It’s Time to Think Bold

[brewcity77]

Perhaps but I think the more realistic scenario is that they win just enough to hover around the 'First 8 out' range winning like 17 or 18 games. Never really threatening to get it but just kind of hanging out there. Then what happens?

17-18 wins wouldn't have us in First 8 out. Might not even be good enough to get us a Crown invite (which we contractually have to accept before NIT).

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I sincerely hope we don't have to find out. I think Shaka's model working would be the best thing for college basketball. From a theory perspective, I think retention and getting to know the players in your program over years is a good thing. I want this to succeed and want our players to all grow and thrive.

That said, I think people forget how quickly it all turned south on Wojo. There was zero thought that Wojo would be dismissed when we got dumped from the Big East Tournament on March 10th. 8 days later, The Case Against came out. I don't think that alone made the decision, but I think its virality was part of why the Board moved their planned meeting up from March 22nd to March 19th and made it easier for Bill Scholl to explain why the time was right to dismiss Wojo. Roughly 24 hours after The Case Against came out, Wojo was fired.

If we have a losing season and Shaka's model is largely seen as the reason for it, we're going to end up with months of fan acrimony growing. The initial student calls of "Use the Portal" will get louder and likely more vitriolic as the season goes on. At that point, will Shaka go to the portal next summer, or will he double down on the 15 committed scholarships we have? I don't know.

But I guarantee the board will see and feel the pressure of a losing season. They know that our CBB investment brings back $3 to the university for every dollar spent (as Lovell said). They know that it is our most visible marketing arm. And they've seen what happens when you slide into DePaul territory. A second losing season in a row would be viewed as catastrophic.

In this century, around the league...

• UConn had losing seasons in both 2017 & 2018, then fired Kevin Ollie despite a national title 4 years earlier and NCAA berth and win 2 years earlier.
  
• Butler had losing seasons in both 2021 and 2022 and fired LaVall Jordan despite top-25 kenpom finishes in two of the three previous years.
  
• Georgetown had losing seasons in both 2016 and 2017 and fired JT3 despite 8 bids in the 10 prior years, then had losing seasons in 2022 and 2023 and fired Ewing despite a tourney bid the year before.
  
• Providence had losing seasons in 2010 and 2011 and fired Keno Davis in year 3. PC did let Tim Welsh return in 2007 (19 years ago) after losing seasons in 05 & 06.
  
• Villanova (Neptune), Xavier (Steele) and St. John's (Anderson) fired coaches that never had losing seasons. St. John's did let Norm Roberts return in 2010 (16 years ago) after losing seasons in 08 & 09.
  
• Creighton and Seton Hall haven't had consecutive losing seasons this century.
  
• ONLY DePaul has allowed multiple coaches to return after consecutive losing seasons.
  

.

To start, I don't think we will have B2B losing seasons.  I'm not convinced we will have a single losing season. 

Not really sure how relevant most of these comparisons are because, for the most part, additional context isn't included. 

For example, Neptune had no success after Wright's departure and the program was clearly trending downwards. 

Ewing was a trainwreck, notwithstanding what was clearly a lucky run in the conference tourney.

Aside from JT3, did any of these guys have the level of success Shaka has had in his first 4 years?  In my opinion, he's banked a lot of goodwill that these other examples have not.

Just a very surface-level comparison for me.

"So...do you really think the board would let Marquette become DePaul? Because that's what they would be on the verge of if they let a coach come back after consecutive losing campaigns."

The above is so hyperbolic I'm not sure what to even say...