If they keep lowering the bar, Ray will stay here forever. First it was, gotta make the NIT. Next it was gotta be over .500 and just miss the NIT. Now it's go at least 7-11 in the conference. Woohoo!
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You just can't compare Mullen are Ray in my opinion. Mullen was pretty well known, had coached some big name QB's and had coordinated National Championship teams. I don't mind someone with some solid credentials being handed a program as a first time head coach. I do have a problem with a unheard of guy being handed a train wreck of a program. Still, I support Ray and am hopeful he proves something in year 3. However, if he doesn't then the clock is ticking. I don't want to hear shit about him not having that 13th scholarship player and how you can't win with the 12 scholarship players.
If Ray goes 7-11 in conference in 10-3 OOC that's 17-14 overall and enough improvement in year 3 to give him a 4th year with a senior laden team. We won 7 conference games in 2 years . If he can double his conference win total in year 3 yes I think he deserves a 4th year . As a fan this is the BARE MINIMUM he needs to do to maintain his job . 7 wins is not a goal.
Pearl, however, is being careful when it comes to setting expectations for his first Auburn team.
?I think the No. 1 thing you do with expectations when you first come in is don?t set a timetable,? he said. ?I?ve got to build a strong foundation and we?ve got to have a focus on the process. I?m not concerned about the record right away...
Highlight to see who said all of this...because it sounds an awful lot like what a bunch of you are slaughtering Ray for...
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Duh, of course Pearl is going to say that but guess what, he is Bruce Pearl. If some no name assistant head coach said that (of course Auburn would not of gone the Stricklin route), I don't think the Auburn fans would be as patient.
Of course with Pearl's track record, he will more then likely have them .500 next year and in the dance a year after that. His rebuild will be probably 2 years max.
Bookmarked.
He can't recruit but 2.5 months of this entire recruiting cycle. SO, he's going to miraculously recruit an NCAA team of freshmen in 2.5 months at a traditionally shitty SEC school? Get back on your rocker.
What he is actually going to prove is that total rebuilds of meandering programs take time. But you've proven in this very thread that you are comfortable moving the goalposts between every post -- so in 2 years, I'm confident that you will do the same once again...
I think money is a big difference between auburn and state. In the last couple of years auburn ,they have spent loads of money on coaches. Malzahn, Pearl, They hired the head baseball coach from Oklahoma, and the head softball coach from Arizona State, who's won two softball national championships in the last few years. I like van steudaman a lot, but when is the last time we hired a head coach of that stature who didn't have Mississippi State ties.
Bookmarked as well when Ray has his amazing 3rd season next year and all but Smoot will stay on the Ray bandwagon. Remember Engie, you and Coach have said numerous times that if Ray doesn't make the NIT next year it's time to go in a new direction. By Ray's fourth year, he may only have Smoot on his side.
What you guys fail to realize is that rebuilds in basketball don't take as long as what we are seeing with Ray.
He has several factors working against him that prolong any rebuild.
A) Never been a head coach - this is huge. If he had been a head coach, you wouldn't of seen him take chances on players like a Daniels or the kid from Findley Prep and yes Dawg61 we would have a full roster. There would also be some other nuances that he would have learned along the way that would make our program better.
B) No ties to the southeast for recruiting purposes - this is really killing him. If he were a great recruiter, it would alleviate problem A. If he were a great recruiter, we would be channelling great young players into the program and be seeing strides forward instead of going backwards from next to last to dead last.
C) Stricklin saying he has all the time in the world to rebuild. This shit is all on Stricklin here which may have lead to some of Ray's questionable decisions in the first place. When you feel no pressure to win, that is a very bad thing. Just is. Ask Croom, he thought he had 5 years and would never get fired.
When you add A, B, and C up you get at minimum a 4-5 year rebuild when a 1-2 year rebuild in basketball is usually all you need unless you are on Probation, your program was rocked with a murder scandal or your AD blows up the program.
So you want him to just offer someone to get to 13 next year but you want to cut guys who you don't think have developed in 1 year. What if we offered Troutman? Will that make you happy because we got to 13 or will you want to cut him after 1 year because he's not as good as you hoped?
The coaching search was 2+ years ago. WTF difference does that make at this point? NONE is the correct answer.
A search can be an imperfect process and still arrive at the correct conclusion. Hence how Nick Saban ended up at Alabama after they were publicly humiliated by Spurrier, RichRod, and Petersen...just among the names we know about...
And, I already know you are going to fail reading comprehension and attempt to twist that into me saying that Rick Ray = Nick Saban -- when that wasn't what I said at all -- but have at it.
Jibber Jabber...
Show me a 2nd year rebuild from a bottom feeder program in the SEC in the past decade. Please. Should be easy to do -- since it's so easy to accomplish -- and it "doesn't take 2+ years to rebuild in basketball".
Fact is, every comparable situation -- has shown comparable results to what Ray has had thusfar. You can spin the shit out of that -- but you literally can't come up with a SINGLE EXAMPLE backing your position. While we've shown numerous examples with name coaches at name programs that had to follow the exact same blueprint we are following out of the abyss.
You say stupid shit like "Pearl will be in the NCAA's in year 2" -- you don't even deserve responses to your obviously emotional and laxidasically thought out position...
Grant did it at Alabama. First year no post season, second year NIT, third year NCAA. Very solid progress. Could he sustain it? No but that is an example of a three year trajectory of progress. AND Alabama wants to get rid of him because he had one losing season but had 3 20+ win seasons. I would take Anthony Grant in a heart beat here.
I don't see how anyone that was logical could say what Ray put out there his second season was progress. We went from next to last to dead last and both years featured 12 game losing streaks. You would really have to be reaching to say progress was made.
Sigh, your basis of hope is based off nothing Engie.
So, you'll ban yourself when he has a losing record next year, correct?
Pearl has never had to rebuild from shit. He always took jobs smartly before -- and built onto talent in good situations. He was desperate this time -- and it'll show for a couple of years.
No, I never said that. Shit you are just as terrible a poster as the ones you say you don't like to begin with.
Based "off" nothing?
You are hopeless. I've shown player by player improvement multiple times. I've shown score improvement across the league in our games vs #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, etc... I've shown overall scoring improvement by us. I've CLEARLY DEFINED all of that -- while you bring jibber jabber -- and it's in my best interest to quit clicking "view post" to dumb myself down against such a helplessly emotional point of view...
What's "based off nothing" is your assertion that we suddenly stop showing improvement next year -- when we have actual depth across the board and the players have all shown improvement constantly. Do you know how stupid that sounds? Actually, I already know the answer -- because you keep spouting it...
9-19
12-15
first 2 years
Fire his ass!!11!1
NVM that it was 15 years ago and in a completely different era than we are currently in. But glad to know you've got all this supporting evidence that Pearl is dancing next year -- and that it takes less than 2 years to rebuild a program from rock bottom -- that you only had to go back 15 years to find a (failing) example**
You claimed he'll be an NCAA team by year 2. That almost never happens from a losing record in the first year of a rebuild. You also said that "he's never had a losing record anywhere he's been." So it's no stretch to say you expect him to have a winning record in year 1. Fact is -- I'm calling your bluff in that you don't actually believe half of the shit you are spewing. And you've made that obvious...
But keep backtracking... Gonna need a brand new field from all the different places you've stuck that goalpost in this thread.
Better yet -- don't bother. Now that I've sufficiently made myself dumber by attempting reason with you again today, I'm done with it. Have fun with your careless and consistently changing agenda... I won't be viewing it anymore.
And to think this shit all started because I thought Frank Martin inherited less to comparable talent then Rick Ray did.
Look, I don't think Pearl will have a winning record next year but it is possible given his track record that he will be .500 make progress and possible NiT in year 2 and NCAA tourney in year 3. What I do know is Auburn will see the NCAA tourney before we will and that is pathetic given the two programs histories.
Ray did not get a bottom feeder when he got the MSU job and if we had hired smartly we might have NCAA tourney aspiristions next year instead of okay this is the end of the rebuild. This is all I am saying here as this thread has gotten way out of control by posters who obviously have a completely different agenda.