Deshawn McDowell

[texcane1982]

Here is another little piece of concerning info...coach Haith has yet to purchase a house in Tulsa. Is he one and done?

For all we know part of his contract includes a housing arrangement.

If recruits are concerned about his long term commitment, you would think the staff would be even more concerned, and it's unlikely Schwartz would have made a lateral move, unless he wanted out of Fresno and had no better options.

It's hard for me to reconcile Wojcik's staff recruiting such great talent to C-USA, but Haith's staff struggling to recruit similar or better talent to the AAC. Was Cason responsible for attracting the likes of Uzoh, Hurtt, McLean, Clarkson, McClellan? The 2 best guards recruited by Wojcik's staff both came out of the San Antonio area, even Doug's staff had success in Texas. I have a hard-time imagining Wojcik being a great recruiter based on his personality, maybe he turned on the charm when necessary. His personality and style obviously ran off some talented players.

Maybe someone who knows more about the recruiting of Wojcik's staff can shed some light?

Bill Self's staff practically focused all of their attention on Oklahoma and Texas, with the exception of JUCO's (Heard, Kurtz, Shelton, Kuquo) Heard being the only Okie, and Kurtz the only recruit who did not play HS or JUCO ball in the region.

There is enough talent in OK and TX for TU fill their entire roster, let alone supplementing a particular class. Maybe Haith is too focused on national recruiting? Dating back to Nolan's years, TU was at it's best recruiting TX, OK, and MO recruits. Stop casting such a wide net and hit the backyard harder? ?


TX

 

[Chris Harmon]

Was Cason responsible for attracting the likes of Uzoh, Hurtt, McLean, Clarkson, McClellan?

Yes.

 

[texcane1982]

Yes.

Was Cason ever seriously considered as head Coach when Manning was hired? I can't imagine Cason would have been a worse tactician than Wojcik, he obviously could get the recruits.

I think Haith is the right fit, but I also think TU should be getting higher profile recruits. By no means should ECU and USF be out recruiting TU.



TX

 

[TulsaEye]

It doesn't really surprise me that Haith's first recruiting class pretty much bombed. It was a small class, he didn't have much room for failure. I don't know of many first year coaches that really do well their first year recruiting unless they pull someone they had been in on for a year or two prior. Most of those coaches are scrambling to just get things in place for the second and third year recruiting classes. Second and third year is when a lot of coaches make their recruiting mark on a program. Wojcik took several years before recruiting some memorable players. Manning's first year was average at best. You will know how Haith will do in his second and third years for sure.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

I dunno, Ray and Harrison were pretty critical late finds for Manning's first year. PS2 was a key contributor that first year also.

That class was a significant part of winning CUSA. I would easily call it above average all things considered.

 

[astonmartin708]

I dunno, Ray and Harrison were pretty critical late finds for Manning's first year. PS2 was a key contributor that first year also.

That class was a significant part of winning CUSA. I would easily call it above average all things considered.

Also retaining Woodard & Wright

 

[lawpoke87]

Also retaining Woodard & Wright

Woj's second class was pretty damn good. Two players in that class played in the nba and two others play overseas.

 

[cmullinsTU]

I haven't seen it mentioned yet so I'll throw this out there, it's VERY difficult to recruit players to a team that returns the entire 8-man rotation...

 

[lawpoke87]

I haven't seen it mentioned yet so I'll throw this out there, it's VERY difficult to recruit players to a team that returns the entire 8-man rotation...

Very true....and it should be relatively easy to recruit highly ranked kids to the 2016 class as we offer immediate playing time. If Haith can recruit it should show in this next class. The stars are aligned for a monster class.

 

[GOB10]

Very true....and it should be relatively easy to recruit highly ranked kids to the 2016 class as we offer immediate playing time. If Haith can recruit it should show in this next class. The stars are aligned for a monster class.

I sure hope you guys are correct...look at the players that left the team this year and the players that replaced them.. I realize that they have not played yet but the guys he brought in were not highly rated and the last guy was not even rated at all!! Oh and he could not even get a big man in here to help us for this upcoming year. Call me crazy and I hope I am 100% wrong but I don't think coach Haith can take us where we want to go.. just look at his past and I believe that IF we have a good year he will be GONE in a heartbeat.

 

[cmullinsTU]

I sure hope you guys are correct...look at the players that left the team this year and the players that replaced them.. I realize that they have not played yet but the guys he brought in were not highly rated and the last guy was not even rated at all!! Oh and he could not even get a big man in here to help us for this upcoming year. Call me crazy and I hope I am 100% wrong but I don't think coach Haith can take us where we want to go.. just look at his past and I believe that IF we have a good year he will be GONE in a heartbeat.

I can understand your concern with the recruiting. Lawpoke brought up a good point, it should be relatively easy to recruit for the 2016 class. If Haith and Co don't bring in some studs in that class it'll be highly indicative of their inability to recruit.

 

[dmarsh1985]

If he can't recruit 2016, then no one else will want him. He would have to take a step down. Other schools aren't dumb. Recruiting was not Haiths problem at Miami or Mizzou...

 

[goldensooner]

Perhaps he just needs one decent March. Doesn't every kid want a deep NCAA run? I think he can probably recruit just fine; however, his body of work suggests to recruits that a deep March run is not in the cards. This is his year to change that. If he does, maybe we really got something good here.

 

[youngblood223]

I don't think Haith is going anywhere before he rebuilds this team after next season. No one is going to hire him away from TU for winning with other coaches players. It won't happen. Lots of really baseless and harmful speculation in this thread.

 

[texcane1982]

Perhaps he just needs one decent March. Doesn't every kid want a deep NCAA run? I think he can probably recruit just fine; however, his body of work suggests to recruits that a deep March run is not in the cards. This is his year to change that. If he does, maybe we really got something good here.

I would say no, as we are finding out, kids want immediate playing time. It appears deep NCAA runs are less important these days for most recruits. I see that Gonzaga is pulling in more transfers. The Zags seem to never have major turnover from year to year as Coach Few masterfully supplements his freshmen classes with experienced talent.

On the subject of transfers, would a 2016 eligible transfer such as Etou count toward the 2015 scholly limit, or does he count against the year he becomes eligible?


TX

 

[goldensooner]

I would say no, as we are finding out, kids want immediate playing time. It appears deep NCAA runs are less important these days for most recruits. I see that Gonzaga is pulling in more transfers. The Zags seem to never have major turnover from year to year as Coach Few masterfully supplements his freshmen classes with experienced talent.

On the subject of transfers, would a 2016 eligible transfer such as Etou count toward the 2015 scholly limit, or does he count against the year he becomes eligible?


TX

You're probably right. Man, how the world has changed.

 

[astonmartin708]

I would say no, as we are finding out, kids want immediate playing time. It appears deep NCAA runs are less important these days for most recruits. I see that Gonzaga is pulling in more transfers. The Zags seem to never have major turnover from year to year as Coach Few masterfully supplements his freshmen classes with experienced talent.

On the subject of transfers, would a 2016 eligible transfer such as Etou count toward the 2015 scholly limit, or does he count against the year he becomes eligible?


TX

I think (I'm not sure) that the scholarship still counts. Just as a RS player would count even though he sits out.

 

[Bill Lowery]

Aston, you're correct. He will be filling one of our 13 scholarships this year.