Topic: D'Antoni Weekly Press Conference (Duquesne/Ohio Week)

[GoHerd35]

" . . . Like we lost Andy Late And we had that gap. We didn't have anybody here to fill that spot then okay that's portal time. You got to go find it. But I don't want to take the portal and use it to where I supersede young men who I'm bringing in here, freshman, and tell them they're going to be a part of Marshall and every time they get about ready to get some experience to get on the floor I go get a senior or graduate and set them back down. They don't develop and then once you get into that, you know, if you're a team that took nine nine portal guys and they all leave you're doing it again. There's nothing coming up from the wings for you."

[herdloyal]

DD got a wake-up call after almost 10 seasons says BS to me he got told why are we paying you just to end up retiring and running the BB team into the ground. Who knows but God himself ! To this point he has no legacy to leave! No time like this game coming to give us fans a game like no other. Go Herd!

[ru4mu2]

That presser should be on the hallmark channel.

[herdorbust2]

He needs to stop making excuses. Every team goes thru the same issues and he always acts like it's just a problem for him. He is failing and it's that simple. He has turned into an excuse machine. We needs someone to accepts todays game and recruits for it. He has no clue what to do except wanting to stick with recruiting freshman and then complain about being young. His problem is he can't eval talent or understand what his own team needs.

[banker]

So in his model you end up being loyal to the players not good enough to get lured away and lose your good players to the thing you don?t like and won?t use effective.  One way loyalty is just a definition of stupidity.

[herd1990]

1979 called.  They want their D1 coaching philosophy back.

[FilmJunky]

Portal this portal that. WIN GAMES DAN. It's how things are, so adjust or get left behind and we are getting left behind.

Everyone and their mother knew this team was going to stink this year and ole Dan is like "no, we are going to be good". How on earth could you look on paper and think that.....

[Herdiowa]

Watch this then go watch the women?s coach interview.  She takes responsibility for how they are playing, she nips things in the bud.  Enlightening to listen to her talk.  It?s obvious that is what the men?s program is missing.  We haven?t had that since Dan got here.

[herdfan129]

Two things can be true at the same time.

1. I think DD would have been a great coach for us had we hired him around the time we hired Jirsa. His philosophy and style would have been much better suited for that time period.

2. He should retire or be fired after this season as the game has completely passed him by.

[herdorbust2]

I just listened to it. He talks in circles and looks for every excuse possible. He talked about the portal not being the way to go and went on and on about it. Then he started talking about Duquense and how they went portal and how much older they would be. Said they would be 23-24 years old and then looked at Pruett and said how old are you 19? I honestly wish he spent as much time recruiting as he does trying to convince the fanbase that things will get better and winning isn't everything and on and on.

[Garbanjo]

FFS DD nut up or resign

We are in this position because of terrible recruiting and roster management by you dude

[herd2win]

He just rambles and rambles.  Time to resign.  It appears he had already retired but forgot to tell Spears.

[DC01HERD]

I just listened to it. He talks in circles and looks for every excuse possible. He talked about the portal no be the way to go and went on and on about it. Then he started talking about Duquense and how they went portal and how much older they would be. Said they would be 23-24 years old and then looked at Pruett and said how old are you 19? I honestly wish he spent as much time recruiting as he does trying to convince the fanbase that things will get better and winning isn't everything and on and on.

It's amazing. I wish someone in the press would ask him about all the guys that are 23 and 24 that don't see the floor for us.

His lack of urgency is mind boggling. He is 70+. Why doesn't he want to win now? This conference is there for the taking. 

[thunderingon]

You hear what you want to hear I guess. I hear him admit they are bad and he?s taking responsibility by making changes and putting more on his shoulders. I heard him give the advantages of the portal (age, experience, quick fix) and disadvantages (no loyalty, no development). He?s holding players responsible for not working hard (mentioned Mckey, Crawford). I really don?t know what else you want him to say.

[jdonaccbus]

I just looked up Duquesne's top three scorers and their birthdates. They have two senior guards that are 22 years old. One senior is a former JUCO player in his second season at Duquesne. The other scorer is a 4th-year senior. That is not odd to have seniors that are 22 years old. Their third leading scorer is a sophomore who just turned 19 years old.

We are not at a disadvantage in any way. It is not the other team's fault that we have guys that are older and never see the floor. But yet the spin master proclaims that the other teams have some type of advantage.......except when the truth is told, they give out the same number of full rides that we do.

The fact of the matter is that we have 3 graduate seniors on our roster, we have 2 other seniors on our roster, we have 3 juniors on our roster and 2 scholarship redshirt sophomores on our roster. We have just as many older players on our roster as any team in America. I count 10 scholarship players that have three or more years of experience on our scholarship roster. I just can't believe guys that have time to research this all day show up at the press conference and never question him on this. 10 guys that have been in college three years or more. Enough of this man's excuses.

If we are going to hold weekly press conferences, then it is time for some tough questions to be asked. I don't want to sit here and listen to a guy make excuses that just aren't grounded in facts. He needs to be called out on this. I just got home from my job. I arrived at work at 7:30AM. But yet I can figure this out.

[tnherdfan]

You hear what you want to hear I guess. I hear him admit they are bad and he?s taking responsibility by making changes and putting more on his shoulders. I heard him give the advantages of the portal (age, experience, quick fix) and disadvantages (no loyalty, no development). He?s holding players responsible for not working hard (mentioned Mckey, Crawford). I really don?t know what else you want him to say.

I would like him to say "I resign" and turn the team over to one of the assistants.

[thunderingon]

I would like him to say "I resign" and turn the team over to one of the assistants.

Whatever. Like he said, when expectations surpass reality, everyone is miserable. And you all are miserable.  Bringing in a new coach won?t change that. I like the philosophy. I like the development of players and seeing the connection to the school and community. Fill gaps when you have to with the portal. It is not appealing at all to me to bring in 6-7 guys every year and try to make a successful team out of them.

[herdfan129]

Whatever. Like he said, when expectations surpass reality, everyone is miserable. And you all are miserable.  Bringing in a new coach won?t change that. I like the philosophy. I like the development of players and seeing the connection to the school and community. Fill gaps when you have to with the portal. It is not appealing at all to me to bring in 6-7 guys every year and try to make a successful team out of them.

We must have different opinions on the term "development" as I haven't seen DD develop anyone. 

[herd2win]

Whatever. Like he said, when expectations surpass reality, everyone is miserable. And you all are miserable.  Bringing in a new coach won?t change that. I like the philosophy. I like the development of players and seeing the connection to the school and community. Fill gaps when you have to with the portal. It is not appealing at all to me to bring in 6-7 guys every year and try to make a successful team out of them.

He doesn't develop players.  We consistently have half the roster that can't contribute even after being in his system for multiple years.

[herdorbust2]

Whatever. Like he said, when expectations surpass reality, everyone is miserable. And you all are miserable.  Bringing in a new coach won?t change that. I like the philosophy. I like the development of players and seeing the connection to the school and community. Fill gaps when you have to with the portal. It is not appealing at all to me to bring in 6-7 guys every year and try to make a successful team out of them.

Expectation surpass reality? 2-5??? lol!!!! So you want freshman that soon as they get good are gone? How about looking for sophomore transfers and locking them in? How about a coach that can actually recruit and not miss on half his players that nobody else wants? People like you are why we suck because you are ok with 12-21 and now 2-5.

[banker]

Whatever. Like he said, when expectations surpass reality, everyone is miserable. And you all are miserable.  Bringing in a new coach won?t change that. I like the philosophy. I like the development of players and seeing the connection to the school and community. Fill gaps when you have to with the portal. It is not appealing at all to me to bring in 6-7 guys every year and try to make a successful team out of them.

What expectation level is acceptable for fans to have?  Should we just expect to have a team? Anything above that is gravy I guess.

[thunderingon]

What expectation level is acceptable for fans to have?  Should we just expect to have a team? Anything above that is gravy I guess.

24 wins LAST season.

[Flat Tire 2]

24 wins LAST season.

And what did that get us? A first round loss in the SBC tournament and no post season play. In Dan's tenth season he is only 30 games above .500 (plus never playing a difficult out of conference schedule) and only one real post season appearance in the first nine years.

We currently ranked at #268 in the NET rankings. So much for 24 wins last year, the future is now.

[thunderingon]

And what did that get us? A first round loss in the SBC tournament and no post season play. In Dan's tenth season he is only 30 games above .500 (plus never playing a difficult out of conference schedule) and only one real post season appearance in the first nine years.

We currently ranked at #268 in the NET rankings. So much for 24 wins last year, the future is now.

No other basketball coach in our recent history has been held to this standard.  Why DD?  Because he's the ONLY one to ever do it here!  A lot of things get repeated on here without any backing. "never playing a difficult out of conference schedule", "all the guys that are 23 and 24 that don't see the floor for us", etc.  We have 1 player that fits that last statement and it is Marko. 1 player. Dan is never going to be enough for the agenda driven folks. There were people complaining immediately after the NCAA season. People complaining about the soccer team after losing in the round of 16, people complaining about Doc, about Huff, etc, etc.  The grass isn't always greener and some of you have completely forgotten how to enjoy Marshall athletics.

[herd2win]

I will agree with some statements made by Thunderingon.  We do need to enjoy MU sports and complain less in certain things.  The difference is that Dan has been given plenty of opportunity as in a decade and is barely over 500 with zero regular season conference championships.

His recruits rarely have other offers and except for 1 magical 10 day run we have not accomplished anything.  It is just time for a new voice.  We could end up worse (fired CUSA coach of the year in Doc and we did not get better) but a change was needed in football as we were stale.

Same thing now, it is just time for a change.