What about Mark Gottfried? He has had success at a mid-major (Murray State), a football school (Alabama), and playing second fiddle to UNC and Duke (NC State). I feel like that kind of checks off all the problems that East Carolina has -- no offense on the mid-major comparison, but that's where the basketball program is right now.

(04-24-2017 03:51 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  What about Mark Gottfried? He has had success at a mid-major (Murray State), a football school (Alabama), and playing second fiddle to UNC and Duke (NC State). I feel like that kind of checks off all the problems that East Carolina has -- no offense on the mid-major comparison, but that's where the basketball program is right now.

For comparison's sake:

Mark Gottfried in 20 seasons at Murray State, Alabama, and North Carolina State: 401-241 (.625) with 11 NCAA tournament appearances and 4 NIT appearances

Jeff Lebo in 19 seasons with Tennessee Tech, Chattanooga, Auburn, and East Carolina: 325–273 (.543) with 0 NCAA tournament appearances and 2 NIT appearances

(03-29-2017 11:44 AM)wavefan12 Wrote:  Crean or Thompson are not taking the ECU job.

Wait, this Thompson?!?

It doesn't seem like it will happen with the current AD and general apathy at East Carolina about basketball, but they need to take a page out of SMU's book. Get an experienced, proven head coach like Gottfried and renovate Minges in a similar way to how SMU renovated Moody. Between the renovations, Lebo's buyout, and the money spent on a better coach, it's going to cost a lot of money... but it must be done. FYI, Moody's renovation cost $40 million and Gottfried's salary at NC State was about $2.5 million. That's what it's going to cost to turn things around.

(04-24-2017 02:43 PM)Old Pirate Wrote:  ECU does not need a change at basketball coach, we need a change in some fans who are unrealistic in what they think is possible at the moment. In NC, ECU is known as a football school and not a basketball school so until that perception changes it'll be hard to keep local players home. Don't be fooled by anyone saying we haven't offered, we have. We were the first to offer Bowman who is at Boston College and he liked his visit, but his high school coach wanted him to go to a "basketball" school so he made phone calls for days and finally got Boston College to make an offer. Was that coach looking a job too? We'll never know but some in this thread tried to sell the idea that ECU never pushed the offer until Bowman and his family finally exposed it as a falsehood.

We have a number of ECU fans who were big Ruffin McNeil fans and they haven't gotten over his firing and now criticize everything and every coach at ECU along with the AD so please take with a grain of salt a number of these posts.

ECU has never been good in basketball, but we are better than ever and are getting better, and within a few years threads like this will be laughable if we stay with the current coaching staff.

This post is the most embarrassing post ever. Lebo has to go. 8 years is way too long. Then recruiting like a ASUN team like no care in the world.

Lebo MUST have something damaging on our AD.

(04-24-2017 02:43 PM)Old Pirate Wrote:  ECU does not need a change at basketball coach, we need a change in some fans who are unrealistic in what they think is possible at the moment. In NC, ECU is known as a football school and not a basketball school so until that perception changes it'll be hard to keep local players home. Don't be fooled by anyone saying we haven't offered, we have. We were the first to offer Bowman who is at Boston College and he liked his visit, but his high school coach wanted him to go to a "basketball" school so he made phone calls for days and finally got Boston College to make an offer. Was that coach looking a job too? We'll never know but some in this thread tried to sell the idea that ECU never pushed the offer until Bowman and his family finally exposed it as a falsehood.

We have a number of ECU fans who were big Ruffin McNeil fans and they haven't gotten over his firing and now criticize everything and every coach at ECU along with the AD so please take with a grain of salt a number of these posts.

ECU has never been good in basketball, but we are better than ever and are getting better, and within a few years threads like this will be laughable if we stay with the current coaching staff.

Surely this guy is trolling... right? If you aren't a troll and are truly an ECU fan, then you are the type of fan who needs to change their thinking. This isn't Conference USA or the CAA. We are not a one-bid conference and we don't tolerate dog-****, no-effort basketball programs. It's time to step it up.

(04-24-2017 04:45 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(04-24-2017 02:43 PM)Old Pirate Wrote:  ECU does not need a change at basketball coach, we need a change in some fans who are unrealistic in what they think is possible at the moment. In NC, ECU is known as a football school and not a basketball school so until that perception changes it'll be hard to keep local players home. Don't be fooled by anyone saying we haven't offered, we have. We were the first to offer Bowman who is at Boston College and he liked his visit, but his high school coach wanted him to go to a "basketball" school so he made phone calls for days and finally got Boston College to make an offer. Was that coach looking a job too? We'll never know but some in this thread tried to sell the idea that ECU never pushed the offer until Bowman and his family finally exposed it as a falsehood.

We have a number of ECU fans who were big Ruffin McNeil fans and they haven't gotten over his firing and now criticize everything and every coach at ECU along with the AD so please take with a grain of salt a number of these posts.

ECU has never been good in basketball, but we are better than ever and are getting better, and within a few years threads like this will be laughable if we stay with the current coaching staff.

Surely this guy is trolling... right? If you aren't a troll and are truly an ECU fan, then you are the type of fan who needs to change their thinking. This isn't Conference USA or the CAA. We are not a one-bid conference and we don't tolerate dog-****, no-effort basketball programs. It's time to step it up.

Dude, his name is Compher....

(03-29-2017 11:01 AM)BigEastHomer Wrote:  If the ECU job came open, would it be more advantageous to go with an established name over a lesser-known regional coach?

We've seen a lot of long-standing brand name coaches go back on the market this cycle... from John Thompson to Lorenzo Romar... meanwhile Jeff Lebo maintains a job in a much higher profile conference than he was hired for.



Is ECU the type of job that needs a name brand coach to right the ship? For scheduling and recruiting, would a Thompson get the ECU program well-stocked with good talent, better than a guy that's not so established. Is there any doubt he would schedule decent teams to play OOC with his contacts in the business?

I ask because of Compher's hiring history. At ECU and NIU he hired the 2 Montgomerys, Scottie and Mark, and so far neither of their records is very good.
As HC of NIU MBB, Mark Montgomery is 75–114 (.397) in 6 seasons.

Like USF, I'm not sure ECU can afford to follow up a Lebo with another Montgomery (i.e. an inexperienced guy). And, with the names on the market right now, there's an opportunity to bring in a steady hand for Pirate basketball, much like UCF has done with Johnny Dawkins. Some guys thrive with a new challenge. Look at what Rod Barnes has done at UC Bakersfield.

You think Thompson would take the job?

(04-24-2017 02:43 PM)Old Pirate Wrote:  ECU does not need a change at basketball coach, we need a change in some fans who are unrealistic in what they think is possible at the moment. In NC, ECU is known as a football school and not a basketball school so until that perception changes it'll be hard to keep local players home. Don't be fooled by anyone saying we haven't offered, we have. We were the first to offer Bowman who is at Boston College and he liked his visit, but his high school coach wanted him to go to a "basketball" school so he made phone calls for days and finally got Boston College to make an offer. Was that coach looking a job too? We'll never know but some in this thread tried to sell the idea that ECU never pushed the offer until Bowman and his family finally exposed it as a falsehood.

We have a number of ECU fans who were big Ruffin McNeil fans and they haven't gotten over his firing and now criticize everything and every coach at ECU along with the AD so please take with a grain of salt a number of these posts.

ECU has never been good in basketball, but we are better than ever and are getting better, and within a few years threads like this will be laughable if we stay with the current coaching staff.

Welcome to the board, Lebo.

There is no reason that ECU could not be a decent basketball program, the only thing stopping it is ECU itself. We are in a conference that is shown on ESPN on a regular basis, in a conference with traditional power, and in a state that is rich in basketball talent. All we would need is to put up some money get a quality coach in here that knows how to recruit and we are off and running. But the fact we keep Lebo is a insult to the whole conference, anyone would be better right now than Lebo.

So no thoughts on Gottfried?

(04-24-2017 05:26 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  So no thoughts on Gottfried?

If I were the AD I would gladly upgrade to him or any of the other names being thrown out there.

(04-24-2017 07:30 PM)B easy Wrote:  

(04-24-2017 05:26 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  So no thoughts on Gottfried?

If I were the AD I would gladly upgrade to him or any of the other names being thrown out there.

I think you guys could find a great coach. It will just take some vision, cash, and a great sales pitch. No one ever thought Larry Brown would coach at SMU. If you guys could raise the cash to fire Lebo and turn Minges into Moody east, ECU basketball could be really good.

We should have fired Lebo and went for Gottfried, he could do wonders at ECU I believe. Is not that Lebo sucks, its that Lebo don't care and that pisses me off. I can take losing if our coach actually gave a damn about losing and wanting to make the program better. And when it comes to scheduling it blows my mind that he can't schedule anyone to come to Minges. I mean not even ODU,Richmond, or even Va Tech or South Carolina who we have a scheduling relationship with? I always been a big supporter of ECU basketball but this crap has got to stop, if you can't fire Lebo than find something else for him to do and find someone else before its too late.

(04-24-2017 03:56 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(04-24-2017 03:51 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  What about Mark Gottfried? He has had success at a mid-major (Murray State), a football school (Alabama), and playing second fiddle to UNC and Duke (NC State). I feel like that kind of checks off all the problems that East Carolina has -- no offense on the mid-major comparison, but that's where the basketball program is right now.

For comparison's sake:

Mark Gottfried in 20 seasons at Murray State, Alabama, and North Carolina State: 401-241 (.625) with 11 NCAA tournament appearances and 4 NIT appearances

Jeff Lebo in 19 seasons with Tennessee Tech, Chattanooga, Auburn, and East Carolina: 325–273 (.543) with 0 NCAA tournament appearances and 2 NIT appearances

19 years without a ncaa birth seems crazy to be still coaching d-1.