Quote Originally Posted by Gatordog View Post
First time poster but long time reader. A conversation I had with Coach Richard Williams before the season started, on the state of MSU basketball and Coach Ray. He stated that he hopes it works but the issues Coach Ray are facing are tough. First thing he came into a fire storm. This has been gone over 1000 times no need to validate. Second he stated that Coach Ray is trying to bring Big 10 and Big East ball down south. That means more screens, picks, and toughness. What concerned the Coach is the fact that he doesn't have the players to run this type of basketball and furthermore the kids he will be recruiting in the south don't play this type of ball. They are all athletes, thin and lanky. Coach doesn't believe the recruits down south want to play in this type of system because they aren't (A) built that way and (B) aren't running up and down letting their ability take over the game. The other issue Coach mentioned was that Ray is a strict disciplinarian. Coach Williams mentioned how all the kids today smoke the weed not just drink like most kids did 20 years ago. None of them can pass a test. If you don't think this effects recruits then you are kidding yourself. Coach thinks Ray is a great Coach with a lot of variables and if they all line up MSU basketball will be great again. Now this was before season started and his views could have changed. Flame away and bash the first post. By the way WillClarkfan has to be a rebel
To me all this is just noise. A good coach gets in a situation, evaluates the situation, and works a plan that will let him succeed in that situation. If he doesn't he's not a good coach and is just trying to put a square peg in a round hole. That was Croom's problem, he only knew one way to coach and couldn't make it work here nor could he adjust once it was obvious it wasn't going to work to do anything else, therefore, he was not a good head coach. If Ray can't adapt to winning with players from the South, no matter the reason, we need to move on. Heck, Mullen is a Northeastern Yankee that has adapted to recruiting and coaching in MS and succeeded simply because he is a good coach. I've lost faith in Ray this season that he will ever be successful here. I was onboard but this year was the decision maker for me because he has a veteran team that still can't win. Yes, you can sort of live with some unexpected pre-SEC losses due to injuries but our SEC record isn't going to be much better either even though he has four guys that have started or played significantly for Ray for 3 years now and a PG in his second year. That is enough to have shown much more improvement than we have. He will have to win me back next year I guess but for now he's lost me in thinking he is a long term answer.