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Basketball Hayn promoted to full time assistant

Boring pick. The kind of guy Ash would hire.

Has exactly three years of D1 assistant coaching experience and that was at CCSU (alongside Pikiell) twenty years ago.

Doesn't seem particularly plugged into the HS/AAU scene.

The D3 teams he was head coach of were... fine. Nothing special. CCSU and Stevens Institute of Technology had their breakthroughs the year AFTER Hayn left. He had some mild success at Stevens and Dowling but nothing that really opens any eyes.

Had a chance to make a splash. Other assistant coaching hires from the off-season: Purdue got a guy who coached in the NBA under Brad Stevens. Nebraska hired the recruiting whiz from Mullins' St. John's staff. Virginia Tech hired a Cincinnati assistant who was a high school and AAU coach in the talent-rich Virginia area.

Hayn checks none of these boxes. It's not going to break the program or anything but I don't see this doing much to help us. Also, this quote from a recruit that Hayn was the one to offer sucks:

“They just told me they’re kind of rebuilding right now. I know Corey Sanders went there. He is a tough, gritty player,” Mitchell said. “I liked that about him. Big Ten is big on playing aggressive and being tough. It’s not like any other conference.”

That's a terrible pitch! We're an exciting, up-and-coming team and our pitch to guys is "well, we're rebuilding but hey remember Corey Sanders? Wasn't that fun?"
 
Was this the most prudent use of this open position? Have no idea about this guy. Did the purse strings get tightened once again by Barchi? This hire doesn't seem to even make a ripple much less a wave of excitement.
 
Hayn was the contact for 2020 recruit Martice Mitchell.
 
I did say the initial list was uninspiring from the get go. Waiting for @NewJerseyHawk to comment. I believe he was profuse in this hire being a decisive upgraded over Jay Young. My apologies if I am confusing you for someone else.

Feels a lot like the Toby Nienas hire. But I’ll end that comparison at that statement.
 
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I continue to be amazed and amused by the number of our fans that still don't seem to get or appreciate the way Coach Pikiell is building the program. Congratulations Coach Hayn, we're all going to enjoy the ride together!

I don't think there's a single person who thinks Pikiell isn't doing a good job and has the program heading in the right direction.

But after a decade of the program getting F's, a B+ is still only a B+. It's not an A++.
 
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I continue to be amazed and amused by the number of our fans that still don't seem to get or appreciate the way Coach Pikiell is building the program. Congratulations Coach Hayn, we're all going to enjoy the ride together!

I don’t disagree with you but is another poster pointed out: f this was going to be the move, why didn’t he make it weeks ago?
 
I don’t see a problem with Pike hiring someone he trusts, but I don’t understand the theatrics of a 2 month search in the name of an internal hire
 
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I don’t see a problem with Pike hiring someone he trusts, but I don’t understand the theatrics of a 2 month search in the name of an internal hire

How about this...Pikiell did his due diligence interviewing people who applied for the job. In the meanwhile, he promoted Hayn on an interim basis to see how he did in the spot. That's why we started seeing offers from Hayn like Kadary Richmond and the new kid Mitchell. Plus working with players at workouts and such. Kind of a two month test run. Pikiell was pleased with what he saw and made the move. I imagine if Knight or Hobbs had moved on the hire may have been different because of recruiting needs.

 
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Theatrics? I really can't think of any drama or theatrics associated with this search. We've got a hard working down to earth coach who was looking for the right fit for the program. I'm sure he could have gone in a different direction if he wanted to make a "splash." As for the length of the search, it followed Coach Pikiell's timeline, not ours.
 
How about this...Pikiell did his due diligence interviewing people who applied for the job. In the meanwhile, he promoted Hayn on an interim basis to see how he did in the spot. That's why we started seeing offers from Hayn like Kadary Richmond and the new kid Mitchell. Plus working with players at workouts and such. Kind of a two month test run. Pikiell was pleased with what he saw and made the move. I imagine if Knight or Hobbs had moved on the hire may have been different because of recruiting needs.


Stop speaking so rational!
 
I've already softened the blow in other posts over the last couple of weeks that led us to this point. It is not my choice and I believe the candidates that I know of (3) specifically, all would have done well here as well.

There is something called "doubt", and there is something else called motivation.

Doubt creeps in when the most popular name isn't the choice, whether it's recruiting or in this search. And that's more than fair...Hayn has not been on the road or a known recruiting guy with that reputation but neither was Jay Young.....it clearly was not his strength, so promoting Hayn brings no downside.

Motivation comes into play in that, he's unproven at this level BUT knows Pike the longest, even moreso than Jay Young. And he might be the 3rd assistant that helps Knight and Hobbs find another player or two.

At the end of this "saga", being familiar with every player and system outweighs perhaps the other factors of starting over with someone else. I don't think it's a bad hire, I would deem it "curious".

We can judge whether this and a lot of other things in the next 2 to 3 years. I know fans want the quick fix, but the next 2 classes will be more on the entire plates of Pike, Knight and Hobbs....they're the 3 coaches that earned the titles and categories and it's their efforts that will make RU take the next steps forward.

Hayn leading and landing his 1st recruit would match Jay Young in his tenure here. Let's see what happens before we shoot first and aim second.
 
I've already softened the blow in other posts over the last couple of weeks that led us to this point. It is not my choice and I believe the candidates that I know of (3) specifically, all would have done well here as well.

There is something called "doubt", and there is something else called motivation.

Doubt creeps in when the most popular name isn't the choice, whether it's recruiting or in this search. And that's more than fair...Hayn has not been on the road or a known recruiting guy with that reputation but neither was Jay Young.....it clearly was not his strength, so promoting Hayn brings no downside.

Motivation comes into play in that, he's unproven at this level BUT knows Pike the longest, even moreso than Jay Young. And he might be the 3rd assistant that helps Knight and Hobbs find another player or two.

At the end of this "saga", being familiar with every player and system outweighs perhaps the other factors of starting over with someone else. I don't think it's a bad hire, I would deem it "curious".

We can judge whether this and a lot of other things in the next 2 to 3 years. I know fans want the quick fix, but the next 2 classes will be more on the entire plates of Pike, Knight and Hobbs....they're the 3 coaches that earned the titles and categories and it's their efforts that will make RU take the next steps forward.

Hayn leading and landing his 1st recruit would match Jay Young in his tenure here. Let's see what happens before we shoot first and aim second.

The downside is the opportunity cost. It shouldn't cost us anything in 2019 but it's a gamble bringing in someone so inexperienced in high major recruiting (and he is out recruiting so it's not a non factor).

The ideal is that this season is very successful and with the new practice facility the program can start to recruit itself to some degree. But there's a lot of recruiting to be done in the meantime... Ohio State got a 2021 commit the other day.
 
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Rutgers fans are funny. Only we would be up in arms over a 3rd assistant hire. Can anyone honestly name any 3rd assistant at any school? From what I’ve heard it came down to McConnell and Hayne. There wasn’t any urgency and it just came down to two similar candidates, one of whom had the advantage of knowing Pike and being able to pass his homework assignment.

This happens all the time in life. I once lost out to another candidate for a great role at a great company and when I asked the hiring manager why, she honestly said, “I’m sure you would’ve crushed the role, but I just worked more closely in the past with the other candidate.”
 
If Pikiell prompted this guy quickly there would have been a ton of people up in arms that he didn’t perform an extensive search or due diligence.

Absolutely nothing wrong with taking his time with the search and coming back to someone who may have been his top choice all along.
 
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