UL Basketball Coach ... NEXT

[Boomer]

_ Sorry, the rant wasn't directed at you. I just get hacked off every time I hear about associations such as the BCA. they espouse one ideal but when it comes to nut crunching time they go for the bottom line dollar and what is in their best self interest just like everyone else they critisize. _

Who in the hell are you to talk basketball????????? ----Your High School is terrible in the Sport(lol)---Congrats---Guess the Jays won the battle and you guys the War!!!!

[Hammer58]

_ Who in the hell are you to talk basketball????????? ----Your High School is terrible in the Sport(lol)---Congrats---Guess the Jays won the battle and you guys the War!!!! _

Hey I was there back in the day of Rick Robey watching from the stands. Good to see them get that title again.

[FORMERCajinHS]

_ Am I getting it right that you're suggesting that Jessie Evans should be given an interview for the open position? And that we're mad because Jessie left for what he thought was greener pastures at San Fransisco?



Evans was a better on-the-court coach than Lee and his win-loss record demonstrates that. He had better players, but he got them and won on the backs of JUCOs, transfers, and generally troubled players who either couldn't get it done in the classroom or just didn't care because that's the way Jessie ran the show; all he cared about was what happened on the court. He left because the getting was good. He had a position at a school in a bigger conference and had he stayed, he was going to get killed with new APR standards so he capitalized on his NCAA success while he could. I don't blame him for leaving, but you asked where his assistants were while all this was going on; one of them was Robert Lee, and while I was ultimately disappointed by his W/L record during his tenure, he cleaned up the absolute pile of garbage that Evans left behind. It's a shame that most of us are forced to look at a lot of the Evans era in those terms, because there were a lot of great guys that came here and were great players, guys like Brian Hamilton and Chris Cameron and Dwayne Mitchell, but for every one of those guys there were two who had to sit out the first half of every season getting eligible for the Spring academically. Say what you want about Lee, but he held his players accountable for their work in the classroom and that's something that I'll always be grateful as a fan and alumni of the university. He made sure that there was a "student" component to the role of STUDENT athlete.

And no, Jessie Evans shouldn't be given an interview. I don't have anything personal against the man, but as they always say, you can't go home again. Everybody's moved on, let somebody else come in and get a chance to mold the program in their image. Whoever he is, he'll be off to a better start than Lee got because Lee got the program through academic issues and NCAA probation and the new basketball coach won't have that cloud over his head, and that's something all Cajun fans should thank Lee for. _

You are the first person who has an intelligent reponse to why Jessie shouldnt be hired or have an interview, even though I dont totally agree with your statement, I do understand, thank you. Your points are valid, he did get Juco transfer, and transfers from other schools, he also had high school kids, and some of the students were the best students, but I will quote the best line from a movie, and I think its kind of revelant to this. " James Caan in The Program" said...." When was the last time you had 15,000 people come watch a kid take an exam" I agree with you totally he should have and he did attempt, to recruit all A's student, but lets face it, and answer this question truthfully. If a student is a top 100 player in the nation, and has qualifing grades to get in lets say LSU, or any SEC school, why would he come to USL? USL academic standards are not like getting in a ivy LEAGUE school, the criteria use to be if you graduated from high school you could get in USL, the academic criteria changed when Robert Lee became coach, see no one talks about that, so he had to get better student athletes who could qualify to get in and get a scharlorship. But they couldnt play, he didnt not sign no top 100 player in the nation, Jessie did,I am not comparing the two coaches, I am not trying to argue Jessie the job anymore, just be realistic about what Jessie did. You guys want to blame him for things he didnt really do,the university allowed him to do, and adminstration allowed him to do, and what his coaching staff recruited for him. Now they talk as if he was the worse person ever to have coached at USL. He won, yes, he brought in talent, and some good students, the APR thing didnt come out til 2003-04 season, so he wasnt accountable for that, anything after that is on Robert Lee. And the whole San Fransisco fiasco, well I will not touch that, its apple and oranges. Lets just give him his due and be happy, and hope for a great coach who can recruit like Jessie, and win like Jessie, and maybe have a great APR like Robert Lee, but something has to give, chasing the great players comes with a great price, are we willing to sell out 2 out of 3, because at school like USL, you usually dont get all 3. Thank you....

[RCAJUN90]

Of the names being batted around I really hope Floyd finds his way here at UL. I'm at best a casual Basketball fan. I love the run and gun high flying offensive style of basketball. When I was a student I remember Floyd's UNO teams to be the exact opposite. It seems they use to always beat us 51 - 52 or something like that. Is this Floyd's style or was he just simply slowing down the tempo so his over matched UNO team had a chance against the high flying Fletcher Ragin Cajuns?

[zephyr]

_ Of the names being batted around I really hope Floyd finds his way here at UL. I'm at best a casual Basketball fan. I love the run and gun high flying offensive style of basketball. When I was a student I remember Floyd's UNO teams to be the exact opposite. It seems they use to always beat us 51 - 52 or something like that. Is this Floyd's style or was he just simply slowing down the tempo so his over matched UNO team had a chance against the high flying Fletcher Ragin Cajuns? _

Well, his teams at USC scored pretty well so I think it just depends on what type of talent he has. Personally, I'd rather a fundamental team that wins with defense, not turning the ball over and efficient offense. That doesn't mean that you can't win games scoring 80+ points but the high paced offenses rarely win championships. They may be fun to watch but are often not as fundamentally sound and have defensive lapses as their focus tends to be on offense. This is not always the case but its hard to get guys who are used to scoring a lot of points to come down and lock down on defense as well. I just want the style that will win us ball games and I tend to think that the defensive style is more consistent.

[RaginDave]

Bobby Lutz was fired from UNC-Charlotte today. He is one heckuva coach, I would love to see him at UL. I doubt he is on the radar, but he has been a winner during his time at Charlotte

[RedBug58]

Floyd just finds a way to win. If we can find a way to get Floyd, I think it would go down as the most significiant hire in any sport in the history of this school. Big name, successful coach. If he didn't have the current baggage, we wouldn't have a chance. I say the baggage creates our opportunity.

[zephyr]

_ Floyd just finds a way to win. If we can find a way to get Floyd, I think it would go down as the most significiant hire in any sport in the history of this school. Big name, successful coach. If he didn't have the current baggage, we wouldn't have a chance. I say the baggage creates our opportunity. _

I agree...

[zephyr]

_ Bobby Lutz was fired from UNC-Charlotte today. He is one heckuva coach, I would love to see him at UL. I doubt he is on the radar, but he has been a winner during his time at Charlotte _

He's had a nice coaching career in Charlotte. I have no idea on what his plans or opportunities are but he certainly has a name. Also, another candidate that is likely to never be mentioned for here but for giggles I'll throw out the name of Ernie Kent from Oregon. Had an ultra successful stint there and was recently fired. A Pac-10 coach who found a way to bring some good athletes out to Oregon.

[Cajunsmike]

_ Of the names being batted around I really hope Floyd finds his way here at UL. I'm at best a casual Basketball fan. I love the run and gun high flying offensive style of basketball. When I was a student I remember Floyd's UNO teams to be the exact opposite. It seems they use to always beat us 51 - 52 or something like that. Is this Floyd's style or was he just simply slowing down the tempo so his over matched UNO team had a chance against the high flying Fletcher Ragin Cajuns? _

Floyd's teams at USC played at a much faster tempo than the ones he had at UNO. He adjusts his style to the athletes he has.