Is Marlin the guy for the program?

[GeauxLA]

WHOA. Why is 2014 Baseball catching strays here?! The UNANIMOUS #1 team in the country, #1 HR hitting team in the country, a host of top offensive rankings nationally, a host of top pitching rankings nationally, host regional site, top 20 RPI, multiple All-Americans, 7 draft selections and 1 game shy of Omaha was overrated?!?!

So that Jay doesn't think I'm just hating on Marlin. Soft schedules are not cool when bragging about wins.

[ManAboutTown]

So that Jay doesn't think I'm just hating on Marlin. Soft schedules are not cool when bragging about wins.

Nothing soft about beating multiple top 15 programs in the same year. That's not a 'soft schedule' my friend.

[Cajun Soldier]

Made it to Super Regionals, though. Also took the series vs Alabama.

Super Regionals is the comparison to Sweet 16. What Coach Marlin has done is basically gotten us to a Regional twice in thirteen years, and been one and done.

At this point, if that’s the standard, instead of keeping him being one of the Top 3 paid coaches in the conference, why not take a flyer on some young, AAU connected dude with spunk?

Offer a 150k base salary contract with good incentive layers for extra dough, like attendance and tournament appearances. Shovel a huge lump bonus to him (or her) for ONE freaking tournament win.

I'm by no means am I a coach fan in any sport I'm a fan of Louisiana. IMO if you look at all our coaches in all sports whom has improved or impacted that sport. At best we are stagnant in several sport nothing more that we are used to doing.

[CharlieK]

So that Jay doesn't think I'm just hating on Marlin. Soft schedules are not cool when bragging about wins.

The theoretical schedule ranking is irrelevant when the team backs up the wins and rankings with post season success.

[CharlieK]

Hud came in here and got the Dragon to roar. 30K attendance regular season. 40k NOLA.

A young, hot shot coach that comes in here full of spit and vinegar, knocks off a couple of blue bloods and wins a game in the Tourney will have this place at Blackham level insanity.

It would be glorious.

Sigh. So correct.

However there is 0.000% chance we fire a coach who just went to the tourny. Such is life.

[JMV JustMyView]

I don't give a slim phuhck who the coach is. Three championships in 13 years is not enough. The same people making this argument are the same people that will tell you Marlin deserves a pass for the first 3 years of his tenure. They'll also tell you he took over a "dumpster fire."

But those same people will turn a blind eye to Napier taking over a program on sanctions, with 30 fewer scholarships and a locker room in shambles over politics in the program. All he did was set school records for wins, beat the Fiesta Bowl champs, on the road, participate in the first 3 SBC Championship games and back to back ranked football seasons.

Same people will turn a blind eye to Deggs taking over a program reeling from the loss of our decades long leader, 4 straight awful seasons, a roster with limited talented and a recruiting coordinator recruiting "his type" of players, of which most were flops. All he did was take us to our first regional in 5 years and had an eventual Omaha participants on the ropes, at their house, with an injured lineup and thin as single ply toilet tissue pitching staff, in his second full year.

Same people will turn a blind eye to Glasco taking over a program in total disarray, with their former coach trying to burn down the program on the way out, players quitting the team, All-American talent transferring out and legal action swirling all over. No fall ball, no idea what was ahead, long time fans and donors bailing. All he did was win the conference, get into and compete in a regional, and build one of the most impressive transfer and HS recruiting classes in year ONE. He's continue to win championships and compete in regionals every since.

You don't get a pass for the first 3 years. They all count. The fan girls don't get to rewrite history just because he did his job this year. We need to stay level headed here.

I didn't bail out on the SB program when they hired Glasco.

[VObserver]

I’ve stated here several times I don’t follow basketball, on any level, so I have no idea if this statement is true.

However, if it is, then that’s your answer. 13 seasons to make a win over a Top 100 team happen?

That is not completely accurate. He has beaten a few SBC teams in the Top 100 of RPI or NET, along with at least one Top 100 CUSA team. What he has never done here is to beat a Top 100 RPI or NET team from a power conference.

[CajunRage]

I wanted to look at statistics and see if it told a story. And yes, I know statistics can be manipulated to tell any story you want. That being said, here's the trend line since Marlin got here. It takes 3 first place finishes the next 3 years to get that line turned around. If it takes what everyone thinks (I know that's hard for some of the apologists to believe) are unrealistic expectations to get the program going in the "right direction", I think the answer to the original question is easily no.

I thought of the "starting on top" concept so I removed his 1st place finish in year one, and it still takes back to back 1st place finishes the next two years to turn it around.

[KajunKrazy]

I don't give a slim phuhck who the coach is. Three championships in 13 years is not enough. The same people making this argument are the same people that will tell you Marlin deserves a pass for the first 3 years of his tenure. They'll also tell you he took over a "dumpster fire."

But those same people will turn a blind eye to Napier taking over a program on sanctions, with 30 fewer scholarships and a locker room in shambles over politics in the program. All he did was set school records for wins, beat the Fiesta Bowl champs, on the road, participate in the first 3 SBC Championship games and back to back ranked football seasons.

Same people will turn a blind eye to Deggs taking over a program reeling from the loss of our decades long leader, 4 straight awful seasons, a roster with limited talented and a recruiting coordinator recruiting "his type" of players, of which most were flops. All he did was take us to our first regional in 5 years and had an eventual Omaha participants on the ropes, at their house, with an injured lineup and thin as single ply toilet tissue pitching staff, in his second full year.

Same people will turn a blind eye to Glasco taking over a program in total disarray, with their former coach trying to burn down the program on the way out, players quitting the team, All-American talent transferring out and legal action swirling all over. No fall ball, no idea what was ahead, long time fans and donors bailing. All he did was win the conference, get into and compete in a regional, and build one of the most impressive transfer and HS recruiting classes in year ONE. He's continue to win championships and compete in regionals every since.

You don't get a pass for the first 3 years. They all count. The fan girls don't get to rewrite history just because he did his job this year. We need to stay level headed here.

When you get a chance ask someone on the inside who was familiar with the Napier locker room how that room is doing now in comparison.

[Geaux]

That is not completely accurate. He has beaten a few SBC teams in the Top 100 of RPI or NET, along with at least one Top 100 CUSA team. What he has never done here is to beat a Top 100 RPI or NET team from a power conference.

Bingo! Meanwhile, LA Tech, Grambling, Tulane, and Northwestern St have all accomplished such wins.

[cajun55]

Bingo! Meanwhile, LA Tech, Grambling, Tulane, and Northwestern St have all accomplished such wins.

Coach Marlin did a great job this season and definitely earned another year, but does that change the way most view the program?

I always get excited to watch us play teams like Indiana, Texas, Tennessee etc.., I've yet to come away happy or at least not disappointed in the past 13 years. I'm more of a casual basketball fan these days but that seems to be the average fan. I miss the excitement in the Dome, the Cajun Chicken night was an average crowd 25 years ago. Are those days gone forever or should we want better as fans? Are past accomplishments the barometer or should we expect better?

We are one of the best Sun Belt basketball schools and Marlin runs a clean & very competitive program which is HUGE for Martin Hall based on our history. In my opinion this is why Marlin has made it this long.

Our pre-conference home schedule does us zero favors and makes it hard to garner excitement for the average fan. How much responsibility does the head coach have in improving fan support?

[cajun4life]

Our pre-conference home schedule does us zero favors and makes it hard to garner excitement for the average fan. How much responsibility does the head coach have in improving fan support?

I’ll put it to you this way, if we played a more challenging schedule with “name teams”. Start the season .500 with wins over a Miss St or Tenn would garner more excitement than this crap we have seen for the last 13 years.

Plus it would help for seeding. All this soft schedule does is keep a mediocre coach around. Because the administration and blind loyalist can say well we won 20+ games.

We should win 20+ games with a SOS in the bottom 1/3 on D1 basketball. Padding the resume to keep getting extensions.

You are who you hang out with. That’s all I’m saying.

[Cajunrunner]

Marlin runs a clean & very competitive program which is HUGE for Martin Hall based on our history. In my opinion this is why Marlin has made it this long.

This right here should matter as much as the price of live crawfish in Moscow.

[zephyr]

I just want to add some stats to this conversation.

There are only 4 teams win the SB Conference tournament in the last 13 years.

Georgia State: 4
Louisiana: 2
WKU: 2
UALR: 2

Two of these teams are no longer in our conference. UALR is in, well, no one cares. WKU left for cusa and by the way, finished 8th this year in a lesser conference.

Georgia State finished 14th, that is last place.

I get the concern over the variation in finishes; I would expect our team to finish in the upper half of the conference each year. On to expecting our team to win the league and/or conference tournament yearly, or say every 4th year; well there is only one team in our league to do that. Not counting the 4 new members, there are 6 teams in our conference that have zero ncaa appearances in the last 13 years.

I want to win every year but maybe I am a little more realistic than others.

By the way, congratulations to our team for winning this year!

UALR is no longer in the SBC

[CajunT]

27 wins against a SOS that was #213 as of Selection Sunday that year. Average opponent RPI rank was 199. 24 wins were against Quad 3 and 4 teams. Forgive me for thinking that 27 wins against a soft schedule isn't something to brag about. He also only went 1-1 during the dreaded "3 games in March."

And I have the same issue with those that brag about 2014 baseball season. We played a soft schedule that year too.

You were doing well until your mention of baseball. That's probably your lowest level post on this forum.

The Cajuns were 7-3 Against Top 50 RPI and 14-3 against 51-100 RPI. They were 21-6 against Top 100 RPI teams and an a #6 RPI. A number of those weak RPI teams they played were in the SBC. That was unavoidable.