Mullins has basically maintained the mediocre W/L program level he inherited.
In his favor:1) The guys recruited so far are good representatives of the university. 2) Aspirational level of the program is an improvement over the previous regime. 3) He's a Saluki
Recruitment, I think,is so far not as good as Hinson's,but may not be anywhere near as bad as some think. There have been some pretty good redshirts in the past----some portal gets may shine in their second year. And two more HS recruits the caliber of K Davis and this thread goes away.
Mullins got a great opportunity at a young age with minimal experience, a hiring choice driven in part by the fact that he's a Saluki. That's a two way street: hire young,better be patient; hire a Saluki,be loyal.
Give a young Saluki coach 7 years.
Let's not forget that he's also a first time coach. BH was an established veteran coach who had vast experience in the Valley prior to taking the SIU job. I said it earlier in this thread and I'll say it again, if the university was not prepared to grow with Mullins as he matured as a head coach, they probably shouldn't have made the hire to begin with. I know we wanted to believe he was going to come in here and light the world on fire, but that's just not typical of young coaches (of course there are exceptions). Let's not forget dealing with COVID and the extra year of eligibility that have kept grown ass men in college basketball (e.g. Brody who's turning 45 this year I believe).
I'm not enamored with where we are right now (I don't think Mullins is either), but given where we are (top four in an improved Valley this year when we expected to take a significant step back), the fact that he runs a clean program, and him giving so much to this university (as a player and coach), I'm willing to give him more leash than I would someone like BH. If we maintain this trajectory this year I'm okay with an extension.
I have absolutely no inside information but I believe BM will get a 2-3 year extension. Probably 3.
I'm in for a 2-3 year extension. Hopefully the core players return and this new recruiting coach can grab a couple good players. I'm not sure we have the cash to draw a proven coach.Roll the dice on Mullins if he does well he'll probably leave for a better job, anyway if he fails he'll be sitting as an assistant coach somewhere for a long time. At least siu can say they gave the coach every chance to succeed. Still alot season to be played, could be magic or tragic. I'm sure the AD will strongly take in consideration how this season ends. I will say I thought we would be a better program by now. Most fans like Mullins but its a tough job and at some point you have to show results.But I really like the uniforms, they should give those a 10 year extension, lol
Aside from having a slightly better winning percentage and avoiding a 20-loss season, Mullins' bottom-line production and results are roughly the same as his predecessor's, with no NCAAs or NITs. But Sauceman -- a BS artist with no ties to SIU or the Southern Illinois region who was unpopular with the fan base -- got seven years (probably two more years than he deserved, but it was what it was). With Mullins' SIU pedigree and high character, I'd be fine with cutting him the slack that Hinson didn't deserve and signing him to extension through his seventh season. If he keeps a core of four or five key guys from this year's team, if he knocks it out of the park in the portal this spring and manages to bring in a quality high school recruit or two, and if he realizes his coaching philosophy needs some tweaking, he has a puncher's chance of leading us into the postseason. But that's a lot of ifs. It's also possible that he gets such an extension, sees Ferguson, Ebube, Davis and others leave, fails to recruit impact players, produces Gottfried-ish results (something like 8-24) next season, and SIU has to eat the final year of his contract because it's clearly not working. In that case, it'll be up to the school to find a dynamic candidate capable of a quick turnaround and, because Mullins would have to be paid, willing to work cheap.
I'd argue we have seen significant growth this season with the offense... I don't see how you could argue otherwise. I agree with another post here, we hired a brand new head coach who has showed promise... You want to make good on that hire you have to at least have a little patience.
This is exactly where I am. Thanks for posting.
(Inflammatory political snark)
Aside from having a slightly better winning percentage and avoiding a 20-loss season, Mullins' bottom-line production and results are roughly the same as his predecessor's, with no NCAAs or NITs. But Sauceman -- a BS artist with no ties to SIU or the Southern Illinois region who was unpopular with the fan base -- got seven years (probably two more years than he deserved, but it was what it was). With Mullins' SIU pedigree and high character, I'd be fine with cutting him the slack that Hinson didn't deserve and signing him to extension through his seventh season. If he keeps a core of four or five key guys from this year's team, if he knocks it out of the park in the portal this spring and manages to bring in a quality high school recruit or two, and if he realizes his coaching philosophy needs some tweaking, he has a puncher's chance of leading us into the postseason. But that's a lot of ifs. It's also possible that he gets such an extension, sees Ferguson, Ebube, Davis and others leave, fails to recruit impact players, produces Gottfried-ish results (something like 8-24) next season, and SIU has to eat the final year of his contract because it's clearly not working. In that case, it'll be up to the school to find a dynamic candidate capable of a quick turnaround and, because Mullins would have to be paid, willing to work cheap.
I'd argue we have seen significant growth this season with the offense... I don't see how you could argue otherwise. I agree with another post here, we hired a brand new head coach who has showed promise... You want to make good on that hire you have to at least have a little patience.
Some great points here and prior, but the offensive improvement is key IMO. The Drake preview article listed a stat today that is relevant:
"SIU is 29-1 under Bryan Mullins when scoring 75 points or more and 53-7 when scoring 70 or more."
How different does everyone feel if Reink Mast's 3 from a step off the sideline last year doesn't go in and we win the Valley... That is as close as we have been since 2009. I just think you keep building it, keep finishing in the top half and near the top and your time is coming. Barry was totally different, his teams were all over the place and his last year was all in and still failed and even that team wasn't as close to competing for anything as Mullins. I just think within a few years we are going to see Mullins break through, I truly believe that.
I wouldn't feel a bit different. Fact is we should have tied for the MVC championship if not for some coaching boo-boos that lost a couple of games for us. We had two guys who are probably going to make some kind of Big 10 All-conference team or other.
If it were up to me, he'd get a 2-year extension, but if I did not see some serious recruiting chops next year and improvement in other areas, I would be looking around at coaches. I fear without some dynamite guard from the portal, we're going to really struggle next year.
I also agree with the poster that coaching platitudes are not a great idea at this point - a little more honesty about our shortcomings and the coaching staff's shortcomings would be refreshing. I think everyone got fed up with the bullshit-factory that was the previous coach. I sure did.
I have no problem giving an extension to BM. I wish we had a stronger offensive minded assistant to balance Bryan's noted penchant for defense.
One question: In watching games on tv and a few in person there seems to be little discussion during the game action or in time outs between BM and the assistants (especially during critical game times). Is that correct? I realize we're not shown all of that on tv. When you watch a lot of games, in timeouts you see a many coaches discussing issues/plays with assistants before ever talking to the players. I presume to get input from them. We just don't seem to have that input during the game. If not, why not? Are they not strong enough assistants go give input or does he feel it's not needed? If it's either case, some changes need to be made.
A couple of suggestions for the future which are the 2 most infuriating issues with BM's coaching:
Bryan and/or some assistant could attend a couple big time coaches (or former coaches) basketball coaches camps. Specifically ones that include sessions like:
1. The Top 10 Successful Inbounds Plays and How to Execute Them
2. The Top 10 Plays for Scoring the Winning Basket (that do not include one person dribbling the ball for 15-20 seconds before forcing a shot with 3 seconds to go).
3. If the camps are too expensive, let's buy some basketball theory books from people like Wooden, Dean Smith, Bobby Knight or others who've written about such topics and make it required summer reading.
After watching last night's game at Belmont, I have changed my mind. I was all for giving Bryan an extension. Not anymore. Bryan simply looks over matched against the best Valley head coaches. Has all five years as a head coach. Last night absolutely shined the light on his coaching limitations. Every aspect of last night's game proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind, Bryan simply doesn't belong in his current position.
Bryan has proven, to me, that as a head coach -- he's a good assistant coach.
I simply can't see where Bryan has improved as a head coach over the five years. Will he ever be a good head coach? Probably. Who knows. Wasn't Bruce Weber an assistant coach for something like twenty years? Maybe in another 10-15 years will be Bryan's time. Time to move on and let Bryan grow more as an assistant coach so he'll someday be ready to be a head coach.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
After watching last night's game at Belmont, I have changed my mind. I was all for giving Bryan an extension. Not anymore. Bryan simply looks over matched against the best Valley head coaches. Has all five years as a head coach. Last night absolutely shined the light on his coaching limitations. Every aspect of last night's game proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind, Bryan simply doesn't belong in his current position.
Bryan has proven, to me, that as a head coach -- he's a good assistant coach.
I simply can't see where Bryan has improved as a head coach over the five years. Will he ever be a good head coach? Probably. Who knows. Wasn't Bruce Weber an assistant coach for something like twenty years? Maybe in another 10-15 years will be Bryan's time. Time to move on and let Bryan grow more as an assistant coach so he'll someday be ready to be a head coach.
Please expand on this. Mullins was 2-0 against said coach coming into this game... Wondering where Mullins fell short last night. Be specific, I am really curious.
Also someone up here like "hey just draw up winning plays and make the ball go in"... Some of you are just silly clueless.
Mullins has looked outmatched more than once this year. How many big leads have we blown this year? Are we really acting like that has nothing to do with the coach? Stop accepting mediocrity. The fanbase deserves better
@saluki-4-life I'm not going to go back and watch this train wreck again to write down specifics. I don't remember having a problem with the first half under 16 time out. But the under 12 went for 2 for Belmont easily underneath the basket. Good play. I think the under 8 went to Belmont on a weak side give and go. Another good play. I think we got the ball with the under 4 minute and didn't have a play and dribbled around until there was no time left and threw up crap. I think there were 3-4 times in the first half that we took the shot clock down and didn't get a good shot. I think Brown did make a 2 at the end of the first half.
In the second half, Belmont made a 2 after the 16 or 12 time out. Another good play drawn up. I don't remember scoring after any time out. I turned it off at about 9 minutes. I had enough.
Look. I am all for the quality of person Bryan brings in. They don't get accused of sexual assault or drive around shooting people or windows with BB guns. Good kids. We can all take pride in that. I do. I sent my son there so I obviously have some kind of pride with the place.
What has changed my mind is simply the look/feel of the games against the upper half of the Valley teams this season. We are middle of the road program--at best. I simply don't feel I've seen enough growth out of Bryan in the last 5 years. If winning is no longer the goal then we should keep Bryan. If winning is the goal... Like I said, if I look at Bryan as a head coach. I see a good assistant coach. Down the road, who knows?
I worked in management in a fortune100 company for 15 years. Hired a lot of people. Promoted many. Fired some. I owned a business for the last 25 years. I've hired a lot of people. Promoted most of them. Unfortunately, I've fired some too. It's the way of the world. If I look at Bryan's body of work, I simply could not say he has grown enough and deserves a promotion (or an extension if you prefer).
You obviously think I'm mistaken. I hope you are correct.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
