OK, so the job isn't open yet. Just thought I'd toss some names out for discussion purposes. I didn't include any D2 coaches but some of those should be considered also.

Todd Lickliter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Lickliter

Brad Soucie. http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticl...ID=3724314

Pat Kelsey.
http://www.goxavier.com/sports/m-baskbl/...pat00.html

Jayson Gee.
http://www.csuvikings.com/sports/m-baskb...09aaa.html
http://www.csuvikings.com/sports/m-baskb...son00.html

Kyle Green.
http://www.unipanthers.com/sports/m-bask...yle00.html

Greg Gard
http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-baskbl...reg00.html

Dane Fife (my personal favorite)
http://www.gomastodons.com/coaches.aspx?...ath=mbball

Without digging too terribly deep, I'd also prefer Fife from that list, for two reasons. First, as we know from football, a successful assistant doesn't always make a successful head coach. If EMU can pick up someone with some head coaching experience rather than promoting an assistant coach, I think they'll do better. Second, he's succeeding with a program that doesn't have a history of success. When Lickliter took over at both Butler and Iowa, each school had a tradition of success, and each program declined under him. His fourth year at Butler and his third year at Iowa were each school's worst season in more than a decade.

Guys can we at least wait until into the con season?

We have two new PGs. Let's not kiss this season goodbye now...

Sorry but I have to respond to this. There are a total of 7 JC transfers on this squad! YOU CAN NOT build a team using JC transfers! Didn't we learn anything with the Barnes débâcle? You can fill one or two holes but build a team? Never happen. Also I have the word that Ramsey is here until the end of the season. EMU just doesn't have the money to pay for two coaches. I've watched our two "new" point guards they can't stay with even the bad point guards from the teams we have played so far. EMU is projected to win 2 more games. NIU here and Toledo here, Ferris St is a tossup.

(12-09-2010 04:36 PM)emussuperfan Wrote:  Sorry but I have to respond to this. There are a total of 7 JC transfers on this squad! YOU CAN NOT build a team using JC transfers! Didn't we learn anything with the Barnes débâcle? You can fill one or two holes but build a team? Never happen. Also I have the word that Ramsey is here until the end of the season. EMU just doesn't have the money to pay for two coaches. I've watched our two "new" point guards they can't stay with even the bad point guards from the teams we have played so far. EMU is projected to win 2 more games. NIU here and Toledo here, Ferris St is a tossup.

Agree 100% about JUCOs.

If Ferris beats EMU then let's not let their coach leave town without a job interview.

Super, where did you hear that Ramsey was here until years end? A good source?

Do you know if Gragg has a short list?

During Boone's last year here, heard that Ramsey, then at Michigan, bad mouthed him throughout the season. Hearsay only!

(12-09-2010 05:49 PM)Dennis D. Rachwal Wrote:  Super, where did you hear that Ramsey was here until years end? A good source?

Do you know if Gragg has a short list?

During Boone's last year here, heard that Ramsey, then at Michigan, bad mouthed him throughout the season. Hearsay only!

As far as I know Dr Gragg has not said anything to anyone I know. I know someone who was in the athletic department and financially they don't have the money. If he is bought out it would have to come from outside the department and the way the economy has been the last 4 to 5 years I don't think the money is out there. The bubble ate up most of what was out there.

I did notice that that President Martin sat behind the mens bench for about 5 minutes after the start of the second half. Some people think because I don't think the men will win that I don't want them to win. That is just not true. I love my EMU sports teams and I want them to win each and every game. I take it personally when they don't. I try to be an extra player for them.

I am just getting sick and tired of hearing from some people "just wait till so an so starts or just wait till next year." It has been 15 years!

Why would Fife go to Eastern? What would be the draw? The Convo? Haha.

I don't see anyone projecting as few as two more wins, but it's going to be an ugly season. Ken Pomeroy is projecting 8-20 (8-21 when you add in a first-round loss in the MAC tourney), with the most likely wins over Ferris State (only because they're D-II), Toledo, Northern Illinois, Toledo away, Central Michigan (tossup), and two more games probably from among Bowling Green away, Akron, Miami, Buffalo, and Northern Illinois away.

I don't doubt that Ramsey will be here through the end of the season, but that doesn't mean Gragg et al aren't already looking around. I'll allow for a "wait until such and such gets here" or "wait until next year" for a coach's first few years, when they're still working with the previous coach's recruits, but it's Ramsey's 6th season, and at this point I think we've seen what he's got. For his career he's a sub-.400 coach. He needs 11 wins (10 more) to finish this season above .400, which probably isn't going to happen. It's time for EMU to move on.

(12-10-2010 09:19 AM)cmadler Wrote:  I don't see anyone projecting as few as two more wins, but it's going to be an ugly season. Ken Pomeroy is projecting 8-20 (8-21 when you add in a first-round loss in the MAC tourney), with the most likely wins over Ferris State (only because they're D-II), Toledo, Northern Illinois, Toledo away, Central Michigan (tossup), and two more games probably from among Bowling Green away, Akron, Miami, Buffalo, and Northern Illinois away.

I don't doubt that Ramsey will be here through the end of the season, but that doesn't mean Gragg et al aren't already looking around. I'll allow for a "wait until such and such gets here" or "wait until next year" for a coach's first few years, when they're still working with the previous coach's recruits, but it's Ramsey's 6th season, and at this point I think we've seen what he's got. For his career he's a sub-.400 coach. He needs 11 wins (10 more) to finish this season above .400, which probably isn't going to happen. It's time for EMU to move on.

I agree. The fact that he's depended so heavily on JUCO's is a sign of desperation. It's also an indication that the HS recruiting sceen has not been very successful. EMU basketball has a lot to offer and the fact that Rams can not recruit better only points to the coach himself. It's a shame that his biggest victory came in his very first game against Cal.

Dennis, you can bet that Gragg has a short list. I've heard that every AD has a list for every sport. From a management perspective, it's absolutely necessary.

Observation:So why everyone upset with Ramsey recruiting JUCOs and not with English for doing the same thing?

I totally agree with the comment that you build successful programs in football and basketball with high school kids over the long term.

(12-12-2010 05:25 PM)emu79 Wrote:  Observation:So why everyone upset with Ramsey recruiting JUCOs and not with English for doing the same thing?

I totally agree with the comment that you build successful programs in football and basketball with high school kids over the long term.

1. It's proportionately worse for the basketball team. By my count, 10 players have been a non-trivial part of the team. Four of them -- 40% of the team -- transferred in this year, though Thompson is a D-I transfer, not a JUCO transfer. I don't have the numbers at hand, but I'd be shocked if 30% to 40% of football letterwinners were transfers.

2. The programs and coaches are, or should be, at differerent spots. English just finished his second year with the football team. He's still bringing in his players and installing his systems. Ramsey is in his sixth year. I'm fairly sure that everyone who's here, he recruited. If there are roster holes that needed emergency plugging, the holes were, at least in part, his doing.

3. Different sports are different. Basketball and football recruiting are not the same.

4. We complain mostly about football during football season and we complain mostly about basketball during basketball season. There were plenty of complaints on this message board about English's JUCOs a month or two ago; no one was talking about the basketball JUCOs at that point!

Well it appears the JUCOs transfers in either sport aren't getting it done.

However Ramsey did have a decent year last year. I think Super had it right when he said he couldn't see how the team would get better this year without Medlock and Dobbins.

(12-13-2010 10:25 AM)cmadler Wrote:  

(12-12-2010 05:25 PM)emu79 Wrote:  Observation:So why everyone upset with Ramsey recruiting JUCOs and not with English for doing the same thing?

I totally agree with the comment that you build successful programs in football and basketball with high school kids over the long term.

1. It's proportionately worse for the basketball team. By my count, 10 players have been a non-trivial part of the team. Four of them -- 40% of the team -- transferred in this year, though Thompson is a D-I transfer, not a JUCO transfer. I don't have the numbers at hand, but I'd be shocked if 30% to 40% of football letterwinners were transfers.

2. The programs and coaches are, or should be, at differerent spots. English just finished his second year with the football team. He's still bringing in his players and installing his systems. Ramsey is in his sixth year. I'm fairly sure that everyone who's here, he recruited. If there are roster holes that needed emergency plugging, the holes were, at least in part, his doing.

3. Different sports are different. Basketball and football recruiting are not the same.

4. We complain mostly about football during football season and we complain mostly about basketball during basketball season. There were plenty of complaints on this message board about English's JUCOs a month or two ago; no one was talking about the basketball JUCOs at that point!

+2 post.

Very nicely thought out.

You said an awful lot in one concise post.

CMadler: As I have in another post, I don't believe one JUCO will start on offense for English next year.

Genyk did not leave the cupboard bare on offense and English stocked (restocked) it with high school kids.

On defense, the cupboard was somewhat depleted (some very good defenders had graduated in the two previous years) and re-stocking has been difficult.

BTW, here is my '11 'pre-spring drills' starting lineup:

Thomas, Scott, Hoskins, Buche, Sorgatz, Watman, Hansen, Neal, Gillett, Marrow, and Greene.

As should be, in English's 3rd year, 2/3s of the starters should be his.

I continue to get upset with INPATIENT fans who simply can not wait for coaches to build programs.

Fans who get all jacked up with recruiting expect that the kids will sign in February (or April or November in hoops) and make an immediate contribute 6 months or even 18 months later and save a program which has been down for a GENERATION.

EMU recruits prospects not Suhs, Pryors, Newtons, etc.

What happened to the mentality that the first year the kid redshirts or comes off the bench, then the second year plays more and maybe starts, and then year 3 and 4 becomes a solid or impact player?

(12-13-2010 11:28 AM)emu steve Wrote:  EMU recruits prospects not Suhs, Pryors, Newtons, etc.

What happened to the mentality that the first year the kid redshirts or comes off the bench, then the second year plays more and maybe starts, and then year 3 and 4 becomes a solid or impact player?

At some positions (o-line, d-line), this is the case even for the top players.

Suh wasn't a starter until his third season at Nebraska (medical redshirt his first year).

Jake Long wasn't a starter until partway into his third season at Michigan (redshirt his first year).

Even at quarterback, Cam Newton didn't start until his third year of college -- for a JUCO! Since 2010 has been his first year playing at Auburn, folks seem to have forgotten that he's the same age as some college seniors; he's a month older than Terrell Pryor.

Brad Soucie was an exceptional shooter on EMU's first NCAA team. He had one of the best jump shots you'll find. In our first tournament game Grant Long got into very early foul trouble and Soucie kept us in the game almost by himself. He made eight treys, which I believe tied an NCAA record.

Sadly he left EMU after his sophomore season and went to a Christian University. Later he toured with a top flight amature team of former college players.