calbear80 said:
If we had a good coach, we would not be in the current situation.
I think we probably would. It takes 3 years to turn a program around. Mike Montgomery said that. Most coaches who take over a new coaching job inherit a roster of with kid from each of the four classes. There are 13 scholarship players allowed. In a perfect situation, that might mean 3 seniors, 3 juniors, 3 sophs, and 3 freshmen, and maybe an open scholarship. That, on paper, is something to build on. Jones inherited 2 seniors, one junior, and 3 freshmen commits, including one who decommitted. He was one senior, 2 juniors, 3 sophs, and one freshman short of a full complement to have a halfway-decent first year from that perspective. Jones did a good job to retain Sueing and Anticevich, sign McNeill and point guard transfer who had to sit out a year, but lost Baker, and wasted two scholarships on Winston and McCullogh. It was a mixed bag, but most coaches don't land any recruits ion their first year, and Jones did.
With 13 scholarships most new coaches would inherit players distributed between the positions something like this: 4 Bigs, 5 Wiings, ,and 2 PGs, and two open scholarships. Wyking Jones inherited 2 Bigs, one wing, and no PGs.
No coach I know of ever inherited less, in sheer numbers, with less balance between positions and and less balance between classes than did Wyking Jones. Maybe there have been some who have, but I've not heard of them. .
I think Cuonzo knew that if he had stayed, he would have had the same roster deficiencies, and he was probably ready to jump at the chance to leave town rather than face a disastrous year with that roster. Oh, he might have retained Baker, which would have helped a bit. Maybe he could have talked Moore into staying, but I doubt it. Maybe even Rooks, but he would not have been of much help. And he would have left after one year. There were NO SOPHS, TWO FROSH, ONE JUNIOR, and TWO SENIORS on the roster, so for the second season there would be only Anticevich, Sueing, and Coleman inherited from Cuonzo, and then Coleman transferred, leaving an even bigger hole for Wyking than the first year. It just isn't realistic to think Jones or any other available coach could turn this program around in only 3 years. I think it will take 4 maybe 5 years to do it, when you are starting almost from scratch, and nearly all the players from day one will be your coach's own recruits. And that would be true for a veteran coach, who knows how to coach and maybe how to turn around a weak team. We don't know if Wyking knows how to do either.
SFCityBear
