Now is the time

[BGfootballfan]

We are moving into a wonderful new facility. Coach Orr even though a nice man but it may be time to make the move. We need to find a young coach who will get this team playing to its potential, which is not the #7 seed in the MAC. Why go through another year like this in our new building. With the talent we have on board it is time to make a move.

Another year of strange rotations, extremely poor offense, and poor in game decision making can't be accepted. Mr. Frack said if Butler and Gonzaga can do it why can't we?

The answer is the staff.

[gmartin]

Orr still has years on his contract. He brought in this talent. We already discussed this in another thread. Can we just enjoy the other Falcon sports currently in tournament action, have the basketball banquet and then see where things go. Thank You. Why do we immediately call for someone's head 30 seconds after the season is over.

[bgsufalcon24]

Why do we immediately call for someone's head 30 seconds after the season is over.

Usually the wait isn't even that long. In the case of Gregg Brandon in 2008 it was justified following the debacle against Buffalo, but coaches like Scott Paluch and Dan Dakich had to deal with upwards of 2 years of vitriol thrown their way before they were given the gate.

Me, I'm still in Orr's corner. At least under Orr, we are competitive against other MAC opposition, which we pretty much weren't under Dakich after his return from WVU.

[ZuluWarrior]

If after 4 years a .500 MAC team and under .500 OOC team is seen as successful or acceptable by the University I will stop caring now. Just to share my vision of success. A competitive MAC program year in and year out that wins the conference tournament every four years.
Of course I will take 1 conference tourney win in my lifetime right now, but will always push for us to be top tier year in and year out.

[FalconTurf]

Didn't Coach Orr give us a regular season championship just 2 seasons ago? He didn't make it to the NCAA at BG just like "Final Four Coach" Larranaga or as he did at Seton Hall.

Maybe the answer lies in the negativity of fans................

[HoopsFan]

As far as the former football coach, isn't he the one who committed suicide in a postgame presser?

Dakich deserved what he got, and I don't comment about hockey coaches.

I'm ambivalent about coach Orr, although he's starting to wear thin, just as Dakich's motionless offense and man-to-man defense began to grate on my nerves (along with the FB's West coast offense). The press that Orr finally got around to using 10 games or so into the season made the team look more active and A'uston's skill and shot selection improved immensely. Cam Black grew about 2 inches this season (honest, from his mother's mouth) so he has "growing pains", pun intended. We need a new king of 3's and a huge improvement from our bigs so we can move Calhoun to the 4. A shooting guard that can make 15-20 foot shots from anywhere would certainly help in breaking zone defenses.

Did I fill out the Christmas wish list well enough?

HoopsFan

[BleedOrange]

I see a problem with Orr's teams that nobody else seems to notice: Orr's teams play SOFT. This fact was most visible this year, when the last of the Dakich-trained players were gone. Despite statements by Mix (the Dumbo half of the Goofy-Dumbo broadcasting tag team), we DO have talent. It's a lack of toughness, strength, and aggressiveness that hinders us.

McElroy, 6-8 and 180, is physically overwhelmed inside and has severe difficulties getting shots inside despite his athleticism. Thomas, a junior, is still rail thin and struggles in half court to get shots and even keep possession in traffic.

Dee Brown is another example. Brown almost never draws body contact, and he rarely takes any risk at all in the offense.

Austin Calhoun, highly talented, is willing to draw body contact, but he doesn't display the type of power moves we saw in ordinary players like Marcshall and Matela.

Oglesby and Krauss are exceptions, but they brought their physical instincts into the program.

It was interesting to compare our guys to players from Buffalo, Western, Kent, Akron,.etc. To a man, all of these teams' players seemed to have 10-20 pounds more muscle than our guys. You could survive this way in the '80s. In today's game, we're hitting a brick wall.

[guest44]

"Didn't Coach Orr give us a regular season championship just 2 seasons ago? He didn't make it to the NCAA at BG just like "Final Four Coach" Larranaga or as he did at Seton Hall."

Maybe the answer lies in the negativity of fans................


Comparing Larranaga now or Larranaga his first season to Orr is laughable. Every AD is this country would take Larranaga before Orr. Larranaga coached when the MAC was really good. Hell, given Orr's record in the non-conference since he got to BG, if BG ever won the MAC Tournament we would be going to Dayton for a play in game anyway. With 3:30 to go in an MAC Tournament game, James Erger was in the game, and Scott Thomas was on the bench. I've seen all I need to see.

[Flipper]

Wasn't Thomas injured? It's been awhile since I shot the ball around...but IIRC, it's pretty damn hard to shoot jumpers from long range on one leg...

[guest44]

Nope, he finished the game after checking back in with just 3 minutes to go and the game pretty much over.

[hammb]

He was hurt most of the game, and played like crap when he was in. Having him on the bench was irrelevant at that point...he deserved to be on the bench because he had hurt his team throughout the entire game.

If you wanna question Orr, go right ahead. I sure as hell don't agree with everything he does.

Looking at that game the one place I might start is why Crawford & Thomas both played over 33 minutes even though they were killing the team. They combined to go 4-20 from the field! That's brutal. I can certainly see the argument for sticking with the guys that got you there, but they were the reason we lost...not James Erger.

[BillyLP]

Orr will lead us to a tournament berth within the next two years. I have absolutely no doubts about the quality of his coaching or his recruiting. Has it taken longer than most people wanted? Yes, but look at how much time we gave Larranaga and Dakich.... 21 seasons combined and neither one of them took us there either. You can even add on another ten seasons if you want to jump back to Weinert, another head coach with a winning record here. Even if Orr doesn't lead us there, it's pretty obvious that he will still be the coach next season so why not take all of the negative things you believe about our program and turn it into the support of it for once.

[hammb]

so why not take all of the negative things you believe about our program and turn it into the support of it for once.

Maybe I'm just cranky, but I feel the need to chime in here. At what point did anybody here stop "support" of the program/team?

Saying that you feel a coach needs replaced, or that they need to play different players, etc, etc, none of those things have anything to do with supporting the program. Supporting the program is buying tickets, donating if it's your thing, being loud at games, etc. It does not necessitate one to be all rainbows and lollipops about the state or future of the program.

I had season tickets this past year, and I think I missed 2 home games. I've missed no more than 2-3 home games a year for the past decade. During that time I've seen some MISERABLE basketball. I've sat through a lot of nights at Anderson where the few of us who show up every game ask each other why we still do this. WHY? Because we support the program. Doesn't mean that we have to be happy with where things are, nor does it mean that we have to be optimistic of the future.

I'm sorry, but I just hate comments like this, and felt the need to chime in. Speaking negatively of the direction of our basketball program has absolutely NO connection to whether or not we support the program. The very fact that we're taking the time to be in here and discuss BG hoops makes it pretty obvious to me that we all support the program.

[ZuluWarrior]

Larranaga and Dakich at least gave us some super quality wins...Larranaga gave MSU their first loss ever in the Breslin Center and won at Kentucky and may have had a couple more. Meanwhile Dakich gave us the best season in my lifetime with 99-00 and was absolutely robbed by the selection committee. Orr one a regular season championship with Dakich's team and to call it a championship is absolutely stretching it to the limits.

And others may say otherwise, but I support this program! I just want competitive excellence. Not .500 MAC basketball.

[guest44]

Orr will take us to the NCAA Tournament in 2 years? I wish I could bet that. We are .500 in the MAC and generally worse in the non-conference. In any previous era, we would never go to a tournament with Niagara, Detroit, and Albany and go 0-3. That is unacceptable. Losing twice at home by 35+ is unacceptable. Being the worst team of 8 in Cleveland is unacceptable. Standards are good thing. The MAC does not have an overwhelming number of seniors graduating this season. We may have everyone back, but will that makes us shoot better? It's not about Larranaga or Dakich, it's about now. It's about finding better than mediocre.

As far as supporting the team goes, obviously not many people are. I would say people who question a .500 coach are doing the program a favor.