Four Conference..

[ElComanche]

Wins!.. Where are those betting fools?. i thought i had fish on the line but they wiggled off. Well folks, number 5ive is coming up. The cubs are growing up and fans will be there Saturday to watch it.Too bad the cougs had the early season injuries .How did it happen? well recruiting, coaching ,and sustained effort by the young cougs

 

[avabob1]

Franks missed 5 games and was less thsn 100% in 2 more. Easily cost us 3 wins. The bad thing was that he was our most experienced player. It set back the development of our young guys

 

[acgcoug]

Could easily be 5 and 4 wins in a row had we finished against UW.

Happy for the players.

 

[avabob1]

Raveling use to have a saying about coaching. He said there were 3 things a good coach needed to do well. The first was recruiting. The second was recruiting, snd the 3rd was....... well you probably guessed. I would say Kent has been largely unsuccessful at all 3 until this season. Its not about the system. Franks Elleby snd Cannon would be successful in Bennett ball, and weaver and Cowgill would succeed in Ernies more up tempo system.

If Ernie and staff keep can keep getting a couple of long quick athletes each year odds are we would be lamenting Kents departure for some young up and comer in a couple mire years

 

[Brent H.]

Wins!.. Where are those betting fools?. i thought i had fish on the line but they wiggled off. Loyal called for one Conference win. Yaki wondered what would happen if tthe cougs started winning Conference games.. Well folks, number 5ive is coming up. The cubs are growing up and fans will be there Saturday to watch it.Too bad the cougs had the early season injuries .How did it happen? well recruiting, coaching ,and sustained effort by the young cougs

On pace to be 6-12 in the conference when I haven't seen the conference this bad ever. Dope. Lose Franks this year, so I expect to be picked 11th or 12th next year. Keep Ernie, I don't really care about hoops. Judging by the crowds, I'm not the only one.

 

[ElComanche]

More like a good shot at a 8 -9 win record . The PAC 12 teams are good teams with winning records look at the teams records before they played the cougs. There is not a top UCLA team or a talent laden Oregon team but the teams are good college basketball teams. Remember Franks was not this good during his first two years. Players like Elleby,Kunc,Cannon and others will be very good next year. Plus the recruiting has been good to very good this year.

 

[ElComanche]

I ll talk more to you after the probable Utah victory Anything else is just talkint o talk

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Raveling use to have a saying about coaching. He said there were 3 things a good coach needed to do well. The first was recruiting. The second was recruiting, snd the 3rd was....... well you probably guessed. I would say Kent has been largely unsuccessful at all 3 until this season. Its not about the system. Franks Elleby snd Cannon would be successful in Bennett ball, and weaver and Cowgill would succeed in Ernies more up tempo system.

If Ernie and staff keep can keep getting a couple of long quick athletes each year odds are we would be lamenting Kents departure for some young up and comer in a couple mire years

But why does he get a mulligan for poor recruiting his first three seasons we ask?

"If...if...if..."

No more "ifs" allowed. He had his chance.

 

[Coug90]

Here's a little historical perspective:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eqgpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ee8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6738,1797449

Lenny got run out of town at 48-67 (.417). Even winning out, Ernie ends the year at 64-94 (.405).

LEN FREAKING STEVENS is the standard. Seriously?

We're relegated to comparing to LEN FREAKING STEVENS.

yeah - and I"m the fool.

Whatever.

What would be foolish would be to show Kent the door if they won out this year (not going to happen but for this argument...). Who gives a rats ass what he did two years ago if the team starts playing well and winning now.

History is full of coaches that struggled for a few years, figured it out, and ended up being good coaches.

Sports is and has always been hugely about momentum, especially in college when recruiting is a huge component of success. I don’t think you blow something up when there’s positive momentum. I guess that’s where the two sides of this differ, some are gonna just see this as an anomaly while others seeing a turning of the corner.

 

[Coug90]

I am a pragmatist. Unless $3 or $4Million magically drops out of the sky, Chun CAN'T get rid of Ernie. And, therefore, I've never made that statement. But sure as hell can comment on Len Stevens-like performance...and not even that.

If I had magic powers, I'd keep paying Ernie but he would sit in the study hall with the student athletes and Haskins/Seltzer/Marrion would figure out who is going to sit in the head coach seat for the next couple seasons. It's pretty obvious their presence means a helluva lot more than Ernie's.

That may be. Also a big factor in a coach’s success is the assistants he puts around him

 

[SaveFerris]

I am a pragmatist. Unless $3 or $4Million magically drops out of the sky, Chun CAN'T get rid of Ernie. And, therefore, I've never made that statement. But sure as hell can comment on Len Stevens-like performance...and not even that.

If I had magic powers, I'd keep paying Ernie but he would sit in the study hall with the student athletes and Haskins/Seltzer/Marrion would figure out who is going to sit in the head coach seat for the next couple seasons. It's pretty obvious their presence means a helluva lot more than Ernie's.

Even before the last 4 games I didn’t want Chun in a position where his hands were tied even though the program was full on in a ditch. Even if $4M fell out of the sky I would rather it was earmarked to improving the program rather than paying Kent to go away and hoping we could find someone better to take over. Sometimes you have no other choice but it’s not good to continue to sink us even further into the red.

Beyond Franks who has obviously been a huge piece the talent is young. Need to keep Elleby and Kunc around but they also add Nigel John (tFr) and Chance Moore (rFr) next year. Cannon has been impressive and Wade will continue to figure it out and help upfront. No idea whether we have a shot but if we can add a Crockrell in the spring we could be setup to have the talent to compete.

 

[SaveFerris]

That may be. Also a big factor in a coach’s success is the assistants he puts around him

This was Kent’s biggest mistake early and he waited too long to fix it. No way the roster looks like it does now if the staff changes weren’t made.

 

[CougEd]

But why does he get a mulligan for poor recruiting his first three seasons we ask?

"If...if...if..."

No more "ifs" allowed. He had his chance.

Yep...start over. So he had success lately, it is way better to burn it to the ground again.

Elleby will be more dominant at the college level than Klay. He is that good.

 

[SaveFerris]

Ernie's Elite 8's mean nothing. Oregon paid him for those. Oregon probably literally PAID for those.

WSU is paying him to be Len Stevens that gets along with his players.

Then we will see a mass exodus at the end of the season that will force Chun to make a change. Kent's not a long-term answer but in the short-term it's good if we turn the corner. We can't buy our way out of mistakes.

 

[ElComanche]

All of the players with the possible exception of one will return next year.That will be to the chagrin of a few posters here.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Yep...start over. So he had success lately, it is way better to burn it to the ground again.

Elleby will be more dominant at the college level than Klay. He is that good.

I think this was essentially your position on Wulff before Leach was even a serious consideration.

You're consistent, I'll credit you with that.

 

[CougEd]

I think this was essentially your position on Wulff before Leach was even a serious consideration.

You're consistent, I'll credit you with that.

Well...why didn't we hire Leach in 09/10/11? I would have and fired Wulff on the spot. If you can get a name like that you hire him. Not sure why Moos did not pull the trigger in 2010.

As for Kent, who are you going to replace him with? Kent just did something in AZ that no one has done since 1995...sweep the AZ schools with double digit wins.

So who do you hire now? What name? If you said Dick Bennett at 63, lets do it.

Ken Bone had all kinds of connections in Seattle. One of his problems was he is loved at Garfield and rainier Beach, they respect him, but I am sure he thought he was going to be able to dip into that pool and pluck some of those kids out of Seattle.

It took Dick B 4 years to field a winner. You think Tony would have fielded a winner before year 6 if dad wasn't around.

If there is a great replacement fire Kent, but Elleby is a flat out stud and gives Kent someone to build around for the next two years.

 

[avabob1]

Agree Ed. Also Cannon may be one of the most talented and athletic wings ever at WSU. Also, Kunc is exactly thr type of under the radar talent that has developed in a star at WSU

 

[7ICoug]

Looks to be some recruits coming in as well. No way is Ernie going anywhere for a couple of years with the financial status of WSU athletics.

 

[COUGinNCW]

Looks to be some recruits coming in as well. No way is Ernie going anywhere for a couple of years with the financial status of WSU athletics.

What recruits are coming in? For the Utah game?

 

[jourdand]

My initial feeling was 5 conference wins and Kent stays with a wait and see approach going into next year. Less than that and he would either be fired or basically be a lame duck coach next year. I think we will reach the 5 wins easy if we continue to play the way we are pluse we still have another game with CAL. I stick by this initial thought, I think Kent is back next year with a wait and see for next year. I’ve been critical of him and still don’t understand how we could play so bad for so long before snapping out of it but I think he has earned the Benefit of the doubt for now.

 

[SaveFerris]

My initial feeling was 5 conference wins and Kent stays with a wait and see approach going into next year. Less than that and he would either be fired or basically be a lame duck coach next year. I think we will reach the 5 wins easy if we continue to play the way we are pluse we still have another game with CAL. I stick by this initial thought, I think Kent is back next year with a wait and see for next year. I’ve been critical of him and still don’t understand how we could play so bad for so long before snapping out of it but I think he has earned the Benefit of the doubt for now.

I didn't think we could fire him this year. I am glad to hopefully get to the point where we want to see where this thing can go. I definitely felt last years class was Bennett/Sampson-like in terms of the type of player profile we were going after. I'm feeliing it's better late than never in terms of the light finally going on.

 

[jourdand]

Everybody knows the rating system is not perfect but I don’t feel you get rated a 4 star without being able to play. As such, I’m excited about Chance coming in from the other WSU at break next year. Also I’m very excited about Murphy I see some Rochestie potential in him. For me the rest are wait and see type recruits but I can see the potential in them also.