Where do we go from here?

[natetheskate]

Steve is a basketball guy...He knows what is or isnt happening in the program. I trust him to make the correct decision. He knows more than us and has more riding on it than us...I think we will know very soon after the season.

[Mudville21]

I can not agree that his performance is close to horrible. Obviously, this year is horrible and 22-23 was bad.

However, with that said, we have finished 1, 2nd and 3rd in our conference over the last 4 years. We won the conference tournament when we finished second and made it to the NCAAs. He is 0-1 in the NCAAs.

We lost in the conference tournament and made it to the NITs both years. He is 3-2 in the NITs.

Ryan Odom - His teams finished 7, 2, 4 and 1st from 2021- 2025

VCU/Virginia coach is 0-2 in the NCAAs and 2-2 in the NITs

If Drew is horrible, I will sign up for it.

I disagree.

*2022 was Porter's team. You can discount the results that year, as Drew did not put that team together. That was also our last year in the MVC and that particular group had outgrown the MVC at that point. The returning 5th year seniors, with the exception of Krut who did not come back for his covid year, were recruited and operating Porter's system. In 22 we were 1-2 in our MTE that year, MVC 3-0, and lost to Ohio State who was not a great team by any stretch of the imagination in the NCCA. So 0-1 in the only time Drew coached in the NCAA.

*2023: First year in A10, 10-21 overall, 0-3 in MTE, 0-1 in A10. Losses included Tulsa (Kenpom 316), GW (Kenpom 217), St. Joe (Kenpom 191-3x's), Rhode Island (Kenpom 255).

*2024: 23-10 overall, 0-1 MTE, 0-1 in A10, 0-1 in NIT. Loss to UIC (196)

*2025: 25-11 overall, 0-3 MTE, 1-1 in A10, 3-1 NIT

*2026 so far: 6-22, 0-2 MTE, rest pending. Losses to Mercyhurst (Kenpom 287), NIU (Kenpom 316), San Jose St. (Kenpom 227), Chicago St. (Kenpom 342).

So, after 2022 which was really Porter's team the damage is:

*Zero NCAA appearances, but we did get there in 2022 so we will put the 0-1 in the figures.
*MVC, again Porter's team but we will include, 3-0
*MTE record of 2-11
*A10 record of 1-3
*NIT record 3-2

This is Drew's 5th year and two have been ridiculously bad. This amounts to 40% of the time he has been the coach we have been bad, and if we discount the team he inherited from Porter in 2022 you can make a reasonable argument we are bad 50% of the time he has been coach. Furthermore, every year he has been the coach, with the exception of 2022 in the MVC our MTE and conference tournament performance has been flat out bad. We have also lost to some teams that are horrible teams.

His track record of coaching and getting teams ready for a MTE or conference play is flat out bad. He really has not done much to inspire much confidence in his ability to sustain any type of long term stability or viability of the program and the lack of forward momentum, waning enthusiasm by season ticket holders and students is a huge red flag the Administration should be worried about.

Don't get me wrong. I like Drew. I have had brief conversations with him and he seems like a nice guy. I admire and respect him for what he has gone through in terms of his child and I so wanted him to succeed here. However, like life, we all have to perform in our jobs or the Boss finds someone who will.

[96Rambler]

I don't like the idea of "give Drew one more year but his seat will be really hot" concept. It won't help to keep kids from going to the portal and it certainly won't help with recruiting. Either stand by him for the next X years or cut ties and start fresh.

What I don't like about cutting ties and starting fresh is we'd need to get a guy like Shertz who brings a few of his star players with him or we get someone who is going to start from scratch. Who would that be? If we got an assistant from another NCAA school or NBA it is unlikely they'll come with anyone. What mid or major level coach would we want that could bring players with them?

Even if Porter wanted to come back, would he bring some OU players with him? To me, that would be the benefit. I wouldn't mind seeing Porter back if he brings a defense-centric system back with him. He's a classy guy who brought in high character players and I think he could do it again....but something tells me he wouldn't take a step 'backwards'.

[goramblers2011]

Casey Alexander at Belmont interests me. His records at Belmont are: 26-7 (15-3), 26-4 (18-2), 25-8 (15-3) and then they moved to the MVC and went 21-11 (14-6), 20-13 (12-8), 22-11 (13-7) and this year, they just won the MVC championship at 25-4 (15-3). He is 53 years old and has a strong system. His flaw is he has only qualified for the NCAA tourney 2x (one was 2020 cancelled tourney). I think he would be a great target. Consistent success. Stability.

[RAMBLOR]

His track record of coaching and getting teams ready for a MTE or conference play is flat out bad. He really has not done much to inspire much confidence in his ability to sustain any type of long term stability or viability of the program and the lack of forward momentum, waning enthusiasm by season ticket holders and students is a huge red flag the Administration should be worried about.

Don't get me wrong. I like Drew. I have had brief conversations with him and he seems like a nice guy. I admire and respect him for what he has gone through in terms of his child and I so wanted him to succeed here. However, like life, we all have to perform in our jobs or the Boss finds someone who will.

Yeah, even in his good years, the team was completely unprepared for the start of the season. This year obviously took that to another level. That's the worrying part to me, I'm just not sure the guy fundamentally has it in him to keep a team focused and ready to go. Every year you wonder what the hell they were doing all offseason. The goal should be an at-large bid, and that's basically impossible with the way Drew runs things.

This year changed my perspective on the previous two "successful" years. I think those were talented squads that basically had to learn how to play together and be successful on their own, because they weren't put in good positions to succeed at the start of the year -- talent overcoming coaching, rather than the other way around.

[88Rambler]

If you want to fire Drew for this season, I understand.

However, I think there is some revisionist history with respect to his accomplishments.

First and foremost, with respect to the 2022 team, he got that team to perform. Without Krutwig, the team could have been a complete flop. We replaced him with Chris Knight. We lost games to COVID. As a far as competition, it may have been the MVC's last best season. We had a huge target on our back. We won the league and the tournament. If you recall, Drake had a bye in the tournament when UNI had a player test positive for COVID. Drake had an extra day's worth of rest. Drake lost the championship game and still got an at-large NCAA bid. Drake went on to win its first game in NCAA tournament. We lost to Ohio State in Pittsburgh. I was there and it was not good. However, look at the box score - it was one was one of Lucas Williamson's worst games. He was 1-10 from the field and 1-6 from the FT. Marquis Kennedy was 1-8 from the floor. I don't want to relive it. The only good memory from that game was I was able to catch an early flight home and have dinner with a few of my friends.

The 2023 team was a complete reset. It was the price we paid for having all the super seniors and moving to the A10.

The next two years were good years. We did have some bad play early in the season, but we improved, which is the key to coaching. You can point to the specific games, the overall MTE record or the conference tournament games and complain about how we did. However, most of those losses were against better teams (Creighton, FAU, or VCU). There have been individual games that I thought we could have played better, but overall I don't think another coach could have done better during those seasons.

Just last year, we didn't have Norris and we lost Moore - most people thought the team was done. How many teams would have improved after that? The team responded and had one of the best runs in school history. I realize that we have short term memories, but he is fairly well accomplished. Again, you can fire him for this year, but he has been shown to be resilient. I think he missed on some players this year. I don't think there is Williamson, Norris or Krutwig in this bunch, but I think he can find the next one.

[ahunte1]

Drake lost the championship game and still got an at-large NCAA bid. Drake went on to win its first game in NCAA tournament.

You make some good points, but Drake played in the CBI that year.

[goramblers2011]

The next two years were good years. We did have some bad play early in the season, but we improved, which is the key to coaching. You can point to the specific games, the overall MTE record or the conference tournament games and complain about how we did. However, most of those losses were against better teams (Creighton, FAU, or VCU). There have been individual games that I thought we could have played better, but overall I don't think another coach could have done better during those seasons.

The emphasized text is a pivotal point, to me. Even in his two good A10 seasons, we were out of at-large contention by the holidays because terrible non-conference performance, with 8-5 and .9-4 records heading into conference play (both times with some ugly losses to bad teams).

One of the big draws of the A10 is a better chance at an at-large bid. We haven't even sniffed that because Drew hasn't had the teams ready in November/December.

I think I've seen enough to move on.

[ahunte1]

The emphasized text is a pivotal point, to me. Even in his two good A10 seasons, we were out of at-large contention by the holidays because terrible non-conference performance, with 8-5 and .9-4 records heading into conference play (both times with some ugly losses to bad teams).

One of the big draws of the A10 is a better chance at an at-large bid. We haven't even sniffed that because Drew hasn't had the teams ready in November/December.

Prior to this year, this was by far my biggest gripe with Drew.

[RAMBLOR]

Right. If we're going to be conference tourney or bust every year, we were way better off staying in the MVC.