Book it

[oxpatchreb]

Yall are crazy bashing AK. He's done a very good job with this team. Chris Warren and Zack Graham leaving, Dundrecous leaving, JK being a head case, and we go 10-9 in the SEC? Do yall even know anything about sports? Or do u get your jollies bashing Ole Miss coaches? I like to see who could do a better job here with what we have to offer. If u was a stud coming out of high school, and didn't have a college favorite, would u come to Ole Miss with it's leaky gym, or go to Ky. where u would challenge for the NC? It's hard getting top talent to come here right now. The 2 guys he has coming in this year, and with the whole team except Henry coming back, I think we are looking pretty good for next year. Newby runs a 4.3 40 and jumps 43". Don't know how accurate that is, but that was what was reported. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and the 18th top guard in the nation. And Cortesia Perez was re-ranked a 4 star by Scout and the #13 SF. Sometimes the mentality on this board is amazing.

Credit where it's due, AK has done a very good job with this team over the past 6 games. That's it, and that's all. If he had coached the entire season, the way he coached the last 6 games, we'd have been a lock in the NCAA tourney about 4 weeks ago. And yet, look where we are. All our kids hard work, effort, determination and never say die attitude for nothing more than another NIT bid. AK failed this team this season. It is the head coaches JOB to make lemonade out of lemons. Kick Nelson out for being an idiot, Kendrick turns out to be a head case, and Murph goes down with an injury for 3 games. It is Kennedy's FREAKIN JOB to COACH these kids THROUGH these issues, not to give up and accept fate and take a month off coaching while all our ISSUES get cleared up.

I'm giving AK credit for coaching very well in the last 6 games of the season. Great job AK and congratulations. However, I'm holding him 100% responsible for not coaching that well for our previous 28 games. Not. Good. Enough.

This team had the talent and the tools to go to the NCAA's this year. Unfortunately, AK couldn't figure out how to properly utilize, teach and organize that talent until very, very, VERY late in the season. Not. Good. Enough.

[oxpatchreb]

Thank you. I'm very pleased to see that there are a few others who understand and don't just think WE ARE OLE MISS AND WE SHOULD WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS EVERY YEAR AND WHEN WE DON'T WE SHOULD...wait for it....FIRE THE COACH! Cause you know, there are fifty million GREAT coaches and prospective coaches that would JUMP at the chance to coach at Ole Miss. Really....coach basketball in Oxford. What a dream job.

There he goes again, over stating the "fire AK" groups goals again.

Please link to a thread or post of mine, where I suggest that ANYTHING in your post is a reasonable expectation.

Those of us who dislike AK are focused on the facts of this season, and reasonable expectations of this season. AK had an entire season to figure out how to coach up this team. He didn't figure it out until the last 6 games. And you think that's good?

[JustBlues]

Yall are crazy bashing AK. He's done a very good job with this team. Chris Warren and Zack Graham leaving, Dundrecous leaving, JK being a head case, and we go 10-9 in the SEC? Do yall even know anything about sports? Or do u get your jollies bashing Ole Miss coaches? I like to see who could do a better job here with what we have to offer. If u was a stud coming out of high school, and didn't have a college favorite, would u come to Ole Miss with it's leaky gym, or go to Ky. where u would challenge for the NC? It's hard getting top talent to come here right now. The 2 guys he has coming in this year, and with the whole team except Henry coming back, I think we are looking pretty good for next year. Newby runs a 4.3 40 and jumps 43". Don't know how accurate that is, but that was what was reported. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and the 18th top guard in the nation. And Cortesia Perez was re-ranked a 4 star by Scout and the #13 SF. Sometimes the mentality on this board is amazing.

I have mixed feelings about Andy Kennedy and I suspect that I'm not the only one. However, we all need to be reminded now and then that the fact that someone differs with you on opinion regarding the team, the coach or a player does not make them mentally deficient. We all have our opinions and should feel free to share them.

[lewindha]

Yall are crazy bashing AK. He's done a very good job with this team. Chris Warren and Zack Graham leaving, Dundrecous leaving, JK being a head case, and we go 10-9 in the SEC? Do yall even know anything about sports? Or do u get your jollies bashing Ole Miss coaches? I like to see who could do a better job here with what we have to offer. If u was a stud coming out of high school, and didn't have a college favorite, would u come to Ole Miss with it's leaky gym, or go to Ky. where u would challenge for the NC? It's hard getting top talent to come here right now. The 2 guys he has coming in this year, and with the whole team except Henry coming back, I think we are looking pretty good for next year. Newby runs a 4.3 40 and jumps 43". Don't know how accurate that is, but that was what was reported. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and the 18th top guard in the nation. And Cortesia Perez was re-ranked a 4 star by Scout and the #13 SF. Sometimes the mentality on this board is amazing.

I have mixed feelings about Andy Kennedy and I suspect that I'm not the only one. However, we all need to be reminded now and then that the fact that someone differs with you on opinion regarding the team, the coach or a player does not make them mentally deficient. We all have our opinions and should feel free to share them.

The VCU's and Butler's of the world have no trouble putting together runs in the NCAA's without competing with the Kentucky's and Duke's for recruits. We can't even make the tourney.

[oxpatchreb]

I have mixed feelings about Andy Kennedy and I suspect that I'm not the only one. However, we all need to be reminded now and then that the fact that someone differs with you on opinion regarding the team, the coach or a player does not make them mentally deficient. We all have our opinions and should feel free to share them.

I'm done worrying about peoples feelings on this board. If a poster wants to try and justify AK's coaching record and abilities, they are going to get lumped into the same knuckle dragger, mouth breathing, mental midget category as AK himself.

This whole mishegoss boils down to whether you want something BETTER (and no, we're not talking about SEC champs and National Titles here, you morons) for Ole Miss, or whether you're perfectly fine with average for the foreseeable future. Some of us want to hold our Head Coaches (in all three sports) to a mission of every increasing success. Little by little, bite by bite, step by step successes. And overall trend of improvement. If a coach displays similar results for 5 or more seasons while simultaneously failing to reach a program milestone goal (NCAA tourney for Basketball, SR's or CWS for baseball, Bowl Games and 7 or 8 wins) is cause to move on.

Stagnant program growth is just as bad as regression, you people don't get that. Each coach deserves some slack when they have a down year, injuries or other problems, but barring the occasional mistep, those coaches had better know that steady improvement is the goal, not average, unchanging preformance. And stagnant, average performance is exactly what we're getting out of AK in the past 6 years.

So fine, you guys win. We'll hold onto AK forever. We'll get 20 wins a year, never win the SECT, get to the NCAA's once every 6 or 7 years, and waste new facilities on average results for ever. Awesome. Good job in trying to improve our basketball program. Golf clap.

[JustBlues]

I have mixed feelings about Andy Kennedy and I suspect that I'm not the only one. However, we all need to be reminded now and then that the fact that someone differs with you on opinion regarding the team, the coach or a player does not make them mentally deficient. We all have our opinions and should feel free to share them.

So fine, you guys win. We'll hold onto AK forever. We'll get 20 wins a year, never win the SECT, get to the NCAA's once every 6 or 7 years, and waste new facilities on average results for ever. Awesome. Good job in trying to improve our basketball program. Golf clap.

If you think that I want to "hold onto AK forever", then you have not read my posts very well. I'll ask you to not comment on my posts unless you really want to read them, please.

[oxpatchreb]

I have mixed feelings about Andy Kennedy and I suspect that I'm not the only one. However, we all need to be reminded now and then that the fact that someone differs with you on opinion regarding the team, the coach or a player does not make them mentally deficient. We all have our opinions and should feel free to share them.

So fine, you guys win. We'll hold onto AK forever. We'll get 20 wins a year, never win the SECT, get to the NCAA's once every 6 or 7 years, and waste new facilities on average results for ever. Awesome. Good job in trying to improve our basketball program. Golf clap.

If you think that I want to "hold onto AK forever", then you have not read my posts very well. I'll ask you to not comment on my posts unless you really want to read them, please.

I was trying on the "misquote the other sides intentions" style, which seems to come from the Pro-AK side here recently.

And yeah, I don't like it. I agree with you that we ought to stick to the facts and truth of the posts of this debate.

So, in that light, what are your suggestions for dealing with AK. # of years we should keep him? Force staff changes again? Give him a hard deadline for the NCAAs?

[JustBlues]

So, in that light, what are your suggestions for dealing with AK. # of years we should keep him? Force staff changes again? Give him a hard deadline for the NCAAs?

I've already stated my opinion on that. We should not get rid of him this year but next year should be the last "next year". It is put up or shut up time. The talent will be there. No excuses.

[oxpatchreb]

So, in that light, what are your suggestions for dealing with AK. # of years we should keep him? Force staff changes again? Give him a hard deadline for the NCAAs?

I've already stated my opinion on that. We should not get rid of him this year but next year should be the last "next year". It is put up or shut up time. The talent will be there. No excuses.

Absolutely. I've got no problems what so ever with this plan. In fact, I'd probably be okay with 2 more years because it'll put us in better position with a new hire if we've already broken ground on the new arena...

[OMNOB 1A]

I have mixed feelings about Andy Kennedy and I suspect that I'm not the only one. However, we all need to be reminded now and then that the fact that someone differs with you on opinion regarding the team, the coach or a player does not make them mentally deficient. We all have our opinions and should feel free to share them.

I'm done worrying about peoples feelings on this board. If a poster wants to try and justify AK's coaching record and abilities, they are going to get lumped into the same knuckle dragger, mouth breathing, mental midget category as AK himself.

This whole mishegoss boils down to whether you want something BETTER (and no, we're not talking about SEC champs and National Titles here, you morons) for Ole Miss, or whether you're perfectly fine with average for the foreseeable future. Some of us want to hold our Head Coaches (in all three sports) to a mission of every increasing success. Little by little, bite by bite, step by step successes. And overall trend of improvement. If a coach displays similar results for 5 or more seasons while simultaneously failing to reach a program milestone goal (NCAA tourney for Basketball, SR's or CWS for baseball, Bowl Games and 7 or 8 wins) is cause to move on.

Stagnant program growth is just as bad as regression, you people don't get that. Each coach deserves some slack when they have a down year, injuries or other problems, but barring the occasional mistep, those coaches had better know that steady improvement is the goal, not average, unchanging preformance. And stagnant, average performance is exactly what we're getting out of AK in the past 6 years.

So fine, you guys win. We'll hold onto AK forever. We'll get 20 wins a year, never win the SECT, get to the NCAA's once every 6 or 7 years, and waste new facilities on average results for ever. Awesome. Good job in trying to improve our basketball program. Golf clap.

I golf clap back to this. You ace the art of rant, no question.

Yeah, I am a knuckle dragging, mouth breathing, mental midget that you described earlier. Oh yeah, I'm also that same moron as well.

Still, again, I have asked before, if you're the AD, dissatisfied with the results you see from AK's program, who do you get to replace him? Shaka Smart isn't coming, neither is Brad Stevens, nor is Chris Mooney. So who is gonna take over a program that is historically the worst in the SEC, and oh yeah, also has deplorable facilities? Who is this magic man?

My thing is this, often when you rant and rave and get what you want on the surface, you have a really good chance of regretting what was once your wishes. To me, the gamble is not worth the possible rewards at least until our new venue is completed. If we were to part ways with AK, and make a mistake with the new hire... that could end up being catastrophic. Look at Indiana for example. The Sampson hire killed a perennial top program for several years. Made that program a non-factor. Now, yes, they are enjoying success currently, but after being bottom dwellers in the Big 10, and the University taking a pretty substantial hit financially. And I am sure I don't have to tell you, we ain't no Indiana.

I enjoy winning. I enjoy seeing my school have some success. We have that. It isn't the type of success we all want, but it is success just the same.

And again, numbers just don't lie. He's in line, thus far, to join a pretty impressive group of coaches with what he's done in Oxford 'd post some of these facts, but I've already done that to no avail).

*Shrug*

Idiot I am, I will support our coach K, I mean, since, by the numbers, and factors, he's found a way to be the best coach we've had so far...

[StrongRebel]

Its basketball...move along... Okay I will interject

Wasting $70 million on a stadium is not going to make the product any better (i.e. Auburn). Its like building a new school for an underachieving school district and expecting better results. The fact is it starts with the principal to set the tone of achievement for his school just like it is for the Athletic Director in athletics.

We can complain about the teachers(coaches) and students (players) all we want but if the standard is not there by the administrator to provide the fire and direction then they will all walk to their own beat. The common theme to the problems at Ole Miss start at the top and trickle down.

Rember this back in 2001 under John Shafer:

In 2001, while Shafer was at Ole Miss, it was the only Division I school in the nation to go to a football bowl game, advance to the "Sweet Sixteen" in men's basketball and go to the NCAA Regional in baseball.

He was only at Ole Miss for 3 years. I wish Khayat wouldn't have fired or forced him out and rehired Boone. I liked the man.

How many coaches at Ole Miss would be making this quote today? Did Tuberville make this quote when Boone left the first time?

Ole Miss head football coach David Cutcliffe, head men's basketball coach Rod Barnes and head baseball coach Mike Bianco all voiced their appreciation for Shafer's efforts during his time as Director of Athletics.

"I appreciate the opportunity and support that John Shafer has given me at Ole Miss," Cutcliffe said. "We all are grateful for his leadership and contributions to our lives, personally and professionally. We will miss John and Dianne, and we wish them well with their future endeavors."

"John's leadership of the Ole Miss athletic department has been tremendous, and that is evident in the growth of the department and the success the University's sports programs have had over the past four years," Barnes added. "I understand John's desire to pursue opportunities closer to his and Dianne's families, but he will be missed. John and Dianne will always be a part of the Ole Miss family, and we wish him all the best."

"I was very shocked and very disappointed," Bianco said. "Mr. Shafer was the one that hired me and he has been very supportive of the program and myself over the past year and a half."

And if you want to remember how cheaply we run our Basketball program then read Dan Wolken's blog about Pete Boone. Even though I could careless about keeping Andy Kennedy or not; the people who defend AK do have a point.

http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/dan_w ... itter.html

Sorry for highjacking this thread but I think it really does come back to a standard and that standard is Pete Boone.

[proud2breb]

Lets end this duscussion....

Can someone big on stats look at the games we lost and tell me how many games we would have won if we made a mere 75% of our free throws?

I'm guessing at least 22 and we would have been an 8 seed or higher in the NCAA tournament. I'm not sure who's fault that is, but we can't blame any single player since the whole team shoots poorly from the line. That person is the reason we're not in the big dance yet again. Remove that person from the staff, and we'll be dancing next year.

[lewindha]

Lets end this duscussion....

Can someone big on stats look at the games we lost and tell me how many games we would have won if we made a mere 75% of our free throws?

I'm guessing at least 22 and we would have been an 8 seed or higher in the NCAA tournament. I'm not sure who's fault that is, but we can't blame any single player since the whole team shoots poorly from the line. That person is the reason we're not in the big dance yet again. Remove that person from the staff, and we'll be dancing next year.

I don't think there's a 'Free Throw' coach. My opinion is that 70% is rock bottom. You get below that and guess what, you get extra early morning workouts for free throws. And unless you have class, you don't leave until you make 50 in a row. If you have class, you come back and keep coming back until 50 in a row are made.

I know 50 sounds like a lot. When I was in highschool, we weren't allowed to leave practice until we made 25 consecutive free throws. Those free throws were shot after practice, after we had been working out for an hour and a half to two hours. These guys are D1 players. They're supposed to be much better than a few private high school kids. So 50 sounds reasonable. It's a habit, it's a repetition, and if I can shoot 91% as a senior in high school, there is no reason a D1 player can't shoot better than our team has.

[rebeljim]

Yall are crazy bashing AK. He's done a very good job with this team. Chris Warren and Zack Graham leaving, Dundrecous leaving, JK being a head case, and we go 10-9 in the SEC? Do yall even know anything about sports? Or do u get your jollies bashing Ole Miss coaches? I like to see who could do a better job here with what we have to offer. If u was a stud coming out of high school, and didn't have a college favorite, would u come to Ole Miss with it's leaky gym, or go to Ky. where u would challenge for the NC? It's hard getting top talent to come here right now. The 2 guys he has coming in this year, and with the whole team except Henry coming back, I think we are looking pretty good for next year. Newby runs a 4.3 40 and jumps 43". Don't know how accurate that is, but that was what was reported. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and the 18th top guard in the nation. And Cortesia Perez was re-ranked a 4 star by Scout and the #13 SF. Sometimes the mentality on this board is amazing.

I have mixed feelings about Andy Kennedy and I suspect that I'm not the only one. However, we all need to be reminded now and then that the fact that someone differs with you on opinion regarding the team, the coach or a player does not make them mentally deficient. We all have our opinions and should feel free to share them.

The VCU's and Butler's of the world have no trouble putting together runs in the NCAA's without competing with the Kentucky's and Duke's for recruits. We can't even make the tourney.

They also spend more money on their BB teams than we do. We spend less than anyone in the country. So if u spend more, your program should be better, we don't. Can u understand this??? I'm beginning to wonder.

[oxpatchreb]

I golf clap back to this. You ace the art of rant, no question.

Yeah, I am a knuckle dragging, mouth breathing, mental midget that you described earlier. Oh yeah, I'm also that same moron as well.

Still, again, I have asked before, if you're the AD, dissatisfied with the results you see from AK's program, who do you get to replace him? Shaka Smart isn't coming, neither is Brad Stevens, nor is Chris Mooney. So who is gonna take over a program that is historically the worst in the SEC, and oh yeah, also has deplorable facilities? Who is this magic man?

My thing is this, often when you rant and rave and get what you want on the surface, you have a really good chance of regretting what was once your wishes. To me, the gamble is not worth the possible rewards at least until our new venue is completed. If we were to part ways with AK, and make a mistake with the new hire... that could end up being catastrophic. Look at Indiana for example. The Sampson hire killed a perennial top program for several years. Made that program a non-factor. Now, yes, they are enjoying success currently, but after being bottom dwellers in the Big 10, and the University taking a pretty substantial hit financially. And I am sure I don't have to tell you, we ain't no Indiana.

I enjoy winning. I enjoy seeing my school have some success. We have that. It isn't the type of success we all want, but it is success just the same.

And again, numbers just don't lie. He's in line, thus far, to join a pretty impressive group of coaches with what he's done in Oxford 'd post some of these facts, but I've already done that to no avail).

*Shrug*

Idiot I am, I will support our coach K, I mean, since, by the numbers, and factors, he's found a way to be the best coach we've had so far...

I've already stated in other posts above that a 1 or 2 year time frame for firing AK is fine with me.

Our gameday facilities are horrific, but that has nothing to do with how our team plays on gameday. It affects recruiting, prestige and reputation, but once AK finalizes that roster every winter, none of that maters. All that matters is beating the opposing team on the court that day. AK needs to focus our kids on the task at hand every Wed and Saturday. So far, he's unable to do that with any consistency and when the pressure is on. Oh yeah, and btw, we built him one of the top 5 IPF's in the conference while he's been here. That ought to at LEAST put us even with recruits (- for gameday facilities, + for practice = 0). not to mention that back before the IPF, we had people take us to the NCAAs with some regularity, so the facilities argument is moot. And so is atmosphere and fan support. Win and we show up and packout the Tad Pad. Facts are facts. When our fans are embarrassed by our product on the floor, they don't show up. That's on AK also.

How do you know if those coaches are interested or not? Are you their agent? Don't believe what you read in the media from coaches. There are millions of reasons for them to mislead and/or avoid talking about where they WOULD go or what job they MIGHT take.

Indiana does not compute. They are like LSU in football. We are not comparable to them. Which is precisely why we can't waste time on a non-improvement AK plan. We need to hold coaches accountable for small, step by step, forward progress. If they regress or become stagnant, get out. It's all part of the "always be improving" mentality that our Ath Dept must have. We haven't had it for 50 years, and you people are still stuck in it.

The only reason he's going to join an impressive list of coaches with his results at OM is because we play not only MORE games now but also much EASIER OOC schedules. You and I would have a much similar record right now, give the talent he's brought in. He's UNDER achieving in my estimation.

Again, he's not the "best coach we've had so far". He plays more games against easier competition. Period.