I know nothing about the woman at Arizona, but you’re right ytrs that if we are going to kill her than we should kill him. 2 loses to other Florida schools (both excellent programs, but teams Florida should beat regularly) and a tie against a poor Texas team (another oft discussed and underachieving program). I certainly doubt Mark at FSU was worried he got that job.
I would say losing to the two Florida schools is not as poor or even close to the Arizona result. But tying Texas is definitely poor.
Miami lost to Lipscomb and Syracuse lost to Niagara. Difficult ACC seasons coming up for both if you're losing to mid-majors. Barnes is in her 4th year and Adams in her 3rd. I'm not expecting either to finish with a winning record or to be competitive in the ACC, but would have at least expected tides to be turning relatively somewhat positive at this point, which would mean at least beating mid-majors. Lipscomb to be fair is a more than decent mid-major NCAA side. Both Barnes and Adams had really good resumes at GW and Rice respectively, hard to replicate that success at underperforming ACC schools with a historical lack of success. Would think both would have to show some kind of positive steps this fall or next year. Doesn't help that Pitt is getting better and BC is coming back again.
Looking at poor starts I would say Utah have have been bad. Losing to Boise and getting drilled by Denver is not what you would expect from a PAC 12 school.
Well, Denver and Boise State are teams that my system has picked to win their conferences, so there is that.
This year, it is pretty hard to say since I rely on historical rating trends and I have treated last year as not counting for historical rating trend purposes. However, Chris Henderson, the Summit League coaches, and I all have Denver as Summit conference champion. For the Mountain West, I have Boise State as #1, Henderson has them as #2, and the coaches have them as #3, so what I have for them is in the ball park. Overall the pre-season simulation ratings I assign to teams turn out to correctly predict game results about 68 percent of the time. This is as compared to the RPI, which when calculated at the end of the season will correlate correctly with game results about 72 percent of the time. So, at this stage of the season I do not take what my system shows too seriously.
There is for some truth here. Teams always take a big risk when hiring a coach with no head coaching experience. It would of been better for Utah to take the Utah Valley coach who had the proper route - assistant then head coach and now ready for the University of Utah.
You have to give the new coach a chance. He may not have HC experience but he had been an AC for Stanford for a while. He hasn't recruited players yet either. Maybe Utah Valley was the way to go but gotta give this guy some time.
I agree. These new coaches inherited players that may or may not fit their style of play they are trying to implement. Also, there are usually transfers when there is a coaching change. And, new coaches do not have time to replace these transfers, so their roster is weaker than what the previous coach had. I know of at least one Utah tranfser and I do not even follow that program. I know of two key starters who transferred out of Arizona during the summer, too.
Comments like this are I’ll-informed and crack me up. People seem to think that a head coaching job is a walk in the park and with a snap of the fingers, teams all of a sudden become national contenders. If it doesn’t happen instantly, it’s a “bad hire.”
I made that assessment based on College Whispers’ comment about them getting “drilled” by Denver. Game seems somewhat even on stats when I looked up and Utah even had 5-0 advantage on corner kicks. I should have checked before I posted. Utah beat Portland which isn’t bad either.
Randy has certainly improved Pitt - tho it can't be lost on people that they played a joke schedule last season to get that 'record breaking' 11 wins total? App State twice, The Citadel twice, Navy twice? There's six. But I doubt the Miller Pitt teams would even have won all those games. Syracuse got pumped by a mediocre UConn since your post, too. That is a tough, tough gig imo. Harsh and long winter weather is going to scare off a lot of Cali/southern kids, and their facilities aren't particularly good by ACC standards. But still, they don't help themselves sometimes. Miami...I don't see any big reasons they can't be better. You can't sell Coral Gables/Coconut Grove/Key Biscayne to kids? It's a good academic school, too. Bring a PDA or Michigan Hawks player down on a balmy February day. Tap into the region's demographics a bit, get some contacts in the blossoming South American club game, etc. You'd think that would give them at least a fighting chance.
Totally agree that Syracuse is a tough job. Wheddon really drove that program into the ground so it is going to take a long time to dig it out. Akron seat is on fire. Last year of contract and losing against average teams. Hearing there could also be a change at IUPUI after this season.
I'm revisiting these comments, which were from early July of this year. I believe that LSU now has an RPI ranking of #3. Massey has them rated at #7. The Tigers are 8-0 and not necessarily due to playing an easy schedule. Their SOS is #4. They've had good wins vs UCF, S. Florida, and Arizona State. There are still a lot of games to be played and against some quality opponents but as of today, they are looking good.
Totally agree. Definitely turned things around there and they’re having a fantastic season. why will north ridge be open?
All those harsh critics on the LSU hire..she had done an amazing job at colorado springs! Northridge coach is on administrative leave and last year of his contract. Word is he is unlikely to return.
absolutely I was harsh and she is proving doubters like myself wrong. Any idea what the administrative leave is about? I could see Corpus Christi potentially being hot. They haven’t done too well in the south land and just got trounced by northwestern state.
Agreed Syracuse is a tough gig. Don't think their administration is helping much either. Pitt has made strides with facility upgrades and hiring a national championship caliber coach, Syracuse hasn't made any of those moves to match that. I do think they made a pretty good hire in Nicky Adams. She did well at Rice so it's not like she lost her coaching acumen moving over to Syracuse. I didn't think it was possible but they have actually gotten worse. Wheddon was 11-46-6 for 5 seasons in ACC games for .210 winning percentage. Adams in her third year is 2-15-1 in the ACC for a.130 winning percentage. Certainly it should be kept in mind that she took over a program that went 0-10 in the ACC the year before her arrival. But would expect in year 3 some signs of life would need to show. They could easily go 0-10 this year again and if that happens that doesn't show sign of progress. It's a hard job and not as easy as Rice in Conference USA.
Adams has had to deal with pandemic recruiting haitus. She has been handcuffed in trying to turn that program around.