EagleOutsider.com

eepstein0 {l Wrote}:When Al figures out how to get the ball inbounds or break the press, let me know

when donahue figures out how to recruit AND retain players, let me know.

thanks for playing

TobaccoRoadEagle {l Wrote}:

eepstein0 {l Wrote}:When Al figures out how to get the ball inbounds or break the press, let me know

when donahue figures out how to recruit AND retain players, let me know.

thanks for playing

And so endeth this argument.

Skinner's assistants in his last year were terrible and he didn't want to fire them. Skinner with Coen and Cooley were awesome. Those days were not coming back.

MilitantEagle {l Wrote}:Skinner's assistants in his last year were terrible and he didn't want to fire them. Skinner with Coen and Cooley were awesome. Those days were not coming back.

if only we couldve had donahue with coen and cooley...

I don't see how you can feel that way. Skinner, for all of his flaws, NEVER put a defense out on the floor as hopelessly under-coached as this team. Slow, short unathletic opponents are getting easy point-blank layups at will versus this team! What exactly is the Don's strength, besides waving his arms frantically in a poor imitation of the Fonz, or stepping onto the court to yell specific instructions to a player on D, while the player's assignment scores an easy layup? This man is NOT a coach - he is a martinet and a rah-rah guy, and should be reassigned as captain of the cheerleaders. Why the hell didn't we hire Cooley when we had the chance?

floocher {l Wrote}:I don't see how you can feel that way. Skinner, for all of his flaws, NEVER put a defense out on the floor as hopelessly under-coached as this team. Slow, short unathletic opponents are getting easy point-blank layups at will versus this team! What exactly is the Don's strength, besides waving his arms frantically in a poor imitation of the Fonz, or stepping onto the court to yell specific instructions to a player on D, while the player's assignment scores an easy layup? This man is NOT a coach - he is a martinet and a rah-rah guy, and should be reassigned as captain of the cheerleaders. Why the hell didn't we hire Cooley when we had the chance?

Enough with the Cooley BS. He's a terrible coach.

commavegarage {l Wrote}:

MilitantEagle {l Wrote}:Skinner's assistants in his last year were terrible and he didn't want to fire them. Skinner with Coen and Cooley were awesome. Those days were not coming back.

if only we couldve had donahue with coen and cooley...

That staff would be ideal. I'd love to see what Donahue could do with better players.

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

floocher {l Wrote}:I don't see how you can feel that way. Skinner, for all of his flaws, NEVER put a defense out on the floor as hopelessly under-coached as this team. Slow, short unathletic opponents are getting easy point-blank layups at will versus this team! What exactly is the Don's strength, besides waving his arms frantically in a poor imitation of the Fonz, or stepping onto the court to yell specific instructions to a player on D, while the player's assignment scores an easy layup? This man is NOT a coach - he is a martinet and a rah-rah guy, and should be reassigned as captain of the cheerleaders. Why the hell didn't we hire Cooley when we had the chance?

Enough with the Cooley BS. He's a terrible coach.

This is true also

Consider the following excerpt from the most recent Boston College Magazine’s article titled “The Art of Rebuilding”:
“…..When you talk with Donahue about his recruiting strategy, you don’t hear anything about a player’s superstar potential, or whether he even has the makings of an NBA prospect. He’s looking for a lot more than raw athletic ability. In Donahue’s formulation, “We look for high-character kids who are skilled and tough.” Included in the “high character” category is the athlete’s dedication to academic work and his potential as a leader. Speaking of freshmen Rahon and Hanlan, Donahue said, “Both those kids were incredible leaders on their [high school] campus, teachers raved about them, opponent coaches talked about them in great terms, they were great teammates, both were captains.”
Coach Al Skinner racked up a 247–165 record at Boston College in 13 seasons, but he was not known for active recruiting—he delegated that job to his assistant Bill Coen (who left in 2006 to become head coach at Northeastern University). Donahue’s style is the opposite. Though he sends his assistants Waheed, Graham, and Kampmann to do preliminary scouting, Donahue believes it is critical for the head coach to be talking to high school coaches, watching games in high school gyms, and meeting prospects early.
…..Sometimes, of course, events don’t break Donahue’s way. After a September practice session, Donahue mentioned that he’d be out of town recruiting for the next two days. He was flying to Chicago, where he would rent a car and drive downstate to Peoria. It was clear he had high hopes for a recruit, though he didn’t name the player, since rules restrict coaches from publicizing their prospects. He planned to have dinner with the young man’s parents and said he hoped to play the Mariano Rivera role, referring to the famed New York Yankees closer.

The next week I asked Donahue how it went. His enthusiasm for the player was undiminished, but he seemed to have sensed it wasn’t going to happen. He mentioned Valparaiso University in Indiana as a strong competitor. Sure enough, news broke a few days later that 6′7″ forward Alec Peters, considered one of the top 10 high school players in Illinois, had signed a letter of intent with Valpo.

Was it a big deal? Aren’t there dozens, even hundreds, of high school basketball players in the country who will make great college players? Donahue assured me it’s not so easy—there may be hundreds of good basketball players, he said, but not many have all the qualities he is looking for. “There aren’t a lot of guys with the ability to play in the ACC physically, [who have] athleticism and size, and all those other characteristics that are critical to us. There’s not a lot. Trust me. We scour the world for kids.”

Perhaps Cooley is a bad coach. But he took Fairfield to two 23+ win seasons, and now has Providence at 6-2, and beat Bryant by 30. Which coach would you prefer? Cooley has also lined up some serious players for the next several years. Now let's hear about how hard it is to get into BC?

To the main point of this thread, I was always a Skinner fan as well and I compare his firing to that of letting go of Tom O'Brien where he was doing a very good job but would never do a great job. After you have a certain coach in place too long you start to realize his flaws more than his strengths, then you get rid of him and a few years later you long for the days when your complaints involved not getting a high enough seed for the NCAA tournament. I also will always believe that the timing of Skinner's firing was to make sure that he didn't make the Tourney with Jackson, Raji, Paris, and Sanders buying him too more years or "unexciting' basketball.

As far as Donahue is concerned I do believe that he wants a certain type of player and he is currently in a tough spot because we're expecting so many young players to perform as finished products instead of giving him time to coach up some projects like Clifford and Odio. In the normal cycle only Anderson and Hanlan would be asked to be major contributors and Clifford, Rahon, Jackson and Heckman would be bit players while they learned to play at the NCAA level and a guy like Odio could be learning as a project that would contribute as a Sr. Also if they had good juniors and seniors we wouldn't even notice Daniels or Moton transferring, but the circumstances are what they are and hopefully our patience as fans will pay off.

Bender {l Wrote}:To the main point of this thread, I was always a Skinner fan as well and I compare his firing to that of letting go of Tom O'Brien where he was doing a very good job but would never do a great job.

Huh? both o'bs left for greener pastures

Bender {l Wrote}:To the main point of this thread, I was always a Skinner fan as well and I compare his firing to that of letting go of Tom O'Brien where he was doing a very good job but would never do a great job. After you have a certain coach in place too long you start to realize his flaws more than his strengths, then you get rid of him and a few years later you long for the days when your complaints involved not getting a high enough seed for the NCAA tournament. I also will always believe that the timing of Skinner's firing was to make sure that he didn't make the Tourney with Jackson, Raji, Paris, and Sanders buying him too more years or "unexciting' basketball.

As far as Donahue is concerned I do believe that he wants a certain type of player and he is currently in a tough spot because we're expecting so many young players to perform as finished products instead of giving him time to coach up some projects like Clifford and Odio. In the normal cycle only Anderson and Hanlan would be asked to be major contributors and Clifford, Rahon, Jackson and Heckman would be bit players while they learned to play at the NCAA level and a guy like Odio could be learning as a project that would contribute as a Sr. Also if they had good juniors and seniors we wouldn't even notice Daniels or Moton transferring, but the circumstances are what they are and hopefully our patience as fans will pay off.

The Skinner/TOB comparison remains stupid for all of the reasons previously stated ad nauseum.

eepstein0 {l Wrote}:Skinner eyes talent but can't coach
Donahue recruit America East players and can coach

Both options to the polar extreme suck

Where is the evidence for this? I see a team that can't play defense and stagnates in the half-court. I see a team that can't shoot the 3 to saves its life and is average at best from the FT line. I see rotations that literally make no sense. Please show me what evidence Donahue has shown that he can coach at this level.

ryrob {l Wrote}:

eepstein0 {l Wrote}:Skinner eyes talent but can't coach
Donahue recruit America East players and can coach

Both options to the polar extreme suck

Where is the evidence for this? I see a team that can't play defense and stagnates in the half-court. I see a team that can't shoot the 3 to saves its life and is average at best from the FT line. I see rotations that literally make no sense. Please show me what evidence Donahue has shown that he can coach at this level.

The 2010-2011 team was much better under Donahue than under Skinner the year before. I agree that he has substitution patterns that are infuriating, among other issues. Definitely not a perfect in game coach, but I think he's pretty good. Better than a lot of other coaches who've had more success than BC, at least. Just not sure he has the recruiting chops.