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When trying to grade a coach, what items are most important?
I am thinking the ability to recruit the best talent is probably #1...
Being able to motivate your players might be #2...
and last but not least is having the X and O's knowledge to give your team the ability to stay in the game...
Brook has an empressive class coming in next year,and now that we have 3 more spots available, what's the chance of picking up any great atheletes this late in the signing
period?
I infer from your posting this here you are saying Brooke is a "great" coach. Well...
Anyone who has read this forum knows what I think of Coach Brooke. But, in the strictest definition of the term, I'm not ready to proclaim her a "great" coach....yet. She is without a doubt a "very good" coach, and she has all the attributes you could want in a coach. That includes all the off-the-court stuff too. She has stepped in when this once dominant program was wallowing, following back to back coaching mistakes. As much as I love Spoon, and still say she is the best player to ever don the Techster uniform, she failed as a coach. And Summit, who I NEVER supported as our choice, was an absolute disaster! Louisiana Tech WBB needed someone like Brooke at this time.
Brooke will have her chance to achieve "great coach" status. In the meantime, she will restore much of the luster that is Lady Techster basketball.
Have to keep in mind, we've had only one "great coach" in our history of WBB. That's not easy to reach.
...and Louisiana Tech has not had too many "great" coaches in all the other sports either.
So D80 would you please tell me what Spoon failed in as a coach? I know she didn't have the best record, but what about her was lacking? I am asking as an uneducated fan.Quote:
Originally Posted by dawg80
Just my opinion - she had the motivation covered, but not the X and O's. She was always pumped up, but I don't think her recruiting was great and she lacked the off the court coaching, as well. Just my opinion. She was definitely energetic and could pump up her players.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bearpaw
To add to D80's comments above, I think we had 3 failed coaches - I would add Long in that group. He had the opposite problem. He had great talent and knew what to do, but lacked the motivation factor and tried to be a friend to the players more than a coach.
So: Long, Spoon, and Summit (and we all know what happened with that). 3 different failed coaches all for different reasons.
I hope Brooke gets the recruiting covered, because I believe she has the other areas completely under control.
I will add that with the exception of Daron Park, Spoon was never able to surround herself with the kind of assistant coaches she needed to be successful.Quote:
Originally Posted by champion110
Good players and a well rounded and talented coaching staff.
Dawg80, I would not rate Brook as a great coach yet! I totally wish her great success and appreciate all she has been to the program as a player and now as a coach!
My 1st priority listed above is the ability to recruit great atheletes....
She may have found some gems in Canada, but that will be determined in a few years!
I finally partially agree with you champion110. Coach Brooke was definitely pumped up whenever the cameras were around, but unfortunately most of her players never really bought into it. She also constantly changed her offensive plan, which confused the hell out of the team. It's like she had no idea what would work best with the players she had or the teams she was facing. You have to have a consistent inside AND outside game in order to keep the defense honest.Quote:
Originally Posted by champion110
As far as her recruiting, this season she is big into recruiting juco players. Remember, most players who go to jucos either are not division one players to begin with or have academic difficulties. So that is a big concern for next year. I know most posters hate Coach Tyler, but at least he had commits from highly recruited players, too bad he messed that up.
In order to get back to the greatness that LaTech used to be, we need All-American players. I highly doubt that Coach Brooke could attract those kind of players (and don't use the excuse that LaTech doesn't have money, because that didn't have it back in the heyday either).
Pretty sure he was talking about T-Spoon, not Brooke. And say what you want, but this past season under her was the best season in several years. After the last 2-3 coaches ran this program into the ground, she's got us on the right track. She's the coach we need.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ilovebball
You are correct. I was referencing Spoon and she/he knew that. I will add that I still love Spoon, but she was not the right person for the job. I wish she had been and she is still one awesome competitor! We have the right person now, though!Quote:
Originally Posted by techdawg28
Im a big fan of Spoon. So much so that I wish shed been hired as an assistant rather than the HC.Quote:
Originally Posted by champion110
Tech fans love Spoon. It was unfortunate that being HC wasn't her thing. Not everyone, no matter what other attributes they may have, is cut out to be a HC. Or....even a coach! Being a great player does not automatically translate to coaching. In fact, I think being a great player is a detriment to being successful as a coach. I can't think of a truly great player who became a great coach, or even a very good one. Well.....chit...as much as it pains me to say this, I suppose pigtails comes pretty close.
All water under the bridge now. We have our coach. I expect to reach the Sweet 16 in the next 3 years. At that point, there are only good teams playing well left, so it's tough and requires some luck to advance. So, I won't say I "expect" to reach the Elite 8. Just that we'll have our shot at it.
I bet that did hurt.Quote:
Originally Posted by dawg80
Dawn Staley is doing pretty well too. There are some, but your point is valid.Quote:
Originally Posted by dawg80
I was simply acknowledging her on-the-court accomplishments as a player and coach.Quote:
Originally Posted by rabiddawg
She is still a back-stabbing bitch.
Someone who wins about 90% of the time.
90%? that's very high standards.Quote:
Originally Posted by RougeDawg
But, there could be other measures by which to determine someone to be a great coach, besides just winning %. Of course winning is a big part of the equation, but a coach who has to deal with disadvantages beyond their control and wins at, say, a 65-70% clip could be a VERY GREAT coach.
Back to the 90% threshold. What coaches in any sport, throughout history, have won at that rate over their career? Bet it's a short list.
By that 90% standard there has never been a great coach in football.
Knute Rockne - 13 years at Notre Dame has the highest winning % at 88.1% Close, but not 90%.
Frank Leahy - who coached at Boston College and Notre Dame is second at 86.4%
Urban Meyer has a 85.1% career winning %.
Nick Saban is at 77.4%
In the NFL some guy named Guy Chamberlain holds the highest winning percentage in the pros at 78.4%.
In Men's College Hoops it's:
Sam Burton - West Texas A&M at 83.3%
At third and fourth are:
Adolf Rupp - Kentucky 82.2%
John Wooden - UCLA 80.4%
In WBB the top two are:
Geno A. - UCONN 87.7%
Leon Barmore - Louisiana Tech 86.7%
Seems like it's more likely to come from the PG position if a great player turns out to be a great coach. Probably because they already do a lot of coaching-lite type activities as a player. The personality still has to be right, though. Spoon's just wasn't. Frankly, I'm still a tad surprised that Kim turned into a top notch coach.Quote:
Originally Posted by champion110
I'm sure the mentoring she received under Barmore as an assistant has had a lot to do with pigtails' success.Quote:
Originally Posted by TechDawgMc
And recruiting..... She took some players from us when she left. That opened up a pipeline at Baylor for them. It isn't JUST that, but once you get that recruiting edge and win, it sure does help.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bearpaw