Is there any rational reasons for not making a change now?

Is this the last year of the contract?

He has one more year on the contract.

(01-30-2018 09:01 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote:  He has one more year on the contract.

Make a change and I'll buy season tix for the first time. Does that help the finances.

(01-30-2018 09:01 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote:  He has one more year on the contract.

Well F***. We're stuck with him.

Has EMU ever fired a coach with money remaining on his/her contract?

At this point, if I were Wetherbe, I would talk to the captains and indirectly ask if the team would play hard for one of the assistant coaches. If they say yes, I would reassign Murphy to a different position until his contract expires and let one of his assistant coaches take the team for the rest of the season.

Also if you're really serious about wanting a coaching change, then email the AD

(01-30-2018 11:23 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  At this point, if I were Wetherbe, I would talk to the captains and indirectly ask if the team would play hard for one of the assistant coaches. If they say yes, I would reassign Murphy to a different position until his contract expires and let one of his assistant coaches take the team for the rest of the season.

Also if you're really serious about wanting a coaching change, then email the AD

i would never put the players of an amateur team in the awkward position of making the decision to fire the head coach so they can be coached by an assistant. that seems like a bad move on multiple levels:
- for the AD, this is passing off responsibility for making the decision
- the assistant coaches are put in a situation where they are coaching players who just chose to fire the head coach. the assistants are likely loyal to the head coach, and now they have to salvage the season with players who wanted to fire the head coach.
- players have to deal with pressure from people in the administration, coaches, fans, etc who were fans of the coach (less relevant in this situation for the fans, but you know...)
- players are put in a weird situation if the AD doesn't fire the coach and the coach finds out about the conversation. could potentially ruin the relationship between AD-Coach, Coach-players

and this doesn't even get into whether it's a good idea to make a switch right now. there are what, five weeks left? no one's going to come in to revamp the offense in the next month. and no one's going to coach the defense the same, and like it or not, keeping the defense is the best move at this point because you can't just change on the fly.

i do not support Murphy coaching this team beyond this season, but firing him now does nothing, and involving the players in his firing is an objectively bad idea.

(01-31-2018 12:57 AM)EMUAARON Wrote:  

(01-30-2018 11:23 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  At this point, if I were Wetherbe, I would talk to the captains and indirectly ask if the team would play hard for one of the assistant coaches. If they say yes, I would reassign Murphy to a different position until his contract expires and let one of his assistant coaches take the team for the rest of the season.

Also if you're really serious about wanting a coaching change, then email the AD

i would never put the players of an amateur team in the awkward position of making the decision to fire the head coach so they can be coached by an assistant. that seems like a bad move on multiple levels:
- for the AD, this is passing off responsibility for making the decision
- the assistant coaches are put in a situation where they are coaching players who just chose to fire the head coach. the assistants are likely loyal to the head coach, and now they have to salvage the season with players who wanted to fire the head coach.
- players have to deal with pressure from people in the administration, coaches, fans, etc who were fans of the coach (less relevant in this situation for the fans, but you know...)
- players are put in a weird situation if the AD doesn't fire the coach and the coach finds out about the conversation. could potentially ruin the relationship between AD-Coach, Coach-players

and this doesn't even get into whether it's a good idea to make a switch right now. there are what, five weeks left? no one's going to come in to revamp the offense in the next month. and no one's going to coach the defense the same, and like it or not, keeping the defense is the best move at this point because you can't just change on the fly.

i do not support Murphy coaching this team beyond this season, but firing him now does nothing, and involving the players in his firing is an objectively bad idea.

Good analysis Aaron at the Murphy is going he will give the new AD plenty of reasons to make a change

(01-31-2018 12:57 AM)EMUAARON Wrote:  

(01-30-2018 11:23 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  At this point, if I were Wetherbe, I would talk to the captains and indirectly ask if the team would play hard for one of the assistant coaches. If they say yes, I would reassign Murphy to a different position until his contract expires and let one of his assistant coaches take the team for the rest of the season.

Also if you're really serious about wanting a coaching change, then email the AD

i would never put the players of an amateur team in the awkward position of making the decision to fire the head coach so they can be coached by an assistant. that seems like a bad move on multiple levels:
- for the AD, this is passing off responsibility for making the decision
- the assistant coaches are put in a situation where they are coaching players who just chose to fire the head coach. the assistants are likely loyal to the head coach, and now they have to salvage the season with players who wanted to fire the head coach.
- players have to deal with pressure from people in the administration, coaches, fans, etc who were fans of the coach (less relevant in this situation for the fans, but you know...)
- players are put in a weird situation if the AD doesn't fire the coach and the coach finds out about the conversation. could potentially ruin the relationship between AD-Coach, Coach-players

and this doesn't even get into whether it's a good idea to make a switch right now. there are what, five weeks left? no one's going to come in to revamp the offense in the next month. and no one's going to coach the defense the same, and like it or not, keeping the defense is the best move at this point because you can't just change on the fly.

i do not support Murphy coaching this team beyond this season, but firing him now does nothing, and involving the players in his firing is an objectively bad idea.

I'll respectfully disagree. With Murphy coaching we all know the inevitable finish for this Basketball team (see last night's game).

With an interim coach, we may just light a fire under the players for a stronger performance and finish to the season. Nothing to lose but much to gain such as building momentum for next year. These D1 athletes have played basketball for many years. Introducing a few offensive sets and even changing the defense is not calculus or rocket science although watching Murphy struggle, one might think that it is.

Can't lose at home like that with a veteran team, especially to your in-state rivals. I really can't imagine a scenario, other than a miracle run, in which Murphy is back next season. And there is virtually no way that we fire a coach with a month left in the season, unless he does some "Ron English" stuff.

This team has lost all confidence offensively. Hopefully our new coach can retain a lot of these players for next season and get the most out of them.

Perfect time for the firing is NOW. Relieve him now, everybody knows (the players) he is gone. This thing can really tank unless he is fired now. I have confidence that Kevin Mondro can hold it together for the remaining games as interim.

Regardless of whether we fire him this weekend or after the season, I hope that Wetherbee and team are working behind the scenes NOW to start the coaching search. Form the committees, ask for advisement, and start picking up the phone to feel out candidates NOW rather than after Murphy is let go.

If we want to retain some this talent, we need the new coach in front of the players quickly. We don't want a situation like the one Kent State had to deal with in football, where finding a coach to sign a contract took WAY too long (although it appears they did finally find a good one).

Wetherbee seems very competent, and worked in good athletic departments prior, so hopefully he knows this already.

Guys. Take away JTIV and this team is very very bad. Western had a different caliber of player on the floor than us. They were more athletic, stronger, and played with way more energy. They also played man to man defense. We also didn't adjust at all at halftime but still tried to drive the ball because we can't shoot.

I say who cares about keeping players at this point. We can't win with these guys -- minus JTIV.

A western player literally jumped over one of our players and almost 1-hand jammed off a rebound and we are watching the ball.

(01-31-2018 08:32 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  Perfect time for the firing is NOW. Relieve him now, everybody knows (the players) he is gone. This thing can really tank unless he is fired now. I have confidence that Kevin Mondro can hold it together for the remaining games as interim.

Agree. Nothing to lose but much to gain.

(01-31-2018 10:20 AM)JonesGoddard Wrote:  Guys. Take away JTIV and this team is very very bad. Western had a different caliber of player on the floor than us. They were more athletic, stronger, and played with way more energy. They also played man to man defense. We also didn't adjust at all at halftime but still tried to drive the ball because we can't shoot.

I say who cares about keeping players at this point. We can't win with these guys -- minus JTIV.

A western player literally jumped over one of our players and almost 1-hand jammed off a rebound and we are watching the ball.

Disagree. This EMU team is very talented! For example, our defense under Brad Mclasin (sp?) was out right terrible. Implement a new strategy with Neathery and virtually the same players and we saw significant improvement.

I've been around the game for a long time and EMU has talented players. Plus the MAC is very very weak in basketball. The MAC is ripe for a decent coach to go on a successful run and win several Championships. Murphy is terrible on offense, and defense. To his credit, he's brought in good MAC players. Now the players have very little confidence in themselves or in Murphy's system.

Fire Murphy now and see if an assistant can salvage the season and get us to the tournament semi-finals.

(01-31-2018 10:47 AM)Luckeyone Wrote:  

(01-31-2018 10:20 AM)JonesGoddard Wrote:  Guys. Take away JTIV and this team is very very bad. Western had a different caliber of player on the floor than us. They were more athletic, stronger, and played with way more energy. They also played man to man defense. We also didn't adjust at all at halftime but still tried to drive the ball because we can't shoot.

I say who cares about keeping players at this point. We can't win with these guys -- minus JTIV.

A western player literally jumped over one of our players and almost 1-hand jammed off a rebound and we are watching the ball.

Disagree. This EMU team is very talented! For example, our defense under Brad Mclasin (sp?) was out right terrible. Implement a new strategy with Neathery and virtually the same players and we saw significant improvement.

I've been around the game for a long time and EMU has talented players. Plus the MAC is very very weak in basketball. The MAC is ripe for a decent coach to go on a successful run and win several Championships. Murphy is terrible on offense, and defense. To his credit, he's brought in good MAC players. Now the players have very little confidence in themselves or in Murphy's system.

Fire Murphy now and see if an assistant can salvage the season and get us to the tournament semi-finals.

I agree with this. The talent is sufficient to make a run in a weak MAC. Folks, this is not the MAC of Ron Harper, Gary Trent, Grant Long, etc. A good coach could guide this EMU team to a title. Take a chance, Murphy had EVERY opportunity to succeed and he came up short. He is an outstanding assistant coach and recruiter and I think that is his niche.

If the talent is so great and this isn't your father's MAC basketball -- why can't we win then? Is it all on the coach? I would agree the majority of it is, but maybe we just misevaluated our own talent.

(02-02-2018 12:40 PM)JonesGoddard Wrote:  If the talent is so great and this isn't your father's MAC basketball -- why can't we win then? Is it all on the coach? I would agree the majority of it is, but maybe we just misevaluated our own talent.

The talent isn't great but it is adequate to good. Good enough to compete for the MAC championship. The coaching is poor--as everybody has already noted.

When coaches literally only allow practicing 50% of the game (defense only), you can't underestimate how much coaching has to do with performance.

(02-02-2018 12:40 PM)JonesGoddard Wrote:  If the talent is so great and this isn't your father's MAC basketball -- why can't we win then? Is it all on the coach? I would agree the majority of it is, but maybe we just misevaluated our own talent.

Alot of talent has head baggage. Ditto most of Murphy's teams. Don't play intelligent basketball make super dunks but can't consistently make free throws is good example. Lack of focus on the court which makes the defense drift from time to time. Its not all on the coaches.

(02-02-2018 02:23 PM)emu79 Wrote:  

(02-02-2018 12:40 PM)JonesGoddard Wrote:  If the talent is so great and this isn't your father's MAC basketball -- why can't we win then? Is it all on the coach? I would agree the majority of it is, but maybe we just misevaluated our own talent.

Alot of talent has head baggage. Ditto most of Murphy's teams. Don't play intelligent basketball make super dunks but can't consistently make free throws is good example. Lack of focus on the court which makes the defense drift from time to time. Its not all on the coaches.

I'm going to disagree with you on that 79. All of the things you stated are true but the coach can and should control all of it. Would a team coached by Bob Knight, Dean Smith, Tom Izzo, etc have these types of issues on a consistent basis?