Impossible to fire Kent but..

[7ICoug]

Moos seems to have made an extreme error in the hiring of Ernie Kent. He made a slight uptick in gaining the confidence of players that the former coach had left behind. However his recruiting is sub-par and he now is working on 4th class. His only decent players are ones from the past. Well to be fair Clifford is quite good but not utilized very well in my opinion.

His coaching staff is frankly horrible. There is a lot of experience but they seem to be playing in the 80's. Making run and gun without a PG is nearly impossible and yet he continues to recruit Combo guard after combo guard. There are at least 3-4 PG's in the Seattle area. We are after none. Putting a player on the floor that couldn't defend a HS player and has no shot and can't even feed the post is amazing.

Why even have Curtis Allen on the staff if you don't go after Tacoma-Seattle type players. We have a former Coug in Haskins at Garfield High. Why isn't this staff all over this stuff.

Same with Defense and Offense.

Type for a cleaning out of the assistants. Get some young guys with some enthusiasm and hopefully some that can recruit. Clearly Ernie can't.

 

[wulffbone]

Words of wisdom '71. This program is going nowhere fast (up tempo?) and recruiting is abysmal so far during EK's tenure. WSU is already so far below the other Pac-12 teams in terms of talent, a couple of more years like the last two will not help.

 

[avabob11]

A little harsh on the recruiting. He may be working on his fourth, but his third is not even enrolled yet and he had all of about 3 weeks to sign his first class.

I don't like what I am seeing right now either, but after following WSU hoops for almost 50 years I know there is about an 80% chance that you wont improve if you could fire Kent. In addition, the few good coaches we have had over that period of time have fielded teams their first 3 seasons that don't look any better than what Kent has on the floor right now.

When you go with a bunch of JC kids you are really throwing the dice. I still think there is a chance that this group will round out into a good team by next season, and maybe show a few more signs of progress this season.

 

[bogusto]

I think we are closer than people are giving us credit for. I wasn't a big fan of the EK hire, much preferring a Bennett-like approach, but I still feel he is mainly one good distributing point guard away from getting a team that will click pretty well and compete with everyone else in the league. He knows what they look like. His best years at Oregon were when Ridenour was pulling the trigger for most of his NCAA teams.

 

[jourdand]

Kent seems to prefer a scoring first point guard. The freshman coming in next year I feel is an upgrade but still a shoot first type it seems. The incoming forward seems to be a more of a role player at least to start. I think we will have some more to give as attrition is almost a given anymore.

 

[StormyCOUG42]

this roster is a giant dumpster fire. Two..maybe three guys who are PAC 12 quality. And we keep finishing near or at the bottom of the conference in recruiting. We pick up guys who were only okay in JC... and the H.S. kids we get are only getting offers from 2nd tier conference teams. The great thing about basketball is that you only need to bring in a couple legit PAC 12 players and we could be a quality team. But I'm not seeing those guys on the roster or on the commit list.

For 4 seasons guys on the football board defended the previous football staff's recruiting... I heard it again and again...We'd get some scrub with Big Sky offers and the internet experts would come on here and say things like "He wasn't recruited heavily because of X or Y...or he has deceptive speed, he's an under the radar guy, etc..." and yet we all know how the vast majority of those guys panned out. You can't build a successful program on under the radar recruits. Most fail.

I like Kent, but he needs to show that he can bring real talent to Pullman. Its possible. Bennett did it plenty. Sure, he missed on some guys, but he also recruited some REALLY good players. Then again, Bennett ran a system that didn't rely on super athletic players. He ran a system that fit the type of recruits he thought he could convince to come to Pullman. The last two coaches have failed at that. They insist on running an uptempo game without the ability to recruit the players necessary to be successful with that system. But hey, its more "exciting" than Bennett ball and thats clearly more important than winning.

 

[avabob11]

Usually I tune out the minute someone use the term dumpster fire. However, I think it is pretty clear that we have upgraded the talent level significantly. Biggest problems are that the talent we do have is not jelling as a unit on either end of the court. On the defensive end the loss of a rim protector in Izundu has really hurt. On the offensive end the slow development of Callison ( not uncommon for a JC )has also hurt.

Kents offensive system relies on having 3 go to scorers on the floor. He hasn't found the third one yet since Que is still very inconsistent, and Suggs is also being a typical JC in his firsts year.

I actually wish we could have found a couple more freshman comparable to Franks and Daniels instead of so many JC kids. It wouldn't have helped much this season, but would set us up better for the next 3 years. Daniels has been battling back problems, or he would likely be in the rotation by now.

I do think all of our JC kids have the potential to be pretty good next season. I particularly like King who also has the benefit of 3 more years.

 

[Cougsocal]

Moos seems to have made an extreme error in the hiring of Ernie Kent. He made a slight uptick in gaining the confidence of players that the former coach had left behind. However his recruiting is sub-par and he now is working on 4th class. His only decent players are ones from the past. Well to be fair Clifford is quite good but not utilized very well in my opinion.

His coaching staff is frankly horrible. There is a lot of experience but they seem to be playing in the 80's. Making run and gun without a PG is nearly impossible and yet he continues to recruit Combo guard after combo guard. There are at least 3-4 PG's in the Seattle area. We are after none. Putting a player on the floor that couldn't defend a HS player and has no shot and can't even feed the post is amazing.

Why even have Curtis Allen on the staff if you don't go after Tacoma-Seattle type players. We have a former Coug in Haskins at Garfield High. Why isn't this staff all over this stuff.

Same with Defense and Offense.

Type for a cleaning out of the assistants. Get some young guys with some enthusiasm and hopefully some that can recruit. Clearly Ernie can't.

Athleticism is and has been a issue since Raveling. Nothing has change, except we are playing a system that demands athleticism and depth we just don't have. We have three kids who can score, and when you can't play defense, they need to be on the floor the majority of the time. One of those three is just not suited to an "up and down" style, and never will be, no matter how much weight he loses. We have one kid who can play that style, but it doesn't maximize his skills. The solution isn't to keep pounding the square peg into a round whole, it is to adapt to our personnel.

We have zone defense, half court personnel. We need to start Junior, Connor and Josh, Ike and whoever. You slow the game down, play zone and some "in and out" offense. If Connor or Josh get double teamed kick they kick it out to Ike for a three, a lane to drive, or to feed the other big. If Josh or Connor don't get doubled, they need to shoot. Junior needs to crash the boards from the back side, unless Ike drives, then he needs to get back on defense. Connor/Josh need to crash the boards on the shot, regardless, because neither has the feet to make a difference on fast break defense. We rotate Franks in, and we have a ton of guards who can't score but are athletic enough to harass the break.

 

[Glad Cougar]

Usually I tune out the minute someone use the term dumpster fire. However, I think it is pretty clear that we have upgraded the talent level significantly. Biggest problems are that the talent we do have is not jelling as a unit on either end of the court. On the defensive end the loss of a rim protector in Izundu has really hurt. On the offensive end the slow development of Callison ( not uncommon for a JC )has also hurt.

Kents offensive system relies on having 3 go to scorers on the floor. He hasn't found the third one yet since Que is still very inconsistent, and Suggs is also being a typical JC in his firsts year.

I actually wish we could have found a couple more freshman comparable to Franks and Daniels instead of so many JC kids. It wouldn't have helped much this season, but would set us up better for the next 3 years. Daniels has been battling back problems, or he would likely be in the rotation by now.

I do think all of our JC kids have the potential to be pretty good next season. I particularly like King who also has the benefit of 3 more years.

I expect King to improve, he seems to have a scorer's mentality. But right now, he is a huge defensive liability which is why Ernie has limited his minutes the past couple of games. JCs who have three years to play can truly pay off, however. DJ Shelton comes to mind....by the time he was a senior, he was effective (despite his desire to be a 3-point specialist!)

Glad Cougar

 

[YakiCoug]

The talk about firing Kent is a bit over-reactionary and emotional, and it's also laughable considering how some who wish to have him fired wanted to retain Bone.

A little harsh on the recruiting. He may be working on his fourth, but his third is not even enrolled yet and he had all of about 3 weeks to sign his first class.

I don't like what I am seeing right now either, but after following WSU hoops for almost 50 years I know there is about an 80% chance that you wont improve if you could fire Kent. In addition, the few good coaches we have had over that period of time have fielded teams their first 3 seasons that don't look any better than what Kent has on the floor right now.

When you go with a bunch of JC kids you are really throwing the dice. I still think there is a chance that this group will round out into a good team by next season, and maybe show a few more signs of progress this season.

 

[wulffbone]

Kent is giving WSU Bone-like results (especially in recruiting) at the cost of about a mil more.

I'd expect just a tad more.

 

[7ICoug]

.[/QUOTE]

The talk about firing Kent is a bit over-reactionary and emotional, and it's also laughable considering how some who wish to have him fired wanted to retain Bone.

Yaki so typical you didn't even bother to read the thread. It was about changing out of assistants not the coach.

 

[longtimecoug]

Kent is giving WSU Bone-like results (especially in recruiting) at the cost of about a mil more.

I'd expect just a tad more.

this is a lot of the same talk I heard about leach, the sad fact is we don't have good players, poor shooting can't make foul shots no defense. It is going to stay this way as long as we have sub par facilities in relation to most of the other teams

 

[StormyCOUG42]

Usually I tune out the minute someone use the term dumpster fire. However, I think it is pretty clear that we have upgraded the talent level significantly. Biggest problems are that the talent we do have is not jelling as a unit on either end of the court. On the defensive end the loss of a rim protector in Izundu has really hurt. On the offensive end the slow development of Callison ( not uncommon for a JC )has also hurt.

Kents offensive system relies on having 3 go to scorers on the floor. He hasn't found the third one yet since Que is still very inconsistent, and Suggs is also being a typical JC in his firsts year.

I actually wish we could have found a couple more freshman comparable to Franks and Daniels instead of so many JC kids. It wouldn't have helped much this season, but would set us up better for the next 3 years. Daniels has been battling back problems, or he would likely be in the rotation by now.

I do think all of our JC kids have the potential to be pretty good next season. I particularly like King who also has the benefit of 3 more years.

Different year, same story. I feel like we've has this conversation before. During the Bone years I would complain about the lack of talent Bone was bringing in and how he wasn't going to be able to run the system he wanted to successfully with the guys he was getting... every time you would defend Bone's system and the players. Yet every season we finished in the bottom half of the PAC 12.

I'm not convinced the talent level is that much better than it was under Bone. We will have to agree to disagree on that. At the end of the day I am looking at the W-Ls and its not looking very good right now. I find it hard to believe that all of a sudden these JC kids are going to turn into legitimate PAC 12 players by next season so that we can actually compete. My guess is that a few of them see marginal improvement and we finish under .500 again next season in the PAC 12. Time will tell.

 

[YakiCoug]

.

Yaki so typical you didn't even bother to read the thread. It was about changing out of assistants not the coach.[/QUOTE]


"Moos seems to have made an extreme error in the hiring of Ernie Kent. He made a slight uptick in gaining the confidence of players that the former coach had left behind. However his recruiting is sub-par and he now is working on 4th class. His only decent players are ones from the past. Well to be fair Clifford is quite good but not utilized very well in my opinion" - 71YEAROLDCOUG

Your focus is clear. Being old is OK. Being stupid and myopic is quite another thing.

 

[7ICoug]

As I said the focus was clear and had nothing to do with firing Kent as that is impossible to do. BTW its 7 I not 71...YAKICOUGLOVESBADHOOP.

If you disagree with the statement of an extreme error you must have likes Paul Graham as well. If you think Kents recruiting is not sub-par then you know nothing about Pac12 recruiting.

Much like Kevin who might have been a good Coach but never hired a semi-decent assistant during his WSU tour; Kent needs to fire the entire current crop of assistants and get some in that can recruit and perhaps teach.

As to being stupid and myopic I do believe if you think Kent is the solution you are in for years and years of pain.

 

[YakiCoug]

As I said the focus was clear and had nothing to do with firing Kent as that is impossible to do. BTW its 7 I not 71...YAKICOUGLOVESBADHOOP.

If you disagree with the statement of an extreme error you must have likes Paul Graham as well. If you think Kents recruiting is not sub-par then you know nothing about Pac12 recruiting.

Much like Kevin who might have been a good Coach but never hired a semi-decent assistant during his WSU tour; Kent needs to fire the entire current crop of assistants and get some in that can recruit and perhaps teach.

As to being stupid and myopic I do believe if you think Kent is the solution you are in for years and years of pain.

Rant on, old fella...

 

[7ICoug]

18,000 POSTS of crap.

 

[YakiCoug]

18,000 POSTS of crap.

Speaking of crap, have the nurses changed you tonight?

 

[Rich Lewis]

Please let this thread die!

 

[Observer11]

Ernie's not going anywhere. But his assistants need to. Not sure about Graham's ability to recruit but I give him a pass given his long-time/teammate status with Ernie. You just don't fire your best buddy at the drop of a hat. No way, no how.

But I need some selling on why Curtis Allen is the guy to appeal to the younger generation. And looking at Silvey - why is such a vital cog? These guys need to be about recruiting, recruiting and then more recruiting. There's nothing WSU is doing right now on the court that is all that technical. So it's not like Dick Bennett and his magic sauce where players have to learn an entirely new approach to basketball.

I frequent the AAU circuit throughout the northwest. Have never seen a WSU coach at an event. There are multiple NCAA-showcase events at Bellevue CC in the spring and summer. I have been contacted by UW and pretty much every D-1 school in the northwest. I"m no big-boy talent broker but I can see who is in the stands - if not for my players, for others. And it's not Cougar coaches. I hope that changes.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

18,000 POSTS of crap.

OK, but the 125 over 18,000 you didn't include were unbelievably awesome.

 

[YakiCoug]

OK, but the 125 over 18,000 you didn't include were unbelievably awesome.

You go, How Did!!! Of course, 71coug read all 18,000 because I'm so captivating...