Why Orr has failed (other than the obvious)
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 3:19 pm
1) He has not created the infrastructure of a Division I program around him. People have brought up before the fact that the young, zero-basketball experience female team secretary has the title of director of basketball operations and actually sits on the bench and charts plays. Every serious program that we are competing against has this role filled by a current/former coach. The smart ones fill it with someone with direct ties to a talent-rich AAU or high school program in order to establish a pipeline.
On the website, there is no-one listed in the role of graduate assistant or video coordinator. This means that our assistant coaches are wasting their valuable time doing menial, data entry tasks involved in preparing scouting reports rather than developing tactical strategies or, more importantly, recruiting. When the $10 million dollar donation was announced it was intimated by Christopher that this was an area that would be addressed. Because it has not, it places us immediately behind our peer institutions.
2) His unyielding defense-centric philosophy has destroyed not only the effectiveness of the offense, but also any hope of improving it. When he says "Your shooting percentage shouldn't determine your winning percentage," he's essentially giving the team an excuse to miss shots, take poor shots and not be held accountable. Shooting is a skill that can be taught and developed through effort, yet aenemic shooting has plagued Orr-coached teams dating all the way back to Seton Hall.
Combined with the inability to develop talent (Henderson, Clarke, the yearly 6'9" projects who sign and are never heard from again) and you have the disasterous results we have seen. The fact that the leaders of our university don't recognize this and/or acknowledge it yet still consider it acceptable is deeply, deeply troubling.
On the website, there is no-one listed in the role of graduate assistant or video coordinator. This means that our assistant coaches are wasting their valuable time doing menial, data entry tasks involved in preparing scouting reports rather than developing tactical strategies or, more importantly, recruiting. When the $10 million dollar donation was announced it was intimated by Christopher that this was an area that would be addressed. Because it has not, it places us immediately behind our peer institutions.
2) His unyielding defense-centric philosophy has destroyed not only the effectiveness of the offense, but also any hope of improving it. When he says "Your shooting percentage shouldn't determine your winning percentage," he's essentially giving the team an excuse to miss shots, take poor shots and not be held accountable. Shooting is a skill that can be taught and developed through effort, yet aenemic shooting has plagued Orr-coached teams dating all the way back to Seton Hall.
Combined with the inability to develop talent (Henderson, Clarke, the yearly 6'9" projects who sign and are never heard from again) and you have the disasterous results we have seen. The fact that the leaders of our university don't recognize this and/or acknowledge it yet still consider it acceptable is deeply, deeply troubling.