Coach Huger

[BillyLP]

So stupid and unnecessary, but very fitting with what we know of BG athletics.

Let's hope like hell the progress we saw last year was real progress and not an anomaly. Just asinine from our perspective, because if last year WAS the start of something real he'll still be gone in a year or two to a bigger offer anyhow. And if it was just an anomaly we're now handcuffed for an additional 3 years.

It's a pretty safe bet that they are going to have a decent season this year with the amount of talent they have returning, so if they do have another 20+ win season and he gets an offer to a bigger program, at least BG has (I assume) about $1MM buyout coming their way. It's a calculated risk and it makes sense.

If Turner returns (which I expect) I do think they're poised for a big year next year. A year that very well could garner Huger additional offers from larger programs.

But, keeping in mind that he was still under contract for the 2020-2021 season as well all this new deal could potentially be doing after next year is increasing the buyout numbers. IF we assume it was a calculated risk (at this point I"m cynical about BG's athletic dept really calculating anything), I'd really like to see the numbers of that calculation. I mean how much was the buyout raised in order to gamble another 3 seasons of our basketball program. I get that to many of them 3 years is nothing, but to some of us that's a lot of time.

I do have high expectations/hopes for next season. And I'll readily admit Huger made progress as a coach this season. But giving an extension early based one good season when his previous 3 were actually WORSE than the Louis Orr experience is foolish to me.

Yeah, I'd like to see the numbers, too. I have to disagree with your take on it being worse than the Orr years, though. Aside from Orr's NIT season, I don't think any of Huger's seasons have been nearly as bleak. Huger's teams have been frustrating, yes, but I could always see a light at the end of the tunnel because of the talent on the roster. Orr's teams were just overall not very fun to watch.

[guest44]

This is so Bowling Green. 415K and an extra 3 when Huger has very little to no leverage. When he does, he leaves like all the others do. He wasn’t a real candidate anywhere in the offseason. He has 1 winning season. But, per the usual BG falls for the agent smoke screen. If BG stumbles below expectations next year, this will look Jinks ridiculous.

[hammb]

So stupid and unnecessary, but very fitting with what we know of BG athletics.

Let's hope like hell the progress we saw last year was real progress and not an anomaly. Just asinine from our perspective, because if last year WAS the start of something real he'll still be gone in a year or two to a bigger offer anyhow. And if it was just an anomaly we're now handcuffed for an additional 3 years.

It's a pretty safe bet that they are going to have a decent season this year with the amount of talent they have returning, so if they do have another 20+ win season and he gets an offer to a bigger program, at least BG has (I assume) about $1MM buyout coming their way. It's a calculated risk and it makes sense.

If Turner returns (which I expect) I do think they're poised for a big year next year. A year that very well could garner Huger additional offers from larger programs.

But, keeping in mind that he was still under contract for the 2020-2021 season as well all this new deal could potentially be doing after next year is increasing the buyout numbers. IF we assume it was a calculated risk (at this point I"m cynical about BG's athletic dept really calculating anything), I'd really like to see the numbers of that calculation. I mean how much was the buyout raised in order to gamble another 3 seasons of our basketball program. I get that to many of them 3 years is nothing, but to some of us that's a lot of time.

I do have high expectations/hopes for next season. And I'll readily admit Huger made progress as a coach this season. But giving an extension early based one good season when his previous 3 were actually WORSE than the Louis Orr experience is foolish to me.

Yeah, I'd like to see the numbers, too. I have to disagree with your take on it being worse than the Orr years, though. Aside from Orr's NIT season, I don't think any of Huger's seasons have been nearly as bleak. Huger's teams have been frustrating, yes, but I could always see a light at the end of the tunnel because of the talent on the roster. Orr's teams were just overall not very fun to watch.

Based on MAC winning percentage, which is probably the most important thing in BG hoops, his first 3 years were worse than Orr. Not sure how it compares if you remove Orr's one decent season, but either way it was awful.

Last year was awesome. But prior to that great stretch from December and then a nice run in March the Huger era was nearly identical to the Orr era.

[Schadenfreude]

OFFICIAL: Huger received a 3-year extension through 2023-2024.

Like others, I was thinking two years. But Huger earned this.

It's great to see an alumnus have the kind of season he had. Let's hope we can keep this going.

[TommyG]

OFFICIAL: Huger received a 3-year extension through 2023-2024.

Like others, I was thinking two years. But Huger earned this.

It's great to see an alumnus have the kind of season he had. Let's hope we can keep this going.

Funny how “earned this” has changed meaning over the years. Since Greg Christopher, we reward our revenue coaches for showing even a slight sign of progress with automatic contract extensions. Personally I think he hasn’t come close to earning a 3 year extension and I hope we don’t take a quick step back and immediately regret the decision.
I mean if Huger got hired away tomorrow would BG or the fan base really be all that upset? Talent level has improved no doubt....but it’s not like he’s built a winning culture or shown a team that executes and competes on a consistently high level. Just another decision made by a fundraiser that doesn’t know a whole lot about building successful programs.

[MacGuy]

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 love with a few of the players.

They certainly have the looks of a balanced roster coming in, adding another PG and wings of 6'5" & 6'7". I agree with Globe though that we need an athletic post to be able to come in and play right away.

Unless by some miracle a switch flips for Gadson/Mattos. I wouldn't count on it though. Gadsen is just an enigma...dude looks like an upper echelon athlete. Athletes of his size should be, at the very least, competent MAC big men. Baffled how he has been unable to even get on the floor. And Mattos, while not as athletic as Gadson certainly had a bit of respect as a prospect. Maybe they just didn't fit the rotation last year with 2 senior post players taking the bulk of the minutes, but it'd be rare for guys who barely saw the floor to suddenly produce.

Barring a late addition like you're hoping for, I think we're going to need to get at least 15-20 mpg from those guys next year.

Huger doesn't seem to think we need another big. I firmly disagree......https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/bgsu ... 0190407040" target="_blank

"While the Falcons are losing Wiggins and backup center Jeffrey Uju, Huger said he isn’t necessarily targeting another post player for next season’s roster."

As an aside that article is pointless. It tells us nothing.

A coach just signed three players. How do they fit on the roster? What's your educated guess Huger? No one is holding you to anything.
Our offense was bad anytime we weren't making threes? Can't you ask him about that? How will that improve?
If we don't have a new post player how do we compete against teams with size?
And the crown jewel. There is one scholarship left.....Why haven't you used all of your scholarships?

I know journalists don't make much money, and he has lots of stuff to cover but there is really zero point of putting out an article like this. If you were in journalism wouldn't you ask these questions? Wouldn't you want to know and write something interesting?

I read that article this morning and thought the same. This same article could have been written citing this message board as your primary source. We return more talent than anybody else in the MAC. We have a promising recruiting class coming in. We have questions in the post. yadda yadda.

What a colossal waste of having access to the coach to not ask any pertinent questions. Not even draw out, perhaps, the thoughts on the current post players on the roster? How the incoming recruits could possibly contribute? Nothing...

Piotrowicz is still pretty new to the BG beat, but I've not been overly impressed by the reporting yet. I continue to believe Briggs is the only one in the area that covers BG & UT athletics with a willingness to ask tougher questions and voice some of the same criticisms we fans have. I wish they could devote Briggs solely to BG & UT athletics, but alas he's spread all over the place.

Briggs is a columnist, not a beat writer

[Flipper]

I have zero issues with this extension...zero

[Hockey John]

I have zero issues with this extension...zero

I agree. Our talent level has definitely improved.

[Falconwriter]

OFFICIAL: Huger received a 3-year extension through 2023-2024.

Like others, I was thinking two years. But Huger earned this.

It's great to see an alumnus have the kind of season he had. Let's hope we can keep this going.

I'm with Hamm...really not a smart move on the part of BG. I thought we'd learned the lesson from similar past mistakes, but apparently not. He had a full year yet to go, and if he duplicated or (hopefully) exceeded last year, then go ahead and give him a full extension.

And I do not buy that it hurts recruiting. In today's game, it's far too easy to simply transfer out and immediately become eligible, especially when there's a coaching change. BG reacted as if he were a hot commodity, and that simply wasn't the case.

I hope this turns out to be a great move, but I am extremely skeptical. If it does work out as hoped, I'll happily eat my portion of crow.

[MarkL]

I said earlier on this thread ... or maybe a other thread ... that a one, max two year extension was warranted. It would be difficult to recruit players without some kind of extension for a good season. The fact that a coach is not rewarded could be used as negative recruiting. But a small extension wouldn't seal us with him for too long should one successful year be an anomaly.

I'm not sure three years is the right idea. Possibly biasing me is I graduated the year Louis Orr won the regular season and got an extension. It was a surefire thing that he was the real deal. We just locked in a guaranteed successful coach. And instead we locked ourselves into years of mediocrity. So I guess pessimism about the basketball program is just ingrained in me now.

Yes Huger has earned it. My question is if it is the right call for the BG program. Let's hope it is.

[guest44]

How is it good for BG? That's my question. In PR maybe initially, but soon after that it is all risk. Huger was coaching BGSU basketball next season regardless. BG already gave him a 6 year contract at the beginning, which was a gift. It's not about Huger. It's about the mindset that this makes sense for BGSU. His agent floated his and several of his clients names for a job at George Washington, that's all. He was never going anywhere, and when and if an offer is made to him, he is gone. Now when he leaves, BGSU will be forced to pay more than 415K for 6 years to his replacement because that is the going rate. Let's just hope BG isn't paying him and the new coach like Jinks and Roos, or letting him rot like Louis Orr. Be ready for the Blade to print the poor BGSU Athletics has no money, if and when teams lose.

[Rollo83]

Last year was fun during stretches and down right painful in others. Much more competitive than in Huger's previous years. But, that was to be expected with a veteran team,

Pros
1. Put together a nice 10-game win streak in December and January
2. Made a nice run in MAC Tournament

Cons
1. Didn't win MAC East
2. Didn't win MAC Tournament
3. Struggled mightily to win 20 games down the stretch
4. Lost 4 of 5 games in late-February and early-March to give up East title. Three of losses to bottom teams Ohio, Miami and Akron

Hate to see us give out another three years based on that. Something tells me we'll be regretting this a couple years down the road.

I think we'll be competitive in the east next year but I stop short of saying were the odds on favorites. Not sure who our bigs will be next year other than Plowden?


Too many questions and not enough answers for me to agree to the extension.

[Matty B]

Last year was fun during stretches and down right painful in others. Much more competitive than in Huger's previous years. But, that was to be expected with a veteran team,

Pros
1. Put together a nice 10-game win streak in December and January
2. Made a nice run in MAC Tournament

Cons
1. Didn't win MAC East
2. Didn't win MAC Tournament
3. Struggled mightily to win 20 games down the stretch
4. Lost 4 of 5 games in late-February and early-March to give up East title. Three of losses to bottom teams Ohio, Miami and Akron

Hate to see us give out another three years based on that. Something tells me we'll be regretting this a couple years down the road.

I think we'll be competitive in the east next year but I stop short of saying were the odds on favorites. Not sure who our bigs will be next year other than Plowden?


Too many questions and not enough answers for me to agree to the extension.

That buffalo team was as good a MAC team that we've seen in nearly a decade. No shame in coming in 2nd place to that squad.

[hammb]

Last year was fun during stretches and down right painful in others. Much more competitive than in Huger's previous years. But, that was to be expected with a veteran team,

Pros
1. Put together a nice 10-game win streak in December and January
2. Made a nice run in MAC Tournament

Cons
1. Didn't win MAC East
2. Didn't win MAC Tournament
3. Struggled mightily to win 20 games down the stretch
4. Lost 4 of 5 games in late-February and early-March to give up East title. Three of losses to bottom teams Ohio, Miami and Akron

Hate to see us give out another three years based on that. Something tells me we'll be regretting this a couple years down the road.

I think we'll be competitive in the east next year but I stop short of saying were the odds on favorites. Not sure who our bigs will be next year other than Plowden?


Too many questions and not enough answers for me to agree to the extension.

That buffalo team was as good a MAC team that we've seen in nearly a decade. No shame in coming in 2nd place to that squad.

Total agreement with that in the big picture. Tough to ignore the way we fell apart down the stretch in conference play though. No shame at all in UB winning the MAC East, but the losses to OU, Miami, and Akron down the stretch were painful.

In the end the run in the conference tourney more than makes up for that painful stretch, but when looking at the total body of work that stretch was really bad.