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ManOnABuffalo Offline
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Post: #61
RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-18-2014 12:31 PM)wh49er Wrote:  
(03-18-2014 12:14 PM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Lutz didn't really have that great a record as a head coach. As I recall it kept going
downhill pretty much. So doubt he is that great a recruiter. Even hate to hear it from
the Charlotte fans about us hiring their old coach that they fired. CC he was let go for
a reason.

Lutz could recruit in the original CUSA when he could tell recruits to come play against Cincy, L'ville, Memphis, Marquette, etc. on ESPN. Once we switched to the A10 his recruiting turned to JUCOs and players who were projects.

Honestly I'd be surprised if he ended up at App, which might be a good thing for you guys.

His name has been in the mix both with fans and it seems even some within the administration since the coaching vacancy. He would have to date his hiring after June 1st to keep collecting a check-to-not coach from UNCC, correct?

We wouldn't want him to not get those dollars you know. Call it a bonus....
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03-18-2014 01:50 PM
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wh49er Offline
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Post: #62
RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-18-2014 01:50 PM)ManOnABuffalo Wrote:  
(03-18-2014 12:31 PM)wh49er Wrote:  
(03-18-2014 12:14 PM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Lutz didn't really have that great a record as a head coach. As I recall it kept going
downhill pretty much. So doubt he is that great a recruiter. Even hate to hear it from
the Charlotte fans about us hiring their old coach that they fired. CC he was let go for
a reason.

Lutz could recruit in the original CUSA when he could tell recruits to come play against Cincy, L'ville, Memphis, Marquette, etc. on ESPN. Once we switched to the A10 his recruiting turned to JUCOs and players who were projects.

Honestly I'd be surprised if he ended up at App, which might be a good thing for you guys.

His name has been in the mix both with fans and it seems even some within the administration since the coaching vacancy. He would have to date his hiring after June 1st to keep collecting a check-to-not coach from UNCC, correct?

We wouldn't want him to not get those dollars you know. Call it a bonus....

Not sure on the exact date of that contract. Would hiring Lutz be a last ditch effort to keep Graham at App? Seems odd to me you're looking at hiring an assistant from a team App accused of tampering.
03-18-2014 02:17 PM
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ManOnABuffalo Offline
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Post: #63
RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-18-2014 02:17 PM)wh49er Wrote:  
(03-18-2014 01:50 PM)ManOnABuffalo Wrote:  
(03-18-2014 12:31 PM)wh49er Wrote:  
(03-18-2014 12:14 PM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Lutz didn't really have that great a record as a head coach. As I recall it kept going
downhill pretty much. So doubt he is that great a recruiter. Even hate to hear it from
the Charlotte fans about us hiring their old coach that they fired. CC he was let go for
a reason.

Lutz could recruit in the original CUSA when he could tell recruits to come play against Cincy, L'ville, Memphis, Marquette, etc. on ESPN. Once we switched to the A10 his recruiting turned to JUCOs and players who were projects.

Honestly I'd be surprised if he ended up at App, which might be a good thing for you guys.

His name has been in the mix both with fans and it seems even some within the administration since the coaching vacancy. He would have to date his hiring after June 1st to keep collecting a check-to-not coach from UNCC, correct?

We wouldn't want him to not get those dollars you know. Call it a bonus....

Not sure on the exact date of that contract. Would hiring Lutz be a last ditch effort to keep Graham at App? Seems odd to me you're looking at hiring an assistant from a team App accused of tampering.

No way would our administration make any large moves to appease a two star basketball recruit who was tampered with by NC State.

Graham's hopes and dreams are the least of our worries at this point. We can all only hope he learned his lesson and doesn't go buy a car with a loan at 19% interest, then try and back out the deal after signing because he thinks a lot down the road has a better rate.
03-18-2014 02:30 PM
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AppManDG Offline
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Post: #64
RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-12-2014 12:43 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  One thing Capel was very good at was his recruiting. Now once the players were here they didn't improve much unless they had a fire beneath them (Sims, Healy), but he knows the AAU circuit well.

Not trying to be argumentative, but other than Graham and possibly Flomo, who are the standout recruits brought in the past 4 years? Taking into consideration this year it was his team who, other than a couple of highly touted transfers who never really panned out, were his stud recruits? Especially when you realize his best players the past two years were walk ons. With Canty and Neal spending a lot of time on the bench for suspensions and grade issues, this group of recruits isn't very impressive.

Capel Recruits Career Stats
Jay Canty - Jr F - 13.3 ppg / 60% shooting / 70% FF / 5 rpg / 1.6 ATOR
Tab Hamilton - Jr G - 9.9 ppg / 38% shooting / 74% FF / .80 ATOR
Tevin Baskin - Sr F - 9.1 ppg / 43% shooting / 70% FF / 4 rpg
Mike Neal - Jr G - 8.9 ppg / 38 % shooting / 69 % FF / 1.13 ATOR
Jamal Trice - (2 years) 8 ppg / 38% shooting / 60% FF/ 2.25 rpg
Michael Obacha - So C - 5.4 ppg / 49% shooting / 51 % FF / 6.7 rpg
Chris Burgess - Sp G - 5 ppg / 38% shooting / 82% FF / 1.14 ATOR
Frank Eaves - So G - 2.1 ppg / 35% shooting / 65% FF / 1.2 ATOR
Ty Tony - Fr G - 6.2 ppg / 39% shooting / 72% FF / 1.27 ATOR
Mike Kobaini - Fr C - 2.6 ppg / 2.6 rpg
03-18-2014 06:21 PM
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Brokeback Flamer Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
Would you guys bring Scruggs back?
03-18-2014 07:59 PM
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Alumniner2012 Offline
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Post: #66
RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
I think I read somewhere that we stop paying Lutz after this month. I could be wrong.
03-18-2014 08:42 PM
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AppManDG Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-18-2014 07:59 PM)Brokeback Flamer Wrote:  Would you guys bring Scruggs back?

Conflicting stories on Scruggs. Some say he knew so much more than Capel it intimidated him. Others say he was just a jerk. Probably because Scruggs knew he was more qualified to be the HC.

Funny story. After beating App in Boone Scruggs had his GW team posing for pictures in the arena and they left town with the game ball. The next year they returned to Boone and were blown out. One of App's seniors took the game ball to their locker room and asked if they wanted that one too!
03-19-2014 09:22 AM
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DrGonzo Offline
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Post: #68
RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
My top 3 preferences in order:

Mike Rhoades
Matt McMahon
Bobby Lutz


McMahon was my first choice back in 2010. Lutz is questionable, and if what I've heard is true, he's the first person the administration is going after. I'm not too thrilled about that. He was ousted from UNCC. What evidence is there that he would thrive at App State?
03-19-2014 09:25 AM
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Brokeback Flamer Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-19-2014 09:22 AM)AppManDG Wrote:  
(03-18-2014 07:59 PM)Brokeback Flamer Wrote:  Would you guys bring Scruggs back?

Conflicting stories on Scruggs. Some say he knew so much more than Capel it intimidated him. Others say he was just a jerk. Probably because Scruggs knew he was more qualified to be the HC.

Funny story. After beating App in Boone Scruggs had his GW team posing for pictures in the arena and they left town with the game ball. The next year they returned to Boone and were blown out. One of App's seniors took the game ball to their locker room and asked if they wanted that one too!
I think it's both. He's doesn't exactly come off as Mr Warm and Fuzzy but he was infinitely more qualified than Capel. And I wouldn't be surprised if Capel was intimidated by him.
Just curious since he has history and can recruit the region pretty well.
03-19-2014 03:02 PM
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T-Dog Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
I heard that Scruggs was a jerk, more-so from the G-W people than the App people, hence why he only lasted a year. 100% he's not going to be App's next coach.

If Lutz is the guy, it's going to be interesting to see if he keeps Kummer who was his assistant for years at Charlotte. The staff was released along with Capel so he's not on the staff right now.

Yes, Lutz gets his final paycheck from Charlotte at the end of this month for something like 225K.

DG, I know the recruits haven't panned out, but they have talent. Obacha should be much more than he is, but he hasn't been developed by the coaches.
03-19-2014 03:19 PM
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Niner National Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-19-2014 09:25 AM)DrGonzo Wrote:  My top 3 preferences in order:

Mike Rhoades
Matt McMahon
Bobby Lutz


McMahon was my first choice back in 2010. Lutz is questionable, and if what I've heard is true, he's the first person the administration is going after. I'm not too thrilled about that. He was ousted from UNCC. What evidence is there that he would thrive at App State?
Lutz seemed to temporarily lose his passion for coaching when we moved to the A10. Understandable for two reasons. He was going from a conference that put him in the national spot light with future HoF coaches to one with solid, but unknown programs. At the same time, he was a front runner for the Tennessee job at the end of our last season in CUSA. If Pearl didn't go on a miracle run to the Sweet 16 at Milwaukee, the job was probably Lutz's.

Lutz now knows that a big time job is out of the question, so I have little doubt his passion for being a HC is back. Coaching at App and in the Sun Belt, he'll know he has no shot at the four star top 100 level athletes that he and Moxley spent all their efforts trying to get, only to miss out on them 95% of the time, leaving us scrambling to fill spots with players nobody wanted / JUCOs.

While I do think App would be better served looking at other candidates, I have no doubts that he'd perform better at App (at the conference level, not necessarily in the post season) than he did in the last few seasons at Charlotte. It's just a different scenario where he doesn't have to adjust his recruiting strategy to accommodate from going from an arguably major conference to a lesser conference (at the time, not the roles are reversed). I think he really struggled to make that transition because he didn't want to accept that Charlotte was no longer a program playing and beating national level programs.
03-19-2014 04:00 PM
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GaStPanthers Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
Not to derail this thread, but what is up with Buzz Peterson's relationship with App? Its like he comes and goes at will.
03-19-2014 04:29 PM
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T-Dog Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-19-2014 04:29 PM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  Not to derail this thread, but what is up with Buzz Peterson's relationship with App? Its like he comes and goes at will.

I'll keep it short.

Peterson became head coach in 1996 after Tom Apke. He guided App to the top of the SoCon in short-order. He thought about leaving in 1999 and temporarily took the job at SE Missouri St, but reconsidered the next morning. In 2000, App won the SoCon and went to the NCAA's for the second time ever. Shortly after, top player Rufus Leach drowned in Watauga Lake and the next week, Buzz took the job at Tulsa, which rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. After winning the NIT in his first year at Tulsa, he then went to Tennessee, where he was there for 4-5 years until being replaced by Bruce Pearl.

Buzz moved around. He had a short stint at Coastal Carolina, but then resigned to work in the Bobcats front office with his North Carolina roommate Michael Jordan. When App bought out Houston Fancher (Buzz' replacement who had a mess of a situation fall in his lap in 2000) in 2009, AD Cobb (who wasn't around in 2000) wanted Buzz and offered him more and more money until he took the job at 250k a year. Peterson said he wanted to retire at App. He took that team to a 24-11 record, the SoCon finals and the CIT semis, so on the surface everything looked good. However his family stayed in Charlotte and Buzz commuted to a Boone apartment for the year, going back and forth all the time so it was known Buzz always had an eye out for a raise.

Buzz's wife Janice HATED Boone and never wanted to go back. It didn't help that the 2009-10 winter was one of the roughest on record. She's an elitist who likes being in high social circles and maintaining a certain lifestyle.

This resulted in at one point Buzz having mortgages in Knoxville, Conway and Charlotte at the same time. Plus a car dealership in Myrtle Beach that he invested in bottomed out so the money he made through his Tennessee tenure was gone.

Soon after the 2009-10 season, it was reported he was interviewing at Marshall, which he denied. Then on a Friday, he accepted the job at UNCW out of the blue for about a 200k a year raise, left a message on Cobb's answering machine at 7:30 am and drove down to Wilmington. Janice told me to my face that she was the reason he took the UNCW job. Judging by the fact that he added another mortgage in Wrightsville Beach, she was pulling more of the strings.

Another facet is that after he left App in 2000 and 2010, neither one of his recruiting classes panned out. Fancher had a mess of a program after Rufus Leach died with defections, disciplining players who had grown entitled under Buzz and with the "five and eight" rule at the time, it made the team very short-handed for the next year and going forward. None of the 2010 class stuck around long as Capel turned the team over pretty quickly.
(This post was last modified: 03-19-2014 05:12 PM by T-Dog.)
03-19-2014 05:07 PM
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AppfanInCAAland Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-19-2014 05:07 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  
(03-19-2014 04:29 PM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  Not to derail this thread, but what is up with Buzz Peterson's relationship with App? Its like he comes and goes at will.

I'll keep it short.

Peterson became head coach in 1996 after Tom Apke. He guided App to the top of the SoCon in short-order. He thought about leaving in 1999 and temporarily took the job at SE Missouri St, but reconsidered the next morning. In 2000, App won the SoCon and went to the NCAA's for the second time ever. Shortly after, top player Rufus Leach drowned in Watauga Lake and the next week, Buzz took the job at Tulsa, which rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. After winning the NIT in his first year at Tulsa, he then went to Tennessee, where he was there for 4-5 years until being replaced by Bruce Pearl.

Buzz moved around. He had a short stint at Coastal Carolina, but then resigned to work in the Bobcats front office with his North Carolina roommate Michael Jordan. When App bought out Houston Fancher (Buzz' replacement who had a mess of a situation fall in his lap in 2000) in 2009, AD Cobb (who wasn't around in 2000) wanted Buzz and offered him more and more money until he took the job at 250k a year. Peterson said he wanted to retire at App. He took that team to a 24-11 record, the SoCon finals and the CIT semis, so on the surface everything looked good. However his family stayed in Charlotte and Buzz commuted to a Boone apartment for the year, going back and forth all the time so it was known Buzz always had an eye out for a raise.

Buzz's wife Janice HATED Boone and never wanted to go back. It didn't help that the 2009-10 winter was one of the roughest on record. She's an elitist who likes being in high social circles and maintaining a certain lifestyle.

This resulted in at one point Buzz having mortgages in Knoxville, Conway and Charlotte at the same time. Plus a car dealership in Myrtle Beach that he invested in bottomed out so the money he made through his Tennessee tenure was gone.

Soon after the 2009-10 season, it was reported he was interviewing at Marshall, which he denied. Then on a Friday, he accepted the job at UNCW out of the blue for about a 200k a year raise, left a message on Cobb's answering machine at 7:30 am and drove down to Wilmington. Janice told me to my face that she was the reason he took the UNCW job. Judging by the fact that he added another mortgage in Wrightsville Beach, she was pulling more of the strings.

Another facet is that after he left App in 2000 and 2010, neither one of his recruiting classes panned out. Fancher had a mess of a program after Rufus Leach died with defections, disciplining players who had grown entitled under Buzz and with the "five and eight" rule at the time, it made the team very short-handed for the next year and going forward. None of the 2010 class stuck around long as Capel turned the team over pretty quickly.

Since I never followed behind the scenes stuff, now what was the deal with Fancher. He seemed to be inconsistent but overall seemed to handle things pretty well. He built what I think was the best App team in the 20 years I've followed them - the NIT team that had a pretty legit shot at an at-large bid.
03-19-2014 05:33 PM
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AppManDG Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-19-2014 03:19 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  I heard that Scruggs was a jerk, more-so from the G-W people than the App people, hence why he only lasted a year. 100% he's not going to be App's next coach.

If Lutz is the guy, it's going to be interesting to see if he keeps Kummer who was his assistant for years at Charlotte. The staff was released along with Capel so he's not on the staff right now.

Yes, Lutz gets his final paycheck from Charlotte at the end of this month for something like 225K.

DG, I know the recruits haven't panned out, but they have talent. Obacha should be much more than he is, but he hasn't been developed by the coaches.

Sorry but I have to disagree. The schools Capel beat for most of his players aren't even top level SoCon schools and we know how bad the conference is. Of the 14 players he signed none have made 1st or 2nd team conference or the all freshman team. That tells me he was underachieving on the recruiting trail. Obacha plays hard and gives a great effort. He has some athletic skills, but can't stay out of foul trouble and at times struggles with basic plays like making make lay-ups. Tony shows some promise and Eaves looks to be a role player. None are the kind of guy who can take over a game like Donald Sims, Rufus Leach or DJ Thompson. BTW, all recruited to App by Matt McMahon. Capel failed to bring a single difference maker to campus in his 3 years. IMO, that is what determines if you can recruit.

It remains to be seen if Devonte Graham or Kendrick Flomo would have been one of those guys.
03-19-2014 06:46 PM
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AppManDG Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-19-2014 05:33 PM)AppfanInCAAland Wrote:  
(03-19-2014 05:07 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  
(03-19-2014 04:29 PM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  Not to derail this thread, but what is up with Buzz Peterson's relationship with App? Its like he comes and goes at will.

I'll keep it short.

Peterson became head coach in 1996 after Tom Apke. He guided App to the top of the SoCon in short-order. He thought about leaving in 1999 and temporarily took the job at SE Missouri St, but reconsidered the next morning. In 2000, App won the SoCon and went to the NCAA's for the second time ever. Shortly after, top player Rufus Leach drowned in Watauga Lake and the next week, Buzz took the job at Tulsa, which rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. After winning the NIT in his first year at Tulsa, he then went to Tennessee, where he was there for 4-5 years until being replaced by Bruce Pearl.

Buzz moved around. He had a short stint at Coastal Carolina, but then resigned to work in the Bobcats front office with his North Carolina roommate Michael Jordan. When App bought out Houston Fancher (Buzz' replacement who had a mess of a situation fall in his lap in 2000) in 2009, AD Cobb (who wasn't around in 2000) wanted Buzz and offered him more and more money until he took the job at 250k a year. Peterson said he wanted to retire at App. He took that team to a 24-11 record, the SoCon finals and the CIT semis, so on the surface everything looked good. However his family stayed in Charlotte and Buzz commuted to a Boone apartment for the year, going back and forth all the time so it was known Buzz always had an eye out for a raise.

Buzz's wife Janice HATED Boone and never wanted to go back. It didn't help that the 2009-10 winter was one of the roughest on record. She's an elitist who likes being in high social circles and maintaining a certain lifestyle.

This resulted in at one point Buzz having mortgages in Knoxville, Conway and Charlotte at the same time. Plus a car dealership in Myrtle Beach that he invested in bottomed out so the money he made through his Tennessee tenure was gone.

Soon after the 2009-10 season, it was reported he was interviewing at Marshall, which he denied. Then on a Friday, he accepted the job at UNCW out of the blue for about a 200k a year raise, left a message on Cobb's answering machine at 7:30 am and drove down to Wilmington. Janice told me to my face that she was the reason he took the UNCW job. Judging by the fact that he added another mortgage in Wrightsville Beach, she was pulling more of the strings.

Another facet is that after he left App in 2000 and 2010, neither one of his recruiting classes panned out. Fancher had a mess of a program after Rufus Leach died with defections, disciplining players who had grown entitled under Buzz and with the "five and eight" rule at the time, it made the team very short-handed for the next year and going forward. None of the 2010 class stuck around long as Capel turned the team over pretty quickly.

Since I never followed behind the scenes stuff, now what was the deal with Fancher. He seemed to be inconsistent but overall seemed to handle things pretty well. He built what I think was the best App team in the 20 years I've followed them - the NIT team that had a pretty legit shot at an at-large bid.

TDog was right on the Buzz stuff with one exception. The car dealership was a Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep outfit in West Jefferson. I really enjoyed listening to all the know it all's when Buzz took the job the second time around. All the talk of him being App basketball's version of Jerry Moore was laughable. I've known the guy a long time, played a lot of golf with him and talking to him the entire time Mark Harrell and Jimmy Deal were pushing him to come back. Buzz turned the job down 3 times, mostly out of respect for Houston.

People tend to forget Buzz made some pretty harsh comments about App when Houston was forced out. Buzz told me Chancellor Peacock called and scolded him for saying negative things about the program when he was the choice to replace Houston. That was the first time Buzz said no. Buzz told me they kept pushing and upping the ante until he made what he thought were demands App would never accept. With the financial support of a local land developer and attorney Cobb said yes. It was a marriage that never going to last. Buzz was looking for a way out before the ink was dry on the contract. All that talk about him wanting his daughter to stay in Charlotte and graduate was just a convenient excuse. Jan was never going to move back to Boone and Buzz was going to be history the next season. He told me had the UNCW deal not come through he was headed back to work for MJ and the Bobcats.

A lot of App fans hate Buzz. They need to turn that anger at the guys who literally backed Buzz into a corner and forced him to come to App.
03-19-2014 07:09 PM
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T-Dog Offline
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-19-2014 05:33 PM)AppfanInCAAland Wrote:  Since I never followed behind the scenes stuff, now what was the deal with Fancher. He seemed to be inconsistent but overall seemed to handle things pretty well. He built what I think was the best App team in the 20 years I've followed them - the NIT team that had a pretty legit shot at an at-large bid.

Coaching-wise, he just couldn't get over the hump. He had the worst losses at the worst times. He gets a pass for the first 2-3 years because of how depleted the program was for the reasons listed above. He recruited very athletic players, but also turned the ball over a good bit.

Never heard much about Fancher's players behind the scenes, which is a good thing. He got APR recognition and they all graduated. The two Puerto Rican players whose names I can't remember would get thrown out of practice ever so often and were suspended once, but besides the house-cleaning when he took over, there weren't any major off-court issues with Fancher.

App has a losing record in Fancher's last year. He had one more year on his deal but he was bought out. Buzz didn't pull a miracle out that year because the team was going to be good, so Fancher did get a raw deal. I hope he'll get another chance because he's a good coach. Maybe if Bidenbach is the guy at UNCW, Fancher can be his top assistant.

The 2006-07 team was very good. Again, it was the bad losses at bad times. After beating Virginia, Vandy, UCF and then VCU, he comes home for the first big Saturday game and loses to last-place Elon. Then he turns right around and wins at Davidson, beating Stephen Curry. They go on a tear, but then a crazy three at the buzzer forces OT at Furman and they lose there. Then the team turns around and wins at Wichita State. In the SoCon Tourney semis, DJ Thompson went something like 0-14 from the floor in regulation, Minter missed a FT at the very end of regulation and App loses to CofC in OT. Then CofC loses to Davidson in the finals and drops from 98 to 102 in the RPI. If the First Four was around then, App would have played as an at-large in Dayton.
(This post was last modified: 03-19-2014 07:23 PM by T-Dog.)
03-19-2014 07:17 PM
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RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
(03-19-2014 05:33 PM)AppfanInCAAland Wrote:  
(03-19-2014 05:07 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  
(03-19-2014 04:29 PM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  Not to derail this thread, but what is up with Buzz Peterson's relationship with App? Its like he comes and goes at will.

I'll keep it short.

Peterson became head coach in 1996 after Tom Apke. He guided App to the top of the SoCon in short-order. He thought about leaving in 1999 and temporarily took the job at SE Missouri St, but reconsidered the next morning. In 2000, App won the SoCon and went to the NCAA's for the second time ever. Shortly after, top player Rufus Leach drowned in Watauga Lake and the next week, Buzz took the job at Tulsa, which rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. After winning the NIT in his first year at Tulsa, he then went to Tennessee, where he was there for 4-5 years until being replaced by Bruce Pearl.

Buzz moved around. He had a short stint at Coastal Carolina, but then resigned to work in the Bobcats front office with his North Carolina roommate Michael Jordan. When App bought out Houston Fancher (Buzz' replacement who had a mess of a situation fall in his lap in 2000) in 2009, AD Cobb (who wasn't around in 2000) wanted Buzz and offered him more and more money until he took the job at 250k a year. Peterson said he wanted to retire at App. He took that team to a 24-11 record, the SoCon finals and the CIT semis, so on the surface everything looked good. However his family stayed in Charlotte and Buzz commuted to a Boone apartment for the year, going back and forth all the time so it was known Buzz always had an eye out for a raise.

Buzz's wife Janice HATED Boone and never wanted to go back. It didn't help that the 2009-10 winter was one of the roughest on record. She's an elitist who likes being in high social circles and maintaining a certain lifestyle.

This resulted in at one point Buzz having mortgages in Knoxville, Conway and Charlotte at the same time. Plus a car dealership in Myrtle Beach that he invested in bottomed out so the money he made through his Tennessee tenure was gone.

Soon after the 2009-10 season, it was reported he was interviewing at Marshall, which he denied. Then on a Friday, he accepted the job at UNCW out of the blue for about a 200k a year raise, left a message on Cobb's answering machine at 7:30 am and drove down to Wilmington. Janice told me to my face that she was the reason he took the UNCW job. Judging by the fact that he added another mortgage in Wrightsville Beach, she was pulling more of the strings.

Another facet is that after he left App in 2000 and 2010, neither one of his recruiting classes panned out. Fancher had a mess of a program after Rufus Leach died with defections, disciplining players who had grown entitled under Buzz and with the "five and eight" rule at the time, it made the team very short-handed for the next year and going forward. None of the 2010 class stuck around long as Capel turned the team over pretty quickly.

Since I never followed behind the scenes stuff, now what was the deal with Fancher. He seemed to be inconsistent but overall seemed to handle things pretty well. He built what I think was the best App team in the 20 years I've followed them - the NIT team that had a pretty legit shot at an at-large bid.

App made a huge mistake when they let Houston go. Besides being one of the most ethical and genuinely good guys you will ever meet, Houston had built the program to where it was set to flourish. The issues that plagued Houston his first 5 years would have broken most men.

I find it interesting how people fail to realize how much of an impact budget and financial support has on a program. Houston had the misfortune of working under an awful administration and AD most of his career. During his entire career he was forced to work with a budget that was at or near the bottom of the Southern Conference. Considering the money and support Houston had to work with he did an incredible job. People expected him to beat basketball only schools with budgets three times what he was operating with. He was the basketball coach at a football crazy school that poured a lot of money into. It is must be noted Buzz was given the top budget in the conference for a football playing school. Capel also enjoyed a budget several times the size of what Houston worked with.

The team Houston had returning when he was let go was set up for an outstanding season. The people who wanted him out knew it and began putting pressure on Peacock and Cobb to terminate him. They couldn't take the chance on Houston putting together another 20+ win season because there would be no basis for not extending his contract. These dudes are quasi unc-ch fans and more importantly than winning games and running a clean program they wanted a headliner in Boone. A celebrity they could roll out at social events. Unfortunately Houston is a family man and did not fit their idea of what a coach should be. He would rather spend time with his wife and kids than hobnobbing in social circles. Those clowns wanted him out and put up the cash to make it happen. Cobb pulled the trigger, although reluctantly according to Houston.

On issue that complicated things was Cobb and Houston had the unusual coincidence of being next door neighbors. Houston said Cobb told him he fought hard to save his job, even to the point of threatening to quit. Telling me at one point Cobb said he should have taken the AD job at the College of Charleston and left Boone in 2007.

In the end we let a guy go who was extremely well respected in the college basketball ranks and replaced him with a guy who had no intention of staying more than a year and a guy who couldn't coach a rec league team. We HAD a program that beat teams from the ACC, SEC and other high major conferences. Now we can't beat teams from the Big South, A-Sun or MEAC. We HAD a program with an APR score that ranked in the top ten in the nation. Now we are on the verge of NCAA sanctions which include loss of scholarships and possible post season ban.

Yet people wonder why I have such an issue with what's gone on at App the past 5 years.
(This post was last modified: 03-19-2014 08:05 PM by AppManDG.)
03-19-2014 07:50 PM
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AppfanInCAAland Offline
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Post: #79
RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
T-Dog and AppManDG's stories make sad about what has happened at App when I think of the excitement of following the 06-07 team to this pitiful situation last year.
03-19-2014 08:53 PM
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GaSoEagle Offline
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Post: #80
RE: App State Fires Basketball Coach
Capel's years at App were similar to Young's years at Ga. Southern.

I hope App. gets a good coach and the program starts improving. I am cautiously optimistic that in year 2 under our new coach (Byington) we will see movement upward.
03-19-2014 09:11 PM
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