Not...what I anticipated coming off 2 Top 25 seasons. He didn’t do so hot at Loyola.

A very “meh” hire if you ask me. Not inspired by it. But according to people who know more than I do...he Played an important part in making UB a Top-25 program. So I’ll support the guy, but he has a ton of work to do. Needs to find some recruits and a top notch assistant.

Quote:Whitesell has a five-year contract that runs through April 5, 2024. He will earn an annual base salary of $300,000 and additional compensation of $100,000, according to terms released by UB's athletic department.

Whitesell's contract terms also include various bonuses, including $10,000 if UB wins at least 20 games, and $15,000 if UB wins at least 24 games, $25,000 if UB earns an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, $30,000 if UB wins the MAC regular-season championship outright and $30,000 if UB wins the MAC Tournament championship.

Whitesell earned $134,501 in 2018-19 as an assistant coach, according to information obtained through a public records request by the News.

https://buffalonews.com/2019/04/06/ub-an...all-coach/

Only 300,000 base salary. That might be the lowest in the MAC right now.

seems like a smart hire. it's not like UB went out and without any semi-thorough hiring process brought in an overpriced hot but unproven assistant or a name coach with a questionable past. they got a guy with tons of head coaching experience. who has won and run strong programs more often than not. he's been a key part of the best run in school history as the top assistant. what is just as important is if he brings in excellent assistants so he can focus on what he's best at. maybe he has good connections. the buffalo name is strong now. maybe UB will pay good assistant salaries. one of the reasons oats was so good is he could be himself. be motivational. highly organized. personable. close the deal on recruits, because his key staff person/assistant already knew how to handle a lot of the head coach and player development stuff.

if UB can fill out this staff well. if they keep half their incoming class and all their key returnees and find a ready to play big guy somewhere before fall semester, they will be pretty good and a tough out in the mac tourney. whitesell gives you a chance to downshift a gear and keep moving. i think you'll know by his staff hires if they will be able to stay around the top of the MAC. he can do his job and has been running the current great program to a degree. can he and the athletic department maintain the type of staff they've had with hurley and oats.

There’s a reason why Nate Oates left Buffalo. It wasn’t because it was Alabama. It was because what was returning/coming in and not returning to Buffalo. He knew a third-year anything remotely like the last two would be difficult Therefore reconstructing the trajectory of the last two years difficult moving forward.

Strike when the iron is hot. Uncertainty in college basketball is the only certainty.

Doing well the next year or two and being in the running to replace Gregg Marshall at Wichita State doesn’t measure up to going to an SEC potential power.

(04-07-2019 02:18 AM)pono Wrote:  seems like a smart hire. it's not like UB went out and without any semi-thorough hiring process brought in an overpriced hot but unproven assistant or a name coach with a questionable past. they got a guy with tons of head coaching experience. who has won and run strong programs more often than not. he's been a key part of the best run in school history as the top assistant. what is just as important is if he brings in excellent assistants so he can focus on what he's best at. maybe he has good connections. the buffalo name is strong now. maybe UB will pay good assistant salaries. one of the reasons oats was so good is he could be himself. be motivational. highly organized. personable. close the deal on recruits, because his key staff person/assistant already knew how to handle a lot of the head coach and player development stuff.

It sounds like a savvy deal to me when UB can collect 750k on a buyout and turn around and pay half that for a veteran HC.

The new coach will have a grace period of a couple of years to get back to the tournament. Then once he does, stick a big buyout on him once again.

(04-07-2019 08:22 AM)gobaseline Wrote:  There’s a reason why Nate Oates left Buffalo. It wasn’t because it was Alabama. It was because what was returning/coming in and not returning to Buffalo. He knew a third-year anything remotely like the last two would be difficult Therefore reconstructing the trajectory of the last two years difficult moving forward.

Strike when the iron is hot. Uncertainty in college basketball is the only certainty.

Doing well the next year or two and being in the running to replace Gregg Marshall at Wichita State doesn’t measure up to going to an SEC potential power.

What?

UB had a lot of returning talent and some really good recruits (4 of them de-committed after Oats left though) and transfers coming next year.

Who was coming back and who was coming in that would replace the production of just 3 of the starters? Massenberg, Harris and Perkins?

Every Recruit is always good on paper. Until they play. A handful exceed, others align and still others disappoint.

Not saying UB wouldn’t have been competitive. Just saying if Oates has any notion next year’s roster would play out as well as the last 2 years he may have stayed? Still questionable with new alchemy and possible injuries.

I think he made a wise choice going to football program dominated school that wants to win but yet doesn’t know how to. The expectations will be low which will give him the time he needs to bring in his people to see how it plays out.
Any success will have a multiplier applied. And then he might be able to Move on to a program that has higher expectations for basketball having established his bonafides both at the mid major and a power conference

Better ‘Bama now than going right to UCLA where expectations are out of whack.

(04-07-2019 05:21 PM)gobaseline Wrote:  Who was coming back and who was coming in that would replace the production of just 3 of the starters? Massenberg, Harris and Perkins?

Jayvon Graves and and Davonta Jordan would have been the core contributors (still will unless they transfer) and UB has two transfers who sat out last year who are expected to play big roles. Add in the two four star freshmen who will be sophomores with a much larger opportunity for play time and 3 incoming JUCOs (decommits since the coaching change) and Buffalo likely would have been favorites to at least win the MAC East again. No they wouldn’t be top 25 again but you don’t have to be to top next year’s MAC field.

You have to hope Whitesell has learned a lot since his last HC gig. A 50-70 record in the Horizon League doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

Definitely a departure from their last two hires.

(04-08-2019 07:51 AM)axeme Wrote:  You have to hope Whitesell has learned a lot since his last HC gig. A 50-70 record in the Horizon League doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

Whitesell can coach.

Loyola wasn’t committed to hoops other than to have it. Majuerus didn’t hire buddies who couldn’t coach.

The question will be if they can recruit the talent to produce. No different than any other program.

Bobby Hurley has used his Duke lore to his advantage. In time that will be lost on the next generation as they get further removed from Grant Who and Christian Hatener. Bobby will have to learn to stand on his own 2 feet.

Back to Whitsell, If I were him I would try and leverage the buffalo of the last couple years. He has roots in Chicago but I don’t know if he has the gravitas. If he can utilize the relationships in particular with those 3-4 that are leaving to sell the “the program“ it gives him a leg up. I don’t believe he’s going to be competing with Nate Oates for talent moving forward especially for Oate’s sake.

(04-07-2019 05:21 PM)gobaseline Wrote:  Who was coming back and who was coming in that would replace the production of just 3 of the starters? Massenberg, Harris and Perkins?

Every Recruit is always good on paper. Until they play. A handful exceed, others align and still others disappoint.

Davonta Jordan and Jayvon Graves are both huge parts of the team coming back.

Jeenathan Williams and Rondo Segu are also coming back. Both were 4* recruits with bigtime offers. Even Tra'von Fagan looked solid in the very limited minutes he got.

Antwain Johnson and Gabe Grant are senior transfers that will play next year. Johnson won a game in the NCAA tourney with Middle Tennessee State.

Three highly rated JUCOs were also coming in Andre Allen (#8 JUCO), James Rojas (#25 JUCO) and Durey Cadwell.

Two good incoming freshman in Noah Williams and Raymond Hawkins both had offers from P5 schools too.

Unfortunately all three of those JUCOs (Cadwell might come back though) and the two incoming freshmen all decided to bail when Oats and Hodgson left.

UB was still going to be stacked.

As awesome as Massinburg, Harris and Perkins were UB had/has a lot of guys capable of stepping up with increased roles. Harris and Perkins were mediocre on defense too. Caruthers is a tough loss on D... he was also solid offensively.

Loyola was terrible before Whitesell and mediocre the few years after him as well. Plus, they were in the horizon which a tougher league to recruit at than their current Valley status.

I think that’s a generous analysis of his Loyola tenure. He may turn out to be a very good head coach. There just isn’t much evidence to support that right now. There have been many, many assistants who were with successful programs who didn’t have success themselves when they became head coaches. They are two VERY different jobs. I hope he does well. Having a strong UB program is good for the conference. But Whitesell’s tenure at LUC deteriorated as it progressed. He did better with Larry Farmer’s recruits than his own. It’s not unfair to say it was a weak situation at LUC at that time, but there are coaches who have done more with less. Maybe that’s asking too much.

I realize a new hire always gets an optimistic start and should. He could turn out to be better than both Hurley and Oats. Belichick was terrible in his tenure with the Browns, and he’s turned out kind of okay as a head coach.

I feel much better about the Whitesell hire after hearing his press conference and listening to current and former players/coaches talk about his abilities. He obviously has a high basketball IQ and is a great communicator. I like that he's not going to try and fix "what ain't broke". He's sticking with the same up-tempo offense that got UB to where they are now and attracted good recruits. I believe back in his Loyola days he used a slower pace style.

(04-09-2019 09:11 AM)zrb2 Wrote:  I feel much better about the Whitesell hire after hearing his press conference and listening to current and former players/coaches talk about his abilities. He obviously has a high basketball IQ and is a great communicator. I like that he's not going to try and fix "what ain't broke". He's sticking with the same up-tempo offense that got UB to where they are now and attracted good recruits. I believe back in his Loyola days he used a slower pace style.

Good for him.

I'm reminded of what an EMU HC told me a long time ago when he ran a slow paced offense:

"Who wouldn't want to run like Duke?"

Basically the gist of this quote or near quote is that a coach needs to have the thoroughbreds to play a fast uptempo pace.

Those who don't have the horses don't play that style or else they'll get killed.

IF UB can continue to recruit like they have in the past, they can run...