(12-06-2018 10:00 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(12-06-2018 09:11 PM)holybovine Wrote:  Wonder what happened to Rachwal?

Was thinking the same thing. Hope hoopster is alright.

He hasn’t been on in 4 years. : (

(12-06-2018 09:13 PM)holybovine Wrote:  You guys can bag on Bob all you want. He’s earned it.

But the defense of Murphy is bizarre and sad.

So i seem to be of the bigger murphy defenders, and i guess i should take a moment to defend myself hahaha.

I guess I'm not saying Murphy is a great coach, or even a particularly good coach. He may not even be the coach to push them over the top to the next level. I do, however, believe that he shouldn't be fired midseason and that he didnt "destroy the program". i will agree with bobby that he could stand to engage with the community more, but he wasnt really brought in to do that. he was brought in to stabilize a program that was in free fall mode.

EMU basketball is sort of in purgatory right now. the best we can do is hope he cleans up during the conference season - or the bottom falls out. theres too much talent for the latter to happen, though.

Time to seriously consider the next basketball coach at Eastern Michigan University! It is over. It is over for Murph. Nobody can say that he hasn't been given every opportunity to build a winner and engage the community. He didn't give his best effort and predictably, he failed. His heart was never 100% into it, he is a career assistant, that's his niche.

I’ve stayed away from the fire Murphy argument. I’ve always been of the thought that he has brought in solid talent, and has had teams that have succeeded to a point. He has brought stability back to the program, and for that I’ll commend him.

However, watching the game last night made me realize that his time here has ran its course. The team has talent, size, and athleticism. However they do not resemble a TEAM in any way whatsoever. There’s no passion and no fun from both Murphy and his team.

The defensive side of the ball has always been a positive. I do not claim to be a basketball expert by any means, but I can tell you that on the offensive side of the court there have been issues since Murphy got to campus. Lack of movement, the inability to break down a defender in a one on one situation, and selfish rushed shots seem to be the name of the game on offense. It’s stale, and hard to watch.

Watching the two coaches last night (Nate Oats VS Rob Murphy) was almost laughable. On the buffalo side you watched a coach that was passionate EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION even when up by near 30 points. He challenged his players, and was engaged in every happening on the court. On the other side you have Murphy. He doesn’t seem engaged, and is very passive while his team is on court (while runnning sets...if we have any sets).

These are just my opinions, I understand not everyone will agree. I’ve been very pro Murphy during his tenure, and I will again commend him for all the work he has done to stabilize our program, but sometimes coaches run their course at a program... and I feel that’s where we are at this point.

(01-05-2019 11:39 AM)easterneagles79 Wrote:  I’ve stayed away from the fire Murphy argument. I’ve always been of the thought that he has brought in solid talent, and has had teams that have succeeded to a point. He has brought stability back to the program, and for that I’ll commend him.

However, watching the game last night made me realize that his time here has ran its course. The team has talent, size, and athleticism. However they do not resemble a TEAM in any way whatsoever. There’s no passion and no fun from both Murphy and his team.

The defensive side of the ball has always been a positive. I do not claim to be a basketball expert by any means, but I can tell you that on the offensive side of the court there have been issues since Murphy got to campus. Lack of movement, the inability to break down a defender in a one on one situation, and selfish rushed shots seem to be the name of the game on offense. It’s stale, and hard to watch.

Watching the two coaches last night (Nate Oats VS Rob Murphy) was almost laughable. On the buffalo side you watched a coach that was passionate EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION even when up by near 30 points. He challenged his players, and was engaged in every happening on the court. On the other side you have Murphy. He doesn’t seem engaged, and is very passive while his team is on court (while runnning sets...if we have any sets).

These are just my opinions, I understand not everyone will agree. I’ve been very pro Murphy during his tenure, and I will again commend him for all the work he has done to stabilize our program, but sometimes coaches run their course at a program... and I feel that’s where we are at this point.

I agree 100% with everything you said. You nailed it. In my opinion if he does not win the Mac Championship this year then he should be gone. There seems to be the general thought that we can't fire him because of his $235,000 contract for next year. I disagree with that and here's why.

Next year's team will likely be even worse. I doubt Murphy will be able to recruit talented players because everybody will know he's is a lame duck coach. So then if you wait until 2020 to fire him then you're only making it harder for the next guy to rebuild. I think it's better to end this madness after this season and give the program a chance to rebuild quicker with a new guy. $235k seems like a small price to pay. Heck, a new coach might breathe new life into the program and boost attendance thus offset eating that contract.

Some of us old timers have been waiting over 20 years for a championship-level team again. It's not going to happen with this guy.

I would like a new coach be a zone defense first coach why? Because the current roster is geared towards it you can mix in man to man the new coach should have some idea of an actual offensive system I really would like a coach well respected by Michigan high coaches and one willing to be here year round is 250 per year going to be enough to hire a quality coach? Not sure I want a D2 coach that is a pretty good leap

(01-05-2019 12:25 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(01-05-2019 11:39 AM)easterneagles79 Wrote:  I’ve stayed away from the fire Murphy argument. I’ve always been of the thought that he has brought in solid talent, and has had teams that have succeeded to a point. He has brought stability back to the program, and for that I’ll commend him.

However, watching the game last night made me realize that his time here has ran its course. The team has talent, size, and athleticism. However they do not resemble a TEAM in any way whatsoever. There’s no passion and no fun from both Murphy and his team.

The defensive side of the ball has always been a positive. I do not claim to be a basketball expert by any means, but I can tell you that on the offensive side of the court there have been issues since Murphy got to campus. Lack of movement, the inability to break down a defender in a one on one situation, and selfish rushed shots seem to be the name of the game on offense. It’s stale, and hard to watch.

Watching the two coaches last night (Nate Oats VS Rob Murphy) was almost laughable. On the buffalo side you watched a coach that was passionate EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION even when up by near 30 points. He challenged his players, and was engaged in every happening on the court. On the other side you have Murphy. He doesn’t seem engaged, and is very passive while his team is on court (while runnning sets...if we have any sets).

These are just my opinions, I understand not everyone will agree. I’ve been very pro Murphy during his tenure, and I will again commend him for all the work he has done to stabilize our program, but sometimes coaches run their course at a program... and I feel that’s where we are at this point.

I agree 100% with everything you said. You nailed it. In my opinion if he does not win the Mac Championship this year then he should be gone. There seems to be the general thought that we can't fire him because of his $235,000 contract for next year. I disagree with that and here's why.

Next year's team will likely be even worse. I doubt Murphy will be able to recruit talented players because everybody will know he's is a lame duck coach. So then if you wait until 2020 to fire him then you're only making it harder for the next guy to rebuild. I think it's better to end this madness after this season and give the program a chance to rebuild quicker with a new guy. $235k seems like a small price to pay. Heck, a new coach might breathe new life into the program and boost attendance thus offset eating that contract.

Some of us old timers have been waiting over 20 years for a championship-level team again. It's not going to happen with this guy.

We don’t use the “O” word. 19 years.

(01-05-2019 11:39 AM)easterneagles79 Wrote:  I’ve stayed away from the fire Murphy argument. I’ve always been of the thought that he has brought in solid talent, and has had teams that have succeeded to a point. He has brought stability back to the program, and for that I’ll commend him.

However, watching the game last night made me realize that his time here has ran its course. The team has talent, size, and athleticism. However they do not resemble a TEAM in any way whatsoever. There’s no passion and no fun from both Murphy and his team.

The defensive side of the ball has always been a positive. I do not claim to be a basketball expert by any means, but I can tell you that on the offensive side of the court there have been issues since Murphy got to campus. Lack of movement, the inability to break down a defender in a one on one situation, and selfish rushed shots seem to be the name of the game on offense. It’s stale, and hard to watch.

Watching the two coaches last night (Nate Oats VS Rob Murphy) was almost laughable. On the buffalo side you watched a coach that was passionate EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION even when up by near 30 points. He challenged his players, and was engaged in every happening on the court. On the other side you have Murphy. He doesn’t seem engaged, and is very passive while his team is on court (while runnning sets...if we have any sets).

These are just my opinions, I understand not everyone will agree. I’ve been very pro Murphy during his tenure, and I will again commend him for all the work he has done to stabilize our program, but sometimes coaches run their course at a program... and I feel that’s where we are at this point.

I agree with you 100%. I have been following Eastern for only 3 years now both football and basketball. I give all of you with longer lengths of being a fan huge respect for being steadfast in hoping for a Championship.

I was at the game last night. Oats was engaged with people in the stands most likely from his Romulus days before the game. Waving at times to the Buffalo fans getting to their seats. He is energetic at all times. He is even with the team during warm ups.

Murphy is no where to be seen until just before game starts. He sits in his chair with his head resting on his hand during the game. Even the TV crews show this. No energy or enthusiasm at all. I get that there's differences in personality, but he shows very little excitement during the game. His post games are cold and boring with no passion in his voice, just the facts. Young men need someone with passion for their jobs in college. There will be plenty of dismal bosses in their work lives, coaches don't need to be their first dismal leader. Excited coaches like Oates and Izzo on the sidelines brings results when things get tough.

(01-05-2019 11:39 AM)easterneagles79 Wrote:  I’ve stayed away from the fire Murphy argument. I’ve always been of the thought that he has brought in solid talent, and has had teams that have succeeded to a point. He has brought stability back to the program, and for that I’ll commend him.

However, watching the game last night made me realize that his time here has ran its course. The team has talent, size, and athleticism. However they do not resemble a TEAM in any way whatsoever. There’s no passion and no fun from both Murphy and his team.

The defensive side of the ball has always been a positive. I do not claim to be a basketball expert by any means, but I can tell you that on the offensive side of the court there have been issues since Murphy got to campus. Lack of movement, the inability to break down a defender in a one on one situation, and selfish rushed shots seem to be the name of the game on offense. It’s stale, and hard to watch.

Watching the two coaches last night (Nate Oats VS Rob Murphy) was almost laughable. On the buffalo side you watched a coach that was passionate EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION even when up by near 30 points. He challenged his players, and was engaged in every happening on the court. On the other side you have Murphy. He doesn’t seem engaged, and is very passive while his team is on court (while runnning sets...if we have any sets).

These are just my opinions, I understand not everyone will agree. I’ve been very pro Murphy during his tenure, and I will again commend him for all the work he has done to stabilize our program, but sometimes coaches run their course at a program... and I feel that’s where we are at this point.

Solid analysis, sir.

(01-06-2019 10:11 AM)Mike1989 Wrote:  

(01-05-2019 11:39 AM)easterneagles79 Wrote:  I’ve stayed away from the fire Murphy argument. I’ve always been of the thought that he has brought in solid talent, and has had teams that have succeeded to a point. He has brought stability back to the program, and for that I’ll commend him.

However, watching the game last night made me realize that his time here has ran its course. The team has talent, size, and athleticism. However they do not resemble a TEAM in any way whatsoever. There’s no passion and no fun from both Murphy and his team.

The defensive side of the ball has always been a positive. I do not claim to be a basketball expert by any means, but I can tell you that on the offensive side of the court there have been issues since Murphy got to campus. Lack of movement, the inability to break down a defender in a one on one situation, and selfish rushed shots seem to be the name of the game on offense. It’s stale, and hard to watch.

Watching the two coaches last night (Nate Oats VS Rob Murphy) was almost laughable. On the buffalo side you watched a coach that was passionate EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION even when up by near 30 points. He challenged his players, and was engaged in every happening on the court. On the other side you have Murphy. He doesn’t seem engaged, and is very passive while his team is on court (while runnning sets...if we have any sets).

These are just my opinions, I understand not everyone will agree. I’ve been very pro Murphy during his tenure, and I will again commend him for all the work he has done to stabilize our program, but sometimes coaches run their course at a program... and I feel that’s where we are at this point.

I agree with you 100%. I have been following Eastern for only 3 years now both football and basketball. I give all of you with longer lengths of being a fan huge respect for being steadfast in hoping for a Championship.

I was at the game last night. Oats was engaged with people in the stands most likely from his Romulus days before the game. Waving at times to the Buffalo fans getting to their seats. He is energetic at all times. He is even with the team during warm ups.

Murphy is no where to be seen until just before game starts. He sits in his chair with his head resting on his hand during the game. Even the TV crews show this. No energy or enthusiasm at all. I get that there's differences in personality, but he shows very little excitement during the game. His post games are cold and boring with no passion in his voice, just the facts. Young men need someone with passion for their jobs in college. There will be plenty of dismal bosses in their work lives, coaches don't need to be their first dismal leader. Excited coaches like Oates and Izzo on the sidelines brings results when things get tough.

Murphy's does show emotion when he shouts an F-bomb for the entire arena to hear. He's done this more the a few times. Not exactly a family atmosphere.

I'm never a huge fan of making consistent coaching changes because it's hard to develop a program when you don't give it time to develop. However in this case, I believe Murphy has been given enough time to show that he can develop a program that is successful. Now, has he done that? He has a record of 134–118, but his MAC record is only one game under .500 so we have been roughly competitive with a lot of our peers. The problem is that he hasn't shown a propensity to develop players and our post season success has come with two appearances in the second round of the CIT. The thing I liked about Murphy was that he established an identity for the program and that identity is the 2-3 zone. The problem is when we don't play that identity with intensity we look terrible.

The comparison that keeps coming to my mind is that of Marvin Lewis with the Bengals. Remember ironically that he came to Cincinnati because he was a defensive guru with the Ravens. The Bengals did have some success in the Regular Season but then when it came to the post season they would generally be undisciplined and found a way to never win a single playoff game in his tenure. The Bengals decided that his 16 year tenure ultimately ran its course. I'm beginning to feel the same way with this team and I'm beginning to feel the same way with Murphy. We have to appreciate the fact that he has done enough to prevent us from being the laughing stock of the MAC, but I don't think we have much confidence at this point that he will do enough to bring us an NCAA Tournament or even an NIT tournament appearance.

Honestly, let's bring in a high character coach that can teach some fundamentals on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Perhaps someone who has been a winner at a lower level? Perhaps someone like Creighton? Or maybe all we need to really do is change the look of the court. Let's bring back the look of: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c...n_pic.jpg. It worked in football. :)

Personally, his mannerisms and lack of visibility to the public don't really bother me. Even the cursing during games. He seems like he's a naturally reserved guy, and that's fine with me. I can think of several coaches at the college level who sit during games and aren't very animated.

What bothers me is when 5 kids have no clue what to do on offense. I hear Murphy bark out instructions, yet everyone still looks at each other as if he's speaking a different language. If it were one or two guys doing this, you could say they just aren't paying attention. But the whole team? There is obviously a massive disconnect between the coach and his players.

That's why I think we should move on, assuming the team continues on this pace. If we ran a cohesive offense where everyone knew what was going on, Murphy could lie down during games for all I care. But we are in year 8, and our offense is just as bad as it was in year 1, when we figured it was simply due to our lack of talent. Now, that can't be an excuse with the guys we have out there. I can't help but think that nearly any other coach in the MAC could make this group of guys one of the best in the conference.

That's when you know change is needed. I've long been in the "be careful what you wish for" camp, but it's becoming more evident that last season was our absolute ceiling with Murphy. In the grand scheme of things, that isn't THAT much better than what Ramsey did, and he got fired with a year left on his deal. Murphy needs to be held to the same standard.

It was just last year where Murphy had his best season and brought EMU to compete in the upper echelons of the league for the first time in 20 years. Convrrsely, this year is by far Murphy’s worst. Does not make sense given the amount of talent returned. The team is bound to recover before the season is out- I hope.

Murphy was awfully sanguine at the post game press conference. He stressed twice that we have 17 games to go, that we have talent and that we will get it turned around. I certainly hope he is right and I think he deserves the chance to do so.

I'm thinking that if Murph does not get good results in the MAC this year he may decide to throw in the towel. The only way he gets to 20 wins next year is to recruit a NBA quality grad transfer and load the schedule with Sienna Hts and U-M Dearborn quality opponents.

I would hardly consider his tenure a disaster but I would consider anything less than 12 MAC wins this year as time to cut the cord. His teams have not evolved to the new college basketball game. They don't shoot the three ball and the zone defense is a worn concept witnessed by his mentor Jim Boeheim's now consistent finishes in the bottom half of the ACC.

It can't be easy maintaining a permanent residence in Syracuse and trying to build a program in Ypsilanti. I would suspect that he could find comparable compensation as an assistant coach somewhere on the East coast as he obviously recruits well.

I learn so much about basketball from reading everyones posts. Thanks.

If we get a new coach are we going to make the court grey?

(01-07-2019 08:09 PM)DexterDevil Wrote:  If we get a new coach are we going to make the court grey?

That's actually kind of a good idea.

(01-07-2019 08:12 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(01-07-2019 08:09 PM)DexterDevil Wrote:  If we get a new coach are we going to make the court grey?

That's actually kind of a good idea.

call it "The Asphalt", play a gritty streetball like game.

Some examples of grey courts

Just a reminder there was a thread started last year for caching candidates feel free to start a new one

(01-07-2019 07:30 PM)Mike1989 Wrote:  I learn so much about basketball from reading everyones posts. Thanks.

Okay, this sends a shiver down my spine. None of these guys know anything other than coach x is successful and our coach is only somewhat successful.