Shaka Smart, Relationships and Trouble in Madison

[Warrior2008]

Which, this one?

That's the one.  I believe Ben Brust and Brian Butch said similar things as well on radio shows this morning.

[The Lens]

That's the one.  I believe Ben Brust and Brian Butch said similar things as well on radio shows this morning.

Gard was a very well liked "soldier" in the Bo Ryan Crime Family.   Never really offended anyone, just did his job, was a super nice guy.  In fact he was so nice that some weren't sure he could coach because he never tried to show how smart he was.  Everyone just liked him.  So it doesn't surprise me to see any former player fall in line behind him.

[MU82]

Alvarez 100% behind Gard...

https://twitter.com/BadgerMBB/status/1407410666940608518

I might have sided with the players if they had a beef with the way Gard coached and told him so.  But this ridiculous, laughable, touchy/feely "you don't care about me" is just players wanting to be babied and coddled.  It is very indicative of this time, though.

When I played HS sports at Arrowhead, I had a very successful coach who was a total hard ass, but it never would have occurred to me to be worried if he "cared" about me.  The guy did a great job and that was all that mattered.

When I was their age ... men were men!

Our coaches throttled us around the throats and made us run till we puked and blamed us for things that weren't our fault ... and we loved it cuz that's how life is supposed to be!

Now you've got all these namby-pamby kids who believe in equality and believe people should be "nice" to each other and believe coaches should "respect" their players. What a bunch of losers!

[Pakuni]

Oh here we go.  We are going to make this a global "sign of the times" now.

These players probably got participation trophies when they were kids.

[Spotcheck Billy]

That's interesting if Alando Tucker released the tape. I was curious why he was let go and replaced without much news about it. Not related, but Howard Moore is no longer on their team page either (he was on the website for the past 1.5 years).

When I saw this story drop, my initial thought was that this paves the way for the new Athletic Director to fire Gard and start fresh with his own guy. Given the way Gard got the job, it wouldn't surprise me if the new AD wanted to move away from the the legacies/politics of Barry Alvarez and Bo Ryan.

from Potrykus:

Chris McIntosh, set to officially replace Barry Alvarez as University of Wisconsin athletic director in a little more than a week, vigorously defended men’s basketball coach Greg Gard on Tuesday.

McIntosh shared his thoughts in the wake of a leaked audio recording from a meeting held one day after UW’s 77-62 home loss to Iowa on Feb. 18. The edited recording, furnished Monday to the Wisconsin State Journal, includes critical comments from the team’s seven seniors. “In terms of going forward, Greg has our support,” McIntosh said Tuesday by phone. “Does (this) make it easier for us? It doesn’t. But I think we understand what Coach Gard is all about and how much he does care about his players.

“Our assessment of that takes place on a day-by-day basis over the course of years. Not one recording that was edited.”

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Not my area of law. But say Alando Tucker did record this, and did not speak in the conversation. Is he a part of the conversation, so the "one-party" is covered. Or is akin to sitting at a table in a restaurant, and recording their conversation?

My understanding is that if Alando Tucker was invited to the meeting and the parties were aware that he was present in the room, he has a legal ability to record the conversation even if he chose not to speak. The law is intended to protect from a third party that the parties are not aware of recording a conversation in a private space, not protect from a person who everyone knows is present in the private space.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

from Potrykus:

Chris McIntosh, set to officially replace Barry Alvarez as University of Wisconsin athletic director in a little more than a week, vigorously defended men’s basketball coach Greg Gard on Tuesday...

Potrykus and I have very different definitions of "vigorously"

[Dr. Blackheart]

These players probably got participation trophies when they were kids.

They are all Zoomers. They only played eSports. No trophies or ribbons, just digital badges.

[Uncle Rico]

Potrykus and I have very different definitions of "vigorously"

Give Potrykus credit, he found time to rally behind the coach and program in record time

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Yeah of course they are going to defend him now.  That's what they should do.  If he wins, it will quickly be forgotten.  But if he doesn't and is fired after this year or next, they won't say this is a factor.

[wadesworld]

Potrykus and I have very different definitions of "vigorously"

Exactly.

[The Lens]

These players probably got participation trophies when they were kids.

I've heard some of these players can't even shoot.  They have their moms shoot for them.

[McCormickForever]

This is such a delicious story on so many levels, I hardly know where to start. But I do know one thing. This is not your garden variety "coach may have a mutiny on his hands story". This is going to linger and fester and I think eventually cost Gard his job. May take a year or two.

I'm 67 and pretty much only ask for about 5 more things to check off the list:

1. Get to Heaven.

2. Maintain reasonable health in remaining years.

3. Hold the dice for 1 hour straight on a $25 craps table.

4. Watch Marquette win National Championship--again.

5. Watch UW basketball program implode.

This is one of the greatest posts I've ever read on Scoop.

[avid1010]

Alvarez 100% behind Gard...

https://twitter.com/BadgerMBB/status/1407410666940608518

I might have sided with the players if they had a beef with the way Gard coached and told him so.  But this ridiculous, laughable, touchy/feely "you don't care about me" is just players wanting to be babied and coddled.  It is very indicative of this time, though.

When I played HS sports at Arrowhead, I had a very successful coach who was a total hard ass, but it never would have occurred to me to be worried if he "cared" about me.  The guy did a great job and that was all that mattered.

BTW, it's not a good look at all to edit out Gard's  comments from the meeting.  We all know that if he had said something that could be used against him, the remarks would have been included.

Buzz was a hard ass who's players generally felt like he cared about them....I think you can do both. Generally speaking you can coach a kid harder if the kids knows you care about him and are pushing him for the right reasons.  This also isn't Arrowhead, and we should consider that on multiple levels. 

I feel bad for the guy from Arrowhead if he missed out on developing strong relationships with his players...far more fun and lasting than winning HS basketball games...

[PGsHeroes32]

Alvarez 100% behind Gard...

https://twitter.com/BadgerMBB/status/1407410666940608518

I might have sided with the players if they had a beef with the way Gard coached and told him so.  But this ridiculous, laughable, touchy/feely "you don't care about me" is just players wanting to be babied and coddled.  It is very indicative of this time, though.

When I played HS sports at Arrowhead, I had a very successful coach who was a total hard ass, but it never would have occurred to me to be worried if he "cared" about me.  The guy did a great job and that was all that mattered.

BTW, it's not a good look at all to edit out Gard's  comments from the meeting.  We all know that if he had said something that could be used against him, the remarks would have been included.

Odd take.

I would find it soft if one of these players did the leak.

But why is it soft that players had a private meeting with their coach to let them know what was going on wasn't working?

And most of these guys were their main players. Guys who get heavy minutes and opportunitiy. They weren't complaining because they don't wanna earn their spot. They felt like their coach didnt have their back and addressed it.

I'm not a big support Badgers kinda guy, love seeing the turmoil. But also hard to hate on kids who tried to privately bring up issues with their coach rather than potentially just jumping ship and transferring immediately.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

These players probably got participation trophies when they were kids.

At least those kids played sports. I know some kids who didn't do anything and there muscles still got atrophy.

[Jockey]

Oh here we go.  We are going to make this a global "sign of the times" now.


 

You saved me the trouble of typing it.

[Boozemon Barro]

When I was their age ... men were men!

Our coaches throttled us around the throats and made us run till we puked and blamed us for things that weren't our fault ... and we loved it cuz that's how life is supposed to be!

Now you've got all these namby-pamby kids who believe in equality and believe people should be "nice" to each other and believe coaches should "respect" their players. What a bunch of losers!

You should only be nice to people that think the same as you. Everyone else can go to hell.

[panda]

Alvarez 100% behind Gard...

https://twitter.com/BadgerMBB/status/1407410666940608518

I might have sided with the players if they had a beef with the way Gard coached and told him so.  But this ridiculous, laughable, touchy/feely "you don't care about me" is just players wanting to be babied and coddled.  It is very indicative of this time, though.

When I played HS sports at Arrowhead, I had a very successful coach who was a total hard ass, but it never would have occurred to me to be worried if he "cared" about me.  The guy did a great job and that was all that mattered.

BTW, it's not a good look at all to edit out Gard's  comments from the meeting.  We all know that if he had said something that could be used against him, the remarks would have been included.

Arrowhead stinks

[Mutaman]

Gard should handle it the way Al did:


"You had to be tough (or know how to fake it) to play for McGuire, because eventually you had to fight him before practice, during it, afterward or following games. Joe Hughes, who played with McGuire at St. John’s before transferring to Denver, said he witnessed Al going round and round in the Marquette locker room with macho forward Maurice Lucas.

Bruised and bleeding, his shirt ripped to shreds, McGuire casually remarked, “He’ll think twice about disrespecting me again.”


https://nypost.com/2009/04/05/mcguire-an-unorthodox-legend/

[MU82]

Buzz was a hard ass who's players generally felt like he cared about them....I think you can do both. Generally speaking you can coach a kid harder if the kids knows you care about him and are pushing him for the right reasons.  This also isn't Arrowhead, and we should consider that on multiple levels. 

I feel bad for the guy from Arrowhead if he missed out on developing strong relationships with his players...far more fun and lasting than winning HS basketball games...

Excellent post, excellent points.

Odd take.

I would find it soft if one of these players did the leak.

But why is it soft that players had a private meeting with their coach to let them know what was going on wasn't working?

And most of these guys were their main players. Guys who get heavy minutes and opportunitiy. They weren't complaining because they don't wanna earn their spot. They felt like their coach didnt have their back and addressed it.

I'm not a big support Badgers kinda guy, love seeing the turmoil. But also hard to hate on kids who tried to privately bring up issues with their coach rather than potentially just jumping ship and transferring immediately.

Yep, yep.

Gard should handle it the way Al did:


"You had to be tough (or know how to fake it) to play for McGuire, because eventually you had to fight him before practice, during it, afterward or following games. Joe Hughes, who played with McGuire at St. John’s before transferring to Denver, said he witnessed Al going round and round in the Marquette locker room with macho forward Maurice Lucas.

Bruised and bleeding, his shirt ripped to shreds, McGuire casually remarked, “He’ll think twice about disrespecting me again.”


https://nypost.com/2009/04/05/mcguire-an-unorthodox-legend/

I think Al would have adapted to the way today's kids think and act.

If I'm wrong, and he refused to adapt, he'd have had trouble keeping a job.

[GB Warrior]

Odd take.

I would find it soft if one of these players did the leak.

But why is it soft that players had a private meeting with their coach to let them know what was going on wasn't working?

And most of these guys were their main players. Guys who get heavy minutes and opportunitiy. They weren't complaining because they don't wanna earn their spot. They felt like their coach didnt have their back and addressed it.

I'm not a big support Badgers kinda guy, love seeing the turmoil. But also hard to hate on kids who tried to privately bring up issues with their coach rather than potentially just jumping ship and transferring immediately.

And were seniors on their way out the door. All the respect for them being mature about this

[MUBurrow]

Being accused of not caring about your players as people is the worst thing a coach can be accused of.  Any other criticism can be neutralized with “but coach really cared about me.”

[skianth16]

More people should record meetings. It's the best way to protect yourself.

Reminds me of the compliance guy in Billions when Axe agrees to forfeit his right to trade.

Do you really do this?

[rocket surgeon]

No offense, but no. Just...no.

  absolutely agree here hound!  might as well just wire everyone up...gee, can't think of much harm there   trial lawyer$ are licking their chop$