Contract Extension for Royce?

[tornado]

Some threads are calling for Indiana State to re-sign Royce Waltman to a contract extension,
and an article in the Trib-Star also calls for the same:
"Keep Waltman and remove last shadow of doubt"

http://www.tribstar.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_015002506.html

http://valleytalk.net/showthread.php?t=3357

Apparently just one good month has these people very optimistic.
Recall, just less than a month ago, Indiana State was 4-4 with losses to RPI 221 Ball State and 112 Middle Tennessee, and a near loss (OT win) against RPI 294 Wagner on their home court.
Everyone was pretty consigned at that point that Royce was a goner.


Recall, last year after winning their first 8 games and climbing to the #2 RPI in the nation, Indiana State then lost 11 straight and 16 of their final 20.
They haven't had a winning record since 2000-2001, have averaged over 20 losses per season since them and are 45-101 in the past five seasons, with a 20-70 conference record in those five seasons.

Would the BU fans have been calling for Jim Les to be re-signed with this track record? What if Royce gets an extension then goes 4-11 in his remaining 15 games? I can think of a few schools who re-upped their head coaches based only on a little glimmer of success, then lived to regret it (Ritchie McKay, Dan Monson, Steve Merfeld).

Those highly touted freshmen who have helped to carry Royce over the past month didn't look so good last Saturday against BU (Stinson 2-7, Holmstrom 3-13), and if they falter in the last half of the conference season as frosh players often do, it could be another very disappointing year for Royce.

[real fan]

I believe any school that signs a contract extension under these circumstances is crazy; their program has not done well for awhile so why not wait till the end of the season to make that kind of decision.

[BradleyBrave]

I really don't know what Bradley or Jim Les have to do with the situation at Indiana St.

[Fastbreak]

InStU needs to go with youth, get a good young guy who'll be at the helm and build the program.
If they sign Waltman for more years they will be locking into mediocrity just as Evansville and Drake have done.

[tornado]

I thought I'd revisit this thread from less than a month ago when people were praising Royce Waltman, labelling him the leading candidate for Coach of the year, and calling for a contract extension.

So let's look at what Royce has done in the past month:

1-9, with only one win in his last 10 games over floundering UNI.
The nine games they've lost were by an average losing margin of 12 points, so most of those games weren't very close, either.

Now Indiana State sits at 12-13, 5-10 in the Valley, and they still have one game left with SIU
and one here in Peoria on 2/24. They would have to win out to avoid playing on Fridayagainst Drake or ISU.

I think Royce has fallen out of the COY running.

[amckillip]

Yeah, this is ISU's yearly disappearing act. I grew up in Terre Haute and this happens often, remember last year when they started out well, then there star player(Davd Moss) got injured and they again became a basement dweller. Every year it's something different, but always the same result - a bottom 3 or 4 seeding in the valley. Waltman's a good guy, but an overrated coach.

[Bravesfan]

Yeah, this is ISU's yearly disappearing act. I grew up in Terre Haute and this happens often, remember last year when they started out well, then there star player got injured at they again became a basement dweller. Every year it's something different, but always the same result - a bottom 3 or 4 seeding in the valley. Waltman's a good guy, but an overrated coach.

Oh come on! He's a Bob Knight disciple! He must be a good coach!

[amckillip]

Oh come on! He's a Bob Knight disciple! He must be a good coach!

Yeah, that does the opposite of endear him to me....

[Bravesfan]

Oh come on! He's a Bob Knight disciple! He must be a good coach!

Yeah, that does the opposite of endear him to me....

I don't think he's a screamer like Knight. But yeah, he obviously is not that great of a coach outside of 1999 & 2000. Or maybe he's not a bad coach but just can't recruit. Who knows?

Then again, one of these years (if he's still around) he might just surprise us and take his team to the postseason once again!

[Braves4Life]

Waltman

Unfortunately, like Bob Knight, Waltman is a dinosaur. I'm sure he is a very knowledgeable "x's" & "o's" guy like Knight and a great motivator and leader of men. He'd have been a great coach in the 60's,70's & early 80's like Coach Knight, however times have changed.

Neither can recruit the top-tier athlete anymore as these players have never had, nor want, the discipline that these coaches demand. Thus, they are relegated to getting second and third-tier athletes who, though fine people and students, lack the b-ball skill necessary to compete today at the major college level. Just my opinion

[amckillip]

To be honest I really don't think waltman is that great of an X's and O's guy. I'll use the Bradley game for example, because most people saw it. Watching that game I didn't feel like Waltman was AT ALL prepared for what Bradley threw at them. JL threw a zone on InSU and they were completely unprepared, even though just days earlier BU used that to take down SIU in a big win. I also went to the Wagner game @InSU and wagners players were quite inferior to InStates, yet Wagner used different defensive looks and stretched their offense to nearly the halfcourt line to get different looks, and only stellar play from Junior Gabe Moore did InState squeak out a win after having to force overtime.

Like i said, Waltman is really a nice guy, I've met him on several occasions, but I just don't think he can adpat in-game like a good X's and O's coach should be able to.