Looking back at Wright miss - Coaching could've been
- Thread starter srru86
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Such a stark contrast with Pike who shook hands on the deal during the initial interview in that NYC diner. It was clear Jay didn't have his heart in it. It may have took twenty years, but we finally got our guy.
I've often wondered the same "what if" scenario. I was teaching at Hofstra at the time and saw how Jay did the nearly impossible - generating excitement for college bball on Long Island. I sent him an email message encouraging him to take the Rutgers job. I've long been suspicious of why Lappas would abruptly leave Villanova to take a lesser job at UMass, assuming he was forced out at Nova so they could steal Wright out from under our noses.
Much to my surprise, I received a reply from Wright. Ever the diplomat, he said many good things about Rutgers and AD Mulcahey, and wished us all be best.
I believe that his wife is a Villanova grad and that she is from the Main Line. That might have been one of the deciding factors in his decision. But the "what if..." question will always be stuck in my mind.
The other "what if" raised in the article - about Werblin trying to get Paterno to Rutgers after Burns was fired in 1983 was something I'd never heard about. Can anyone here confirm whether or not that really happened?
Much to my surprise, I received a reply from Wright. Ever the diplomat, he said many good things about Rutgers and AD Mulcahey, and wished us all be best.
I believe that his wife is a Villanova grad and that she is from the Main Line. That might have been one of the deciding factors in his decision. But the "what if..." question will always be stuck in my mind.
The other "what if" raised in the article - about Werblin trying to get Paterno to Rutgers after Burns was fired in 1983 was something I'd never heard about. Can anyone here confirm whether or not that really happened?
I think Jay wouldn’t have stayed at Rutgers for more than four or five years max. And it’s worth noting that he was on the hot seat at Nova, because, like Pike at RU, he didn’t start winning there until year four. They made a run to the elite eight and the rest is history. It’s one of the reasons why the cancelling of the NCAA tournament is so tragic for Rutgers in particular. A run in the dance would have made us a huge national story. An early loss wouldn’t have hurt us at all.
The big difference is he still interviewed with Nova. Supposedly Pike had an interview the next day but canceled.
did not know about Pike in line to be interviewed...
I also think that Jay would have bolted for Nova in a year or two if offered, if he saw a way out of a contract with us....
you have to give credit to Nova, who acted quickly, I think they helped place their head coach elsewhere in order to snag Jay before he signed here.
That is 100% true ...and Paterno considered it for a couple of day’s before deciding to pass.
But he, in turning down the offer, joe suggested that we strongly consider his top assistant, who was in his mind ready to be a head coach
that’s how we started to talk to Anderson
Ah, yes. We did end up with Anderson and in his first game as head coach, we nearly pulled off the upset at PSU, losing 15-12, IIRC. Hopes rose among the Scarlet Nation as we went 7-3 that season, even defeating WVU. But then, after the promising start to 1985 with the tie at Florida, we went on to have a disastrous season, which killed the momentum.
I think Anderson was good at getting the team ready to play most days but was too low key to be a good recruiter or to generate much excitement. In NJ, with no in-state network TV, it helps to have a more out-going personality that attracts the attention of the out-of-state media (NYC + Philadelphia).
Jay would have very much moves Rutgers basketball forward. Ask RU72 for some insight here as well
jay would have brought Fred here and we would have recruited really well. Even better than Bannon....and he would have had his initial kids stick here to build something solid here
He would have got us to the NCAA level for sure In the big East. Beyond that ...it’s hard to say if he would have had the same success here that he had at Villanova.
would he have considered Rutgers his dream job at that point? Would he have settled being second in attention behind Schiano and Rutgers football. Could he have gotten resources to sustain the program he likely would have built that neither Gary, Fred, Mike or Eddie could get ?
what I do know is we have a GEM in coach Pike who is building Rutgers not when the big ten is down...but doing it when the big ten is LOADED
a loaded big ten !!!
And I think we will appreciate him a lot more after next year ...his fifth year..:.when we see what we do next year. Really think we are making a DEEP NCAA run next year...and the recruiting that we will sign in the class of 2021 will make a statement at that point that Rutgers basketball doesn’t rebuild anymore...it reloads and is Here to stay
jay would have brought Fred here and we would have recruited really well. Even better than Bannon....and he would have had his initial kids stick here to build something solid here
He would have got us to the NCAA level for sure In the big East. Beyond that ...it’s hard to say if he would have had the same success here that he had at Villanova.
would he have considered Rutgers his dream job at that point? Would he have settled being second in attention behind Schiano and Rutgers football. Could he have gotten resources to sustain the program he likely would have built that neither Gary, Fred, Mike or Eddie could get ?
what I do know is we have a GEM in coach Pike who is building Rutgers not when the big ten is down...but doing it when the big ten is LOADED
a loaded big ten !!!
And I think we will appreciate him a lot more after next year ...his fifth year..:.when we see what we do next year. Really think we are making a DEEP NCAA run next year...and the recruiting that we will sign in the class of 2021 will make a statement at that point that Rutgers basketball doesn’t rebuild anymore...it reloads and is Here to stay
Ecojew
You are correct with Wright's wife with the attraction to Villanova.
I thought Wright dragged his feet on Rutgers until it was announced Lappas was leaving
At the time when it was announced that Lappas was leaving, I thought that was bigger news than getting Wright getting the offer
Halfway through year 4 I believe Jay's locker room was a mess. A couple of good players were openly talking about transferring. It looked like Jay was going to lose the team. My friends were concerned as their son was a key part of the team. Then finally Jay righted the ship and got all that talent to play like a team. Even though I'm a die hard Rutgers fan it was so cool going into the Nova locker room and talking with FHJ and the players.
While a deep NCAA run would be awesome, it is impossible to predict. We could just as easily bow out on the first day. So many variables. Run into a hot 3 pt shooting team and its over before you can blink. Happens to good teams all the time. But we will have the leadership, talent and experience to make a run if things break right. Next year is going to be fun.
I have no idea if Jay would have succeeded here. Just because a coach does well at School A doesn’t mean it will work at School B.
in addition I think there is a lot to being in the right place at the right time and things falling in to place.
what would have happened to Schianos career if Pssquolioni (right guy?) isn’t fore’s from Syracuse?
in addition I think there is a lot to being in the right place at the right time and things falling in to place.
what would have happened to Schianos career if Pssquolioni (right guy?) isn’t fore’s from Syracuse?
I think he would have had great success here. After all, he succeeded at Hofstra, which offered none of the advantages that RU had at that point - playing in the BE, on TV regularly, larger arena, much deeper fan base, etc. And once successful, RU could have outbid Villanova if they tried to raid afterward since we got a much larger payout as part of the BE football conference than Nova did being outside of it.
RU isn't all that far from the Main Line so his wife would have been able to get home far more easily than she could have from Hempstead, where you would need to spend 2 hours just to make it to the Verrazano, then slug your way across Staten Island to finally cross another bridge to North America, LOL. Trust me - I did this commute for last 10 years that I worked at Hofstra, when I could no longer stand living on "Planet Long Island" as my students used to call it. It wasn't fun.
Is it a given than Ray and Foye and Lowry would have come to RU if Jay Wright was the coach?
it took Jay 4 years to make it with those guys. Very good chance Jay would not have made it at RU.
it took Jay 4 years to make it with those guys. Very good chance Jay would not have made it at RU.
Who knows if wright would have succeeded here. Remember waters owned him early on including the 2004 year when we beat wright during the season and in the NIT. We all ran around nyc! And if you said then you would rather have wright over waters ....well lol ! What did you know? We had great coach that hired Fred hill and also led Kent state and Cleveland state to great ncaa tournament wins and second round appearances!
I really haven't followed anything about who he's recruited to Villanova but I do see him as being a far more charismatic person than any coach we had after 2001, which I think would have attracted far more attention in the greater NJ-NY media market. That in turn, would have enabled him to attract more and better players than we've had over the 15 years or so between 2001 and the hiring of Pikiell. He also would not have been the kind of embarrassment that we've had in two of our coaches, both of whom but especially the latter set the program back several years.
Again look at 2004. We had the great waters and he was beating wright. That was in year 3! We all loved waters
Not everyone, but wasn't Foye basically joined at the hip with Hill?
Waters was a very good coach but he never seemed to connect with NJ coaches and recruits.
Don't know if anyone else mentioned that Bob Mulcahy is a Nova guy... but I always wondered if that is why Wright went to Nova. If Mulcahy had 2 interests and his loyalty to Nova won out in the end... so maybe he made it easy for Wright to back out.. maybe he told Nova that they should fire Lappas.. I dunno.. but I always found that situation suspicious.
Waters blew his introduction to New Jersey.. he stayed at Kent State to finish with his team just as everyone in New Jersey was interested in meeting the new coach and sizing him up.
And I also recall him going back to Ohio for some kind of award, missing a Rutgers game in the process, which really p.o.'d the AD at the time. I think that ended up being his last season at RU. FHJ filled in for that game, played against Marquette during a blizzard, with RU winning. That got people's hopes up that FHJ would be more than just a good recruiter but, alas, that turned out not to be true.
jay would have been a success here, he is no flash in the pan, plus he would have Fred Hill who would have brought those players here. I dont think there is much doubt that he would have won here, whether he stayed is another issue and its likely he wouldnt
that team was young, remember RU beat them 2x that year including housing them in the nit at the RAC, the next year they were off to the races, very similar to RU currently I think
Shaka Smart failed at Texas
Archie Miller failed at Indiana
no guarantees you plug a guy in and it works. A lot of it is a snowball that once it starts sticking it builds. Sometimes snow doesn’t stick. You have to hit it with your 1st 3 classes or it doesn’t work. A lot of luck involved.
I think no more than 50/50 Wright would have succeeded here
Archie Miller failed at Indiana
no guarantees you plug a guy in and it works. A lot of it is a snowball that once it starts sticking it builds. Sometimes snow doesn’t stick. You have to hit it with your 1st 3 classes or it doesn’t work. A lot of luck involved.
I think no more than 50/50 Wright would have succeeded here
Everytime I listen to Valvano tell the Green Bay Packers blooper story about his days coaching freshmen hoops at RU my mind wanders to a place where we are his NC State.
You can't compare Texas and Indiana to the Wright situation. Texas and Indiana are blue bloods with history. Sometimes that history has a way of ruining things because it's controlling. Quality coaches like Miller and Smart have unrealistic pressure placed on them because of where they coach. Nova at the time didn't have such an image thing when they hired Wright. Now you can put Nova in the same boat as IU and UT. Bottom line, big money has a bigger say at those schools than just about everyone else associated with the programs.
Because he would brought the same players and coaches he brought to Nova
Those coaches you mentioned are not in the same stratosphere as Wright
1. You don’t know that
2. They were in the same stratosphere until they went to a new place.
That was nonsense and a real BM low point. He used that smokescreen to get Hill in, instead of doing it properly. As truthful as the I never tried to hire Gary Darnell before GS trope. BM did some good, but his handling of Waters was not one of his finer moments, and some truth telling issues emerged..
because he has proven it year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year. The guy is one of the greatest coaches in the game at a school that isnt exactly the most prettiest in terms of stature
How does pretty describe the stature of a school, and however so, what does that have to do with being a great basketball coach?
It does helps when you’re THE guy at THE sport at a particular school. And you get all the assistance needed.
That wasn’t happening here.