Huse contract extension? Good idea?

[Old Skool Cat]

Let's change this up a little. If Huse was let go who would you want as head coach and why would he make a difference? I will start with Danny Sprinkle. Good coach and knows the recruiting process well, especially out of state.

I think his name certainly should be on the list of potential candidates. It wouldn't hurt to have someone who is connected to an era when Bobcat basketball was successful. I know he was also well respected during his time as an MSU assistant. Where is he coaching currently?

Danny is the assistant coach at Cal-State Nothridge

[CatBlitz]

Danny Sprinkle won't ever come back here. He's a West Coast guy.

[ilovethecats]

Danny Sprinkle won't ever come back here. He's a West Coast guy.

wouldn't be too sure about that. with the right opportunity he'd come back. especially if that opportunity was the head job. there are several reasons he left when he did, and far down the line was the fact that it's west coast opposed to bozeman...

[wbtfg]

So far Huse has a record of 70-77. Record wise, his worst year was his first (13-19) and his best was his second year (16-14). So we've been consistantly right around a .500 team. Is this what we want?

Is it possible for anyone to come in and do better? Or is MSU a basketball "coaching graveyard"?


We've had 15 years of pretty mediocre bball (save for 2002 season) in Bozeman. We had 2 coaches and 3 athletic directors. What's the answer to turn this ship around?

[Cledus]

I don't believe MSU is a place where coaches go to die. I believe the right coach could elevate the program. You need look no further than Missoula, Logan, Spokane, and Butler, with dozens of other examples. I think some of the blame has to fall on the people who hire the coaches. In an interview, of course a coach is going to dazzle the hiring committee with a glowing resume, some kind of can't-miss philosophy, and heaps of b.s. We need administrators and a hiring committee who have excellent b.s. detectors. Until that happens, I think our teams will continue to struggle.

In regards to Huse, it was Bill Parcells who said you are what your record says you are and I feel truer words have not been spoken. Some coaches win wherever they go. Coaches who are good at one school and then fail someplace else, in my opinion, have found a way to fake it -- probably by having talented assistants who make them look good, or a university with excellent resources and deep pockets.

[ilovethecats]

I don't believe MSU is a place where coaches go to die. I believe the right coach could elevate the program. You need look no further than Missoula, Logan, Spokane, and Butler, with dozens of other examples. I think some of the blame has to fall on the people who hire the coaches. In an interview, of course a coach is going to dazzle the hiring committee with a glowing resume, some kind of can't-miss philosophy, and heaps of b.s. We need administrators and a hiring committee who have excellent b.s. detectors. Until that happens, I think our teams will continue to struggle.

In regards to Huse, it was Bill Parcells who said you are what your record says you are and I feel truer words have not been spoken. Some coaches win wherever they go. Coaches who are good at one school and then fail someplace else, in my opinion, have found a way to fake it -- probably by having talented assistants who make them look good, or a university with excellent resources and deep pockets.

i think you are right about the hiring process. i was excited about the hiring of huse but one thing had me nervous. many people knew then that he couldn't recruit well. if some average joe on the street is aware of this....i fail to see how those in the know don't see this. everyone in the state knew that huse was like a better x's and o's guy than tinkle but that tinkle could recruit circles around huse! and that is what we're seeing, and don't get me wrong, i'm not saying tinkle is some idiot. i think he is a very good coach too. but you can have more weaknesses when you fill your roster with talent and he's the best in the conference in that. we appear to be the worst at getting talent, so any coaching flaws huse may have are magnified.

this is merely a guess as i don't have any direct ties to this team in any way, but i would think huse will feel the heat a little and things are gonna get shaken up a bit this offseason. i would expect to see some changes made to both our roster, and our staff for huse to make a final push to show he's capable of getting the job done. it's unfortunate because i really like huse but in college sports, winning is the name of the game.

OR....the team can go on a miraculous run and win the big sky tourney and huse won't be going anywhere!

[Cledus]

Unfortunately, it's easier to get rid of a coach than an administrator. Maybe Cruzad can whip the athletic administrators into shape.

[AlphaOAlum]

Unfortunately, it's easier to get rid of a coach than an administrator. Maybe Cruzad can whip the athletic administrators into shape.

my opinion, as biased as I fully admit that it is, is that the athletic director prefers to utilize a "hiring committee" when offering new coaches a job because it protects the AD from blame if the hire doesn't work out. "Well it was the committee's decision..." Circumvents. the finger pointing down the road...

[John K]

I don't believe MSU is a place where coaches go to die. I believe the right coach could elevate the program. You need look no further than Missoula, Logan, Spokane, and Butler, with dozens of other examples. I think some of the blame has to fall on the people who hire the coaches. In an interview, of course a coach is going to dazzle the hiring committee with a glowing resume, some kind of can't-miss philosophy, and heaps of b.s. We need administrators and a hiring committee who have excellent b.s. detectors. Until that happens, I think our teams will continue to struggle.

In regards to Huse, it was Bill Parcells who said you are what your record says you are and I feel truer words have not been spoken. Some coaches win wherever they go. Coaches who are good at one school and then fail someplace else, in my opinion, have found a way to fake it -- probably by having talented assistants who make them look good, or a university with excellent resources and deep pockets.

I completely agree with you (and Parcells). I think MSU fans are delusional if they expect that if Huse is retained for another five years, that his record will be much different than it's been during his first five years. The program doesn't appear to be any better than it was in his very first season, maybe even not quite as good. This team appears to have some decent young talent, but it seems like we've heard that in previous seasons too, and either those young players were overrated, or else their talent was just not properly developed, because these young guys never really seem to blossom as we think (or at least hope) they should.

[John K]

Unfortunately, it's easier to get rid of a coach than an administrator. Maybe Cruzad can whip the athletic administrators into shape.

my opinion, as biased as I fully admit that it is, is that the athletic director prefers to utilize a "hiring committee" when offering new coaches a job because it protects the AD from blame if the hire doesn't work out. "Well it was the committee's decision..." Circumvents. the finger pointing down the road...

I think your assessment is probably spot on. And I don't necessarily believe that a hiring committee is a terrible idea....of course that's dependant upon the AD selecting the right people for the committee. But I also don't believe that it completely absolves the AD of responsibility, if a particular coach isn't getting the job done. Ultimately the buck still stops at the AD's office, because it's his decision whether he chooses to rely on a committee versus making hiring decisions on his own, and it's his responsibilty to choose qualified people for the committee.

[TIrwin24]

We might need to pull an Egypt on the athletic administration to get this idea of a new coach into their heads.

[wbtfg]

We might need to pull an Egypt on the athletic administration to get this idea of a new coach into their heads.

Either that, or a number six...

[AlphaOAlum]

I don't follow basketball very closely, so read my comments with a grain of salt.

There is a bigger problem in the athletic department than the coaching staff. I think it has to do with the answer to this question: Why has only one coach been hired away from MSU (women's basketball to Oregon State)? Since the mid-1950's, the MSU athletic department has a history of firing coaches because they aren't successful (however you define successful) without getting to the bottom of why the coach wasn't successful. "We" assume it was just the coach and that replacing the coach is the answer. This lead to a revolving door in the football program between 1986 and late 1999; the turmoil damaged the program and the relationship between the fans and the football team.

What got football turned around? Creation of the Quarterback Club as a funding source to pay for all of the things MSU hadn't been doing before 2000. Winning seasons, sure, but even I'll admit that 7-5 isn't exactly a banner year.

So what has, or has not, been happening in the athletic department's support of MSU basketball? Money? Time? Resources? Because it can't be just a coincidence of coaches that in the last 25 years MSU basketball has struggled for the exact same reason, at the exact same time in the season under two different coaches.

* Edited to add: this attitude of "hire a new coach and everything will be fine" extends to a long line of previous athletic directors and university presidents. Kind of like treating the symptom but not the disease.

[wbtfg]

That's an interesting, well thought out take on events AO....


It's also interesting to note that aside from Fullerton, I'm not aware of any MSU presidents or athletic directors who have left MSU for a bigger/better paying job.

I should also note that I don't know much about the Fullerton days...I just know he used to be our AD, and now he's the commish. That seems like a step up, although I'd take Peter Fields as our AD 10/10 times over Fullerton.

[John K]

AO makes some great points. If you reach a little further back in MSU's football history, they had quite a legacy of turning out coaches who went on to "bigger and better things", i.e. Jim Sweeney, Dennis Erickson, Sonny Lubick, and Joe Tiller. But in the last 30 years....not so much. And in basketball, even coaches who had at least brief periods of success, such as Haroldson, Starner and Durham, could never sustain that success and were never really heard from again, after leaving MSU. Contrast that with UM, which has had a long line of coaches who have moved up the food chain, including Heathcoate, Morrill, Brandenburg, Montgomery, Taylor, and Krysko.

What really sets Huse apart though, from the former MSU coaches that I mentioned above, is that they all achieved at least brief periods of success, and had MSU at or near the top of the BSC for spans of 3-5 years, even if they couldn't sustain that success. And they accomplished that success very early in their tenures....within the first 2-3 years. Huse has been at the helm for 5 years now, and still hasn't even achieved that same sort of short-lived success, as did his predecessors, and I dont think that bodes well for the future if he is retained.

Maybe AO hit upon the answer to the question that was posed, as to why MSU doesn't ever seem to be good at basketball and football at the same time. She made a great point about the QBC being intregal to the rejuvination of Bobcat football. With all the excitement surrounding the football progam currently, if a deep pocketed booster has a few hundred thou to throw around (or maybe even a mill or two), guess which sport is likely to be on the receiving end of his largess? It's no secret that money makes the world go round in collegiate sports, but with the fortunes of the football program at the highest level in a quarter of a century, and with the MBB program seemingly falling deeper and deeper into the abyss, is it realistic to expect things to change anytime in the near future, no matter who is the coach?

[The Butcher]

I am sure you all realize there is a basketball equivalent to the QBC called the 6th Man Club: http://www.msubobcats.com/documents/200 ... 202009.pdf

John K you do realize that a number of recent MSU football coaches have recently moved on to bigger gigs. Pete Kwiatkowski is the Boise D-Coordinator , Jim McElwain is Alabama’s O-Coordinator, John Rushing is the Green Bay Packers Offensive Quality Controller just to name a few.

[SACCAT]

I am sure you all realize there is a basketball equivalent to the QBC called the 6th Man Club: http://www.msubobcats.com/documents/200 ... 202009.pdf

John K you do realize that a number of recent MSU football coaches have recently moved on to bigger gigs. Pete Kwiatkowski is the Boise D-Coordinator , Jim McElwain is Alabama’s O-Coordinator, John Rushing is the Green Bay Packers Offensive Quality Controller just to name a few.

Is this a real job? Is that like OC or does we stand behind the OC and say "That was a quality call there coach"

[wbtfg]

Is this a real job? Is that like OC or does we stand behind the OC and say "That was a quality call there coach"

I think he's the guy who chooses which groupies are of high enough quality to make it through security. Kind of like the "flashlight guy" for rock bands.

[John K]

I am sure you all realize there is a basketball equivalent to the QBC called the 6th Man Club: http://www.msubobcats.com/documents/200 ... 202009.pdf

John K you do realize that a number of recent MSU football coaches have recently moved on to bigger gigs. Pete Kwiatkowski is the Boise D-Coordinator , Jim McElwain is Alabama’s O-Coordinator, John Rushing is the Green Bay Packers Offensive Quality Controller just to name a few.

But how much revenue is generated by the 6th Man Club, as compared to the QBC? And I understand that the QBC has to generate a lot more revenue, because football is much more expensive to fund, than is basketball. Still though, I stand by my statement that with the fortunes of the two programs going in opposite directions, future donations are likely to increase for football, while they decrease for basketball, which will only make it that much harder for any coach to turn around the MBB program. Look how fast they raised the money for the football stadium project. I'm guessing if they launched a similar fund raising campaign for basketball, it wouild be much tougher sledding.

As for coaches, I know that a number of recent MSU coaches have climbed the ladder, but those guys are all from the last 10-15 years, once MSU football began to come back again, starting with the Hysell era. There is a gap of about 15-20 years between the names on my list, and the coaches that you mentioned. And even then, the more recent guys have a long ways to go before any of them even come close to the accomplishments of the older guys. All those guys were successful head coaches at major college programs or in the NFL, and none of the younger guys are head coaches anywhere yet. That's not too say that some of them won't get there eventually, but it's hard to imagine that as a group they will match the achievments of their predecessors.

[bobcat1984]

i think the football program has continued to have great assistant coaches as you previously mentioned by who has moved on. I really think Coach McEndoo will be the next coach to make a name for himself. I hear nothing but great things about him. I cant think of another MSU basketball asst who has moved on and had success other than Danny Sprinkle (2 NCAA tournament appearances at Cal State) and Jim Shaw who is at Washington now i think?? But he was with Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma and went to Final Four. Shaw is known as one of the best recruiters in the country and i heard he is the one who recruited Quadre Lollis! Probably the best recruit we have ever got basketball wise. Can anyone in the Nation tell me any more bball assts who have moved on from MSU and had success? If Huse ever moves on i think we should definitely look at Jim Shaw! We need a recruiter here like Gaines did for us in Football in the state of texas. Its all about players. Let me know what you think?