Coach Huger

[hammb]

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.

And I wasn't in love with giving him the 4 year extension when we did either. However, I think he was going into a Lame Duck season so an extension of some sort was a necessity.

Also worth noting basketball and football are completely different animals in terms of "building a program". It shouldn't take 4 years to build a basketball program, IMO.

There are a lot of similarities between those 2 though. I don't think either is a particularly good gameday coach. Clawson built a hell of a program though. Huger has brought in some talent, it remains to be seen if he's built anything worthwhile, IMO.

[Falconwriter]

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.

And I wasn't in love with giving him the 4 year extension when we did either. However, I think he was going into a Lame Duck season so an extension of some sort was a necessity.

Also worth noting basketball and football are completely different animals in terms of "building a program". It shouldn't take 4 years to build a basketball program, IMO.

There are a lot of similarities between those 2 though. I don't think either is a particularly good gameday coach. Clawson built a hell of a program though. Huger has brought in some talent, it remains to be seen if he's built anything worthwhile, IMO.

You are correct. Calling Huger a successful coach now is not doing justice to the word or its true meaning in sports. He has the potential (moving forward) to be that coach, but let's see him actually do well 2 years in a row before giving him several more via an extension. I don't like trying to compare football and basketball rebuilds because they are not close to the same. As noted, you can turn a basketball program around with one recruiting class. That really can't be done in football.

[Flipper]

He is a coach who has had some recent success...if we give him two years a year early do we really wanna split that rhetorical hair between success and successful?

[Rollo83]

I don't think he's done anything to warrant an extension, especially a multi-year one. If anything, maybe an additional year to see if 2018-19 was the beginning of something or just a lighting-in-a-bottle thing.

Think of how this conversation would be different if we hadn't put together a 10-game win streak in December/January out of the blue. I also keep thinking why it took 3 1/2 years to see anything fruitful from this year's senior class? Seems like wasted talent except for the last few months of their careers.

I also keep contrasting what Huger's done in four years versus what Jans did in one year.

Don't want to settle for mediocrity. I've had 50+ years of that already.

[Flipper]

Jans had an NBA post to work with while Huber had Josh Gomez and true fr Wiggins. Jsns also had Clarke and Henderson..they were better than any Huber began with at BG

[guest44]

Jans inherited an NBA level athlete, and helped develop him into an NBA level player. Jans inherited under achieving Clarke and Henderson and both had great senior seasons for the Falcons. Some of Hugers best coaching was what Wiggins became as his career progressed. The Lillard thing, well I’ll never understand what that was.

One walked into Sleepy Lous nap house, the other a dumpster fire. Both really bad.

[Rollo83]

What Jans has done at New Mexico State has pretty much solidified his reputation as someone who can win and lead a program. I can't say that about Huger...at least not yet. If I had to guess, I'd say he doesn't have it in him.

BG won 12 games they year before Jans got there and finished last in the MAC East. I don't think he inherited the Golden State Warriors.

The other thing that sold me on Jans was after he left, some players complained of his style and methods. After all those years losing under Orr, I am sure they enjoyed winning 21 games. I hear some people say the same thing about Tom Izzo's "style." How's that working out for Michigan State?

[guest44]

Jans is a top level coach. To compare Huger to him probably isn’t fair to be honest. I’ve been beyond critical of Huger, but last year he showed an ability to adapt, and identify that his best player wasn’t Wiggins. The most difficult task he might have next year is trying to figure out how to get all of his guards enough playing time. Fields ability to play defense combined with what Laster brings, makes it hard to find enough minutes for all of them. Perfect example was 2nd half of MAC Championship game. Having too much guard talent, is a great problem to have from the days when Erger and Kraus got playing time while shooting 20 percent from 3.

Does Huger deserve an extension at this point, probably not. Is it necessary, absolutely not. No recruit is concerned about whether he has 2 or 3 years left on his current contract. That’s agent talk. However, BG has a really talented roster and the pieces are in place for a special season.

[hammb]

Jans is a top level coach. To compare Huger to him probably isn’t fair to be honest. I’ve been beyond critical of Huger, but last year he showed an ability to adapt, and identify that his best player wasn’t Wiggins. The most difficult task he might have next year is trying to figure out how to get all of his guards enough playing time. Fields ability to play defense combined with what Laster brings, makes it hard to find enough minutes for all of them. Perfect example was 2nd half of MAC Championship game. Having too much guard talent, is a great problem to have from the days when Erger and Kraus got playing time while shooting 20 percent from 3.

Does Huger deserve an extension at this point, probably not. Is it necessary, absolutely not. No recruit is concerned about whether he has 2 or 3 years left on his current contract. That’s agent talk. However, BG has a really talented roster and the pieces are in place for a special season.

Agreed on most of this.

Only thing I would say is that it IS fair to compare Huger to Jans. Coaches like Jans were exactly what Bill Frack wanted/expected when he made his donations to this university. Up & Coming coaches for 2-3 years on their way to bigger things. That should be the norm if you are hiring the right guys.

But yeah, Jans is clearly an upper echelon coach. Huger's not close to that level, IMO. He has done a fairly good job amassing talent, and like you said, props for making big time changes mid season this year. Hopefully he's realized his errors on roster construction as well, although we're still going to be living with those errors for a couple more years.

[Flipper]

What errors on roster construction? This seems like a very talented group

[Globetrotter]

What errors on roster construction? This seems like a very talented group

Too many 6-9+ guys who can't play in this era.

At one point we were just super small at guard. At another point we had 2 players over 6-6. It's gotten much better lately.

Personally as long as we use that 13th scholarship on an athletic 5 who can give us quality minutes I am happy.

[Flipper]

We have how many 6-9 guys who can't play?

[Falconwriter]

Jans is a top level coach. To compare Huger to him probably isn’t fair to be honest. I’ve been beyond critical of Huger, but last year he showed an ability to adapt, and identify that his best player wasn’t Wiggins. The most difficult task he might have next year is trying to figure out how to get all of his guards enough playing time. Fields ability to play defense combined with what Laster brings, makes it hard to find enough minutes for all of them. Perfect example was 2nd half of MAC Championship game. Having too much guard talent, is a great problem to have from the days when Erger and Kraus got playing time while shooting 20 percent from 3.

Does Huger deserve an extension at this point, probably not. Is it necessary, absolutely not. No recruit is concerned about whether he has 2 or 3 years left on his current contract. That’s agent talk. However, BG has a really talented roster and the pieces are in place for a special season.

Agreed on most of this.

Only thing I would say is that it IS fair to compare Huger to Jans. Coaches like Jans were exactly what Bill Frack wanted/expected when he made his donations to this university. Up & Coming coaches for 2-3 years on their way to bigger things. That should be the norm if you are hiring the right guys.

But yeah, Jans is clearly an upper echelon coach. Huger's not close to that level, IMO. He has done a fairly good job amassing talent, and like you said, props for making big time changes mid season this year. Hopefully he's realized his errors on roster construction as well, although we're still going to be living with those errors for a couple more years.

This is spot on. Especially the part about expectations from a coach (with the Frack donation). It is not unlike life at a Mid Major in football. You want to be a program like Northern Illinois -- that can bring on a new coach and continue to compete for MAC titles. That coach leaves, and another up and comer is hired...and the cycle repeats. If it can be done in football, it can be done in basketball. BG had the start of such a cycle in football, but their replacement hire to Clawson didn't care about what he left behind...so things took a nosedive. Combine that with hiring a guy who was barely an elite high school coach...and look where we're at now. It can all easily turn to shat (obviously).

[Flipper]

Everyone assumes Jan would have done well here after his one season...we don't really know that. IIRC...he had a team that was ready to revolt when he left. Yeah, he had a great year one with an NBA post player and a couple of quality SR guards...but we don't know how the following couple of years would have played out..do we?

I mean the situation he walked into at New Mexico state looks pretty different from what Huger walked into here...

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... ico-state/" target="_blank

[hammb]

What errors on roster construction? This seems like a very talented group

I think this does look like a talented group and the incoming recruiting class looks to be a big step in the right direction.

My complaints have long been that every year we seem to have had 3 posts who could do nothing beyond 5'. That's a dying position. You really don't need 1 anymore,but 3 is overkill. I.e. this season we got about as much from their scholarships as we did the one we gifted to Ethan Good at the end of the year.

We've also frequently had issues with too many very small guards. And finding ourselves in a position where those small guards were among our best 7 players so we had multiple ok the court at the same time. It's really hurt us defensively. This was helped this year by Plowden moving into major minutes along Turner and Lillard. It has also helped that Fields fits my complaint of small guards but can guard bigger than his size would seem to indicate.

Like I said, I hope he's realized his mistakes, and the latest classes are promising. But we've still got to live with a few of the players.