Longtime basketball coach and current Bearent Phil Mathews on Travis DeCuire:

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What are some of the attributes that make him a good coach, in your mind?

He's got great communication skills. When he recruited my son, he did a terrific job talking about the school and how they wanted to play. My son was already coming to Cal before Mike Montgomery even came to the house.

What are the benefits of maintaining continuity?

When I was at Nebraska, it was hard coming in after the former coach. It took a whole year to gain those players' trust. But in this situation, the trust is already there. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. You've also got five freshmen. Okay, the coach leaves, but you've got a chance to keep the guy that recruited most of them. And it's not like he's only been there one or two years - he's been there six years and is the associate head coach who trained under one of the best.

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calumnus;842301950 said:

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Longtime basketball coach and current Bearent Phil Mathews on Travis DeCuire:

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If that's from the yogi, droski driven site you've stepped in it now!

Trust, continuity and leadership. Cal has it on the bench already.
Get this over with now and set our goals for next year.
Recruits are looking for stability and opportunity.

fuji65;842301956 said:

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Trust, continuity and leadership. Cal has it on the bench already.
Get this over with now and set our goals for next year.
Recruits are looking for stability and opportunity.

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It doesn't hurt Travis's cause that Kevin Ollie won it all.

I can sort of understand the argument that MM's endorsement of TD is just MM looking out for his staff. But I don't see what bias Phil Mathews would have to publicly back TD if he wasn't really, in Mathews's opinion, the best option. Mathews obviously has a vested interest in the program's success over the next 1-3 years.

CalAlumnus13;842301975 said:

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I can sort of understand the argument that MM's endorsement of TD is just MM looking out for his staff. But I don't see what bias Phil Mathews would have to publicly back TD if he wasn't really, in Mathews's opinion, the best option. Mathews obviously has a vested interest in the program's success over the next 1-3 years.

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Exactly, I agree completely. Huge endorsement. Pretty much seals the deal as far as I am concerned.

CalAlumnus13;842301975 said:

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I can sort of understand the argument that MM's endorsement of TD is just MM looking out for his staff. But I don't see what bias Phil Mathews would have to publicly back TD if he wasn't really, in Mathews's opinion, the best option. Mathews obviously has a vested interest in the program's success over the next 1-3 years.

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Yup - plus there's the younger Mathews who is looking like he will be a prize recruit - having TD around obviously would help with his recruiting. The comment about how the deal with Jordan was already sealed before MM even walked in their house is a nice statement on TD.

Trust, continuity and leadership...just the kind of things players, their families and people close to the program said about Tom Holmoe.

People are averse to change, so those connected to the program naturally want someone promoted from within (unless he's grossly incompetent or believes in a particular system that isn't good for you). I think that's human nature.

It's great that TD recruits and communicates and relates. But can he coach from the big seat? Can he run a program? Does he have "it"?

tequila4kapp;842302023 said:

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Trust, continuity and leadership...just the kind of things players, their families and people close to the program said about Tom Holmoe.

People are averse to change, so those connected to the program naturally want someone promoted from within (unless he's grossly incompetent or believes in a particular system that isn't good for you). I think that's human nature.

It's great that TD recruits and communicates and relates. But can he coach from the big seat? Can he run a program? Does he have "it"?

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Probably. Yes. Yes .

tequila4kapp;842302023 said:

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Trust, continuity and leadership...just the kind of things players, their families and people close to the program said about Tom Holmoe.

People are averse to change, so those connected to the program naturally want someone promoted from within (unless he's grossly incompetent or believes in a particular system that isn't good for you). I think that's human nature.

It's great that TD recruits and communicates and relates. But can he coach from the big seat? Can he run a program? Does he have "it"?

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Football and Basketball fundamentally different. Start with the fact that the latest information is that 40% of all basketball players transfer at least once. Lets implode a program on the upswing. That makes SO MUCH SENSE.

tequila4kapp;842302023 said:

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Trust, continuity and leadership...just the kind of things players, their families and people close to the program said about Tom Holmoe.

People are averse to change, so those connected to the program naturally want someone promoted from within (unless he's grossly incompetent or believes in a particular system that isn't good for you). I think that's human nature.

It's great that TD recruits and communicates and relates. But can he coach from the big seat? Can he run a program? Does he have "it"?

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Sure looks like it:






[IMG]http://image.cdnllnwnl.xosnetwork.com/pics33/800/YT/YTQESICUQJLZQLB.20130731181428.jpg[/IMG]






Monty wasn't just blowing smoke when he named DeCuire the Associate Head Coach.

tequila4kapp;842302023 said:

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Trust, continuity and leadership...just the kind of things players, their families and people close to the program said about Tom Holmoe.

People are averse to change, so those connected to the program naturally want someone promoted from within (unless he's grossly incompetent or believes in a particular system that isn't good for you). I think that's human nature.

It's great that TD recruits and communicates and relates. But can he coach from the big seat? Can he run a program? Does he have "it"?

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Different. Holmoe had looked pretty incompetent prior to his promotion to head coach and although a good recruiter I don't think Holmoe was by far the best recruiter on staff, which TD is.

I absolutely LOVE the FUSC logo on the above photo from the clinic!!

:p

Looperbear;842302102 said:

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Different. Holmoe had looked pretty incompetent prior to his promotion to head coach and although a good recruiter I don't think Holmoe was by far the best recruiter on staff, which TD is.

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If it was not the week before LOI day (with Mooch having recruited a top class) when the Niners surprisingly fired Seifert and hired Mooch as head coach then we would have had time to do a search and I am confident we would have come up with someone other than Holmoe (and if Hue Jackson had not taken the OC job at SC, I am sure he would have gotten the job). Everything else said about Holmoe was window dressing and putting lipstick on the pig to keep the class intact. And yes, Mooch and Jackson (probably others too) were better recruiters than Holmoe.

DeCuire is not Holmoe when Mooch left. He is more like Mooch when Snyder left.

CalAlumnus13;842301975 said:

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I can sort of understand the argument that MM's endorsement of TD is just MM looking out for his staff. But I don't see what bias Phil Mathews would have to publicly back TD if he wasn't really, in Mathews's opinion, the best option. Mathews obviously has a vested interest in the program's success over the next 1-3 years.

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Yes, for me, Phil M's endorsement carries a lot of weight. Sounds like he's all in on TD

RicoRico;842302157 said:

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Yes, for me, Phil M's endorsement carries a lot of weight. Sounds like he's all in on TD

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Yep. And I'd trust Mathews over Barbour at this point, considering the Dykes hire.

Looperbear;842302102 said:

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Different. Holmoe had looked pretty incompetent prior to his promotion to head coach and although a good recruiter I don't think Holmoe was by far the best recruiter on staff, which TD is.

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I'm just saying the last two times hires were made for continuity type reasons - Bozeman and Holmoe - they were unmitigated disasters. It isn't like we are coming off multiple national championships or something, so the whole continuity thing seems overplayed here. We just need to hire the right person. There are better ways to assess someone - coaching chops, recruiting, leadership, vision, energy, connections, experience, track record, etc.

MoragaBear;842302315 said:

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Dirks is much more involved in the process this time so this won't be largely a Sandy-only hire.

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I doubt Dirks knows much about basketball.

Bearprof;842302338 said:

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I doubt Dirks knows much about basketball.

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That said, a lot of us said we wanted a Chancellor who was active in athletics. Not sure if this is what we meant, but he seems to be very much involved...

Bearprof;842302338 said:

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I doubt Dirks knows much about basketball.

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I'm sure he knows something about representing a University well though. If he really is involved with the process, I'd bet he was adamantly against hiring Howland.