EagleNYC {l Wrote}:I struggle to understand the
obsession with Skinner bashing, though the general anti-Al sentiment is easy enough to comprehend. Skinner was the winningest coach in BC history, calculated by total wins. He won two BE regular season titles (Clownhoon can blow me) and guided the team to some excellent results during the first few years of ACC play. He developed a string of great players that were not viewed as superstars in HS (Bell, Sidney, Dudley,
[despite what some may say, Smith was supposed to be excellent]). There were several big wins each year, and quite a few upsets, particularly on the road. Before his last three years, his teams always played hard; rarely got blown out; weren't afraid of anyone; generaly exceeded regular season expectations. Skinner never spoke about the program's limitations, and his teams never gave up.
Skinner also refused to pander to high school kids, which some blame for failing to land a true blue chip recruit before Sanders/Southern. There were several high profile team rule violations, and, like it or not, the head coach deserves some of the blame, even for the difficult to control actions of entitled 20-somethings. He was a below average ACC coach in terms of clock management, in-bounds plays, and offensive creativity. When he finally did land a the Sanders class, the on court results were disastrous. The last three years were two very bad seasons sandwiched around a disappointing one. The team often played without fire. They played down to their competition. There were embarassing "bad losses." Many of the players didn't seem to improve/progress, and Southern/Sanders were a stiff and a talented but far too erratic presence, respectively. The fan support ebbed back to 1999 levels. The 2009 recruiting class was an unpardonable sin, and the 2010 class was not shaping up well either. The failure to advance past the first weekend of the tourney more than once, despite a decade of competitive teams, was damning. It was time for a change.
But the last three years don't define the Skinner Era, they just explan why it ended. It's natural, particularly in the first year with a new coach, to draw comparisons, especially when the team shows so much promise. But let's not forget the excellence that Skinner brought to the Heights too. If Donahue wins an ACC crown in his first five years, and has the regular season success that Skinner did, we'll all be very pleased. We'll all just hope his record in the field of
64 65 68 is better.