Micheal Huger named Head Coach

[Dayons_Den]

Home run press conference.

Anyone else notice how firm he was on opening the program and practices to former players? Must have been a point of contention with them.

[hammb]

Home run press conference.

Anyone else notice how firm he was on opening the program and practices to former players? Must have been a point of contention with them.

It's always bummed me out how little connection we've had with past players/coaches. When I get to thinking about it especially, I know we have quite a few good coaches out there. I know we have several players still living in the area and only Cowan has any connection to the program, doing the radio.

Merfeld was here for 10 years. Jay L. is an up & coming coach that we could see on the NBA sidelines soon. Stacey was a good HS coach. McLeod & Daniels both put in some time in the NBA. Huger has obviously been coaching for awhile, and is now finally coming home. Shane Kline-Ruminski is a big time private coach.

It seems to me that with so much coaching talent, and NBA experience, out there with ties to BG we'd see them in here all the time. For whatever reason Dakich/Orr never seemed to connect with those former players, but I think it would be a valuable tool to use. Whether bringing in Jay L & Shane to speak/do some coaching, or having McLeod/Daniels in to speak and talk about the league. BG is a community, and the one thing that stuck out to me above all else was Huger's love of the school/town. I'm sure some of these other guys feel the same way, let's take advantage of that fact somehow.

[MarkL]

Great press conference. From the time I started following BG sports, I'd say the best two press conferences for hiring a new head coach have got to be Clawson and Huger. Huger spoke passionately about coming back to Bowling Green and connecting with the alumni and the community (YES!!) and Chris Kingston made it clear that hiring a man of high character was key.

And reading the Anthony Stacey is coming back ... oh my goodness. The amount of talent we have on that coaching staff already and the desire to reconnect with alumni and the community is refreshing. When I was in school, men's basketball was almost an afterthought. You could count on the same set of students, alums, and fans from the community being at every game but the crowd beyond that was always sparse. The community had become apathetic toward BG basketball and frankly I cannot blame them. If Huger can get the community fired up and build the desire to come to games and make the arena deafening again, that alone would be an incredible accomplishment.

I think Bill Frack would be proud today.

[BleedOrange]

Another great thing is he won't run at the first chance. Most likely. Jans didn't know bgsu from western Kentucky. Huger has a lifetime attachment to bgsu.

Anyone know how many other MAC coaches have coached their alma mater? I know Coles. Anyone else? Any that had long term success?

Ahem,.... Floppin Stan Joplin.

[mscarn]

BGSU Athletics @BGathletics · 6m 6 minutes ago
"Our goal now is to win a MAC Championship, and be that first team to get to the NCAA Tournament since 1968." -- Michael Huger

HELLO!

[Flipper]

On twitter...Huger going out recruiting on a private jet like a boss...

[Falcon Fanatic]

Home run press conference.

Anyone else notice how firm he was on opening the program and practices to former players? Must have been a point of contention with them.

It's always bummed me out how little connection we've had with past players/coaches. When I get to thinking about it especially, I know we have quite a few good coaches out there. I know we have several players still living in the area and only Cowan has any connection to the program, doing the radio.

Merfeld was here for 10 years. Jay L. is an up & coming coach that we could see on the NBA sidelines soon. Stacey was a good HS coach. McLeod & Daniels both put in some time in the NBA. Huger has obviously been coaching for awhile, and is now finally coming home. Shane Kline-Ruminski is a big time private coach.

It seems to me that with so much coaching talent, and NBA experience, out there with ties to BG we'd see them in here all the time. For whatever reason Dakich/Orr never seemed to connect with those former players, but I think it would be a valuable tool to use. Whether bringing in Jay L & Shane to speak/do some coaching, or having McLeod/Daniels in to speak and talk about the league. BG is a community, and the one thing that stuck out to me above all else was Huger's love of the school/town. I'm sure some of these other guys feel the same way, let's take advantage of that fact somehow.

You're right about how important it is in getting the alumni players to reconnect with BG! That was something that Coach Bergeron has pushed hard for the hockey program through Coach Ty Eigner, who is a former Falcon Hockey player. It has been awesome seeing more and more players coming back for games and the summer alumni golf outing. Huger sounds like he'll also push to get those alumni back in the house. It will help with recruiting and will inspire current players. I was VERY impressed with what Huger had to say. He is definitely passionate about this school and this town and his enthusiasm for both of them comes across as very genuine!!

[mscarn]

Huger and the Miami staff are apparently big on analytics. The scouting reports they compile are known for their meticulousness. The first 20 pages or so of this compilation from Miami's sports information department has a bunch of great stories, including how Huger participated in Miami's scrimmages and how he beat out 11 other finalists for the assistant's job at George Mason at the time. When a coach hires a former player you assume it's a formality but in this situation it appears it was anything but. It was hard-earned.

http://www.hurricanesports.com/pdf9/1758086.pdf" target="_blank

I'm also heartened by the endorsement from Reggie Rankin, a grassroots recruiting analyst for ESPN who knows the AAU/summer league terrain well.

[mscarn]

Another great thing is he won't run at the first chance. Most likely. Jans didn't know bgsu from western Kentucky. Huger has a lifetime attachment to bgsu.

Anyone know how many other MAC coaches have coached their alma mater? I know Coles. Anyone else? Any that had long term success?

Ahem,.... Floppin Stan Joplin.

Charles Ramsey at EMU was fired while Keith Dambrot is a lifer at Akron. I looked at a list of schools and came up with these, although there's probably many more.

Others around the country that have done well:
Kevin Ollie, UConn
Derek Kellogg, UMass
Jim Boeheim, Syracuse
Bryce Drew, Valpo
Dan Muller, Illinois State
Bob Huggins, West Virginia

Haven't done well:
Jerome Allen, Penn
Clyde Drexler, Houston
Matt Doherty, UNC

To be determined:
Dan D'Antoni, Marshall
Eddie Jordan, Rutgers
Chris Mullin, St. John's

Turned out good in football:
Doug Marrone, Syracuse
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
David Shaw, Stanford
Steve Spurrier, Florida
Rob Ambrose, Towson
Troy Calhoun, Air Force
Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
Bryan Harsin, Boise State (so far)

Didn't turn out good in football (fired):
Cam Cameron, Indiana
Bill Blankenship, Tulsa
Don Treadwell, Miami
John Bunting, UNC
Rick Neuheisel, UCLA
Randy Shannon, Miami
Gary Crowton, BYU
Mike Shula, Alabama
Craig Cirbus, Buffalo
Chuck Amato, NC State
Charlie Weis, Notre Dame (didn't play, was just a student)
Dave Wannstedt (Pitt) and Philip Fulmer (Tennessee) both had success but were ultimately fired

TBD:
David Archer, Cornell
Jim Harbaugh, Michigan