Coach Jim Les' Future

[Bravesfan]

I actually think Jim would be better oof if he got paid for his 3 more years and left. Why should he put up with this kind of crap every year from people who have never coached a game in their lives.I think he deserves another year. God help Bradley if they fire him and bring in someone who doesn't know a thing about Bradley. We already have too many people in charge who know nothing about Bradleys history.

Because no matter who coaches where, there will always be this kind of crap from certain critics of the team.

Even the best coaches in the game are not immune to criticism. There was definitely a very vocal minority of people that even wanted Coach K gone from Duke up until last year due to the fact that he hadn't won a national championship in a decade, and aggrevated even more by his streak of quick exits from the tourney. So no matter if Les gets to stay here at least one more year or if he ends up coaching a grade school team, he and everyone else in the coach fraternity will always have critics who think they know better, no matter where they coach.

[jrish12]

God help Bradley if they fire him and bring in someone who doesn't know a thing about Bradley. We already have too many people in charge who know nothing about Bradleys history.

Or they bring in someone who doesnt rest on the laurels of BU history and knows a thing or 2 about winning and the modern game. History is exactly that, history. Yes its great, yes its important. Is it the most important? Absolutely not, and if you think it is, well you have alot to learn about todays college basketball. Molinari and Versace werent BU guys, and recently those are the 2 most successful coaches we have had at BU, outside a 6 week stretch in March in 2006.

Hiring an alum is possibly the worst thing BU could do, IMO, IF JL is not back next season. Hiring an alum means he already has ties to the university, which in turn means difficult scenarios and possible hard feelings if things dont go as planned. Id rather have someone who will win, I dont care where they come from, well except ISU(but they dont know anything about winning anyway )

The problem with the "what if" scenario is that if we get more of the same with the returning roster the "what if" scenario gets flipped. Do I think Jim deserves another year, maybe. But I will let the people who are qualified and paid the big bucks to make those types of decisions.

[Old Coach]

Because no matter who coaches where, there will always be this kind of crap from certain critics of the team.

Even the best coaches in the game are not immune to criticism. There was definitely a very vocal minority of people that even wanted Coach K gone from Duke up until last year due to the fact that he hadn't won a national championship in a decade, and aggrevated even more by his streak of quick exits from the tourney. So no matter if Les gets to stay here at least one more year or if he ends up coaching a grade school team, he and everyone else in the coach fraternity will always have critics who think they know better, no matter where they coach.

I don't think it's about knowing better. For me it's about expecting better results from the program.

[jrish12]

I think it would definitely be a plus to be familiar with Bradley and their history, but that's just me.

Familiar with the history, yes, "a Bradley guy", not necessarily

Being familiar with the history is different than being a "Bradley guy"

[SaintLouBrave22]

How about creating some history of your own to stand on?

Heck, JL has done that!


While most know what camp I was in, I will say that JL really impressed me with his post game address and the speech actually got to me...


If nothing else he has shown a great amount of class when faced with so much adversity...

If this is the end, I congratulate him on going out the right way...


If not, let's get it cranked up for next year on Monday :-)

[DeltaBrave03]

Familiar with the history, yes, "a Bradley guy", not necessarily

Being familiar with the history is different than being a "Bradley guy"

Agreed. When planning you can't focus on the past it doesn't matter, what's important is the future. We do need someone who is inline with what entails being a Brave and not everything revolves around what goes on on the court, but at the end of the day we need the best guy for the job.

Not my decision if JL is that guy or not, but whoever it is I think he has a load of talent to start the year next year.

[OrangeandBlack74]

What I believe will happen and what I would prefer to see happen are two diffferent things. I don't see the program moving forward under the current leadership. If JL is retained, I hope for his sake that SM and TB can come back healthy and help lead this program to where it deserves to be.

[lake Camelot]

I actually think Jim would be better oof if he got paid for his 3 more years and left. Why should he put up with this kind of crap every year from people who have never coached a game in their lives.I think he deserves another year. God help Bradley if they fire him and bring in someone who doesn't know a thing about Bradley. We already have too many people in charge who know nothing about Bradleys history.

His job as a head basketball coach means he is going to be critiqued, He is well paid for it. Some things may not be fair "injuries" But if that was to bother him he needs to find a new job. I am not saying it does bother him, I really don't know. I just see that it bothers you. That is the job he has.

[Dallas Brave]

When SM and TB became out for the season, the season was going to depend much on JL's ability to coach and to get the most out of his players. In that regard, his performance was woeful up until the last 5-6 games. His player rotations became a little, but not much, better, the players played harder, and we started winning games when we were the better team. Losing games to better teams (like last night) didn't bother me , but giving away several games that we should have won were very frustrating. There were several points during the year where I would have liked to have seen JL leave immediately and let JP take over the team.

That said, I would give him one more year with very specific performance targets. Even without TB, the team stated 4-0 before SM became clearly hobbled with his bad ankle. Without injuries, I'm pretty sure the team would have finished in the upper half of the conference. We also give JL poor marks on player development, but DSE and JP clearly emerged this year. AT and MK are still frustrating questions. Are they poor players, or are they not getting a fair chance to play in games and develop like DSE and JP?

If JL does get one more year, I think it will take more than having a healthy roster for the Braves to finish in the top 3 of the conference. He is going to have to reassess his coaching approach and style in the off-season if he is going to survive more than one year. Plus, if the Braves are a .500 team after the first 10-12 games, I would send him packing and let JP become the interim head coach and see if we have the answer to our coaching needs already on the bench.

[Dallas Brave]

I was told today that a decision was made. I voted that way

Did you vote based on what you heard, or based on what you think the decsion should be and it happens to be the same as you heard?

[Beninator]

Voted one more year. Then, hopefully he is so successful that he is here for life.

+1

[basketball nut]

I actually think Jim would be better oof if he got paid for his 3 more years and left. Why should he put up with this kind of crap every year from people who have never coached a game in their lives.I think he deserves another year. God help Bradley if they fire him and bring in someone who doesn't know a thing about Bradley. We already have too many people in charge who know nothing about Bradleys history.

If I remember correctly Coach Mo said BU was always coached by 8000 fans that never seen the team practice but knew more then he did about the team-some things never change and it will be the same no matter who we get-but in our fans defense it is this way at most schools.

[mexicobufan]

I hope JL is given one more year with very clear expectations.

[basketball nut]

[quote=Dallas Brave;218676] We also give JL poor marks on player development, but DSE and JP clearly emerged this year. AT and MK are still frustrating questions. Are they poor players, or are they not getting a fair chance to play in games and develop like DSE and JP?

quote]

The problem w/ AT & MK is we, the fan, only get to see that glimmer of promise in a game. The coaching staff see the mistakes in both practice & game situations. As for MK, I would not give up on him, if he stays, as I see real potential but potential we might not fully realize until his senior year. (something that happens to a lot of players in college)

[ph]

[QUOTE=basketball nut;218681]

We also give JL poor marks on player development, but DSE and JP clearly emerged this year. AT and MK are still frustrating questions. Are they poor players, or are they not getting a fair chance to play in games and develop like DSE and JP?

quote]

The problem w/ AT & MK is we, the fan, only get to see that glimmer of promise in a game. The coaching staff see the mistakes in both practice & game situations. As for MK, I would not give up on him, if he stays, as I see real potential but potential we might not fully realize until his senior year. (something that happens to a lot of players in college)

AT played with a lot of heart, and very well twice this year. First when we lost TB, and then when we lost JP. But there seems to be a problem sustaining it. If we could just get Sandra Bullock to give AT a "Blind Side" speech...
(But that speech did not happen in real life..)