by QueRico » Thu Apr 18, 2013 9:48 am
There's this perception that SHU always has always been & always will be a bottom feeder. Thanks for noticing that isn't the case.
Over the past 10 years it had gotten near impossible to break into the top half of the league w/o some serious changes.
Willard was brought in to change the culture & image of the program which had gotten pretty shaky under the previous regime. Between his father & Pitino, he had a decent coaching pedigree and was viewed to have done a nice turn around @ Iona in his 3 seasons as head coach.
The primary goal was to improve the character of student athletes. For the most part this has been a solid success. Grades are up, off the court incidents have stopped, players aren't getting T'd up every game. Unfortunately offering mid-level $$$ brings you a less experienced head coach & staff, hence HS recruiting has been brutal during Willard's 3 years. This puts you in the unenviable position of bringing in foreign players & transfers, which has not worked out particuarly well. 2 better recruits this year had "legal issues" and will not be attending SHU. So much for taking shots on players based solely on talent.
The only positive is that the transfers are NJ kids coming home. This could potentially mend some fences w/ HS & AAU coaches that had been badly damaged. Signing Jaren Sina will give SHU a back court of 2 NJ All Staters, w/ Sterling Gibbs (RS Soph. transfer fr/ Texas). Young but talented. Depth is a major issue, as the only other guard on the roster may be forced to return to Israel to fufill his military obligation due to a change in their policy.
Fans are wavering in their support of Willard, even if the admistration isn't. This past season was truly demoralizing, regardless if compounded by a shocking number of injuries. With Sina & athletic wing Stephane Manga coming in, there's still 1 opening for another guard. If Mayaan goes back to Israel that's 2 openings for G's. There's also a possibility of a bench player transferring, so that would be up to 3 scholarships still open in the worst case. There was a shake up on the staff already w/ former Rutgers HC & former SHU asst. Fred Hill, Jr. coming back to resume his role of lead recruiter. Hopefully they can fill the roster w/ some quality and set the ship straight.