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

[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.

[ManAboutTown]

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.

College basketball is a business, like it or not.

The product on the court or field should be relative to the investment. It's how the free market works, I'm sure you're aware. This is just one minor caveat, but it matters none the less.

I've seen you ask others why Marlin is a "bad" X & O coach. I've yet to see anyone come on and support why he's a good coach, as everyone likes to say. I have friends, close and far away from the program, that both say he's a great guy and appreciate him as a coach. I'm not disparaging those people, as I like and respect them very much. But I am curious, what exactly makes him a "good" coach?

I do know that passing and spacing are one of the building blocks of offensive basketball. Do coaches teach it at the D1 level? I don't know. But I do know, that the teams that do it intelligently are usually pretty damn good. My biggest gripe from an X & O standpoint, is that we are awful, AWFUL when spacing the floor and making the correct passes. Bryce Washington (and Shawn really improved in this department in 2016) are the best passers on the team.

[CajunT]

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.

Has if ever occurred to you, or do you even know that there are coaches with less of a pedigree and facilities then Marlin, that have recruited better? Recruiting is not just about results, but contacts, closing skills and selling your program. Some coaches are just better at those specific skills. If you don't have those skills or if they are not your strengths, you hire someone that can help you recruit and name them your recruiting coordinator. Take a look at the All-Sun Belt Conference team and please explain to me how so many good guards are playing in programs that have accomplished less then Coach Marlin in the past 4 seasons? As someone that has followed and reported on football and basketball recruiting over the past 10 years, I can assure you it's not a simple process but we have as much or more to offer then most Sun Belt Conference programs in facilities, culture, academics and support. It is up to the staff to sell their program and use the contacts they have to recruit athletes to our campus in Lafayette.

[BananaHammock]

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.

And he gets paid quite well to figure these things out.

[Turbine]

If Marlin had Elfrid and Shawn together at their collective peak, UL would be coming off a 28 win season and even with a senior S.L. it would be considered a rebuilding year.

[Turbine]

I thought Marlin would have more success than he has had so far.

[225cajun]

Everyone praised him and thought he was the savior when he replaced Lee...he hasn't done much better and the program (academically and sanction wise) was in better condition when he got here compared to Lee. He's played weak schedules to boost his wins. He has under achieved.