the NCAA Tournament (with players he inherited from Billy Gillispie), he took Nebraska to the NIT in half his seasons there (which isn't normally impressive, but this is Nebraska basketball), and he took over an absolute dumpster fire at Southern Miss, which was crippled by sanctions, and their record improved year over year for the five seasons he was there.
And that's why it would be great to also hire and young assistant willing to hustle. In situations like this, you tell one or both of the youngest current assistants that it is time to break away from the NU nest for awhile and make a name for themselves at a new program, with the possibility of coming back later.
Fire the coach? Get better players? Drop out of B1G? Make it a club sport?
If I am a player, so am I. And hell no, if I am being recruiting -- unless I have no other options available to me.
Oh come on, we all know Matt Nicholson is the reason we didn't make the tournament.
@PurpleWhiteBoy , our board’s resident plus-minus regurgitator.
Are you kidding me? The worst case scenario is to make the tourney next year? That is ridiculous. I will take the worst case scenario, since it is the best case scenario in NU history.
