To be a consistent player in todays game, uh, we have to use consistent players in the game as models of how we operate. At the very least. Or more.
And you need just 4 to 5 consistent players each year. That is what all teams have each year. Not 13. Like we had Macon, Barford, Kingsley, Hannahs and off/on Beard. We had the same in Portis, Qualls, Madden, Bell year.
I believe what gashog is saying, is that you have to look at which coaches are winning at a high level consistently and operate your program as they do, which I take to mean going into the gray area when it comes to recruiting.
It is wrestling
[quote=“gashog”]
It is wrestling
[/quote]Without “cheating” as the tool to improve performance, I think Pel dabbled in the high academic risk category. Well, academic performance risk measures changed and our program was clobbered. My point is we tried the “wrestling” angle and it didn’t work. Obviously, most recently we tried the squeaky clean approach and it didn’t work out either (for a guy who was successful at two other stops). For a school like Arkansas that is not considered a “blue blood” and doesn’t have logical recruiting advantages, I’m not sure how our program can measure up to Yurachek’s newly articulated performance “benmarks”…in the SEC.
Sure, it’s easy to fire and hire…but high performance is much much harder to achieve, especially in the right way.
Sadly, I no longer have an expectation for high performance (top notch competitiveness, annually) for our Basketball program. But, it’ll be an interesting couple of years watching how the new guy handles the expectations.
Good luck to this next guy, he’ll need it.
The program will be better going forward or it won’t. Regardless, except for the following year and maybe the next two, it will not be worse.
I was delighted when Anderson was hired and supported him through last year except for maybe after the loss in the NCAAT. However, for numerous reasons, I lost confidence in Anderson’s coaching ability especially in all that is required to be a successful head coach at Arkansas and after the loss in the SEC tournament, I knew that it was past time for a new coach.