Man, I'm mostly not thinking about work today if I don't have to.I'm glad I didn't bother going through it. I see you getting ready for "7 things thinking on a Thursday" already.
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Shaka is a damn good coach)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
The SWC was dogshit while he was there. He was 1-2 in bowl games. No top 10 finishes in 6 years. He lost to pre Briles Baylor, when Baylor was on par with a 3a high school team. Yeah, I'll give props to him for catching Nebraska off guard. Not a damn good coach.
No, I think even less fit into great.
IE: Calipari, K, Boheim, Pitino, Izzo, Wright, self, williams.
"damn good": Miller, Few, Barnes, Kruger, Marshall, Bennett, Mack, Matta, Huggins, Beilein, Ryan.
Shaka isn't close to any of the coaches in the "damn good" section IMO over the last 8-9 years. And I'm sure I'm leaving out a few. Thats 20 coaches (and as stated I'm sure I'm missing a few). Just how many out there are "damn good" or great?
It's becoming clear some of you have incredibly high standards for "damn good coach"
I'd hate to hear the bar for being called great.
Is Tom Herman a "damn good coach"?
Was teetering with a few from the damn good to great. I can listen to that argument much more than Shaka being damn good.
Couple of things keep him out. coached 18 years only past S16 2 times. Thats good, damn good, but not great. To a lesser extent, never done it in a big time conference. I do think Few is very damn good, but he isn't great. Not yet.
You wouldn't take Shaka over anyone I listed. And sooner or later the superlatives have to stop once you get past 20-25 coaches. You can be just plain good. the last 5 years put Shaka in a debatable position to even be listed as plain good.
Last edited:
ketch,
I read the article (stating that so it doesn't get thrown back at my reply). The frustrating thing about your commentary is if feels like you're nitpicking over word choices rather than the spirit of your stance. You say things like 'he's a hell of a coach' and "Big 12 coach of the year candidate" then balk when people accuse you of saying he's a "great coach". To many, it's a generally held belief that to be a coach of the year candidate you've had to have done a great job so feels like you're really trying to split hairs there.
Another thing that I think many will take issue with is you using the volume of close quality losses against as a positive sign he's actually doing better than we think. To me this is actually my greatest concern with Shaka. I recognize that wins and losses are always a shared responsibility, but the common theme in a lot of the losses has been our inability to execute in late game situations. I acknowledge that inexperience is a key factor in this, but from many's perspective, mine included, when it becomes a consistent pattern of stagnancy on offense in particular, then that falls at the coach's feet for not being able to put his players in positions to succeed.
Another note that I took away was you citing his coaching of the US U-18 team as a reason for why he can actually coach, but when it comes to acknowledging his recruiting prowess, you don't mention that at all? Seems a bit selective on your part. Where would his recruiting be if he didn't coach a team with Allen, Coleman, Bamba, and Banks? Perhaps you're even overrating his abilities on that front?
I read the article (stating that so it doesn't get thrown back at my reply). The frustrating thing about your commentary is if feels like you're nitpicking over word choices rather than the spirit of your stance. You say things like 'he's a hell of a coach' and "Big 12 coach of the year candidate" then balk when people accuse you of saying he's a "great coach". To many, it's a generally held belief that to be a coach of the year candidate you've had to have done a great job so feels like you're really trying to split hairs there.
Another thing that I think many will take issue with is you using the volume of close quality losses against as a positive sign he's actually doing better than we think. To me this is actually my greatest concern with Shaka. I recognize that wins and losses are always a shared responsibility, but the common theme in a lot of the losses has been our inability to execute in late game situations. I acknowledge that inexperience is a key factor in this, but from many's perspective, mine included, when it becomes a consistent pattern of stagnancy on offense in particular, then that falls at the coach's feet for not being able to put his players in positions to succeed.
Another note that I took away was you citing his coaching of the US U-18 team as a reason for why he can actually coach, but when it comes to acknowledging his recruiting prowess, you don't mention that at all? Seems a bit selective on your part. Where would his recruiting be if he didn't coach a team with Allen, Coleman, Bamba, and Banks? Perhaps you're even overrating his abilities on that front?
I gave the bar for great. Its about 8 guys. And the bar for damn good should be very high.
Herman is on the way to being a damn good coach. You have to have more skins on the wall than 3 seasons. I would say you could see the writing on the wall that he will be one (kinda like Shaka was at one point), but that doesn't always come to fruition. Once again see what Shaka is doing now.
I do think he has done a damn fine job this year, given his circumstances.
Some of your thoughts are spot on.
Fair points on the recruiting question, although this incoming class is pretty good and no Big 12 school signed a better small- or power forward than he did.
I just wouldn't put Mackovic in that category. I'd say losing to a team like 1996 Baylor disqualifies you from the "damn good coach" category.
As for Herman, he's definitely doing things to put himself into a position to becoming a damn good coach, but obviously not there yet. I'm guessing using the same standards you use for Shaka and Mackovic, you would consider Herman a damn good coach?
Not sure IMO. Obviously we are using terms in which, without any metrics to defines, have broad interpretations. But not quite ready to put Few in the "great" category just yet.
gotta have more than 2 years in 18 past the S16 to get into the great category. I'd put a few others I listed in the "damn good" group ahead of Few to get into the great group. And if Ketch is honest with himself he wouldn't take Shaka over anyone I listed. How long does the list get before you are out of the "damn good" category?
fair enough.
I would call him one,but we're coming from different contexts and translations of the words.
Ok how was that for coaching offensive sets?
Ugly or Havoc or just Confusion?
A bad 3 point shooting team puts up 33% of their shots from behind the 3 pt. Line and scores 6 points in first 10 minutes of the 2nd half.
And that Sims isn’t playing more is a crime, the only thing he is doing wrong is making the other players look bad because he plays like every possession matters.
Saying he is a "damn good coach" in the present moment is just a silly take. Ketch keeps saying he is not just good but damn good.
If a burger joint opens up, I might ask a friend how it is. If they say "it's good," I may go visit if I'm in the area and have no better options. If I ask about the burger and the friend says it is "damn good" I'm going to make it a point to get over there and see just how good the burger really is. Damn good is a very high level; Shaka is not there.
Shaka is not "damn good" by any metric. Sure he had a damn good run back in 2011 but that's not relative to him now or his success at Texas (2011 at VCU is irrelevant to his coaching at Texas.) Shaka has been far from damn good. I would say his offenses is not just bad but damn bad. A damn good coach at Texas has us consistently around the sweet 16. A good coach has us in the top half of the conference and a lock for the tournament most years. Shaka doesn't even meet the basic good standard.
Yeah losing AJ hurts but most teams lose key players at some point. We had him last year and still had one of the worst basketball seasons in school history.
The one thing I'll say in Shaka's favor is that if he is smart enough to hire a good offensive guy and give him the keys to our half court offense, he could become a very successful coach at UT. In that case, he could become damn good but in year 3 he is nowhere near damn good at Texas. Arguing that he is damn good at the moment is absurd.
And Ketch- do you actually watch our offense? It's flat out painful.
If a burger joint opens up, I might ask a friend how it is. If they say "it's good," I may go visit if I'm in the area and have no better options. If I ask about the burger and the friend says it is "damn good" I'm going to make it a point to get over there and see just how good the burger really is. Damn good is a very high level; Shaka is not there.
Shaka is not "damn good" by any metric. Sure he had a damn good run back in 2011 but that's not relative to him now or his success at Texas (2011 at VCU is irrelevant to his coaching at Texas.) Shaka has been far from damn good. I would say his offenses is not just bad but damn bad. A damn good coach at Texas has us consistently around the sweet 16. A good coach has us in the top half of the conference and a lock for the tournament most years. Shaka doesn't even meet the basic good standard.
Yeah losing AJ hurts but most teams lose key players at some point. We had him last year and still had one of the worst basketball seasons in school history.
The one thing I'll say in Shaka's favor is that if he is smart enough to hire a good offensive guy and give him the keys to our half court offense, he could become a very successful coach at UT. In that case, he could become damn good but in year 3 he is nowhere near damn good at Texas. Arguing that he is damn good at the moment is absurd.
And Ketch- do you actually watch our offense? It's flat out painful.
I also understand your comment on why you would call Shaka a good coach.
But he has stepped up in competition, and like Tom Herman found out.
This isn’t Houston or VCU.
I know everything hasn’t gone like he planned.
I will let the legendary Tom Landry whom thought John Mackovic was an excellent coach with a brilliant mind.
I believe Nick Saban is the greatest recruiter of talent but I don’t believe he is the greatest coach.Mackovic wasn’t a great recruiter is my point.
Rick Barnes beat 3 seed Miss State with frosh TJ Ford as 6 seed in 3 seed. Before that Penders pulled a lot of upsets...over Ga Tech, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin all in first rounds
Big win indeed and I’ll quiet my drum beat to get rid of Shaka until next season’s under performance. Roach, Coleman, Sims- quit crying about injuries we’ve got talent. Now win with it!!
I knew this was coming. This thread lead to a 6 month ban for me lol
Beat me to it. Shaka is a joke I can’t wait til he’s fired
