The problem was hiring Hayn. You could insert a lot of names in his stead that would have been better.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
Guest
My understanding is Vetrone was kept on staff because he was very close to Corey Sanders and was the reason he stayed. Once he was gone I have no issue with Pikiell hiring his own guy. I agree that we could have done better than Hayn but why re-litigate this now?
What ifs are never good. What if Graber wins the football game against Cincy? What if Gruninger never tied our hopes to Penn State and joins the BE for hoops? What if Bannon acted sort of regular and never had the team play Strip Poker Free Throws?
Yeah I mean you can't blame Coach for wanting a staff full of "his" guys. As stated above, Shoes was an Eddie Jordan hire and the main recruiter for Corey. Ultimately I don't think you can really compare Steve H. to Shoes as they were on staff together with diff. roles... I think it's more of a Shoes vs. TJ comparison since to my knowledge it's TJ who is on the road recruiting, not Steve. Steve can/should be compared more to Jay since he replaced him as the big man coach. And re: TJ, we gotta give him some time. Let's see how he does with all this sudden NH/Conn. talent we have on our radar. TJ was a heck of a guard for GW, solid solid player, and is still young so he should be able to relate to current HS players. That said, I know a lot of recruits loved Shoes and his son was tight with Corey when they were at RU. I met his son once, nice kid.
It's obvious Pike trusts Hayn, who has been on his staff since 2016. If Hayn wanted to be a coach somewhere after being replaced as an assistant by Thompson, he could have looked elsewhere. He has a solid resume. He could coach at any one of various levels. Hayn is satisfied being a "company guy." He'd rather work at Rutgers in any capacity with Pike than make a move as a coach someplace else.
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Ehhh… I think you can blame the coach on Hayn. The signature pull from Hayn was that kid whom the staff let go last year - Braeden Moore.
The other finalist was Brett MacConnell out of Princeton who already had a history of pulling 4 stars to Princeton.
We were forever preached patience with Hayn but he wasn’t contributing anything. The overall tenure of Pike has been good-great, but we don’t need to defend every Pike move. Hayn was a bad mistake.
The other finalist was Brett MacConnell out of Princeton who already had a history of pulling 4 stars to Princeton.
We were forever preached patience with Hayn but he wasn’t contributing anything. The overall tenure of Pike has been good-great, but we don’t need to defend every Pike move. Hayn was a bad mistake.
My favorites are if Schiano and Tom Savage never left. Can you imagine how good we’d be in 2012 with that defense + an NFL QB? It would’ve rivaled 2006. We finish top 10 that year, just in time for Sandusky. We rake in the classes and compete for B1G titles as soon as Urban retires. By 2022 we win a natty, cancer is cured, and world peace is declared.
Is there a purpose to this thread other than to engage in abject negativity and classic message board trolling? Shoes is a good guy. Hayn is a good guy. Pikes gets to pick who he wants.
I think keeping old coaches on is weird.
You’re a new HC, trying to build YOUR culture.
You’re a new HC, trying to build YOUR culture.
Kyk is invisible when we land the highest rated recruit of the rivals era then tries to stir up a "what if this 3rd assistant coach stayed" in a subtle dig at Pike. Too much positive news flying around. He's got to try to draw attention to something negative
It's classic kyk when it comes to the basketball program for some reason. Forever looking to take shots at Pike whenever and wherever he can. It's comical at this point.
It's classic kyk when it comes to the basketball program for some reason. Forever looking to take shots at Pike whenever and wherever he can. It's comical at this point.
How often does a new coach retain assistants from the previous regime in basketball?
I have no idea but I would think it doesn't happen often... especially when the new coach is taking over a dumpster fire of a program
I have no idea but I would think it doesn't happen often... especially when the new coach is taking over a dumpster fire of a program
True. But I also think it’s a point worth discussing.
Hayn was a bad hire and a sign of encouragement was that Pike was able to reverse course on it rather than stick to the bitter end. It showed that while he may have Gary Waters-esque characteristics, that at least Pike’s stubbornness has limits.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
Guest
Its a sports message board meant to talk sports. Were in the dog days of summer where theres nothing but MLB. My B, lets not start threads. In my OP I acknowledged recruiting is improving fyi
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
Guest
Lol wrong again man. I am a HUGE griffiths fan and think hes definitely the best recruit pike has ever landed and hes gonna be a certified stud. I also acknowledged in the OP that recruiting is improving haha. Youre a weird dude
We've been better than St. John's over the past 3 years. Isn't that what matters?
I don’t follow recruiting with who gets who. How did Vetrone get us better? Did the players he bring in help chemistry?
Rutgers Basketball was zero better for Corey Sanders coming here. The minute he left the program turned around. Chemistry is a real thing. It exists and is a huge factor in our program.
Rutgers Basketball was zero better for Corey Sanders coming here. The minute he left the program turned around. Chemistry is a real thing. It exists and is a huge factor in our program.
A chance we make the tournament a year earlier if Sanders stays for another year. At worst he kept the team somewhat competitive which gave Steve something to sell to recruits.
He has been back on campus since leaving, that does not happen if he was such a team cancer.
Surprised to see this thread. Just a few days ago posters were burying St. John’s in the Elijah Gertrude thread.
The whole thread is completely dumb on so many levels because the origin of the post is Zach B of the NY Post.
It doesn't take much time to know if Zach B is telling the truth.....he's crediting Shoes for Curbelo, who desperately needed a program who would gamble on him....he found that back home in NYC.
Storr was all lined up for Illinois before they had some assistant coaches change.
And Zach B completely destroyed Mike Anderson for a good month or 2, leading everyone to buy into Mike Anderson being fired from probably all his tweets from early February to late March. He buried Anderson nonstop and was the biggest cheerleader, expecting Anderson to be fired for "underachieving ", with the allegedly talented St John's.
His tweets are so out of bounds, that I am 99.9% certain, someone eventually told Zach B, that St John's didn't have the money to fire Anderson, who isn't getting along well in NYC......and there were hopes that when Tulsa and their job opened, that Anderson would resign and take the Tulsa job in his hometown.
These tweets are nothing but "repairing the collateral damage", he started and now he is in clean up mode the last 2 to 3 months.
Shoes is a very solid coach and I'm probably sure he's one of Zach B's good sources for information in recruiting. Giving Shoes an awful lot of credit plants the seed that Shoes will have a marketplace, if and when St John's underachieving again and the entire staff is let go after the 2022-23 season. Normally, the Head Coach gets the lion share of the recruiting credit for the kids brought in, but Zach B isn't going to go "that far " in giving Anderson credit, he doesn't like Mike Anderson and I'm certain the feelings are mutual from Anderson to Zach B as well.
In terms of Hayn, it appears that he was hired to hold the position, to allow the seasoning and preparation to eventually promote TJ Thompson, who has EXCELLENT resources and grassroots in New England. It means Hayn was a placeholder until TJ was ready and with the results in Gavin Griffiths and elsewhere now happening in New England, it proves that Pike is always 2 steps ahead in planning and preparation. TJ is young and motivated and another reason why RU keeps improving.
It doesn't take much time to know if Zach B is telling the truth.....he's crediting Shoes for Curbelo, who desperately needed a program who would gamble on him....he found that back home in NYC.
Storr was all lined up for Illinois before they had some assistant coaches change.
And Zach B completely destroyed Mike Anderson for a good month or 2, leading everyone to buy into Mike Anderson being fired from probably all his tweets from early February to late March. He buried Anderson nonstop and was the biggest cheerleader, expecting Anderson to be fired for "underachieving ", with the allegedly talented St John's.
His tweets are so out of bounds, that I am 99.9% certain, someone eventually told Zach B, that St John's didn't have the money to fire Anderson, who isn't getting along well in NYC......and there were hopes that when Tulsa and their job opened, that Anderson would resign and take the Tulsa job in his hometown.
These tweets are nothing but "repairing the collateral damage", he started and now he is in clean up mode the last 2 to 3 months.
Shoes is a very solid coach and I'm probably sure he's one of Zach B's good sources for information in recruiting. Giving Shoes an awful lot of credit plants the seed that Shoes will have a marketplace, if and when St John's underachieving again and the entire staff is let go after the 2022-23 season. Normally, the Head Coach gets the lion share of the recruiting credit for the kids brought in, but Zach B isn't going to go "that far " in giving Anderson credit, he doesn't like Mike Anderson and I'm certain the feelings are mutual from Anderson to Zach B as well.
In terms of Hayn, it appears that he was hired to hold the position, to allow the seasoning and preparation to eventually promote TJ Thompson, who has EXCELLENT resources and grassroots in New England. It means Hayn was a placeholder until TJ was ready and with the results in Gavin Griffiths and elsewhere now happening in New England, it proves that Pike is always 2 steps ahead in planning and preparation. TJ is young and motivated and another reason why RU keeps improving.
Maybe you should have started a thread Pike is doing a great job recruiting
I don't think he was in a recruiting position at that time. He may have had some influence when kids came on campus but I don't think he was allowed on the road.
He won 6 B1G games in his career. He leaves and we win 6 games the next year.
He was an amazing talent but his game has so many holes. He couldn’t shoot, he could t pass when driving and he couldn’t go to his left. We were bad offensively because of him. People remember the great B1G tournament, but seem to forget what Sanders was most nights.
Then you add chemistry issues…….
Mostly agree but we didn't lose because of him. The whole roster was not Big 10 caliber. Somebody had to take all the shots.
Nothing to do with specifically with Shoes or Hayn or anyone.
I've been fairly consistent since 2019 when filing staff vacancies: find the highest rated uncommitted recruit and hire their uncle, cousin, brother, HS coach, "handler".
https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/ot-ok-state-lands-2-overall-2020-recruit.178674/
I've been fairly consistent since 2019 when filing staff vacancies: find the highest rated uncommitted recruit and hire their uncle, cousin, brother, HS coach, "handler".
https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/ot-ok-state-lands-2-overall-2020-recruit.178674/
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
Guest
We were better with corey than we wouldve been without him and no chemistry issues. Yes he was a little irresponsible at times with missed flights seemingly every thanksgiving but corey was beloved by his teammates
Look at the numbers. We were beyond awful offensive efficiency. Numbers don’t lie.
Do we forget him getting suspended, not coming back from winter break to be with the team?
Why were we night and day better offensively the year after he left?
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
Guest
I think a big reason is our most inefficient player in deshawn got his minutes taken by a guy who played in the nba this year as eugene really broke out the latter part of his soph year and was an impactful player his junior year. The year after corey left while ron started slow he really came into his own the second half of his freshman year. Its as simple as the talent level in the roster improved.
coreys last year: corey, mike williams, issa thiam, deshawn freeman, duke was our typical starting lineup
year after corey: Geo, montez, harper, eugene, myles johnson was our most frequent lineup.
its really night and day talent wise. Off topic but Pikes most talented roster Was that 2019-2020 team. Shame they didnt get a tourney run. Geo, JY, Harper, Yeboah, Myles. And then the depth with montez, shaq carter, caleb and mulcahy. Team was good
Good post, although I'd say only Schiano would have been critical to that scenario - UM and PSU were both down and we could've moved right into the top half of the B1G East. Pretty sure I made a similar post in 2013, lol...
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