(03-29-2022 01:25 PM)bmf25 Wrote: Spiker went 45-65 in the Patriot League, and is now 36-63 in the CAA. Bashir is 111-67 in the NEC. How is someone still coaching with such an abysmal conference record? Hopefully Bashir isn't poached by St Joes or Lasalle
Since its the offseason I will entertain this for a moment. 1 NEC is one of the lowest conferences in basketball, well below the CAA or Patriot. Bashir has done well turning Wagner around. But as others stated, even when he has positioned his team, they haven't gotten over the hump and choke when it matters. Very Bruiser-like, unfortunately. Bashir will get better opportunities because he has been winning a bunch of games, his lack of an NCAA appearance has likely kept him at Wagner. He is too smart of a guy to take the La Salle job. Thats a bad job, a really bad job. He is a great ambassador to Drexel, but that does not mean he is the right person to be our coach. Maybe he would do well, who knows. Some wanted him after Bruiser and that would have been a mistake. We are better than a first time head coach at the DI level, alumni or not. He needed to earn his wings some before we should have considered him, in my opinion. He has done that, but whether we want to go back to the Bruiser tree is a legitimate debate.
Here is how Army has done with their challenges since Spiker has left:
2022: 15-16 (9-9)
2021: 12-10 (7-7)
2020: 15-15 (10-8)
2019: 13-19 (8-10)
2018: 13-17 (6-12)
2017: 13-19 (6-12)
81-96 (46-48). Thats 2, 0.500 or winning seasons in 6 years. Spiker had 3 out of his 7 years and 3 out of his final 4. In case you are challenged at math thats a 45% win percentage. Even with Spiker's bad first 2 years at West Point he was at 48% winning there.
Spikers final 6 seasons: 88-97 (41-55). He took over a 11-19 (6-8) team whereas his replacement took over a 19-14 (9-9) team. His replacement went backwards in his first season, and Spiker improved them.
With Drexel Spiker has improved (albeit slowly) each season. That seems to jell with his results at Army. His record seems to show he can build a team from really bad to an average team. All while recruiting with his hands tied behind his back (Academics at Army and apathy/irrelevance/culture at Drexel). And recruiting players that dont cause problems and are also great ambassadors for the university.
On Bashir: He has 3 20 win seasons and was 1st or 2nd 6 times out of his 10 seasons. Yet 0 NCAA appearances. 2 NIT appearances (1-2). Lots of wins, few horrible seasons, and nothing to show for it. Almost identical to Bruiser's tenure here.
Point being Spiker has done well in 2 extremely tough places to win. He may not be the guy you need to constantly challenge for at large bids or tournament victories. But he runs a good program and can turn them around to be respectable. That should be applauded. Doesnt mean you can't strive for higher, as well. The positives clearly outweigh the negatives with Spiker.