Offseason Potpourri

[Silverbacked1]

35 minutes ago, throwback said:

[rant]

 

Well, it's after the Final Four. It's after the Spring Game. Yet still no word from the AD's office.

 

43 days since we've played a game. And all we've "heard" from the AD is a tweet. 

 

It's beyond time to lay out his vision for the program. What is the plan? I don't want to hear an ultimatum for 2017-18 - that almost never works out well for either party. But you can still articulate long term expectations for the program that don't have to include an ultimatum.

 

To me, at least part this sh!tst0rm of an offseason has come from the silence from above. Since we're more than a week into the signing period, it's probably too late, but if you have enough faith in Coach Miles to keep him for 2017-18, then say it publicly. It really isn't that difficult. 

 

If he isn't your guy, then you should have fired him. Rip off the Band-Aid and start fresh. This wishy-washy lack of comments just results in doubt and confusion. And rumors. Tons and tons and tons of rumors.

 

Time for him to come out of his bunker and make an appearance. Even public company CEOs have to speak to the shareholders once a quarter. And there are a lot of public companies that don't operate organizations that make $125M+ per year, as NU is about to make.

 

The AD can't be a hermit. He/she has to be a leader, inspire confidence, etc. He/she doesn't have to be Stevie P and hold a press conference every time he/she has a successful bowel movement, but there's a happy medium there.

 

 

PS - And while he's making his rare media appearance, how about laying out his vision for NU's overall athletic program going forward? We're going to be seeing the full Big Ten share in less than 2 1/2 months. If there was ever a time to have a rock solid, long term plan in place, this would be it. How's about sharing at least an overview of it with the paying public?

 

Where is that money going? Hopefully a cut in ticket prices, even a small one, is on the table. Hopefully an idea of adding several more layers of bureaucracy in the AD's office is not.

 

With a $25M-$35M jump in the athletics budget on the horizon, that should push NU into the Top 15, if not the Top 10, of all athletic departments in funding.

 

Time to start acting like we belong there.

 

/ [rant]

 

Geez what a Energy Vampire!

[49r]

I swear to GOD LeeBee is constantly monitoring HHC...

 

 

 

[hhcmatt]

3 minutes ago, 49r said:

I swear to GOD LeeBee is constantly monitoring HHC...

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't say so. He's as interested in the post-season meeting probably as much as anyone.

[HuskerFever]

51 minutes ago, throwback said:

43 days since we've played a game. And all we've "heard" from the AD is a tweet. ...but if you have enough faith in Coach Miles to keep him for 2017-18, then say it publicly. It really isn't that difficult. If he isn't your guy, then you should have fired him. Rip off the Band-Aid and start fresh. This wishy-washy lack of comments just results in doubt and confusion. And rumors. Tons and tons and tons of rumors.

 

26 minutes ago, Buglem said:

If he is planning to keep Miles around and actually wants him to be successful, there is no reason to not publicly talk about the program and say Miles is your guy.

 

I'm all for a good AD bashing from time to time, and I know this tweet might not be sufficient for some people:

 

 

<devil's advocate>

 

But what more are you looking for from the AD in terms of Tim Miles leading our team? What does Eichorst really owe us?

 

</ devil's advocate>

[Buglem]

2 minutes ago, HuskerFever said:

 

 

I'm all for a good AD bashing from time to time, and I know this tweet might not be sufficient for some people:

 

 

<devil's advocate>

 

But what more are you looking for from the AD in terms of Tim Miles leading our team? What does Eichorst really owe us?

 

</ devil's advocate>

It's a fair question.  When the season first ended I thought he handled it well by getting in front of it right after the last game.  At that same time, he said he would talk about it "after the final 4".  In the time that passed between our last game and the final 4, a lot in the program changed (at least as viewed from the outside).  The transfers changed the entire offseason dialogue.  There were rumors swirling everywhere about more transfers, coaching changes, etc.  Maybe it was wrong of everyone to assume that "after the final 4" meant immediately after (like that week) but especially with all of the noise about the state of the program it was either very calculated or very tone-deaf of the AD to not address the media.  Even another simple tweet like "disappointed with the transfers but the future is bright under Coach Miles" would have quieted a lot of the noise.  IMO, Eichorst is a smart guy and knew exactly what he was doing by not speaking about the program.  He made the coaching staff's jobs even harder on the recruiting front and just fed the rumor machine.  A more cynical person might think he was purposefully trying to make Miles flame out so he can hire "his guy" as soon as possible.  

 

So to answer your question "But what more are you looking for from the AD in terms of Tim Miles leading our team? What does Eichorst really owe us?" - a LOT changed since that one tweet and as the leader of a multi-million $ organization with a very active and interested stakeholder base he owes us what he promised - an update.  A timely update would be even better.

 

One thing to add, I've been a big supporter of Miles over the years.  I'm now firmly on the fence on whether he can be successful.  My issue with how this has been handled has nothing to do with being a "Miles guy" or a "fire Miles guy".  It has EVERYTHING to do with being a die-hard Nebrasketball fan that wants to see an AD act like he wants us to be successful.

[Fullbacksympathy]

I think a responsible AD should wait until the recruiting process is complete before commenting on the state of the program beyond his most recent tweet regarding Miles' job next season.  It is a very strong possibility that we are going to be fielding a more talented roster next year (if we aren't already) despite the recent departures.  It's clearly not a part of Eichorst's leadership philosophy to do a ton of micromanaging regarding his coaches.  I don't have a problem with this, and I don't know very many experts of any fields who enjoy a boss lording over their work and providing distractions.  He's letting Miles be the captain of his own ship, and I have no problem with this whatsoever.  In doing so, Eichorst has truly left the responsibility of job performance almost entirely on Miles.

 

What Eichorst has done is open up the checkbook for assistants and provided TM with every recruiting luxury imaginable.  That's what a good AD does.  

 

Now, I believe the job Eichorst is doing with his actual hires is VERY much up in the air at this point.  The women's basketball situation is a colossal failure.  I think football's fate will be decided in the next two years one way or another.  But the state of men's BB is not Eichorst's fault or credit, in my opinion.  If TM turns it around next season, that's still an Osborne hire, but SE will look wise for not pulling the trigger early.  If TM is gone after next season, Eichorst will have a good opportunity to redeem himself with a good basketball hire.  Either way, I think his decision to not give an extension to TM while also keeping him on for next year was a very good, well-thought-out decision.  

[throwback]

Ha - not a popular rant. I may or may not have had my morning coffee before tying my rant. To be fair, I did label it as a rant, so that was fair warning. 

 

I guess I'm old fashioned in that a tweet isn't sufficient for me. If it is for some people, I understand.

 

But I believe any leader in a position like the AD needs to present ideas/plans and then open him/herself to questions from the media. Without opening yourself up to questions, it gives the appearance that you don't necessarily believe in what you've stated in a press release/statement/tweet. Your ideas/plans have to pass the "smell" test. Without press conferences to explain yourself beyond a tweet, you're just fueling conspiracy theories and rumors. It's tough to get people behind your plans without scrutiny of the plans.

 

Waiting 6+ weeks to address the season and discuss a long term vision for the second biggest program that you're overseeing is just far too long for something that could be handled in a 30-minute press conference. It makes no sense to me, and it does nothing to help the program. 

 

A big time athletic dept is more like a publicly traded company than ever. You have to sell people on your plans. You have to generate confidence. Like Mr. Barfknecht always says, as an AD you have to sell hope or winning to keep people on board with a particular program.

 

What we've heard - or haven't heard - over the past 6 weeks hasn't done any of that, at least for me.

 

Hopefully he does speak to the media next week and is able to present some ideas/plans that will help move the program forward and put a rest to all of the speculation and rumors that do nothing to help the situation.

[throwback]

1 hour ago, LK1 said:

... If TM turns it around next season, that's still an Osborne hire, but SE will look wise for not pulling the trigger early.  If TM is gone after next season, Eichorst will have a good opportunity to redeem himself with a good basketball hire.  Either way, I think his decision to not give an extension to TM while also keeping him on for next year was a very good, well-thought-out decision.  

Maybe this isn't what you meant, but right now, we don't know if he plans to extend Coach Miles' contract and keep it at a 4-year contract. He hasn't said. He didn't extend it last year, but we don't know yet for this year. Perhaps that will be addressed next week, although last year, the drop back to a 4-yr contract wasn't announced till August.

 

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/mens-basketball/no-contract-extension-for-tim-miles-shawn-eichorst-optimistic-about/article_cc04a41e-5a89-11e6-9c39-c751a2b50988.html

 

Eichorst granted the 1-year extension after '15 to keep him at a 5-yr contract. He didn't after '16, so he dropped to a 4-yr contract. I don't have a problem with that. 4 years is plenty in terms of stability, and the teams' performance in '15 and '16 didn't warrant an extension..

 

Obviously, this year's performance doesn't exactly warrant an extension either. 

 

However, the industry standard does warrant keeping a coach at a 4-yr contract.

 

And I guess I don't see the wisdom in not extending him another year to keep it at a 4-yr contract. If they fail next year, and he's fired, you're only saving $900K roughly by dropping him to a 3-yr contract. For a department that will have a $125M+ budget, that's not much.

 

But if your scenario comes true, and they win big next year, now you have to deal with the hard feelings if you drop the coach to a 3-yr deal that could cause him to be looking around after a good season. If they have a big season next year and you lose him to another school because the AD was trying to cheap out on the buyout, that's not going to go over well with fans. 

 

In my mind, if you believe in the coach enough to keep him around, you keep him at a 4-yr contract (or whatever the "standard" is for that sport.) That's just part of the cost of doing business these days. To me, that would go for any coach, not just Coach Miles. Trying to save a bit of money down the road just isn't worth the hard feelings or the potential ramifications, not for a big time athletic department.

[HuskerFever]

25 minutes ago, throwback said:

In my mind, if you believe in the coach enough to keep him around, you keep him at a 4-yr contract (or whatever the "standard" is for that sport.) That's just part of the cost of doing business these days.

 

That's my opinion as well. But there is the possibility that Eichorst really doesn't believe in Miles as a coach and is keeping him on staff because (1) his target replacement(s) declined the potential opportunity or (2) he didn't find any key potential replacements this year but foresees bigger opportunities next year. Or, I guess, (3) it's Eichorst. Who the heck knows what's going on in that head of his?

[hal9000]

Ah, those successful bowel movement press conferences.  Good times.

[Fullbacksympathy]

1 hour ago, HuskerFever said:

 

That's my opinion as well. But there is the possibility that Eichorst really doesn't believe in Miles as a coach and is keeping him on staff because (1) his target replacement(s) declined the potential opportunity or (2) he didn't find any key potential replacements this year but foresees bigger opportunities next year. Or, I guess, (3) it's Eichorst. Who the heck knows what's going on in that head of his?

 

I just think an extension would've been premature, pretentious, and dishonest at this point in Miles' tenure.  Miles hasn't earned it, so Eichorst didn't give him one.  I don't think it's about belief.  I think there is a very basic agreement in place that will eventually have to come down to wins.  I don't particularly want an AD in place who throws money around based on beliefs.  

 

Having said this, Miles has completely transformed the recruiting culture of Nebraska and the level of athlete we're expecting to step out onto the court.  I think that's where the leniency has been to this point.  Now those players are upperclassmen.  Time to show he can coach.  I'm pulling for him, and I think Eichorst is, too, or else TM would've been canned after this past season.  Field at least a bubble team next year and I'd be shocked if the extension doesn't happen.  

[Chuck Taylor]

I hadn't seen this posted elsewhere, interesting look at the state of the program:

 

https://hailvarsity.com/s/1387/padding-the-stats-finding-an-identity

[jimmykc]

Never heard of Jacob Padilla, but he makes some pretty good points.

[49r]

2 hours ago, jimmykc said:

Never heard of Jacob Padilla

 

He's a Creighton grad and Bluejay fan (maybe a Jaysker at best) also a regular poster over at the Bluejay Underground.  Why in God's name anyone would take him seriously on anything related to Nebraska basketball is beyond me.

[nustudent]

He wasn't exactly wrong 

[OmahaHusker]

56 minutes ago, 49r said:

 

He's a Creighton grad and Bluejay fan (maybe a Jaysker at best) also a regular poster over at the Bluejay Underground.  Why in God's name anyone would take him seriously on anything related to Nebraska basketball is beyond me.

 

Jacob always has some good takes on both Nebraska and Creighton he's a solid source for anything basketball 

[Thattimeofyear4]

Check out @nbasfuture's Tweet:

I said this in another post somewhere I'm sure
but with quite a few of these type of athletes on the team now
I'm expecting a faster paced run and gun ally-oop type offense


Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

[Thattimeofyear4]

Check out @nbasfuture's Tweet:
[url=

][/url]
I said this in another post somewhere I'm sure
but with quite a few of these type of athletes on the team now
I'm expecting a faster paced run and gun ally-oop type offense


Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

Check out @nbasfuture's Tweet:

Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

[uneblinstu]

Padilla's a good dude. Knows his basketball. Decent writer.

[hhcmatt]

 

On 4/23/2017 at 7:56 AM, Chuck Taylor said:

I hadn't seen this posted elsewhere, interesting look at the state of the program:

 

https://hailvarsity.com/s/1387/padding-the-stats-finding-an-identity

 

Let me just beat my drum about assists numbers:

Assists are a style statistic. It's an indication of how you score the basketball, not how well you score the basketball.

Here are, for instance, Duke's offensive efficiency numbers vs their assist percentage. They consistently have one of the best offensives in Div 1 despite their relative lack of passing. 

Side note about assists: it's a subjective stat dictated by the home team.   

 

I agree that Padilla knows his basketball but his combination of youth and Creighton-ness led him to write the following

 

 

Once again, assists are a style.  It's a style that Creighton runs and they win. It's not Nebraska's style, they don't win.  It's that simple, right? 

It's that thinking that basically had him pen a article about Nebraska having no identity when it really does have an identity: We run a dribble drive motion offense that could use more players suited to run it. 

 

Here are the numbers: Miles has consistently been in the lower end of assist% his entire Div 1 career. Sometimes that offense works; sometimes it's terrible.

 

I think his point about not being able to find a style because we aren't specifically trying to generate offense through passing the ball is a flawed point.  I also think it's the selling point we used for landing combo guard Thomas Allen.  There is more than one way to win at basketball.

 

[Thattimeofyear4]

 
 
Let me just beat my drum about assists numbers:
Assists are a style statistic. It's an indication of how you score the basketball, not how well you score the basketball.
Here are, for instance, Duke's offensive efficiency numbers vs their assist percentage. They consistently have one of the best offensives in Div 1 despite their relative lack of passing. 

Side note about assists: it's a subjective stat dictated by the home team.   
 
I agree that Padilla knows his basketball but his combination of youth and Creighton-ness led him to write the following
 

 
Once again, assists are a style.  It's a style that Creighton runs and they win. It's not Nebraska's style, they don't win.  It's that simple, right? 
It's that thinking that basically had him pen a article about Nebraska having no identity when it really does have an identity: We run a dribble drive motion offense that could use more players suited to run it. 
 
Here are the numbers: Miles has consistently been in the lower end of assist% his entire Div 1 career. Sometimes that offense works; sometimes it's terrible.

 
I think his point about not being able to find a style because we aren't specifically trying to generate offense through passing the ball is a flawed point.  I also think it's the selling point we used for landing combo guard Thomas Allen.  There is more than one way to win at basketball.
 

The question I have is does Miles have the pieces for his system to be successful now.
I guess I'm not understanding all the fire him talk either
it may be taking longer to win but man it is hard to build a culture of winning somewhere that's never really had 1
I'd imagine.


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[hhcmatt]

16 minutes ago, Thattimeofyear4 said:

The question I have is does Miles have the pieces for his system to be successful now.

 

We're going to need a lot of contribution from guys who have never played a minute here plus better years from most of the returning guys. Also, we're going to need to figure out how to make all those pieces fit together. I hope so but the odds aren't really in our favor.

[AuroranHusker]

I guess we'll have to wait and see.... here's hoping for dancing shoes come March 2018.

[HuskerFever]

Love the optimism from everyone, but dimes shares my views on this. We've got a lot of players who haven't played a minute under Miles' system, haven't played together (in college), and don't have much collegiate experience in a power five conference. It's going to take a lot of good luck, talent, and healthy and determined players to get it done. That can definitely happen. We've seen it in the last five years, but if the recent past is any indication of future success, it's going to be a big uphill battle. Just think back to the last five years where we've had young talent come onto our roster, have high hopes to be a big factor on the court, and then disappoint (although some have gotten progressively better over time).

 

That said, I might start browsing for shoes in preparation for the dance.

[Navin R. Johnson]

3 minutes ago, HuskerFever said:

Love the optimism from everyone, but dimes shares my views on this. We've got a lot of players who haven't played a minute under Miles' system, haven't played together (in college), and don't have much collegiate experience in a power five conference. It's going to take a lot of good luck, talent, and healthy and determined players to get it done. That can definitely happen. We've seen it in the last five years, but if the recent past is any indication of future success, it's going to be a big uphill battle. Just think back to the last five years where we've had young talent come onto our roster, have high hopes to be a big factor on the court, and then disappoint (although some have gotten progressively better over time).

 

That said, I might start browsing for shoes in preparation for the dance.

 

Just don't tell my wife that.  The last thing she needs is a reason to go shop for shoes!