Commentary on CAG Not Being Fired This Year

[Mystical]

If this isn't the offense he ran at VCU, why did he make the hire? He didn't run what UF runs while he was at VCU, so why is Bama trying to run that? Like you said, when Bama traps and gets steals, the offense goes up.


And folks wonder why Bama is seen as only a football school...

Because thats what pays the bill. I love both sports but our Football tradition is unmatched by any one's in any sport. I want to win but I want to win the right way. If CAG or any coach for that matter some how manages to win it all, from that point on we will have a history of winning, and than some of the football only people will start to support basketball also. We just have to build some tradition of winning than everything else will come.

 

[seebell]

I believe it would be (A). Isn't that Coach K's first four years at Duke?

Coach D sounds the best.

 

[Rama Jama]

One thing I will say I rather not win it all if it puts our football team in jeopardy due to some under-handed recruiting. If he wins you will know he earned it and he did it the right way. Besides every team in the top 25 have lost at least 2 games this year they should not have. Think about this Duke lost 90-63 to Miami than turn around and lose to Maryland. Maryland loses to FSU 2 times. Florida State loses to one of the teams we consider our terrible losses the Mercer Bears who are 23-11 by the way. The only real bad loss we have is Tulane and I watched that game their big man had himself an out of body game that night. Auburn is a game we should have won but it is a rivalry game so that comes with the territory. My point is even the great basketball teams, especially this year, lose some games they should win.

Grant is not going to cheat. He does have high standards and lives them every day. He will not take shortcuts in recruiting or anything else. You do not have to cheat to be successful in recruiting kids, but you can be more aggressive then he seems to be. Alabama has a lot to offer any athlete who sees the academic center, the weight room, the facilities in general, aside from an aging Basketball arena. It is a school that will support any sport that has some success, so recruiting should not be the issue it seems to be with CAG.

 

[BamaMTA06]

Grant is not going to cheat. He does have high standards and lives them every day. He will not take shortcuts in recruiting or anything else. You do not have to cheat to be successful in recruiting kids, but you can be more aggressive then he seems to be. Alabama has a lot to offer any athlete who sees the academic center, the weight room, the facilities in general, aside from an aging Basketball arena. It is a school that will support any sport that has some success, so recruiting should not be the issue it seems to be with CAG.

Do you follow basketball recruiting? Do you read the quotes of the recruits when they discuss Alabama basketball? Time and time and time again CAG has found some under the radar kid. Worked him and worked and worked him to where Bama has a great shot. When that kid finally blows up the basketball schools swoop in and offer him. It's basically the equivalent to what Bama does in football recruiting. Heck, it just happened with Jon Severe. He was going to be our "shooter/scorer" for the Spring signing period. At the last minute he cancels his official to go to WVU and pays for his own trip to Pitt.

Long story short they all say that Coach Grant recruited them the hardest. Their parents all have high praise for Coach Grant. They either end up staying in state (Marcus Hunt, Jarrell Martin, etc) or they go to "basketball schools" (Willie Cauley, JaJuan Johnson, Jon Severe).

 

[Matt0424]

I believe it would be (A). Isn't that Coach K's first four years at Duke?

The four coaches are:

A: Coach K
B: Dean Smith
C: CAG
D: Billy Donovan

 

[TexasBama]

19 and 5. Our record outside the month of December. It took the whole month to reconfigure after Eng went down, but in basketball, one guy can make that much difference, and we've been pretty good since. Pretty good coaching job IMO.

 

[RTR91]

Do you follow basketball recruiting? Do you read the quotes of the recruits when they discuss Alabama basketball? Time and time and time again CAG has found some under the radar kid. Worked him and worked and worked him to where Bama has a great shot. When that kid finally blows up the basketball schools swoop in and offer him. It's basically the equivalent to what Bama does in football recruiting. Heck, it just happened with Jon Severe. He was going to be our "shooter/scorer" for the Spring signing period. At the last minute he cancels his official to go to WVU and pays for his own trip to Pitt.

Long story short they all say that Coach Grant recruited them the hardest. Their parents all have high praise for Coach Grant. They either end up staying in state (Marcus Hunt, Jarrell Martin, etc) or they go to "basketball schools" (Willie Cauley, JaJuan Johnson, Jon Severe).

I've tried to use the comparison of Alabama doing the same in football with a Kentucky or UCONN or Kansas, but folks don't seem to get it.

19 and 5. Our record outside the month of December. It took the whole month to reconfigure after Eng went down, but in basketball, one guy can make that much difference, and we've been pretty good since. Pretty good coaching job IMO.

Heck, just look at how Kentucky had to adapt to Noel going down.

 

[BamaBuff24]

19 and 5. Our record outside the month of December. It took the whole month to reconfigure after Eng went down, but in basketball, one guy can make that much difference, and we've been pretty good since. Pretty good coaching job IMO.

Especially, since he is a senior and you don't have a full squad.

 

[CrimsonEyeshade]

I don't think you can fire him at this point, unless he has lost the team.

There are some issues this year and the past year in terms of players getting with the program. If he's lost the team, there's no advantage to keeping him around. However, if there is reason to believe the core will follow his lead, then this team should do quite well next year. They are not really losing anyone, so there's nowhere to go but up.

Sometimes, you need a new coach. Sometimes you need new kids.

 

[BamaMTA06]

I've tried to use the comparison of Alabama doing the same in football with a Kentucky or UCONN or Kansas, but folks don't seem to get it.

Grant worked his butt off for Willie Cauley-Stien. Cal never saw him play a basketball game.

 

[TheAccountant]

Grant worked his butt off for Willie Cauley-Stien. Cal never saw him play a basketball game.

That's bugged me this season too. I just imagine how much better we'd be if we had him as the 5 and Jacobs as the 4 with Mousse coming in in relief.

Weren't we close with JOB too?

 

[BamaMTA06]

That's bugged me this season too. I just imagine how much better we'd be if we had him as the 5 and Jacobs as the 4 with Mousse coming in in relief.

Weren't we close with JOB too?

There was some interest, but just like with Martin the pressure to stay instate was there. From the things I read and people I talked, if not for Cal Cauley would be at Bama this year.

 

[BamaFlum]

ARK is a great example of what happens when you turn over the basketball HC every four years. I can remember when the younger members here were moaning and crying for Anderson when Gottfried was here. Injuries/whiffs can knock the stuffing out of a season. Ask Calipari. Grant will get two more years to see if he can right the ship. Coach K would have been fired at this point, if the "Fahr'im now!" younger, impatient crowd were listened to. There's just no point whatsoever in keeping on saying he needs to be fired now. After the 1000th time, it gets very tiresome and repetitive - and it's totally futile...

Thank you. Jeeze, give the a chance and a season without desolating injuries.

 

[Rama Jama]

Do you follow basketball recruiting? Do you read the quotes of the recruits when they discuss Alabama basketball? Time and time and time again CAG has found some under the radar kid. Worked him and worked and worked him to where Bama has a great shot. When that kid finally blows up the basketball schools swoop in and offer him. It's basically the equivalent to what Bama does in football recruiting. Heck, it just happened with Jon Severe. He was going to be our "shooter/scorer" for the Spring signing period. At the last minute he cancels his official to go to WVU and pays for his own trip to Pitt.

Long story short they all say that Coach Grant recruited them the hardest. Their parents all have high praise for Coach Grant. They either end up staying in state (Marcus Hunt, Jarrell Martin, etc) or they go to "basketball schools" (Willie Cauley, JaJuan Johnson, Jon Severe).

I admit I do not follow recruiting in basketball very closely. I pay attention to who we are recruiting in general, but I am not on the board every day looking at who we are recruiting. I do know we have had kids on campus who were ready to commit or sign, but he did not ever ask for a commitment. There is one thing I've learned in life is you never get anything you don't ask for. BTW, West Virginia is not a basketball powerhouse. I don't care who their coach is now. We are at least as attractive as them if not more. If we are losing kids at the last minute, it is still his responsiblility to get those kids here commited and signed. I wonder if Grant believes in what he is selling. If he can not get the kids signed, we need to find someone who will or CAG needs to develop the talent of the players we have now.

 

[RTR91]

I admit I do not follow recruiting in basketball very closely. I pay attention to who we are recruiting in general, but I am not on the board every day looking at who we are recruiting. I do know we have had kids on campus who were ready to commit or sign, but he did not ever ask for a commitment. There is one thing I've learned in life is you never get anything you don't ask for.

Plenty of recruits visit with the intention of committing to a program. Doesn't matter the sport. Just because they want to commit and sign, doesn't mean the coach prioritizes the player as much as the player does the program. CAG could have easily had other guys higher up.

If we are losing kids at the last minute, it is still his responsiblility to get those kids here commited and signed.

That doesn't even make sense. What do you expect him to do in an instance like Cauley-Stein?

I wonder if Grant believes in what he is selling. If he can not get the kids signed, we need to find someone who will or CAG needs to develop the talent of the players we have now.

From reading most of your posts about CAG, I don't think you believe.

 

[BamaMTA06]

I admit I do not follow recruiting in basketball very closely. I pay attention to who we are recruiting in general, but I am not on the board every day looking at who we are recruiting. I do know we have had kids on campus who were ready to commit or sign, but he did not ever ask for a commitment. There is one thing I've learned in life is you never get anything you don't ask for. BTW, West Virginia is not a basketball powerhouse. I don't care who their coach is now. We are at least as attractive as them if not more. If we are losing kids at the last minute, it is still his responsiblility to get those kids here commited and signed. I wonder if Grant believes in what he is selling. If he can not get the kids signed, we need to find someone who will or CAG needs to develop the talent of the players we have now.

The bold part shows the flat out disconnect between how some Bama fans view the program and how others view the program.

As for the rest of the post all I can say is this, what else can you do when a kid has committed to you in private, but 3 weeks later they tell you nevermind b/c UK and KU just offered?

 

[Rama Jama]

Bottom line is Results. Signing 1 player is almost inexcuseable. In case you haven't been reading. I have openly said we need to give him 2 more years, but I expect and the fans deserve results. We can't wait forever for him to get us to where we expect to be which is competing for championships. If he can't produce by the end of the 2015 season, it will be time to cut our losses. 6 years is plenty of time to get us competitive.

 

[seebell]

Bottom line is Results. Signing 1 player is almost inexcuseable. In case you haven't been reading. I have openly said we need to give him 2 more years, but I expect and the fans deserve results. We can't wait forever for him to get us to where we expect to be which is competing for championships. If he can't produce by the end of the 2015 season, it will be time to cut our losses. 6 years is plenty of time to get us competitive.

We are competitive now IMO. Can we be better? Sure. Fire the Coach? No way.

 

[RTR91]

Bottom line is Results.

Like 3 straight 20 win seasons? And, please don't even try to say that's a result of the conference being down. Results are results.

Signing 1 player is almost inexcuseable.

What do you want him to do? Sign a guy he doesn't want just to sign more than 1 guy?

In case you haven't been reading. I have openly said we need to give him 2 more years, but I expect and the fans deserve results. We can't wait forever for him to get us to where we expect to be which is competing for championships. If he can't produce by the end of the 2015 season, it will be time to cut our losses. 6 years is plenty of time to get us competitive.

Did this team not compete for a championship? Played for the conference lead with a week left in the season.

 

[BamaMTA06]

Like 3 straight 20 win seasons? And, please don't even try to say that's a result of the conference being down. Results are results.



What do you want him to do? Sign a guy he doesn't want just to sign more than 1 guy?


Did this team not compete for a championship? Played for the conference lead with a week left in the season.

We also finished 2nd in the SEC in Grant's 2nd year. We've been to 1 Elite 8, but all of sudden we have to be a national championship contender 4-5 years in a new coach's tenure.