Can't resist. Willard and Maryland go down to Davidson
- Thread starter ivyhillparkk1963
- Start date
The player shot happened on Willard's watch. But it was not his fault, nor was his fault to have one of his recruits driving drunk (the wrong direction?) on the GSP. Willard's recruits had some problems too and he talked about his marital intimacy, or reported lack thereof, publicly. Willard wasnt an angel but was definitely not socio-pathic like Gonzo.
Gonzo showed the metro area recruits that he was the superior program to rutgers and st johns
I still blame SPK for Gonzo. 😉
Yes it happened on Willard's watch but you don't clean up a mess in 6 months. It very rarely if ever happens that way. Keon drove the wrong way when Gonzo was the coach, not Willard. And you're really bringing up a lack of sex JOKE?
And yet RU got the highest rated player over his 4 years in Rosario. They also got Echinique who was probably rated higher than any Gonzo recruit. If he showed them we were the superior program and they still chose RU.....
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It doesn't exactly mean one coach did a much better job than the other either.
Always root for the big east teams in nonconference play. Is there really an option?
15 years later and we’re talking about Gonzo, a coach with a failed record, never getting to the NCAA, never fulfilling his promises, leaving the program as the laughing stock of college hoops and he was an embarrassment to the University. Really?
I am really lost as to how this thread went sideways.
SHU09 made a comment that Willard coached in a tougher BE than Gonzalez.
I merely threw out some stats that compared how they did when matched up against the same old Big East. And that their winning percentages were fairly similar even if you backed out the Rutgers / USF / DePaul matchups.
No one piggy backed that post and said Gonzalez was a good coach for the program or that his behavior was acceptable.
Yet there are several comments that took that as a comparison of the two head to head overall. It was just intended to point out that the Willard also had some challenges in the old Big East which I personally found to be a slight step up vs the current NBE.
The NBE has had its moments with Nova wining national titles and Creighton and Xavier securing high seed lines. But until UCONN’s run last year, the conference besides Nova had struggled to advance deep in the tournament. That is an undeniable fact.
I also always believed that we had the capability to finish 3rd or higher in the NBE with Willard’s better stretch of teams. If those same teams competed in the old BE, I don’t know if 3rd place or better would have been consistently obtainable. The change in landscape definitely worked out to our advantage.
SHU09 made a comment that Willard coached in a tougher BE than Gonzalez.
I merely threw out some stats that compared how they did when matched up against the same old Big East. And that their winning percentages were fairly similar even if you backed out the Rutgers / USF / DePaul matchups.
No one piggy backed that post and said Gonzalez was a good coach for the program or that his behavior was acceptable.
Yet there are several comments that took that as a comparison of the two head to head overall. It was just intended to point out that the Willard also had some challenges in the old Big East which I personally found to be a slight step up vs the current NBE.
The NBE has had its moments with Nova wining national titles and Creighton and Xavier securing high seed lines. But until UCONN’s run last year, the conference besides Nova had struggled to advance deep in the tournament. That is an undeniable fact.
I also always believed that we had the capability to finish 3rd or higher in the NBE with Willard’s better stretch of teams. If those same teams competed in the old BE, I don’t know if 3rd place or better would have been consistently obtainable. The change in landscape definitely worked out to our advantage.
Guilty as charged.
I pushed hard on the board for Gonzo, Willard (before anyone really knew who he was) and Holloway. That's 3 for 3 for better or worse.
If nothing but coaching acumen was being judged I think that's a pretty good call on each. But off the court issues certainly played a part in what we saw.
I’m not a Gonzo supporter but I also don’t think Willard was far superior. Against similar competition that were virtually the same. Willard had the benefit of staying longer and Tiny delivering Whitehead and this the rest of that class. That doesn’t happen he would have been gone.
Benefit of staying longer???
Here’s an if for you…
If Stix Mitchell doesn’t have his off the court problem, Herb doesn’t throw a nut punch, Keon doesn’t drive the wrong way, and Gonzo treats everyone with respect he gets more than 4 years easily. Resulting in Willard never being at Seton Hall.
Gonzo would’ve had the same benefit of more time if only he did the right things.
It's interesting that a thread about a former coach gets more replies than all other recent posts.
It’s basically the equivalent to a presidential debate. Switch the names Willard and Gonzo with Trump and Biden and this would be a great thread for LOTS. 😂
To be fair, we have one post on Willard but 26 different threads about different aspects of last night’s game. Plus many of us post game-related thoughts on the Trove as well.
You mean “Syracuse losing to toothpaste” didn’t garner much attention on this board?
But he did get Whitehead and Angel and Khadeen and Desi and Ish and Nzei and Powell and Cale and Sandro and Rhoden. And he found Gordon and Q and Gill among others. And he hung 5 NCAA banners and two BE banners. What did Gonzo do? He drove the program into a ditch.
It was his prompting that saw me send a donation to the school asking for the hire.
Absolutely. And he built from there. You seem put off by that, 10 years later it’s still on your mind. Amazing.
Getting back to the topic, this was KW quote following the Nova loss.
"This schedule has not been conducive to growing this team. That's my fault."
"This schedule has not been conducive to growing this team. That's my fault."
That was as bad a performance as I've seen a P6 team put up in some time.
It reminded me of a couple of those losses at RU -- one with Blaney and one with Amaker plus the time we lost at 'Nova with Amaker and were out of it before we even left the layup line.
It reminded me of a couple of those losses at RU -- one with Blaney and one with Amaker plus the time we lost at 'Nova with Amaker and were out of it before we even left the layup line.
I’d be happy to never have to read his name on this board again. Not on the top of my mind by any means but u do remember the fact that this board was calling for him to be fired until after that class. He became decent coach but by no means was great.
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