What is Stan Heath thinking?

[toshortrock]

here we go again

[Biggus Piggus]

Thats true Biggus...he is a good basketball player....but dang that jump shot just makes you cringe. It would seem by now that someone would help him fix that but someone posted one time that he can't. Something about his elbow...somehow I don't buy that.

You mean the elbow he broke as a child?  You better buy it.

[Inigo Montoya]

Thats true Biggus...he is a good basketball player....but dang that jump shot just makes you cringe. It would seem by now that someone would help him fix that but someone posted one time that he can't. Something about his elbow...somehow I don't buy that.

You mean the elbow he broke as a child? You better buy it.

Doesn't matter if the kid has one leg.  If he continues to put up numbers like he has give him the ball as much as he wants it.

[bigred7987]

I'll see you when you are jumping back on the bandwagon in January.

I have a feeling we will be seeing him too praising Heath and how he knew it all along.  Anytime Arkansas is on national TV they talk about how Brewer broke his elbow as a child and couldnt bend it straight after that.  One of my friends broke her elbow and she can't straighten it out or make a 90 degree angle with it either...buy it

[hoghope]

Here we go again, everybody stopped bashing houston for a second and now it is on to heath.  there are a bunch of idiots on here.  are you guys arkansas fans or do you just have to have something to gripe about.  i believe we will have solid years in basketball and football.
go hogs. :razorback:

[bigred7987]

I've endured 3 years of terrible basketball under Heath, and nobody here has given me any real reasons to believe this year will be any different.  All I get is name calling.

congrats...join the rest of the hog fans...we ALL have endured bad bball for last 3 years.  Reasons....most experience back in SEC....numerous coaches picking us as most talented.  We will see how the coaching turns out but he can win with this group

[Biggus Piggus]

He can't pull his elbow in.

[HogsRule]

I am a Hog fan because I care that our basketball program has gone from THE elite program of the 90's to one of irrelevance in just 10 years. That pains me. The only remedy to that situation is to cut loose this coaching staff and bring in someone capable.

10 years? You can't blame Heath for the time he wasn't here. He is rebuilding a program literally from the ground up. To me the first 2 years were freebies given the state of things. Most of the year last year they won the games I expected and lost the games they weren't supposed to win. Yes, the collapse at the end was something I've never seen a Hog team do before, but that's strike 1 not 3. We have to give him time to come into his own.

[Jim Harris]

Here we go again, everybody stopped bashing houston for a second and now it is on to heath. there are a bunch of idiots on here. are you guys arkansas fans or do you just have to have something to gripe about. i believe we will have solid years in basketball and football.
go hogs. :razorback:

I haven't seen one negative word issued about John McDonnell, Dave Van Horn or Mike Ketcham since the board started. Not one bad word. Sounds like there are Razorback fans on here.

[bigred7987]

anyone who bashes McDonnell ought to shoot themselves just because they are that idiotic and dont deserve to live

[Inigo Montoya]

There could be more cheerleaders at track and cross country events.  I wonder if McDonnell could do something about that.

[Inigo Montoya]

Unless his personal life goes to crap? John McDonnell should be Praised and put on the Highest place of Honnor that the U of A has!!!!! I also think that DVH will be there as well someday, you could put Norm D., but All of them should be under John McDonnell!!!

amen

[Jim Harris]

There could be more cheerleaders at track and cross country events. I wonder if McDonnell could do something about that.

I think we should start tailgating before track events.

[three]

All this simply proves Stan does not know how to run a team.  He can recruit with the best of them.  Look at the kids he recruited while at Bowling Green and Michigan State.  6 guys in the NBA, with three being pretty good players.  Here's the problem, he did not teach or develop those kids, Tom Izzo did.  He got beat consistently in the second half.  Why?  Because he CANNOT ADJUST.  He lacks the ability to draw up successful plays in the huddle, nor can he look at a game as it happens and break things down in the locker room at halftime. 

Over the last two years, how many games were lost in the second half.  You may think, "if we made one of those last second shots this year, we would have won and everyone would be singing Stan's praises." Go back and look at the tapes.  Those games were lost over a two or three minute span in which Stan's team was not able to stop the opposition on one end, while being completely shut down themselves on the other.  That is coaching, plain and simple. 

He cannot motivate, and he cannot adjust, and those are the two things a HC must do.  The recruiting, breaking down film, drawing up offensive sets in practice, that's what good assistants do.  The HC is supposed to see things no one else does, and at the half, tell his team how to ADJUST.  He tells everyone he needs an outside shooter, he gets one and then redshirts him.  He wont consider playing him in the second half of the season.  Remember the last player who was ineligible his first semester on campus, and then played in the spring?  It was Joe Johnson, and he saved the season during conference play.  Besides, if he has all these "studs" interested for the classes of 06 and 07, why tie up another scholarship for one more year than he needs to?  If all of these blue chippers want to come here, why keep some JuCo schlub, who may or may not be any good, for another year when you could go get a "stud" 

A great coach finds ways to beat Alabama, LSU, Kentucky, Mississippi State in the last minutes.  And doesn't get blown out every single time he goes on the road.  Two years, one SEC road win, are you kidding me?  Our coach found ways to lose those games.  And if all that is not enough, does anyone out there really believe this team was so bad they could go 5, 10, 15 minutes without MAKING ONE LOUSY FIELD GOAL???  Someone explain to me how it's not the coach's fault when he can't draw up a play to SCORE SOME *expletive* POINTS over a 15 minute span!!!  Please, I really want to know how that's the players fault, for not knowing how to attack a basic 2-3 zone, the same zone you learned how to play against when you were 8 YEARS OLD!

[Fletch]

All this simply proves Stan does not know how to run a team. He can recruit with the best of them. Look at the kids he recruited while at Bowling Green and Michigan State. 6 guys in the NBA, with three being pretty good players. Here's the problem, he did not teach or develop those kids, Tom Izzo did. He got beat consistently in the second half. Why? Because he CANNOT ADJUST. He lacks the ability to draw up successful plays in the huddle, nor can he look at a game as it happens and break things down in the locker room at halftime.

Over the last two years, how many games were lost in the second half. You may think, "if we made one of those last second shots this year, we would have won and everyone would be singing Stan's praises." Go back and look at the tapes. Those games were lost over a two or three minute span in which Stan's team was not able to stop the opposition on one end, while being completely shut down themselves on the other. That is coaching, plain and simple.

He cannot motivate, and he cannot adjust, and those are the two things a HC must do. The recruiting, breaking down film, drawing up offensive sets in practice, that's what good assistants do. The HC is supposed to see things no one else does, and at the half, tell his team how to ADJUST. He tells everyone he needs an outside shooter, he gets one and then redshirts him. He wont consider playing him in the second half of the season. Remember the last player who was ineligible his first semester on campus, and then played in the spring? It was Joe Johnson, and he saved the season during conference play. Besides, if he has all these "studs" interested for the classes of 06 and 07, why tie up another scholarship for one more year than he needs to? If all of these blue chippers want to come here, why keep some JuCo schlub, who may or may not be any good, for another year when you could go get a "stud"

A great coach finds ways to beat Alabama, LSU, Kentucky, Mississippi State in the last minutes. And doesn't get blown out every single time he goes on the road. Two years, one SEC road win, are you kidding me? Our coach found ways to lose those games. And if all that is not enough, does anyone out there really believe this team was so bad they could go 5, 10, 15 minutes without MAKING ONE LOUSY FIELD GOAL??? Someone explain to me how it's not the coach's fault when he can't draw up a play to SCORE SOME *expletive* POINTS over a 15 minute span!!! Please, I really want to know how that's the players fault, for not knowing how to attack a basic 2-3 zone, the same zone you learned how to play against when you were 8 YEARS OLD!

Many teams shoot their way out of a zone, we didn't have that luxury. I think there are two things that make a great team, players and coaching. You can't be really good without either one. Therefore, I think players can be every bit as much responsible for a teams performance. The coach can draw up the greatest plays in the world, but if your players can't hit the shot then it doesn't matter.

[Inigo Montoya]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the major reason we lost games last year was our PLAYERS' subpar performance.  Heath didn't lose those games.  I don't know how many games I watched last year when our guys couldn't hit open jump shots and just were flat out hustled by the other team.  I think there was a lot of hanging heads, losing attitudes, and laziness last year.  Heath can only do so much when your players can only play 3 quarters of good basketball.  Maybe this year, and I hope, our guys will play with more experience and confidence and be more mentally and physically fit to handle SEC basketball.

[bknight33]

Inigo, at what point, in your opinion, does the coach become responsible for the players actions? If you really believe that, then why should we ever hire/fire coaches?

[Inigo Montoya]

Do I really need to answer this?  Did you watch any of our basketball games last year?  When our players were throwing up bricks during 5-8 minute scoring droughts were you yelling at Stan for our bad shooting?  Every game we lost sports analysts were saying the same thing.  Inconsistent scoring and an offense that plays in spurts.  Is that Heath's fault?  NO. If it's his recruits then I guess so but his coaching is adequate considering the talent and experience wasn't there last year.  We'll see this year.
People blaming Heath entirely for our basketball programs woes fall into the same category as all the Nutt- haters out there.  You all are fair weather Hog fans.  Curse them when they are down and the first ones on the band wagon when they are doing good. 

[HogsRule]

Marty's boy, by that same logic we shouldn't have to recruit players. just pick 5 guys walking around campus and if the coach is good, we should win the NC

[Inigo Montoya]

Inigo, at what point, in your opinion, does the coach become responsible for the players actions? If you really believe that, then why should we ever hire/fire coaches?

If it happens, Heath will be fired in 2-3 more years if the program hasn't changed.  Once a majority of his recruits are juniors and seniors and the team still stinks (which it will not cause this team has talent unlike a majority of Nolan's teams) then I say fire him.  You have to give coaches time or you just prolong the time until the program is good again by getting a new coach every 3 years.

[HogsRule]

You have to give coaches time or you just prolong the time until the program is good again by getting a new coach every 3 years.

Right on IM.

[Biggus Piggus]

Inigo, at what point, in your opinion, does the coach become responsible for the players actions? If you really believe that, then why should we ever hire/fire coaches?

Heath did not do a good job of assembling a team that had players with complementary skills, who fit all the necessary roles, and he didn't give a whit about defensive aptitude other than shotblocking.  His staff composition changed frequently, and he wasted a lot of time/effort on players who returned little/nothing.  It was a difficult rebuild for anyone much less someone so green.  Last year was a circus, a chemistry mess and a complete misfit of coaching strategy/tactics with available talent/skills.  If we wanted a quick turn, we should have hired a more experienced coach.  We didn't, we bought a long learning curve, and this is the year when expectations are prone to get ahead of reality. 

Schedule strength is tough in nonconference, maybe not so tough in SEC.  I hope what saves us is getting tempered early + junior and senior leadership + better chemistry + an end to square peg/round hole coaching approach + youth around the SEC.  Bad part is the only guard help we got is someone who didn't play last season.  Better than nothing.

I'll be thrilled if the Hogs look more organized and together overall, play better defense, and don't fall apart under pressure.  But we really will not know whether we're getting there until we get past Valentine's Day.  That's the point in the past three seasons when the team disintegrated.

[Inigo Montoya]

True that biggus.  Talent is there.  The confidence and chemistry are the difference makers.  I am keeping the faith that we will be back in the NCAA tournament again this year. 

[bknight33]

Marty's boy, by that same logic we shouldn't have to recruit players. just pick 5 guys walking around campus and if the coach is good, we should win the NC

That is really not the same logic at all.....Stan Heath is not just some guy off of the street coaching five of the best players in the country.  I do not think that he should be fired....never said anything remotely close...but, to say that he has no responsibility for last season is a stretch....discipline, cohesiveness, teaching: all of these things fall under the coach's responsibility and I think that he would be the first to tell you that he was not happy with the performance.  I do not seperate the coach from the players....all are a part of the team.  However, he is the man, the leader, and he is held accountable when things go right/wrong.  That is his job. 

[_Collin1]

This is Stan Heath's 4th season. Are all the people he recruited STILL in high school? Where is he recruiting, Root Elementary???

Best line in a long time......

Although the kids at Washington arent bad.

[toshortrock]

well,,he;s has to win this round,,i 'm on his side,,,but it;s time,,,

[Lanny]

Anyone that has ever played organized sports knows that last years team quit on Heath.  This is inexcusable for the Head Hog of Basketball to lose control of his team.

One more thing, Who does Heath think he is fooling talking about recruiting a player knowing they would have to redshirt......yea right.

[Porquemada]

One more thing, Who does Heath think he is fooling talking about recruiting a player knowing they would have to redshirt......yea right.

Maybe he's saving them for the next coach.

[Lanny]

One more thing, Who does Heath think he is fooling talking about recruiting a player knowing they would have to redshirt......yea right.

Maybe he's saving them for the next coach.

Waste of time and scholarship when this team needs a player that can shoot beyond 12 feet.

[LL COOL HOG]

OK well if it was a waste of a scholarship...who would u prefer?   A freshman, how many freshman saviors are playing Div 1.  Maybe 3 or 4 or none.  These guys are going pro remember.

I believe that Stan is doing his best....he just does not have the experience.  Most of u guys wont like this but he got this job so that the UofA would not appear racist.   Over my short time on this earth I have gained the ability to read between the lines...Stan has only good things to say about Nolan and how much he looked up to him.  He knows  how he got this job its so obvious.   Come on guys  he only had 1 yr experience.   Don't blame him....he was thrown to the wolves...How many ppl would succeed at turning the program around in three years....Phil Jackson and he needed Micheal Jordon for that.

Yes I believe that Stan needs to motivate more...He is just a laid back guy.  These guys need a cheerleader that can stick a boot in there u know what!!!