Topic: Daily Mail: Herd hoops, Hamrick, Huggins and hardbodies

[ZackUSAF82]

by Chuck McGill
Daily Mail sports writer

April Fool's Day was Thursday.  When I first heard former Marshall basketball coach Donnie Jones was being mentioned for, then flirting with, then interviewing for, then accepting the UCF job - well, I thought it could be a pre-mature gag associated with the faux-holiday.

The only chuckles I heard came from Herd hoops player Dago Pena after a team meeting Monday afternoon in which Jones broke the news to his players.

Pena smiled and laughed, as he obliged the media's request for a few words on Jones' departure.

It wasn't that he was happy.

Have you ever been having a bad day and think you've hit bottom, only to tear open a ketchup packet and squirt the condiment down your clean white shirt?

The laugh comes before the expletive.

Ketchup will wash out.

Betrayal stains.

Link: http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/MUSports/201004010917

[svherd]

Good article. A lot of logic to the possible hiring of Lutz. Interesting football news. It gets clearer and clearer that our past HC had no discipline, no plan in place to make this team successful. Now with a plan, solid work habits and some added discipline, me thinks this team could be a major surprise in CUSA if we stay healthy and get good QB play. Thanks Chuck!

[W0lfman]

Good stuff!  Not sure how Lutz would do in Huntington though.

[Buffalo Bop]

Huggins went toe-to-toe with Bobby Lutz for seven seasons in Conference USA when Huggins was at Cincinnati and Lutz at Charlotte.

Lutz, who was fired March 15 after 12 seasons at Charlotte, rarely had better personnel, but that didn't stop his Niners from taking down the Bearcats.

Lutz beat Huggins six times, once in the C-USA tournament and three times when Huggins' squad was firmly in the top 25. Cincinnati lost to Charlotte when it was ranked No. 3 in 1998-99, No. 8 2003-04, and No. 18 in 2004-05.

Hamrick is looking for a guy that can do more with less.

Huggins knew one from personal experience.

Lutz also beat ranked teams Louisville and Temple and a very good Richmond team on the road this season. I like him; we could do a lot worse.

[luvherd]

Lots of good stuff in that article.

[Oh Herd CR]

Lots of good stuff in that article.

I agree.  Good job, Chuck.

My favorite part was about football and S & C "changing the culture".  I'd like to see more culture changed!   ;D

[2xBison]

lutz seems to be on his way down.........nothing accomplished after leaving cusa for a-10

is that what we want?

biggest reason to hire him is to steal jarvis back from benedict arnold.

[IM4DHERD]

Good stuff!  Not sure how Lutz would do in Huntington though.

Huntington can be tough to recruit to but consider...Lutz was recruiting to UNCC, a school with some nice b'ball history including the Cornbread Maxwell Final Four team, but also a school without even a football team.  If Marshall is sometimes considered a commuter school, UNCC is more so except perhaps for their engineering school.

Lutz can flat out recruit.  He had Michael Beasley signed here, but Huggins specifically hired one of his assistants away to lure Beasley to Kansas State.  Few years back he had Rodney White, consensus Freshman of the year and #9 pick in the NBA draft.  Here in Charlotte, Lutz had to go after ACC-type talent in order to compete with Memphis/Louisville/Marquette/Cincy and had to do it in the heart of the ACC.  For much of when he was winning C-USA they were playing in a 5,000 or so seat gym called the Mineshaft, not the modern Halton arena they are in now.

The recent falloff in production, if you want to call it that considering he was fired after a 19 win season, is due to the move to the Atlantic 10.  Difficult to recruit to vs a to a stacked C-USA and the southernmost school in a traditionally northern league.  Kind of like the falloff off of Miami and FSU in football when they went to the ACC.

[IM4DHERD]

Some highlights from Bobby Lutz's 12-year tenure as Charlotte 49ers coach:

April 9, 1998 - Bobby Lutz is promoted from assistant coach, becoming the second consecutive head coach who was also a Charlotte 49ers alum.

1998-99 season - Lutz posts a 20-win season, won the Conference USA tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Nov. 18, 2000 - Lutz's first win against an ACC school comes in dominating fashion as the 49ers trounce N.C. State 95-78 in its own tournament.

June 27, 2001 - Rodney White, one of Lutz's top recruits, was named national freshman of the year by ESPN and drafted ninth overall by the NBA's Detroit Pistons.

2003-2005 seasons - Lutz posts consecutive 20-win seasons, compiling a 42-17 record with a C-USA regular-season championship and two NCAA tournament appearances.

Feb. 23, 2008 - Charlotte beats Saint Louis 81-64, giving Lutz 183 wins at Charlotte, making him the all-time winningest coach at the school. Jeff Mullins held the previous mark of 182.

2008-09 season - Beset by injuries and the last-minute transfer of one of the two point guards on the roster, the 49ers finished 11-20 - the worst season in Lutz's tenure.

Jan. 27, 2010 - The 49ers upset then-No.15 Temple at home and Lutz proclaims "The Niners are back!" With the win, Charlotte moves to 15-5 and 5-1 in the Atlantic 10 but then goes 4-7 to end the season.

March 15, 2010 - Lutz is fired after 12 seasons as coach and failing to make the NCAA tournament the past five season

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/16/1316816/the-bobby-lutz-years-at-charlotte.html#ixzz0jws4ujlp

[IM4DHERD]

Last post on the subject...Lost to some teams he should not have lost to this year, but did beat Louisville by 22 and 15 ranked Temple by 10.  Atlantic 10 includes not only Temple, but Xavier, Richmond and NIT Champ Dayton.

[The Right Stuff]

We are now seeing the reason our guys looked gassed last year during crunch time.

TRS
MU 71

[wvmafia]

I love discipline.  I think that America's culture has slowed down the "discipline" coaches in sports.  I hope that Doc is 100% what we see and I pray for a discipline oriented, structured basketball coach...tired of the "And1" mix tape team wearing MU jerseys.

[herdfan429]

Ive been saying all along Cochran was not a good strength coach. He let guys slack and Snyder didnt care.  We are much better off now.

[DJdaHERDfan]

Looks like we got things going in the right direction now with our football program.
Thank God Snyder is gone. He just really was not ready to head a football program let alone MU.

Hey, I like Lutz alot. I think he could really do some things at Marshall in CUSA. I think he could recruti some really good players too.
Most of all, I think the guy could have MU winning CUSA soon.