Haith Extension...
- Thread starter astonmartin708
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Without getting down and dirty with exact details, of course it sounds like a cop out. And this little shuffle could absolutely fall flat... no one knows for sure. I’m just going off of what I know I’ve witnessed and conversations I’ve been a part of regarding some of these struggles.
Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion and to think whatever they want about haith, TU, and whatever else, but there is typically more to the story than what’s on the surface.
Honestly, I don’t see where Haith gets the good coach title from that people are seeing. Yes he has had some big upsets, but he also always has several blunders against teams with worse talent than us every season.
Utah and Southern Illinois come to mind this season.
Utah and Southern Illinois come to mind this season.
Was someone else recruiting his players? Was someone else coaching them in practice? Was someone else calling the plays during the games? In the end, those are the tasks he’s been asked to do... and he hasn’t done them too well recently.
Dude I get it. You hate haith. You hate everything about him. He can do no right in this world. He is the second coming of satan.
I’m not happy with how things have gone either and I’m not a cheerleader for haith by any means. There are plenty of excellent options out there who could potentially do better than haith... but unless some things are changed, they’ll have the exact same problems he’s having.
I know you want what’s best for TU and that’s why you’re upset. I understand that and I want what’s best for TU as well. At the end of the day, TU admin makes the decisions, not me, so we just have to hope for the best and support our alma mater... hell I still went to every damn football game when bill was coach even though I couldn’t stand him.
I have zero information other than what I read on here and don’t need to inflate my sails by pretending otherwise (not talking about you pats fan, not at all). But I’ve watched sports and TU sports in particular for a long time. I’ve seen this re-run a bunch of times and don’t recall it ever turning out differently.
But maybe this will be the first. Maybe Rod will come in and change the entire trajectory of Frank’s 15+ year career. This isn’t just TU. Frank had been an average to above average coach for more than 15 years at 3 schools. When you take out his first 2 years at each school to get to his own players, he’s average to be charitable - in more than 15 seasons as a coach, when he has his own players, he’s won less than half his conference games. This isn’t a TU issue, it’s not a “this staff issue”. It’s just who frank has been as a coach across years, schools and staffs.
Now maybe Rod is the magic man who comes in and changes all that. Maybe the administrations at 3 schools over nearly 2 decades have held frank back and he’s finally freed up. We’ll see. Maybe I’m a pessimist but I see it as a bit of a Hail Mary. That’s fine, I have no problem with Hail Marys - except in this case Rod is part of the Hail Mary. If this doesn’t work out - and anyone who’s honest has to admit that it’s a long shot - then he’s going to have this anchor around his neck for years. He’s an adult, he can make his own decisions. I really hope it works out. But I’m not loving this plan. Its pretty hard that average performers transform overnight into great performers after more than 15 years of average. That’s just the facts.
Most fans feel like this. Haith is having Ojcik like results but against much better competition both in OOC and in the AAC. Just remember how bad C-USA was...we were basically killing everyone except Memphis and then we'd always throw a couple of clinkers on the road against UTEP, Marshall, etc. SMU sucked, Houston sucked.
Look who we're competing against now....SMU that was down but should be at a higher level, Houston who has been reborn and is a trendy Final Four pick, Memphis, Cincinnati, UCONN (who still sucks now but will be moving up soon), WSU. Not quite the blue bloods of college basketball but I bet more people nationwide can name more of the AAC coaches than the Pac 12 or Big East coaches right now.
And we saw that this team had a ton of potential and, for whatever reason, couldn't live up to it. we saw really competitive games with a top 10 team in Nevada, and games we should have won against UCF and Cincinnati. Oh, and we hammered Temple at home. This team had the talent to be in the NCAA tournament, they lacked consistency and focus (especially on the road). Seriously, the only team we could not hang with this year was Houston who is a top 10 team as well.
Haith needs to be on a short leash. Hopefully Gragg and whoever made this clear. Maybe he only is getting one more year for sure and the extension is something to help with his recruiting the rest of this year and next.
again I point out that he said many times preseason that this was going to be his best team.
i would make Rod sign HIS new deal before I had Haith sign HIS new deal!!!
i would make Rod sign HIS new deal before I had Haith sign HIS new deal!!!
I feel ya, man. We’re in a tough place right now. I’m just really hoping we have something to be exited about in the upcoming athletic year.
If Rod doesn't come on board then this will be Haith's last season at TU barring a miracle run to the NCAA tournament. We're still at Ojcik level fan attendance but we'll be headed towards Phillips last year attendance if we have the same mediocre results.
Love or hate the guy there's one thing for certain, Haith is a survivor. I'm not sure I've ever seen another coach who could make lemonade out of lemons the way Haith does. Dude was about to be fired at Miami and landed the head job at Mizzou. Repeat that scenario with Mizzou and Tulsa. Now, Haith is again on the precipice and he apparently finally convinces Rod to join the staff and is awarded an extension. At some level you have to respect him for his ability to survive as a HC in a very tough business.
Yeah me too. If we’re going to be average, I’d rather be average with a guy like frank who seems like a good guy and person who represents the university well and isn’t always whining than be average with a whiny dikk like Wojick. It’s be great to see frank kill it - he’d be a great head of the program for a long time. Fingers crossed!
BTW, this is a great Freudian slip - “I’m just really hoping we have something to be exited about in the upcoming athletic year.“
If possible, I would want Rod to be retained regardless of what happens to Haith after 2 years
I’m not sure we’d get the coach we want who’d be willing to have one of his staff positions foisted on him. No real coach would accept that I don’t think. Especially a popular alumni who’s seen by many as the coach in development. Who’d agree to hire a potential Brutus on their staff? Probably not a coach you’d want.
Well, we forced one on our football coach, but maybe that proves your point. I was actually thinking along the lines of hoping that the following staff sees the value in retaining him and keeps him on staff because they need him.
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This year was our lowest attendance level in 39 years. Less than both Wojcik and Phillips.
If TU signs that extension without first nailing down Rod then more people need to be fired than just Haith.
I'm guessing he wouldn't have said this if he knew Taplin and Scott would have nagging injuries all season, while others missed several games due to illness or injury. That's not an excuse for anything, but TU rarely had a full-strength roster during the season, and it certainly made an impact. But as Woj liked to say, "It is what it is."
How much of attendance had to do with game times, though? I thought the home slate was awful as far as when games were scheduled- plus most "big" names were during the week as oppose to the weekend, then you had 8 PM games due to TV...not family or general public friendly (but then that could be the excuse many give). I know the KState game was well attended- but that was at 3 PM on a weekend...it just seems that the "die-hards" are less and less and that has to do with years of mediocrity
This was the 1st time in 20 years I hadn't had season tickets and it had more to do with the fact that my kids literally have something to do every weeknight. Throw in soccer or basketball or cheer conflicts on the weekends and we'd be buying season tickets to MAYBE make 3-4 games if we were lucky.
Did you dislike Bill while he was coaching or after he left. I felt the same way about K Burns.
Both.... I really didn’t appreciate his antics with the Tulsa world after he was let go, but it is what it is.
Burns was a jackass who screwed TU over. Requested he get his full pay for the remainder of his contract up front once he was fired... then went and filed for unemployment.
I thought the Liberty Bowl season went pretty well, but it went off the rails pretty quickly after that.
Burns was a mess from day 1. I remember the fans on the east side chanting “We Are Back” after he won a couple of early games. Couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Off the wall idea for another assistant or grad assistant.. Tim Peete
Obviously went here and other players loved him, is grad. assistant at uncg (one of this years best mid majors) and is young.. having a younger guy close to the players age that can relate to them is an under rated part of recruiting, especially at a smaller school like TU
Obviously went here and other players loved him, is grad. assistant at uncg (one of this years best mid majors) and is young.. having a younger guy close to the players age that can relate to them is an under rated part of recruiting, especially at a smaller school like TU
Tim is not at UNCG any longer. His stint a GA was up after last season when they went to the NCAA tournament. He coached at Chipola JC in Florida this past season.
But I agree. I think he has the demeanor and energy and relatability to be able to be a great recruiter, similar to Kim English in that regard.
If intelligence, dedication, preparation and hard work are what you're looking for, Peete's your man.
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There is a thread in Hurricane Alley with updates, current through yesterday, which include two coaching spots being open, and the possibility of Kwanza Johnson being hired:
Coaching staff updates
Then our admin made a mistake extending Haith. A couple good recruits don't change that fact.
This leadership at TU sucks big time ! I'm ready to clean house , starting with Gragg
Not sure if this is referring to a Haisten tweet or story or if your blasting TulsaRising's tweet. Haisten blocked me on twitter because I called him out for his lackluster TU coverage when he was on the beat.
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