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It's now the start of the MAC season and BG comes limping into conference play with a losing record, on the heels of having lost four of the last five games. What's more, BG opens the conference slate against Ohio which is not only the hottest team in the MAC, but one of the hottest team country and is just outside of the Top-25. Year after year we wallow in men's basketball anymore, and this year was supposed to be different. We returned four of our starting five, have senior leadership, and heard all the talk about how being picked last in the MAC East was motivation, and thus far this season has been rather disappointing yet again. Well, here is the time for this program (players and coaches) to prove this team is different than in past years, or if we're headed for just more of the same. BG has a HUGE opportunity to make a major statement vs Ohio and I think this game is going to tell us exactly what we're going to do in the MAC this season. We'll find out if we are contenders or pretenders right here in this one.

Is this team hopeless? They do just enough to appear to be competitive, and then go down in flames. This coaching staff seems unable to teach this group to win. Maybe it's time to clean house and start over.

Clean house? BG is known as a coaching graveyard. Thus, no worthy coach wants to come here since they will ultimately go down in flames. Better stick with Big Lou for now and hope for the best. Who knows maybe they will learn how to win by mid year.

zete wrote:Clean house? BG is known as a coaching graveyard. Thus, no worthy coach wants to come here since they will ultimately go down in flames. Better stick with Big Lou for now and hope for the best. Who knows maybe they will learn how to win by mid year.

If that was the case why would a former Big East COY in Orr have come here in the first place

Coaching graveyard? That would be Northern Illinois or Eastern Michigan.

Coaching graveyard? Don't know about that. Seems like Urban Meyer and Jim Larranaga are doing just fine. Also, Dan Dakich was well on his way until he shot himself in the foot.

Maybe Im wrong but wasn't Orr fired from Seton Hall?
Urban Meyer isn't a basketball coach, I was referencing basketball.
Jim Larranaga was at a dead end in BG. Great coach, just couldn't make it happen here.
Dan Dakich came close to an NCAA but then as you mentioned shot himself in the foot.

The bottom line is no one has gotten us to the ncaa's since Bill Fitch. He was here one year, got out and went to the NBA. From that point on not much has happened with bg basketball.

I admit to not following basketball that closely since the days of Colin Irish, but I was under the impression that this was going to be something of a breakout year. Orr has certainly been at the helm long enough to institute his schemes and stock the roster with his players.

Jim Larranaga was hardly at a dead end. He had just won regular season MAC Title, and I would argue had he stayed at BG, combined with the MAC drop off in talent that followed, would probably had put BG in NCAA's multiple times. The early to mid 1990's MAC teams were loaded with NBA talent and the league was 1 bid because of lack of national exposure. BG is hardly a "graveyard". If it were a "graveyard", you would see much more coaching turnover.

In the end Jim Larranaga wanted out at BG, I think he felt there was more in store for him. He gave BGSU his all and didn't have much to show for it. Getting an NCAA berth at BG has proven difficult. Most find their stay here fruitless. Staying wasn't something he wanted to do. He deserved better and he got it...making about 1 million per at Miami with a Final Four feather in his cap.

OK...but getting back to your original statement...how is a guy having a great season before leaving for a better gig where he has a ton of success emblematic of this job being a "coaching graveyard"? Hell, Dackich version 1.0 landed a Big East job based on his tenure here. This isn't a coaching graveyard by any stretch.....

Ok, that is probably a more optimistic take on it.
The reality of BG Basketball is what it is: recruiting difficulties, so-so MAC play, a league that doesn' t spring multiple teams into the ncaa, poor showings in the NIT, poor fan base, and then there are those damn tin soldiers pissing on the parade.
This, in my opinion, adds up to a basketball job that is just that, a job. One that is not real appealing and difficult to loose - one a coach will not loose unless he does something really stupid - ie. win a half dozen games, continually get out coached, or put a head lock on a tin soldier. Our AD will give the respective coach a long leash knowing the fruitless past of BG basketball. Thus, I conclude, the administration is content with the mediocre men's basketball program I think they threw in the towel a long time ago.
I applaud these guys coming forward with large sums of money. They remember, as I do, the glory days and how much fun it can be. But until those days return, not much will change. So yes you can spin it any way you please, but to me the sky is not the limit coaching at BG, it is more of a place where you become buried alive: a vicious circle of run-of-the-mill seasons after season.

It is not a coaching graveyard......but the MAC is difficult to sustain success in any sport and particularly at BG. If you win here in any sport you should leave fast. Only Womens Ball and Baseball have had anytype of consistent success over the past 10 -15 years. All I know is we should be a lot better considering the team has had at least 3 years to recruit off the Stroh.

zete wrote:Maybe Im wrong but wasn't Orr fired from Seton Hall?
Urban Meyer isn't a basketball coach, I was referencing basketball.
Jim Larranaga was at a dead end in BG. Great coach, just couldn't make it happen here.
Dan Dakich came close to an NCAA but then as you mentioned shot himself in the foot.

The bottom line is no one has gotten us to the ncaa's since Bill Fitch. He was here one year, got out and went to the NBA. From that point on not much has happened with bg basketball.

Dakich shot himself in the foot by walking away from the WVU position. That was a highly unprecedented move, and now is a textbook example of how NOT to manage a coaching career.

Admittedly, in a sense, the Jim Larranaga case contributes more FOR your case than against it. He was mediocre at one mid-major, BG, and highly successful at another, George Mason. What does this tell us about the comparative coaching situations?

I guess it tells us BG is a difficult place to recruit, compete, advance teams to the NCAAs, generate community and student interest, etc. So if a young and talented coach comes to BG and turns things around in a big way, I would say they would be able to write their ticket to the next level. BUT a young coach may also want to think long and hard about the possibility of failing at BG, for some of the reasons stated, and never rebounding. It is a tricky trip to the top. The only way there is by making good calculated decisions along the way.