Coach Huger

[Flipper]

Extending Huger now seems a bit unnecessary...but it wouldn't be nearly as bad as extending Orr. Huger has been here for four years...he took over a bit of a dumpster fire after the Jans debacle and the ensuing exodus of players. He's demonstrated something Orr never did..the ability to construct a roster capable of winning the MAC.

Extending Huger two years would be OK by me...a year early perhaps, but I think he's shown an ability to draw talent. Orr had on decent year riding some of Dakich's guys in the 2nd year of his original deal. There was NO rationale for extending him..none. With Huger you can say you're demonstrating loyalty to a coach who did exactly what you asked him to. Stabilize the program and build a team

[Schadenfreude]

I think he's earned an additional year on his contract. He's brought the team a long way from where they were when he was hired. That extra commitment from BGSU may help him recruit. Let's help him succeed.

[TalonsDownForWhat]

An extension would be best for BGSU as well due to the fact that Coach Huger buyout will probably increase in negotiations if he were to leave for a bigger job

[Falconwriter]

I'm excited for next season too. And I'm very open to the notion of giving Huger an extension after next season if the team lives up to, what should be, lofty expectations.

But handing out an extension when he's still got 2 years left on his deal and coming off his first successful season is beyond foolish. IT would be simply foolish if we hadn't already made the same damned mistake with Orr.

Bottom line, if you cannot afford to pay contracts and fire coaches you sure as hell shouldn't be handing them extensions until they're necessary. I fail to see any justification for giving an extension to a coach who has had 1 good year in 4, and still has 2 years remaining on his deal. Hand him an extra 2 years and then have the team regress and here we are stuck for another 4 years because we cannot afford to move on.

THIS THIS THIS. Just because some agent tells BG that there's interest from other teams does NOT mean you should automatically give an extension -- whether that interest is real or not. I love BG but Huger has NOT earned a new contract -- yet. As alread stated: let him follow up this year with another excellent one next season, and THEN talk extension. It's not like he doesn't still have a year left when next year is done.

And if for some reason another school comes in and offers him a Brinks truck to jump and he jumps...so be it. If I were Moose, I'd tell him exactly what I just wrote. Repeat this season (with some improvements) next year, and you will get a very nice extension.

[OptionQB]

I would table the extension until next year.

1. The schedule he’s played is indefensible. There’s zero reason to play Tiffin AND Findlay in the same season. The Frack money has not been used well in bringing in consistent better opponents. I’m not expecting Holtmann or Beilein to show up at the Stroh anytime soon, but someone like Loyola coming off a Final Four run who is also having trouble finding OOC opponents

2. In four years, this season is the outlier. Replicate the success and then we can talk extension.

3. Use ALL available scholarships and not for a random walk-on at the end of the bench for the second semester but 13 legitimate Division 1 basketball players. You’re an hour from Detroit and Cleveland, less than two hours from Flint, Columbus, Dayton, Akron and Ft Wayne. Three hours from Cincinnati, Youngstown and getting close to Indianapolis. Four hours and change get you close to Chicago, Pittsburgh and Louisville. There is ZERO reason not to use 13 scholarships and that has happened MULTIPLE times in four years. Inexcusable.

[Flipper]

Re pt 2...you could also argue that he demonstrated an ability to ...like Dave Clawson in football...ride out a couple of lean years to build a quality roster. The team looks to have a MUCH more talent now than when he took over.

Re pt 3...We don't know if the scholarship situation is his choice or a mandate from above...either way...I don't think it's a big enough issue to impact employment status.

re the schedule...Let's see how it shakes out this season. I think he may have gone on the soft sie this season because there were a lot of qusion marks heading into the season

[TommyG]

Re pt 3...We don't know if the scholarship situation is his choice or a mandate from above...either way...I don't think it's a big enough issue to impact employment status.

re the schedule...Let's see how it shakes out this season. I think he may have gone on the soft sie this season because there were a lot of qusion marks heading into the season

Someone ends up with that scholarship. One of the walk ons ends up with it if we don’t use it. I understand not wanting to commit a scholarship to a 4 year guy that you aren’t in love with. It is surprising that in multiple years we haven’t found a JC or Grad transfer to fill out the roster. Maybe this season’s success will help BG be more attractive to a few of the guys Huger is interested in.

Scheduling has always been a question mark for me? There are enough quality programs within 5-6 hours that there is no reason you can’t field a competitive schedule with Home and Home 2-year agreements. Wright State, Dayton, DePaul, Cleveland State, Uof D, all the mid major Chicago schools, Marshall, IPFW, IUPUI, Valpo etc. There are more than enough options to put together are decent schedule to prepare for the MAC but still get some non-conference wins.

Signing anything more than a 1 year extension would be a mistake. I was impressed how the team competed in Cleveland and obviously there is reason for optimism heading into the next couple years, but as said by Hammb...we can’t extend these contracts and then cry that we don’t have money for buyouts when things go south. I personally haven’t seen enough to feel great about the next 5 years if Huger gets extended.

[Schadenfreude]

Just because some agent tells BG that there's interest from other teams does NOT mean you should automatically give an extension

I agree. We should give him an extension because he has been a successful head coach.

[guest44]

A good indicator that the coach has no other schools actually offering him a job, is that coach discussing other schools contacting him with the the Toledo Blade.

[Globetrotter]

A good indicator that the coach has no other schools actually offering him a job, is that coach discussing other schools contacting him with the the Toledo Blade.

True.

It just doesn't make sense for us to do this now.

The negative is that we are tied into a bad coach for 2-3+ years if he doesn't right the ship next year. For a school that doesn't buy out coaches we can't logically do this.

[Schadenfreude]

A good indicator that the coach has no other schools actually offering him a job, is that coach discussing other schools contacting him with the the Toledo Blade.

This is probably true. I'd still give him an additional year.

[Globetrotter]

A good indicator that the coach has no other schools actually offering him a job, is that coach discussing other schools contacting him with the the Toledo Blade.

This is probably true. I'd still give him an additional year.

I wouldn't hate a year. But history has shown we do like 3 etc. We can't both do that and buy guys out.

Was attendance up other than the 2 games?

[guest44]

The George Washington job he was mentioned for, in a single article, also had candidates with same agent mentioned. History shows BGSU falls for this every time.

[hammb]

Just because some agent tells BG that there's interest from other teams does NOT mean you should automatically give an extension

I agree. We should give him an extension because he has been a successful head coach.

His career record at BGSU is 2 games above .500, and that includes a lot of wins over Tiffin, Lourdes, etc. He's below .500 against D1 competition. His record against MAC competition prior to this season is horrendous (actually worse than Orr's was). Even after this season, including MAC tournament games, he's about 10 games under .500 against MAC competition.

On a year by year basis he's had 1 successful season out of 4.

I agree he did not inherit a great situation. I agree that we look like we should be among the league favorites next year based on the talent we have returning. I disagree that we've seen enough to say he has been a successful head coach. I couldn't possibly disagree more with the notion that he's "earned" an extension. This season was more than enough to table any talk of firing him, but that's it. If they back it up with a successful season next year I'm all in on an extension. But until we can afford to buy out coaches with more than a year remaining on their deals I see zero reason to give extensions just because we hear agent speak rumors that they're up for other jobs.

Right now Huger's career at BG reminds me a lot of Romeo Crennel's with the Browns. A couple awful seasons, then a "breakout year" that nobody saw coming. They gave him an extension and he went right back to crap in his 4th season. They could afford to fire him anyway and move on. BGSU cannot. I don't at all like giving new HCs 6 years in the first place, but since we did, it actually works in our favor this time. We get another "show me" year where he's NOT in a lame duck situation.

[Schadenfreude]

His career record at BGSU is 2 games above .500, and that includes a lot of wins over Tiffin, Lourdes, etc. He's below .500 against D1 competition.

Dave Clawson's career record was one game above .500. That included wins over Morgan State, Rhode Island, and Murray State. He was below .500 against FBS competition.