OT: Hurley left before posse arrived

[Mr_Twister]

Bobby Hurley left Buffalo for Arizona State, taking Buffalo players/recruits/staff with him. Three of his remaining players at Buffalo are accused of theft and face suspension/expulsion, including Justin Moss, the MAC Player of the Year.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...s-the-mac-player-of-the-year-accused-of-theft

From this article, Hurley rolled the dice with transfers and JUCOs.

http://www.buffalonews.com/city-reg...-grit-determination-to-ub-basketball-20130804

"Two of the transfers he’s brought in – Jamir Hanner from Marshall and Justin Moss from Indian Hills Community College in Iowa – had issues at those schools. Hanner was suspended one game for academics, while Moss was dismissed from the team in mid-December for unspecified reasons."

Guess what the "unspecified reasons" were for Justin Moss's dismissal from Indian Hills Community College? And earlier, in late October 2014, Hurley dismissed Hanner from the team for "violation of team rules" (actually, was an assault on another student). Well, at least Hurley took Buffalo to the NCAAs ... before leaving the basketball program in shambles.

 

[PiscatawayMike]

The Calipari method... keep moving forward and leave your problems behind!

 

[RUEd]

The Calipari method... keep moving forward and leave your problems behind![/
Stay at Buffalo in the snow or go to ASU in the sun and more money. Tough call.....

 

[jellyman]

The Calipari method... keep moving forward and leave your problems behind!

Lou Holtz in football, also.

 

[mikefla]

Honestly I am amazed Hurley has done that well at UB. He certainly recognises talent. But UBuffalo is a hard sell. Mediocre conference. HUGE but decent University and some of the WORST weather on the planet....

I was there a year...UB brought the worst out in me LOL

 

[nirrad]

Smart move

 

[Friend of 112]

Without blinking I give him a pass on this.
It's the part of doing business for a coach with aspirations starting at a low-major - and no doubt the type of clientele he felt he could make it work with.
As long as no violations are uncovered : Godspeed Bobby Boy!

 

[Mr_Twister]

Hurley ignored "character" issues. Took guys with shaky backgrounds. Hurley's team won and he bailed. The player who was a thief remained a thief. Good player -- bad guy. Calipari-like. Move on. The old school deals with the mess left behind.

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

The 2 main Hurley lovers on this board need to comment. They were riding Hurley's jock like he was the great savior. They thought his superior coaching was the reason for UB's climb. Now, we know the truth. He got superior athletes to go to Buffalo because they could not get into any other school at a higher level because of their character issues........that's great coaching.

 

[MADHAT1]

The 2 main Hurley lovers on this board need to comment. They were riding Hurley's jock like he was the great savior. They thought his superior coaching was the reason for UB's climb. Now, we know the truth. He got superior athletes to go to Buffalo because they could not get into any other school at a higher level because of their character issues........that's great coaching.

Actually a lot of coaches do that at the upper level.
The difference is they don't have to rely on needing them as much as a lower level HC does.
Hurley took character shortcuts, but that's how a lot of HCs built winning teams quickly.
Not defending him, but Buffalo's character issues are not something that doesn't happen over and over.
Right or wrong ,winning is the only thing that counts and you'll see someone who is know as a winner hired , after being sanctioned, a lot quicker than someone who has a lifetime losing record that got caught cheating.

Hurley might be overrated, but only time will tell about that and if he doesn't succeed at ASU, he won't get another Major program HC position for awhile.

 

[Mr_Twister]

You are defending him.

 

[MADHAT1]

You are defending him.

If you think my saying he did what many other HCs are doing is a defense, then you have a right to look at what I said as defending him.
I just look at that type of recruiting as a sad part of the game that won't change.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Hurley and the others at the school responsible for signing off on scholarships knew they were rolling the dice with student athletes with shaky academic and "character/behavior" issues. The team's record improved dramatically in the short term, but they now have a program coming apart at the seams and an AD and school leadership that have lots of questions to answer. Was showing the door to Reggie Witherspoon and his staff, who were reasonably successful and doing the right things, the correct decision?

 

[MADHAT1]

Reggie was there 14 years , it isn't like he wasn't give a fair shot.
1 NIT tourney was the best he could do in those 14 years and even though he had 4 straight winning seasons from 2008-9 to 2011-12 before his final (2012-13) 14-20 mark being 197-225 over 14 years isn't going to keep many HCs employed.
Especially if they haven't brought any of their teams to the Big Dance at least one time. Reggie also had a .403 percentage in MAC play

You can go after Buffalo for allowing BH to bring in the type of players he did, but showing the door to Witherspoon isn't something the Buff AD should be called out for.

 

[drewbagel423]

Lou Holtz in football, also.

Add Pete Carroll to that list.

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

Add Pete Carroll to that list.

Some might add Urban Meyer based on his time at Florida and he already had 4 guys suspended at Ohio State.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Reggie was there 14 years , it isn't like he wasn't give a fair shot.
1 NIT tourney was the best he could do in those 14 years and even though he had 4 straight winning seasons from 2008-9 to 2011-12 before his final (2012-13) 14-20 mark being 197-225 over 14 years isn't going to keep many HCs employed.
Especially if they haven't brought any of their teams to the Big Dance at least one time. Reggie also had a .403 percentage in MAC play

You can go after Buffalo for allowing BH to bring in the type of players he did, but showing the door to Witherspoon isn't something the Buff AD should be called out for.

Reggie was a local guy with a local resume who did a decent, not great, job. They now have a high school coach with connections to Detroit. Good luck.

 

[MADHAT1]

Reggie was a local guy with a local resume who did a decent, not great, job. They now have a high school coach with connections to Detroit. Good luck.

He did spend the last two years at Buffalo as Hurley's assistant and had a great record as a HS coach in Detroit before BH hired him .
Also Oats was hired as Buffalo's HC a few days after Hurley left, so I don't think Buffalo was going after anyone but Oats to replace Hurley.
They took a gamble on hiring Bobby who had only 2 years of college assistant experience working under his brother and now gambling on another 2 year assistant , but one who knows the Bull's players and has been recruiting players for the Buff MBB team for Hurley along with having an outstanding record as a HS basketball coach in Michigan.

Not saying Nat Oats will be successful, but it looks like the UofB didn't want to look far and wide when they went after a replacement for Hurley.
Oats brought in ex Loyola of Chicago HC Jim Whitesell ( 109-106 as the Ramblers HC) who was on Lavin's staff before Steve was fired by St John's.
Also brought in n assistant from the JUCO ranks to help recruit Junior College players.

I won't say Buffalo will continue to improve under Oats, but I won't imply he's chopped liver either.
Buffalo gambled on Hurley and seems to have won in the W-L department by doing so, but might have
been put in a mess because of the type of players Bobby recruited.
Oats now has to prove he can handle what he inherited from Hurley and have the Bulls continue to be a NCAA team and not fall back to being a decent program but without NCAA invites .

 

[RUinFla]

Some might add Urban Meyer based on his time at Florida and he already had 4 guys suspended at Ohio State.

Yep. Meyer recruited lots of quality character kids like Aaron Hernandez and acted surprised and disappointed when they messed up. All three major Florida programs have had huge character issues over the years.
TL