Is Bob Marlin's seat even starting to warm up?

[VObserver]

If all I considered was wins and losses, it would not be good enough. I consider other things as well.

What other things? Winning games is why you pay coaches. If all you are worried about is graduating kids and not having NCAA sanctions, you or I could be basketball coaches.

I personally could not possibly care less if our basketball coach is a nice guy who embraces the local culture. If he wins 20+ D 1 games every year and hangs banners in the dome for conference championships and NCAA or NIT appearances in 3-4 out of every 5 years, and puts 5,000+ butts in the seats on a regular basis, while graduating kids and keeping us clean; I will be happy.

He doesn't have to play golf with me on Wednesdays, or visit with Mrs. Shipley. He just has to coach like Mr. Shipley.

[CajunT]

You pay to host in the CIT. If you play on the road, expenses are covered but you get no income. You also do not pay anything to participate in such a game. NIT used to be that way as well. By the way 66 percent of FCS teams play in a bowl while about 40 percent of D1 basketball teams play in the post season, including the ones in which some type of payment is involved. By the way our D1 record this year was 14 and 13, not 13 and 13 as we only played two non D1 games. Still, I agree that was disappointing compared to expectations.

Let me say this because we've had this discussion before on this subject. Our bowl game was rewarded to us for winning 8 regular season games, that is not mediocrity. While it's a minor bowl game, that is seen by 2.5 mil households which gives you the almost equivalent exposer to being a 14 seed in the NCAA televised in our region. In addition to that, until four years ago our program had never competed in a college bowl game in modern times. And the bowl game is not on lousy ESPNU.

Now, the CBI and CIT rewards programs with mediocre records including a 16-14 teams. The NIT is rewarded to programs that win their conference. The CBI Championship game is on lousy ESPNU this year. The NIT is more highly regarded then the CBI or the College Insiders Tournament and it's Championship game is not on ESPNU.

We have had a tradition of playing in the NIT in our past, we have had no tradition of playing in college football bowl games. Playing in the CBI or CIT is simply rewarding mediocrity if you have tradition. JMO

[tetragrammaton]

Please do share those other things? Tee times with the coach?

That's low, man. Negative, ghostrider. Tetragrammaton don't golf.

What other things? Winning games is why you pay coaches. If all you are worried about is graduating kids and not having NCAA sanctions, you or I could be basketball coaches.

I personally could not possibly care less if our basketball coach is a nice guy who embraces the local culture. If he wins 20+ D 1 games every year and hangs banners in the dome for conference championships and NCAA or NIT appearances in 3-4 out of every 5 years, and puts 5,000+ butts in the seats on a regular basis, while graduating kids and keeping us clean; I will be happy.

He doesn't have to play golf with me on Wednesdays, or visit with Mrs. Shipley. He just has to coach like Mr. Shipley.

Another example of assumptions made for a straw-man fallacy. I'm talking about coaching, not fund-raising or who Marlin rubs elbows with.

As to both of you:

I respect Marlin's coaching from the X's and O's perspective. You can only coach this so much. At some point, the kids have to execute. Replacing the coach who does the same thing will not change this fact.

Now, I get that you may disagree and even not respect my opinion. That's fine. But there are plenty of folks in the basketball world that agree with the above assessment, and the fact that you have an opinion and an internet connection doesn't mean we all have to jettison our opinions because you have one.

I'm not trying to deny that the pressure is definitely on to do more than he has done in the past.

But what do you want him to do? Waterboard the kids until they block out properly in the paint? Run them until they are injured if they jack up a tres too early? Maybe that works, maybe it doesn't.....

As I've said multiple times, where we are is not "good enough." But it certainly isn't "bad." I'm sure you disagree. But don't belittle those who disagree with you.

So, unless you can tell me what he is doing wrong from a COACHING perspective, I will give your opinion the deference it is due.

[Turbine]

I know that there are dozens and dozens of exceptions where coaches turned things around in no time but that still makes them the exception not the standard.

In my opinion, it is harder to dig a program out of a hole than start one from scratch.

[tetragrammaton]

I know that there are dozens and dozens of exceptions where coaches turned things around in no time but that still makes them the exception not the standard.

In my opinion, it is harder to dig a program out of a hole than start one from scratch.

Agreed.

[VObserver]

That's low, man. Negative, ghostrider. Tetragrammaton don't golf.



Another example of assumptions made for a straw-man fallacy. I'm talking about coaching, not fund-raising or who Marlin rubs elbows with.

As to both of you:

I respect Marlin's coaching from the X's and O's perspective. You can only coach this so much. At some point, the kids have to execute. Replacing the coach who does the same thing will not change this fact.

Now, I get that you may disagree and even not respect my opinion. That's fine. But there are plenty of folks in the basketball world that agree with the above assessment, and the fact that you have an opinion and an internet connection doesn't mean we all have to jettison our opinions because you have one.

I'm not trying to deny that the pressure is definitely on to do more than he has done in the past.

But what do you want him to do? Waterboard the kids until they block out properly in the paint? Run them until they are injured if they jack up a tres too early? Maybe that works, maybe it doesn't.....

As I've said multiple times, where we are is not "good enough." But it certainly isn't "bad." I'm sure you disagree. But don't belittle those who disagree with you.

So, unless you can tell me what he is doing wrong from a COACHING perspective, I will give your opinion the deference it is due.

Our offense is very static; we have very little movement away from the ball.

We dribble too much around the perimeter and don't pass enough.

We run high screens with Long and Washington and NEVER run the pick and roll off those screens.

Our guard play is erratic at best and horrible at worst. Our guards [other than Wright] can't shoot off the dribble and can't create their own shots. And Wright presses too much in critical situations.

None of our two guards are even so much as decent passers.

Marlin recruited all those guards. If they can't or don't execute at a D-1 level it is absolutely his fault. Nobody else offered them scholarships to UL. Nobody else put them on the court. Bob Marlin did.

[duggie85]

That's low, man. Negative, ghostrider. Tetragrammaton don't golf.



Another example of assumptions made for a straw-man fallacy. I'm talking about coaching, not fund-raising or who Marlin rubs elbows with.

As to both of you:

I respect Marlin's coaching from the X's and O's perspective. You can only coach this so much. At some point, the kids have to execute. Replacing the coach who does the same thing will not change this fact.

Now, I get that you may disagree and even not respect my opinion. That's fine. But there are plenty of folks in the basketball world that agree with the above assessment, and the fact that you have an opinion and an internet connection doesn't mean we all have to jettison our opinions because you have one.

I'm not trying to deny that the pressure is definitely on to do more than he has done in the past.

But what do you want him to do? Waterboard the kids until they block out properly in the paint? Run them until they are injured if they jack up a tres too early? Maybe that works, maybe it doesn't.....

As I've said multiple times, where we are is not "good enough." But it certainly isn't "bad." I'm sure you disagree. But don't belittle those who disagree with you.

So, unless you can tell me what he is doing wrong from a COACHING perspective, I will give your opinion the deference it is due.

Recruit better players, that's in his job description. Not just x's & o's. Nothing more to it.

[tetragrammaton]

Our offense is very static; we have very little movement away from the ball.

We dribble too much around the perimeter and don't pass enough.

We run high screens with Long and Washington and NEVER run the pick and roll off those screens.

Our guard play is erratic at best and horrible at worst. Our guards [other than Wright] can't shoot off the dribble and can't create their own shots. And Wright presses too much in critical situations.

None of our two guards are even so much as decent passers.

Marlin recruited all those guards. If they can't or don't execute at a D-1 level it is absolutely his fault. Nobody else offered them scholarships to UL. Nobody else put them on the court. Bob Marlin did.

So, bench every player who screws up or doesn't perform to YOUR standards, and you will eventually have to forfeit.

Marlin can't shoot for them, or execute the play for them. They have to do it themselves.

If Marlin is to blame for the losses, he also gets credit for the wins.

Oh, wait, I forgot, it's only the wins YOU approve of, right?

[CajunT]

Recruit better players, that's in his job description. Not just x's & o's. Nothing more to it.

Agree! If there is a legitimate complaint it comes down to recruiting. He is graduating his athletes and has run a clean program. It seems to me everything else is in place if he and his staff recruit better.

[BananaHammock]

The New Orleans Bowl is a reward for placing at a certain level in our conference. It must be EARNED. Making the NCAA tournament must be earned just like a bowl game. Advancing in the NCAA tournament must be earned JUST LIKE A BOWL GAME. Taking a bad team to a crappy tournament and paying them to allow us to play in the tournament is not earned..... IT'S PAID FOR!!!

My only caveat with your statement is the bowl game vs CIT tournament argument. The whole Bowl Series is so watered down that going to a Bowl Game isn't that impressive. The only reason we are excited about the New Orleans Bowl is because we had never been to a bowl game. If you really want to be honest with yourself then the New Orleans Bowl can in some ways be compared to the CIT. It's a bottom feeder bowl that no one cares about or watches other than the teams playing.

UL making a major bowl game would be a different story but we are nowhere near that point. So football going to a crappy bowl game in some ways equates to a crappy CIT tournament in basketball for me.

[tetragrammaton]

Agree! If there is a legitimate complaint it comes down to recruiting. He is graduating his athletes and has run a clean program. It seems to me everything else is in place if he and his staff recruit better.

Recruit better players, that's in his job description. Not just x's & o's. Nothing more to it.

Oh, is that all there is to it? And here I thought there were difficult tasks in our way.

Has it ever occurred to anyone that (a) recruiting can still be difficult, (b) you can only gain so many new players each year, and (c) getting a new coach doesn't always translate to "whole new crop of NBA stars"?

Ya know, both on the court and off, we DO have to compete against other schools. Sometimes they are just better. It happens.

And then there are the non-straightforward reasons for not attending UL - family, loyalty to other schools, locale, culture, etc. Recruiting, unfortunately, is NOT simply a "go out and get them" process.

[VObserver]

So, bench every player who screws up or doesn't perform to YOUR standards, and you will eventually have to forfeit.

Marlin can't shoot for them, or execute the play for them. They have to do it themselves.

If Marlin is to blame for the losses, he also gets credit for the wins.

Oh, wait, I forgot, it's only the wins YOU approve of, right?

Passive aggressive much?

I approve of all Division 1 wins. We all do. Non-division 1 wins are just practice. Marlin should not be able to count them as part of his record.

So I point out some glaring weaknesses in both personnel and in HOW we run our offense, and you think Marlin has no influence on either of those things?

He is absolutely responsible on every level for the performance of his team. We pay him a substantial sum of money to win games and to have a team that performs at a high level in every phase of the game.

He has failed to do that.