Please keep in mind SIU was transitioning from d-2 to d-1 when Paul lambert was hired.
I have “lurked” on this board for more than five years but never have been inclined to post something – until now (nor do I intend to be a frequent poster). My Saluki fandom started the day I was accepted into the school during Mike Glenn’s senior season. As a student, I caught the very end of the Lambert era (loved Wilson and Wayne Abrams) but then witnessed the Gottfried debacle – lowlights during senior year were the 18-game losing streak, the 0-16 Valley record and a 40-point home loss to a West Texas State team that I maintain belongs on the Mount Trashmore of program low points (still remember the DE headline the day after the game, “West Texas mutilates Salukis” – gruesome but not inaccurate). Attended a few games post-graduation after Van Winkle took over and could tell he also was inadequate. So I go a long way back with the program and its coaching issues. Not until Herrin turned recruiting up a few notches did I believe the program finally was in good hands.
Though never really a Coach Sauce hater, I agreed with most Saluki fans that he was a run-of-the-mill coach with a lackluster body of work at SIU (and elsewhere) whose time was up. I also agreed with the consensus that Mullins was the obvious replacement and a fine hire. But in the back of my mind, it bothered me a bit that the administration (Kill?) seemed laser-focused on Mullins and apparently didn’t really consider other candidates (unless something wasn’t reported at the time; the memory on that is a bit fuzzy). I also thought the “Mullins or nobody” mentality among the fans could turn into a “be careful what you wish for” scenario if he failed to live up to the high expectations of big winners and a return to the postseason. Looks like we’re almost there.
Like most of us, I want Mullins to succeed. He’s a Saluki through and through. His players play hard (which I applaud) and are model citizens on and off the court (worth a five-minute standing ovation). But well into his fifth season, he remains a flawed coach with no postseason appearances who whiffs all too often as a recruiter and strategist. Unless there’s a revival soon, the administration will face some hard choices after the season – commit to him for a few more years and hope he grows and learns from his mistakes; give him a minimal extension (setting up a lame-duck situation); or move on and go through another rinse-repeat scenario and hope a new coach can rebuild on the fly. It’s certainly not a clear-cut choice as it was with Gottfried, Van Winkle and Lowery at the end.
I agree with those who say we should let this season play out before offering up opinions on Mullins’ future. But if the decision is to move on, I’d like to see the administration conduct a thorough, careful search that includes multiple candidates and a lot of due diligence (although it must move quickly enough to salvage recruiting efforts for next season). As SalukiWorld has said, there should be a solid group of potential candidates. Clearly, a good track record with recruiting the transfer portal would be a huge plus. I don’t believe it’s a stretch to start looking at possible candidates right now. But I’ll also reiterate that I’m hoping against hope that there’s a minor miracle at Arch Madness and a change isn’t necessary at this point.
Been a die hard Saluki fan for almost 60 years. Some coaches had to go: Gottfried,Van Winkle, and Lowery. Fan board was eager to replace Hinson , at least as much because he was disliked as by his record. Fact is he rebuilt a program from terrible to mediocre. Dismissing Hinson has brought us a coach everybody likes and dearly wants to be successful with little if any improvement in the program. Very few hires actually elevated the program: Hartman,Herrin,Weber and,yes,Hinson.
I think Mullins is a work in progress. He gets outcoached by some damn good coaches in this conference. The issue is whether fan base is patient enough to wait.I may have missed some development over the last 6 months,but didnt we hire a super recruiter last spring? If so, stick with Mullins!
I said this in another post, and you as a long-time fan will remember this, the Paul Lambert era did not start well. Until he brought on a recruiter who brought in some excellent players (who were also some excellent people) from the south, the program struggled. When these recruits came aboard, the program took off in the right direction.
The reason the program "took off in the right direction" is because the staff took advantage of a time in our history when major schools in the south did not recruit many black players. Paul Lambert hired Herman Williams, the head coach of Parker high school in Birmingham, AL. The first all-black school to win a state championship in Alabama. Williams helped bring in Al Grant, Corky Abrams, Wayne Abrams, Mike Glenn, Richard Ford, Gary Wilson, Milt Huggins, Al Williams. What a line up!
Mullins can coach and some of the recruits haven't worked out those things happen in recruiting if everything worked out there would not be transfers but one thing you can't argue is except in a rare instance his team's are mostly ready to play I understand the frustration of no post season but the future seems bright and a complete roster and coaching change at this point seems a little, dramatic at this point as a fan of 50 years I have seen situations worse than this and coaches who had ran the program in the ground put us on probation I don't believe the situation is that dire
Great post AJC. Brings back memories of Saluki history I hadn't thought about in years. I remain hopeful this can be turned around. I am hoping the change in style of play to one more enjoyable and attractive to modern players and a new (previously successful) recruiter will result in better results this spring. It takes time to develop relationships with recruits and I think this spring signing period will truly reflect the success (or lack of success) the new recruiter will have at SIU. To expect great results after a few weeks or months from a new recruiter who has not been active in the recruiting world for a year or more is not realistic. He should have had enough time now.I have “lurked” on this board for more than five years but never have been inclined to post something – until now (nor do I intend to be a frequent poster). My Saluki fandom started the day I was accepted into the school during Mike Glenn’s senior season. As a student, I caught the very end of the Lambert era (loved Wilson and Wayne Abrams) but then witnessed the Gottfried debacle – lowlights during senior year were the 18-game losing streak, the 0-16 Valley record and a 40-point home loss to a West Texas State team that I maintain belongs on the Mount Trashmore of program low points (still remember the DE headline the day after the game, “West Texas mutilates Salukis” – gruesome but not inaccurate). Attended a few games post-graduation after Van Winkle took over and could tell he also was inadequate. So I go a long way back with the program and its coaching issues. Not until Herrin turned recruiting up a few notches did I believe the program finally was in good hands.
Though never really a Coach Sauce hater, I agreed with most Saluki fans that he was a run-of-the-mill coach with a lackluster body of work at SIU (and elsewhere) whose time was up. I also agreed with the consensus that Mullins was the obvious replacement and a fine hire. But in the back of my mind, it bothered me a bit that the administration (Kill?) seemed laser-focused on Mullins and apparently didn’t really consider other candidates (unless something wasn’t reported at the time; the memory on that is a bit fuzzy). I also thought the “Mullins or nobody” mentality among the fans could turn into a “be careful what you wish for” scenario if he failed to live up to the high expectations of big winners and a return to the postseason. Looks like we’re almost there.
Like most of us, I want Mullins to succeed. He’s a Saluki through and through. His players play hard (which I applaud) and are model citizens on and off the court (worth a five-minute standing ovation). But well into his fifth season, he remains a flawed coach with no postseason appearances who whiffs all too often as a recruiter and strategist. Unless there’s a revival soon, the administration will face some hard choices after the season – commit to him for a few more years and hope he grows and learns from his mistakes; give him a minimal extension (setting up a lame-duck situation); or move on and go through another rinse-repeat scenario and hope a new coach can rebuild on the fly. It’s certainly not a clear-cut choice as it was with Gottfried, Van Winkle and Lowery at the end.
I agree with those who say we should let this season play out before offering up opinions on Mullins’ future. But if the decision is to move on, I’d like to see the administration conduct a thorough, careful search that includes multiple candidates and a lot of due diligence (although it must move quickly enough to salvage recruiting efforts for next season). As SalukiWorld has said, there should be a solid group of potential candidates. Clearly, a good track record with recruiting the transfer portal would be a huge plus. I don’t believe it’s a stretch to start looking at possible candidates right now. But I’ll also reiterate that I’m hoping against hope that there’s a minor miracle at Arch Madness and a change isn’t necessary at this point.
Been a die hard Saluki fan for almost 60 years. Some coaches had to go: Gottfried,Van Winkle, and Lowery. Fan board was eager to replace Hinson , at least as much because he was disliked as by his record. Fact is he rebuilt a program from terrible to mediocre. Dismissing Hinson has brought us a coach everybody likes and dearly wants to be successful with little if any improvement in the program. Very few hires actually elevated the program: Hartman,Herrin,Weber and,yes,Hinson.
I think Mullins is a work in progress. He gets outcoached by some damn good coaches in this conference. The issue is whether fan base is patient enough to wait.I may have missed some development over the last 6 months,but didnt we hire a super recruiter last spring? If so, stick with Mullins!
I said this in another post, and you as a long-time fan will remember this, the Paul Lambert era did not start well. Until he brought on a recruiter who brought in some excellent players (who were also some excellent people) from the south, the program struggled. When these recruits came aboard, the program took off in the right direction.
The reason the program "took off in the right direction" is because the staff took advantage of a time in our history when major schools in the south did not recruit many black players. Paul Lambert hired Herman Williams, the head coach of Parker high school in Birmingham, AL. The first all-black school to win a state championship in Alabama. Williams helped bring in Al Grant, Corky Abrams, Wayne Abrams, Mike Glenn, Richard Ford, Gary Wilson, Milt Huggins, Al Williams. What a line up!
Agree completely with taking advantage of the “times” in recruiting players from the south. Lambert made a great decision when he hired Herm Williams. Southern has now again hired someone who is supposed to be a great recruiter. Give this time. None of us want the Gottfried-Van Winkle era back. If you were not there or attended any games at that time, you do not realize how bad it was.
I was fully squared on Mullins like the rest for the last 2 years of BBQ. I thought he was the perfect fit, a young coach that's extremely smart and was the lead assistant on a Final Four team. I just can't go back now and wish they cast a wider net because we'd all be furious if it was anyone but Mullins hired.
I love that Bryan's team play hard every game for him, it's something that I think we lacked a bit under Hinson. I don't think there's been a game the last 5 years where I thought Bryan's players weren't giving 100% effort.
I thought there'd be more adjustments under Mullins given how young he is. To me he feels like a 60 year old coach when he's just 37 the way he's so stubborn with rotations and gameplans. In the past I feel like he's stuck with a player like Brown too long when he was struggling and never recruited over him when they had Jones & Domask and in my opinion there should have been more of a push to win now while we had them. Now I feel he might be doing the same with a D'Amico.
Bryan's teams have been able to beat up on the bottom-tier Valley teams these last 5 years but they're just not good enough to compete with the top-tier teams even last year, which was probably his best team.
2019-20: 3-8 against the top 6 teams in the Valley
2020-21: 0-9 against the top 5 teams in the Valley
2021-22: 1-10 against the top 5 teams in the Valley
2022-23: 4-6 against the top 5 teams in the Valley
2023-24: 0-4 against the top 4 teams in the Valley
Combined: 8-37
“A year or two extension to keep this going?”
If you’re talking about finishing middle-of-the-pack every year and not sniffing the post season, I definitely disagree with you. Most of us remember when SIU was one of the top Mid Majors in the country, mentioned in the same breath as Butler, Gonzaga, Wichita State, and Creighton.
I’m not saying I want Bryan fired, but I don’t really think he’s done nearly enough to earn an extension. The regular season is now pretty irrelevant. We have to either make some noise in the Valley Tournament or have a REALLY good Spring Recruiting Period for any extension to be warranted. JMHO
This is not a reality anymore... We have to stop thinking in terms of the glory days and look at it through todays view. We are not going back to the glory days, we are almost always playing for Arch Madness.... Not just SIU, every MVC school. Think I am lying, look where Drake is... Some don't even mention them as an at large candidate. Indiana State would be on the wrong side of the bubble too if they don't win the Valley tournament... This is our reality. Be good enough to with the MVCT.
Mullins is getting mentioned for the now-open DePaul job!
https://twitter.com/trillydonovan/status/1749510539435299157?s=46&t=7s0hTttieSER8wqRSA0LoA
Mullins is getting mentioned for the now-open DePaul job!
https://twitter.com/trillydonovan/status/1749510539435299157?s=46&t=7s0hTttieSER8wqRSA0LoA
Trilly has connections too. This isn't just random BS...
I would rather play in Bangor Maine than Carbondale Illinois. The fact that decent players are recruited and willing to play is good enough. Siu is trying to stay relevant. Maybe it will happen
Clown.
who would want to go to that dumpster fire when was the last time they were relevantMullins is getting mentioned for the now-open DePaul job!
https://twitter.com/trillydonovan/status/1749510539435299157?s=46&t=7s0hTttieSER8wqRSA0LoA
