(02-02-2020 03:12 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  

(02-02-2020 10:30 AM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  I don’t really get the grousing from UCF fans here. We barely won at home and got splattered in Tampa. USF made a really good hire for basketball, and it’s showing. I’m still kind of ambivalent on Dawkins. We’ll see, but I’m still pleased to be 9-1 against USF in AAC play.

Smack free opinion: Dawkins is a quality coach if expectations are properly set.

That is, expect a postseason (NIT/NCAA) type of team every 2-3 years while he re-tools through a lot of transfers and reclamation projects. His team always play hard and seem to play the "right way"...if you excuse the cliche. Honestly, based on UCF's hoops history this would leagues ahead of anything the program has done before.

USF has a similar future b/c of Gregory, but IMO USF has a higher ceiling prospectively, b/c Gregory is a much better high school recruiter which provides better long-term program stability.

Downside with Dawkins is that he is waiting on the 'right' offer to materialize, while Gregory is a high quality coach that wants to build a program for the long run at USF. Well....unless Duke, UNC or Michigan State offer him a job

Dawkins is shifting to HS recruits. After he didn’t get a job this past offseason, I think he has realized he needs more than winning just one tourney game in one season to land the sort of job he wants. So now that he realizes that is a longer term prospect, he’s focusing on HS. We’ll see how it goes.

As to Gregory, I think he’s better than Dawkins. I also think you’ve got some green and gold glasses on in thinking he’s at USF long term. UCF nor USF have the sort of basketball history or resources that will keep a coach away from a P5, a Big East school, or a traditional basketball school in another conference with a far better commitment to basketball (e.g., some A-10 schools).