I have a question for everyone, in particular those who are so gung ho about dumping Mulllins: what if the new coach bombs out? There seems to be an assumption that the new guy, excuse me, person, is going to take us to The Promised Land. Casual observation of the college basketball landscape tells me otherwise. Tell me I’m wrong.
yep, our current expectations are out of touch. New coach isn’t making the NCAAT by year 5. So I guess we will fire him too? I doubt it. Bryan got the rawest deal I’ve ever seen.
Ben Jacobson made the NCAA’s in year 3
Darian DeVries made the NCAA’s in year 3
Brian Wardle made the NCAA’s in year 4
It doesn’t take what would have been 6 years now to hit any kind of postseason tournament. SIU was not a dumpster fire when Hinson left as much as people claim it was. Hinson had the program at mediocre and couldn’t elevate it to good.
Which of those coaches were in the same boat as Mullins...be honest with yourself. You can't dismiss all the shit he was dealing with when comparing him to these other coaches (don't want to list all of it again here, but you know). If you want to compare apples to apples, find a young first time head coach who started in 2019-2020 and had that success in a league similar to the MVC.
Hiring Mullins SHOULD HAVE BEEN a long term play...He was 31 years old when he got the job. Wardle may not have even made it to year 3 with this fan base...could you imagine if Mullins first two years were what Wardle produced?
I call BS on Hinson leaving something for Mullins. Barry had the program at mediocre, but the roster talent he left was non-existent outside Cook and McGill. All the other major pieces of that roster were gone. He had a ton of work to do year 1.
I have a question for everyone, in particular those who are so gung ho about dumping Mulllins: what if the new coach bombs out? There seems to be an assumption that the new guy, excuse me, person, is going to take us to The Promised Land. Casual observation of the college basketball landscape tells me otherwise. Tell me I’m wrong.
yep, our current expectations are out of touch. New coach isn’t making the NCAAT by year 5. So I guess we will fire him too? I doubt it. Bryan got the rawest deal I’ve ever seen.
Ben Jacobson made the NCAA’s in year 3
Darian DeVries made the NCAA’s in year 3
Brian Wardle made the NCAA’s in year 4
It doesn’t take what would have been 6 years now to hit any kind of postseason tournament. SIU was not a dumpster fire when Hinson left as much as people claim it was. Hinson had the program at mediocre and couldn’t elevate it to good.
Which of those coaches were in the same boat as Mullins...be honest with yourself. You can't dismiss all the shit he was dealing with when comparing him to these other coaches (don't want to list all of it again here, but you know). If you want to compare apples to apples, find a young first time head coach who started in 2019-2020 and had that success in a league similar to the MVC.
Hiring Mullins SHOULD HAVE BEEN a long term play...He was 31 years old when he got the job. Wardle may not have even made it to year 3 with this fan base...could you imagine if Mullins first two years were what Wardle produced?
I call BS on Hinson leaving something for Mullins. Barry had the program at mediocre, but the roster talent he left was non-existent outside Cook and McGill. All the other major pieces of that roster were gone. He had a ton of work to do year 1.
Don't forget Lance Jones was from Barry's recruiting class
Sounds like Mo State's top candidate is Ben McCollum. Unfortunately....
https://x.com/WyattWheeler_NL/status/1767541217514881399?s=20
I have a question for everyone, in particular those who are so gung ho about dumping Mulllins: what if the new coach bombs out? There seems to be an assumption that the new guy, excuse me, person, is going to take us to The Promised Land. Casual observation of the college basketball landscape tells me otherwise. Tell me I’m wrong.
yep, our current expectations are out of touch. New coach isn’t making the NCAAT by year 5. So I guess we will fire him too? I doubt it. Bryan got the rawest deal I’ve ever seen.
Ben Jacobson made the NCAA’s in year 3
Darian DeVries made the NCAA’s in year 3
Brian Wardle made the NCAA’s in year 4
It doesn’t take what would have been 6 years now to hit any kind of postseason tournament. SIU was not a dumpster fire when Hinson left as much as people claim it was. Hinson had the program at mediocre and couldn’t elevate it to good.
Which of those coaches were in the same boat as Mullins...be honest with yourself. You can't dismiss all the shit he was dealing with when comparing him to these other coaches (don't want to list all of it again here, but you know). If you want to compare apples to apples, find a young first time head coach who started in 2019-2020 and had that success in a league similar to the MVC.
Hiring Mullins SHOULD HAVE BEEN a long term play...He was 31 years old when he got the job. Wardle may not have even made it to year 3 with this fan base...could you imagine if Mullins first two years were what Wardle produced?
I call BS on Hinson leaving something for Mullins. Barry had the program at mediocre, but the roster talent he left was non-existent outside Cook and McGill. All the other major pieces of that roster were gone. He had a ton of work to do year 1.
Exactly this! SIU has screwed this whole thing up horribly.
How is that good news?
Seems well-liked, energetic, enrollment has steadied under him, and SIU needs stability after years of a rotating door.
Winning games and post-season play will create this stability.
Kids want to be big Dawgs and play in the big Dawg fields, "I chose to go to SIU, because they are on ESPN every other week, and then we play on CBS in March, where all those girls I dated in high school see me and wish they could still have me"
Mullins accepted his fate when he signed the contract 5 years ago, the mediocre years of Hinson off the heels of C-Low era left a lot of rebuilding to do, Mullins wasn't able to step in and make it happen with the given time for the same amount of money, so now SIU administration is needing a new option.
I have a question for everyone, in particular those who are so gung ho about dumping Mulllins: what if the new coach bombs out? There seems to be an assumption that the new guy, excuse me, person, is going to take us to The Promised Land. Casual observation of the college basketball landscape tells me otherwise. Tell me I’m wrong.
yep, our current expectations are out of touch. New coach isn’t making the NCAAT by year 5. So I guess we will fire him too? I doubt it. Bryan got the rawest deal I’ve ever seen.
Ben Jacobson made the NCAA’s in year 3
Darian DeVries made the NCAA’s in year 3
Brian Wardle made the NCAA’s in year 4
It doesn’t take what would have been 6 years now to hit any kind of postseason tournament. SIU was not a dumpster fire when Hinson left as much as people claim it was. Hinson had the program at mediocre and couldn’t elevate it to good.
Which of those coaches were in the same boat as Mullins...be honest with yourself. You can't dismiss all the shit he was dealing with when comparing him to these other coaches (don't want to list all of it again here, but you know). If you want to compare apples to apples, find a young first time head coach who started in 2019-2020 and had that success in a league similar to the MVC.
Hiring Mullins SHOULD HAVE BEEN a long term play...He was 31 years old when he got the job. Wardle may not have even made it to year 3 with this fan base...could you imagine if Mullins first two years were what Wardle produced?
I call BS on Hinson leaving something for Mullins. Barry had the program at mediocre, but the roster talent he left was non-existent outside Cook and McGill. All the other major pieces of that roster were gone. He had a ton of work to do year 1.
Mullins, or someone similar(Watson, anyone but Boo bird Barry) should have been hired When C-low was booted, Recruiting and developing players starts in their Freshman year of high school, or sooner. This is why camps, skills development events, and ties to an AAU program make it easier to scout and groom your talent. Hinson left an almost empty basket, with no real prospects looking to come in.
If it is KSit will make no sense to me why we are paying BM for this year and another unproven first time coach. I would rather have given BM one more year with the team he had and see what happened the. Hire the unproven coach.
Long time SIU basketball fan, just getting on here to finally read this. First and only post. Season ticket holder since the early 90's. Here are my thoughts, based on what I know. I am originally from Harrisburg.
Kyle Smithpeters can recruit and he has connections within coaching circles. But that's pretty much where the positives would stop.
the same amount of money yes. Notice a pattern here. Well paid coaches but no results. Have you looked at what Mullins went thru in his 5 years here? 3 AD’s 2 Chancellors. In 2021-22 we are at the bottom of the MVC in money given to the athletic department. I don’t believe we have climbed much higher recently. We lack facilities and travel budgets, we lack NIL funds. Hinson was at least having 1 AD and at least 1 chancellor(?) So if we want to take it to the next level. These deep pocket boosters better start stepping up and putting their wallets into making the above lack of facilities and NIL money to use. Because without it, you can bring in the ghost of John Wooden and he would not win here!
Somebody explain to me why we need a practice facility for basketball. An arena that's empty most of the time isn't good enough? A great weight room training facility isn't good enough?
Long time SIU basketball fan, just getting on here to finally read this. First and only post. Season ticket holder since the early 90's. Here are my thoughts, based on what I know. I am originally from Harrisburg.
Kyle Smithpeters can recruit and he has connections within coaching circles. But that's pretty much where the positives would stop.
Whereas Mullins was as genuine and authentic of a person as you can get, KS is the exact opposite. Very charismatic and personable to everyone he meets in the most insincere way possible. He is a total salesman. It's quasi-Barry Hinson. He lacks integrity and he is not intelligent. His body language when coaching is constantly negative. Always screaming at his players and throwing little tantrums on the sideline when things don't go his way.Basically, if you hated all of the attributes about Bryan Mullins, you will love Kyle Smithpeters as your head coach.If we hire him, here is what will happen. Our results on the floor will largely stay the same. Often competitive, but never great. And in the meantime, we will have traded off all of the other positive things that Bryan brought to the program, for the total opposite. It will be a mistake.SIU basketball is in a sad state of affairs as KS will not change anything within the program in a positive way.
I have no first-hand experience with Smithpeters to trade notes, but this is alarming, to say the least ...
I'm just going to ignore all this blather.
I am pretty sure we can do better than KS. He is young and inexperienced. If it is KS, then it will be obvious that a national search was not completed. If we hire a young coach, we better have an old veteran coach on the sidelines with him. That is something Mullins needed (like a Rodney Watson). A name that has not been mentioned that I am familiar with - Griff Aldridge from Longwood University in rural FarmVille, VA. Has his team in the dance and only makes about $150k. Ben McCollum would be great too, but I'm betting on him going to Missouri State!
@appleknocker95 all of Bryan’s great attributes contributed to 5 wins in 5 years against the top 3 coaches. Do you think that’s deserving of an extension?
