Brian Wardle

[alexius23]

Brian's first year as coach of the Bradley Braves.... 5-27. Anyone know what happened?

[Herman Cain]

They are rebuilding

[ZiggysFryBoy]

And GB won the horizon with Wardle's guys.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Brian's first year as coach of the Bradley Braves.... 5-27. Anyone know what happened?

They lost 8 scholarship players during the offseason. Complete rebuild.

[The Lens]

The poor guy is cursed:

Plays at MU until 2001
MU makes 2002 NCAA
Coaches at MU until 2005
MU makes 2006 NCAA
Coaches at UWGB until 2015
UWGB makes 2016 NCAA

[brandx]

The poor guy is cursed:

Plays at MU until 2001
MU makes 2002 NCAA
Coaches at MU until 2005
MU makes 2006 NCAA
Coaches at UWGB until 2015
UWGB makes 2016 NCAA

Or .... it's always good when he goes away.

[TheTulsaWarrior]

They lost 8 scholarship players during the offseason. Complete rebuild.

GB lost 80-percent of their scoring from the 2014-15 season.  Coach Linc Darner was able to patch things together and bring in two impact JUCO players.  Darner is a heck of a coach.  If Wardle would have stayed Green Bay would have been a .500 team.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

GB lost 80-percent of their scoring from the 2014-15 season.  Coach Linc Darner was able to patch things together and bring in two impact JUCO players.  Darner is a heck of a coach.  If Wardle would have stayed Green Bay would have been a .500 team.

63% actually but yes, Darner did a heck of a job.

[MU82]

If Wardle would have stayed Green Bay would have been a .500 team.

source?

[manny31]

The situation that Wardle inherited was beyond horrible. AD situation was sharty. I think you will see a resurgent BU in a year or two.

[warriorstrack]

Was Bradley a step up or sideways? Or get out of Dodge?

[LAZER]

Was Bradley a step up or sideways? Or get out of Dodge?

MVC > Horizon

[lohaus]

Man, Wardle had two guys that are/were sniffing the NBA and he still couldn't get UWGB to the NCAA tournament.  He had the two time player of the year, the defensive player of the year, a guy that was first team defense every year.  What more did he need? One more conference tourney win.  Then this guy comes in from the division 2 level and takes a 4th place team to the tourney for the first time in 20 years!. Frankly, I would rather have the dance then a regular season championship and a loss  in the conference tourney.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Let's deal with reality for a second.

UWGB had an ok year, but did great for 3 games.  Suddenly the coach is great?  Maybe.

Wardle did very well throughout the regular season over 5 months for several years, but because they lost in the championship game of the tournament he's not a good coach?  He had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finished teams at UWGB. 

Fans crack me up.

[KenoshaWarrior]

Let's deal with reality for a second.

UWGB had an ok year, but did great for 3 games.  Suddenly the coach is great?  Maybe.

Wardle did very well throughout the regular season over 5 months for several years, but because they lost in the championship game of the tournament he's not a good coach?  He had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finished teams at UWGB. 

Fans crack me up.

I was thinking the same exact thing.

[The Lens]

Wardle produced two great regular seasons at UWGB.  He did his job.  I'm not bagging on the guy since Linc has them dancing.  I was more lamenting his timing. 

It's not like he did nothing with Alex & Keifer, he won the league twice.

[schubert33]

source?

It was a big step up in salary.  GB is the worst paying job or one of the worst paying jobs in the Horizon League.

[Golden Avalanche]

It was a big step up in salary.  GB is the worst paying job or one of the worst paying jobs in the Horizon League.

Thus the reason they hired a DII coach and prayed for the best.

[GGGG]

Thus the reason they hired a DII coach and prayed for the best.

They hired probably the best D2 coach in the country, who has accomplished more than Wardle has.  It was an upgrade.

[rocket surgeon]

Let's deal with reality for a second.

UWGB had an ok year, but did great for 3 games.  Suddenly the coach is great?  Maybe.

Wardle did very well throughout the regular season over 5 months for several years, but because they lost in the championship game of the tournament he's not a good coach?  He had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finished teams at UWGB. 

Fans crack me up.

well done!  brian's a good guy.  got a bad rap for pushing one of his players to excel...?  no safe zones back then?


as for coach darner, didn't he get a commitment from one of the top players in the state?

[GGGG]

well done!  brian's a good guy.  got a bad rap for pushing one of his players to excel...?  no safe zones back then?


as for coach darner, didn't he get a commitment from one of the top players in the state?

Trevor Anderson.  Point guard from SPASH and Sam Hauser's teammate.  He's gonna love that system.

[T-Bone]

10 freshmen on that Bradley team.  Wow. 
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/roster/_/id/71/sort/experience

Weren't we after Mike Shaw when he committed to Illinois?
(yes, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/501769-illinois-basketball-recruiting-mike-shaw-to-make-decision-thursday-night)

[Freeport Warrior]

as for coach darner, didn't he get a commitment from one of the top players in the state?

Yes. Trev Anderson from Stevens Point committed to UWGB. Teammates with the Hauser bros. I thought Anderson committed a little early and would have had better options if he had waited a bit -- not crazy high options, but moderately better. For some reason I thought he would go the Zak Showalter route and end up at WI. He's not as athletic as Showalter but I think his game is better in all other facets, especially shooting. I said it a few weeks ago, but I think Anderson wins the WI Player of Year this year.

[MU82]

They hired probably the best D2 coach in the country, who has accomplished more than Wardle has.  It was an upgrade.

Seems so now. If he loses next week's NCAA game and then has three straight 20-loss seasons and then is fired, will he have been an upgrade? That is NOT a prediction, BTW. I'm just saying that it's way too early to declare anything.

And I'm just a little leery of those (not necessarily you, Sultan) who claim to know unequivocally that Wardle would not have gotten this UWGB team to the Dance. I'd love to have that magical power.

As usual, it's opinion presented as fact, something we're real good at here in Scoopland. (I've been guilty of the same myself, though I try hard not to do it.)

[GGGG]

Seems so now. If he loses next week's NCAA game and then has three straight 20-loss seasons and then is fired, will he have been an upgrade? That is NOT a prediction, BTW. I'm just saying that it's way too early to declare anything.

And I'm just a little leery of those (not necessarily you, Sultan) who claim to know unequivocally that Wardle would not have gotten this UWGB team to the Dance. I'd love to have that magical power.

As usual, it's opinion presented as fact, something we're real good at here in Scoopland. (I've been guilty of the same myself, though I try hard not to do it.)

It is obviously simply my opinion that Darner was an upgrade.  But if you look at his track record, you can see how successful he has been.  Took over two bottom feeder D2 programs, got one to the playoffs and got another the D2 championship.  His teams play an exciting style, and I like his coaching philosophy.  Wants his players playing loose.  After the Wright State game he said something like "sometimes teams pass too much.  They make seven passes and the first one ends up the best one."

I think Wardle is an OK coach, but I thought his teams played too tight at times.  He overcoaches them IMO.  And then there was that whole player incident which I hope he learned from.