Jay Wright / Nova

[willie warrior]

MU has to be able to be consistently make it to the upper echelon of the Big East. Nova and Wright demo state year in and year out the standard that needs to be met.

The good news is our new coach can get us to that level.

And who is the new coach. Inquiring minds want to know.

[willie warrior]

He did not win his first NCAA tournament game until his 11th season as a head coach.
If MU hired him, would we have given him this much rope to figure it out? 

Or would have the paint touches/anonymous/cracked of the day ran him out of town after seven years?

1994–95   Hofstra   10–18   5–11   9th   
1995–96   Hofstra   9–18   5–12   T–7th   
1996–97   Hofstra   12–15   9–9   4th   
1997–98   Hofstra   19–12   11–7   T–3rd   
1998–99   Hofstra   22–10   14–4   3rd   NIT First Round
1999–00   Hofstra   24–7   16–2   1st   NCAA Division I First Round
2000–01   Hofstra   26–5   16–2   1st   NCAA Division I First Round
Villanova Wildcats (Big East Conference[a]) (2001–present)
2001–02   Villanova   19–13   7–9   5th   NIT Quarterfinal
2002–03   Villanova   15–16   8–8   T–3rd   NIT First Round
2003–04   Villanova   18–17   6–10   11th   NIT Quarterfinal
2004–05   Villanova   24–8   11–5   T–3rd   NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2005–06   Villanova   28–5   14–2   T–1st   NCAA Division I Elite Eight

Waited for the early career comparison to Wojos early career

[brewcity77]

Could Moser be our Wright? That's asking a lot. For one thing, Wright was 40 when he took over at Nova and Moser is already 53. But the idea that Moser learned how to coach at a lower level and took some lumps before (mostly) figuring it out, it's a compelling one.

One major difference (besides age): Wright did recruit for Nova and UNLV as an assistant before becoming a head coach. Moser has never recruited that level of athlete. And that's a pretty significant difference.

If it's Moser, I think his assistants are the biggest question. I would like to see Gainey retained, but adding another recruiter, some more high major experience, and reinstating the video coordinator position (which I'm sure he'd do) are things I'd like from a Moser staff.

[jesmu84]

Me too, avid ... but I wonder how many of our fellow Scoopers would be saying after a third straight NIT and an 18-17 record, "Wow, Coach X is doing a great job for us. I know I'm going to be VERY pleased!"

I'm thinking many (perhaps even the majority) would be saying: "We hired another disaster. Three years and not a single NCAA appearance. Even Wojo got us into the NCAAs in 3 years! This guy is 6 games over .500 after 3 years, and a losing conference record. Better to admit the mistake now. Rip off the Band-Aid and start over. Anybody who disagrees is settling for mediocrity!"

Yup

[Big Papi]

Yup

It depends on the eye test as much as the record.  Where did the program bottom out and is there actual improvement.  I think the majority are okay with giving a coach 5 years to judge unless there are obvious signs of concern.  With Wojo, it was obvious that he was not making improvements in his game coaching.  The hope was that his recruiting would create success and his coaching would eventually come around.  Throwing out blind coaching records with context to prove a posters point is stupid.  Personally I can't stand the Coach K record where he sucked for ever and then turned into a good coach.  Might as well sign all coaches to 10 or 15 year contracts if we are going that route.

[Small Orange Soda]

In Wojo's first four years he missed the tournament twice, made an NIT, and made the tourney as a 10 seed and the vast majority of this board fully defended him.

[muwarrior69]

Wojo, though not charismatic, seemed to me to be a high strung guy. How many times on TV he sounded so hoarse I had to wonder does he spend so much time yelling at his players out of frustration. What impresses me most about Jay is that he is so cool and even keeled and still gets the most out his players.

I would not be disappointed with a Moser hire, but anyone is better than staying the course.

[muwarrior69]

If it's Moser, I think his assistants are the biggest question. I would like to see Gainey retained, but adding another recruiter, some more high major experience, and reinstating the video coordinator position (which I'm sure he'd do) are things I'd like from a Moser staff.

No wonder our guys never improved.

[Silent Verbal]

In Wojo's first four years he missed the tournament twice, made an NIT, and made the tourney as a 10 seed and the vast majority of this board fully defended him.

This post should be pinned to the top of the board.  I think it's important for us not to forget the true scope of Wojo slurping that took place here the last seven years.  Both the slurping, and the people who slurped.

[MU82]

In Wojo's first four years he missed the tournament twice, made an NIT, and made the tourney as a 10 seed and the vast majority of this board fully defended him.

I'd say that's true through the third year.

Year 1, sucked; some grumbled about how badly we sucked, and about the loss of Deonte, but suckage was a realistic expectation under a first-year coach. Also, landed a 5-star recruit.

Year 2, with Ellenson and Cheatham won the Brooklyn event, beat Madison, beat good Providence team. Also had some bad losses, notably Belmont and DePaul, that killed postseason chances. Still, 20 wins, some good wins, looked like progress to most. Also, good recruits coming.

Year 3, despite losing Hank and the regression of Haani, Wojo's two standout freshmen and a couple good transfers helped us beat the No. 1 team, get a few other nice wins, and qualify for the tournament. Lost to an eventual Final Four team that was playing at home. I'd agree with you that most were saying the progress was good. I fully admit I was satisfied we were moving in the right direction.

Year 4, took a step backward and there was plenty of grumbling on Scoop. Some, employing 20/20 hindsight years later, said this was a major "red flag."

However, I think the progress MU made through 3 years was pretty obvious. Not sure we'd see going 18-17 in Year 3 under our next coach as such obvious progress.

Hopefully we won't have to find out because we'll be enjoying our Sweet 16 (or better) season too much to whine.

[Small Orange Soda]

I'd say that's true through the third year.

Year 1, sucked; some grumbled about how badly we sucked, and about the loss of Deonte, but suckage was a realistic expectation under a first-year coach. Also, landed a 5-star recruit.

Year 2, with Ellenson and Cheatham won the Brooklyn event, beat Madison, beat good Providence team. Also had some bad losses, notably Belmont and DePaul, that killed postseason chances. Still, 20 wins, some good wins, looked like progress to most. Also, good recruits coming.

Year 3, despite losing Hank and the regression of Haani, Wojo's two standout freshmen and a couple good transfers helped us beat the No. 1 team, get a few other nice wins, and qualify for the tournament. Lost to an eventual Final Four team that was playing at home. I'd agree with you that most were saying the progress was good. I fully admit I was satisfied we were moving in the right direction.

Year 4, took a step backward and there was plenty of grumbling on Scoop. Some, employing 20/20 hindsight years later, said this was a major "red flag."

However, I think the progress MU made through 3 years was pretty obvious. Not sure we'd see going 18-17 in Year 3 under our next coach as such obvious progress.

Hopefully we won't have to find out because we'll be enjoying our Sweet 16 (or better) season too much to whine.

I definitely did some grumbling in Year 4, and I was in the minority.  The point is though, that Wojo accomplished nothing of note in seven years, and he didn't have HC experience elsewhere proving he was capable of doing so.  Still, the vast majority of this board defended him for a long time, you quite vociferously.  And hey, so be it.  But I think it's unfair to frame this board/fanbase as being unreasonable.  It wasn't too much to ask that they make tournament games competitive or don't go 1-6 down the stretch in their 'up' years.

[avid1010]

Me too, avid ... but I wonder how many of our fellow Scoopers would be saying after a third straight NIT and an 18-17 record, "Wow, Coach X is doing a great job for us. I know I'm going to be VERY pleased!"

I'm thinking many (perhaps even the majority) would be saying: "We hired another disaster. Three years and not a single NCAA appearance. Even Wojo got us into the NCAAs in 3 years! This guy is 6 games over .500 after 3 years, and a losing conference record. Better to admit the mistake now. Rip off the Band-Aid and start over. Anybody who disagrees is settling for mediocrity!"

I don't doubt that...there's almost always a contingent of a fan base calling for a coach to be fired.  There were many Nova fans pissed that Wright couldn't get over the NCAA hump, Creighton fans complain, etc.  There has to be good leadership at the university level to combat that.  I really liked what Scholl said...he expects MU to compete in the upper half of the BEAST, routinely qualify for the NCAA tourney and occasionally be in a position to make a run in the tourney.   His job is to find someone capable of doing that, and then to buy that person enough time to get to that level.  I think you can get 4-5 years of time if you're seeing some level of progression.  I'd also feel much better if the coach we're buying time for has some level of past success as a HC if the progression is taking time.  It was pretty clear under TC things were trending upwards, and Buzz kept that going.  If I'm a coach looking at MU, I'm feeling decent about expectations if Wojo got 7 years given his results. 

[naginiF]

This post should be pinned to the top of the board.  I think it's important for us not to forget the true scope of Wojo slurping that took place here the last seven years.  Both the slurping, and the people who slurped.

some version of this post has been made in every single thread since 2019.

[MU82]

I definitely did some grumbling in Year 4, and I was in the minority.  The point is though, that Wojo accomplished nothing of note in seven years, and he didn't have HC experience elsewhere proving he was capable of doing so.  Still, the vast majority of this board defended him for a long time, you quite vociferously.  And hey, so be it.  But I think it's unfair to frame this board/fanbase as being unreasonable.  It wasn't too much to ask that they make tournament games competitive or don't go 1-6 down the stretch in their 'up' years.

There was plenty of grumbling in Year 4 ... and I don't blame the grumblers. It was a step backward. But yes, there were plenty defending Wojo, too. And in Year 5, when we were a top-10 team winning 20 of 22, there was plenty of "I told you so, our patience was rewarded" coming from the ProJos. Yes. We all know the history. We all know what happened next. And congrats to all the NoJos; y'all "won."

If you think Scoop will be content and patient if our next coach goes to zero NCAA tournaments in 3 years and posts an 18-17 record in Year 3 ... well, let's just agree to disagree ... and let's both hope we never have to find out.

[Small Orange Soda]

There was plenty of grumbling in Year 4 ... and I don't blame the grumblers. It was a step backward. But yes, there were plenty defending Wojo, too. And in Year 5, when we were a top-10 team winning 20 of 22, there was plenty of "I told you so, our patience was rewarded" coming from the ProJos. Yes. We all know the history. We all know what happened next. And congrats to all the NoJos; y'all "won."

If you think Scoop will be content and patient if our next coach goes to zero NCAA tournaments in 3 years and posts an 18-17 record in Year 3 ... well, let's just agree to disagree ... and let's both hope we never have to find out.

Scoop was content and patient while Wojo accomplished nothing of note.  There will always be a faction of grumblers; point is, they were the minority.  Perhaps the fanbase will be less patient this time around.  Like you said, I hope we never have to find out.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Within all of his trolling, Smuggles actually does make a point that would seem to favor Moser.

It took Wright a while to get Hofstra going. Meanwhile, Villanova had become a Big East also-ran under Steve Lappas, going to NITs or suffering first-round NCAA defeats year after year.

Jay took over for Lappas and built Nova into a S16 team within 4 years. There were hiccups after that, and it wasn't always smooth sailing as some might think -- most notably, Wright won 3 NCAAT games in the 6 tournaments between 2010-15, leading many Nova fans wondering if he'd ever get them to the promised land -- but they are a finely tuned basketball machine now.

It's easy to argue that he is the best coach in the country today.

Could Moser be our Wright? That's asking a lot. For one thing, Wright was 40 when he took over at Nova and Moser is already 53. But the idea that Moser learned how to coach at a lower level and took some lumps before (mostly) figuring it out, it's a compelling one.

One major difference (besides age): Wright did recruit for Nova and UNLV as an assistant before becoming a head coach. Moser has never recruited that level of athlete. And that's a pretty significant difference.

Wright also learned in those dry years after the sweet 16 you mentioned that recruiting rankings ain't all that. His profile & program allows him access to the cream of the crop, but he's fine going lower on the rankings scale for a better fit/mentality he sees in a player, and he's confident he'll be able to mold that player into the best version of himself and a plus contributor within a team concept. That's why he's the top don. That last aspect is something Moser seems to grasp intuitively, and he's got the coaching acumen to make it happen. I'll take that 100/100 after watching a marginal coach recruit the highest ranked talent in half a century at MU only to flounder for 7 straight years.

[muwarrior69]

No - not a thread saying we should hire him (but we should!).

Just another "easy" sweet 16 with one of your best guards hurt.  Wow.

I can only hope MU gets to this point one day.  Wright HAS to be the best college coach today, right?  Doing better than K, Cal, and Roy the past few years.  Mostly reloading without 1 and done's.  Gets everyone to buy in and just wins.  Amazing. 

edit: and for the record "superbar", but I said we should hire him.

The MU Womens program was gracious enough to give up their spot at the Al and drinks are on the house at the bar. Good season Ladies.

[Viper]

Jay Wight doesn't have a wardrobe worthy of going uptown in Milwaukee. Nope.

[MU82]

Scoop was content and patient while Wojo accomplished nothing of note.  There will always be a faction of grumblers; point is, they were the minority.  Perhaps the fanbase will be less patient this time around.  Like you said, I hope we never have to find out.

Look, friend, I hope you're right. Because if DJ, DG, JL and the recruits go elsewhere, our next coach very well might be lucky to be 18-17 with no NCAAs in Year 3. And if I like the guy, I'll be on here reminding everybody that Jay Wright had no NCAAs and was 18-17 in Year 3 at Nova. And the NoXXXXers (fill in coach's name) will be saying he's got to go.

Related: Wojo's third season at Marquette was significantly better than Wright's third season at Nova. Had Wojo gone 18-17 that third season, and then followed with the fourth season he had ... wow, Scoop would have been REALLY ugly.

[Small Orange Soda]

Look, friend, I hope you're right. Because if DJ, DG, JL and the recruits go elsewhere, our next coach very well might be lucky to be 18-17 with no NCAAs in Year 3. And if I like the guy, I'll be on here reminding everybody that Jay Wright had no NCAAs and was 18-17 in Year 3 at Nova. And the NoXXXXers (fill in coach's name) will be saying he's got to go.

I agree that's how the conversation will go (the new coach going 18-17 in Year 3 is TBD).  We're not Indiana, but we're not DePaul either.  If Wright's seat was getting toasty after Year 3 though, then he doused it in Year 4. Every year of the Wojo era was, "Well, he's not there yet, but..."

Related: Wojo's third season at Marquette was significantly better than Wright's third season at Nova. Had Wojo gone 18-17 that third season, and then followed with the fourth season he had ... wow, Scoop would have been REALLY ugly.

Sure, but that didn't happen.  Here's what I'm hoping ends with the Wojo era: these hypotheticals where it gives Wojo all the advantages.  I agree to an extent that Crean without Wade = Wojo.  But Wojo without Markus = Dukiet.  We can play that game all day, but luckily we don't have to.  The results are the results, and we've got 7 years of evidence that has now been capped.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

NM

[rocky_warrior]

I'd like to point out, that was NOT the premise of me starting the thread!

No - not a thread saying we should hire him (but we should!).

Just another "easy" sweet 16 with one of your best guards hurt.  Wow.

I can only hope MU gets to this point one day.  Wright HAS to be the best college coach today, right?  Doing better than K, Cal, and Roy the past few years.  Mostly reloading without 1 and done's.  Gets everyone to buy in and just wins.  Amazing. 

edit: and for the record "superbar", but I said we should hire him.

[MU82]

I agree that's how the conversation will go (the new coach going 18-17 in Year 3 is TBD).  We're not Indiana, but we're not DePaul either.  If Wright's seat was getting toasty after Year 3 though, then he doused it in Year 4. Every year of the Wojo era was, "Well, he's not there yet, but..."

Sure, but that didn't happen.  Here's what I'm hoping ends with the Wojo era: these hypotheticals where it gives Wojo all the advantages.  I agree to an extent that Crean without Wade = Wojo.  But Wojo without Markus = Dukiet.  We can play that game all day, but luckily we don't have to.  The results are the results, and we've got 7 years of evidence that has now been capped.

Wojo couldn't handle the job. I'm glad he's no longer our coach. And again, I hope we don't have to find out how Scoop treats our next coach if he is 18-17 in Year 3 with zero NCAA appearances. Have a nice night.