James Palmer/Cookie Belcher

[Dead Dog Alley]

So Cookie Belcher, one of the best players in school history, who it could be argued was better than any player we've had since, comes back for a fifth year after having to take a medical redshirt the previous year in what became a disastrous season.  He has some talented players coming back with him, but then a new coach is hired, the new guy kind of lets the roster fall apart, and he recruits a bunch of guys who averaged 3 points a game in the Jayhawk Conference (or some such nonsense).

 

And then he insists on installing his "system" with a bunch of guys who are talented open court players, most of whom are seniors.  Why install a system that doesn't fit your players when your players won't be there the next year anyway?  So what should have been a good roster - - - straight down the toilet.

 

The. Single. Worst. Coaching. Job. Of. All. Time.

 

I must admit that I loudly called for Collier's firing after the very first game I saw him coach, in which we lost at the end because of truly incompetent coaching.  I was greeted by the guy sitting in front of me who turned around and said "up yours pal, at least this guy has class".  If that guy is on this board, I would like to apologize for the sin of being overly boisterous, and also for being completely right.  (Sorry, I guess I'm still bitter.)

 

Edited January 26, 2018 by Dead Dog Alley

[HB]

8 hours ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

So Cookie Belcher, one of the best players in school history, who it could be argued was better than any player we've had since, comes back for a fifth year after having to take a medical redshirt the previous year in what became a disastrous season.  He has some talented players coming back with him, but then a new coach is hired, the new guy kind of lets the roster fall apart, and he recruits a bunch of guys who averaged 3 points a game in the Jayhawk Conference (or some such nonsense).

 

And then he insists on installing his "system" with a bunch of guys who are talented open court players, most of whom are seniors.  Why install a system that doesn't fit your players when your players won't be there the next year anyway?  So what should have been a good roster - - - straight down the toilet.

 

The. Single. Worst. Coaching. Job. Of. All. Time.

 

I must admit that I loudly called for Collier's firing after the very first game I saw him coach, in which we lost at the end because of truly incompetent coaching.  I was greeted by the guy sitting in front of me who turned around and said "up yours pal, at least this guy has class".  If that guy is on this board, I would like to apologize for the sin of being overly boisterous, and also for being completely right.  (Sorry, I guess I'm still bitter.)

 

 

Yeah, pretty much all of this.   I commend to you the home game that year against Western Carolina.    
 

[Norm Peterson]

10 hours ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

So Cookie Belcher, one of the best players in school history, who it could be argued was better than any player we've had since, comes back for a fifth year after having to take a medical redshirt the previous year in what became a disastrous season.  He has some talented players coming back with him, but then a new coach is hired, the new guy kind of lets the roster fall apart, and he recruits a bunch of guys who averaged 3 points a game in the Jayhawk Conference (or some such nonsense).

 

And then he insists on installing his "system" with a bunch of guys who are talented open court players, most of whom are seniors.  Why install a system that doesn't fit your players when your players won't be there the next year anyway?  So what should have been a good roster - - - straight down the toilet.

 

The. Single. Worst. Coaching. Job. Of. All. Time.

 

I must admit that I loudly called for Collier's firing after the very first game I saw him coach, in which we lost at the end because of truly incompetent coaching.  I was greeted by the guy sitting in front of me who turned around and said "up yours pal, at least this guy has class".  If that guy is on this board, I would like to apologize for the sin of being overly boisterous, and also for being completely right.  (Sorry, I guess I'm still bitter.)

 

 

You forgot to mention that he didn't do anything/much/enough to try to keep Louis Truscott in the fold at a time where we lacked size and ended up having to give minutes to one of those guys from the Jayhawk Conference who averaged 3 points per game in juco.

 

It was clear to me we had cause for great concern when Collier started signing guys like Danai Young and Kedrick Ford.  Under Nee, when we brought in juco kids, we brought in juco All-Americans.  Those first couple of Collier recruits were seriously like third-team All-conference.  When I read that in the paper, my first reaction was "ooh boy, this mid-major coach has no idea what kind of talent it takes to compete in a big boy league."

 

Having said that, I really liked a couple of the guys in his second recruiting class, including Jake Muhleisen and John Turek.  But Collier sealed his fate by bringing in so many mediocre players his first couple of years and being saddled with that weird 5/8 rule that didn't allow him to get out from under some of his recruiting mistakes until it was basically too late.