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Free from Expectations

Knucklehank1

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Jul 12, 2004
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The season irrevocably lost now. The positive thing is that there is now freedom to do whatever at this point. You could kick a guy or two off the team. You can play a different style. You can bench your old guys. You can self-impose a tourney ban. Everything should be on the table.
 
The best case scenario for all involved looks like Mack's agent finding him a reasonable job this summer and Mack just walking and taking it, a la Tubby's exit from UK to Minny, Shaka from TX to Marquette.

Long story short this just did not go the way anybody had hoped.

Will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
 
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Mack's going nowhere without SOMETHING as a buyout. Would you casually walk away from $12 million?

Our best strategy is to offer something like a few million since he could be entitled to zero depending on the NCAA ruling. Maybe he accepts that if he has a decent opportunity to take a job elsewhere.

Understand that I don't know where even a few million is coming from. We're broke, and that's no exaggeration. There's also no donors anymore writing U of L checks. Think about it, some former donors might actually be welcoming this as a faster resolution to the change they really want (not the basketball coach).

The NCAA news will probably decide the path we're gonna be on...
 
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Mack's going nowhere without SOMETHING as a buyout. Would you casually walk away from $12 million?

Our best strategy is to offer something like a few million since he could be entitled to zero depending on the NCAA ruling. Maybe he accepts that if he has a decent opportunity to take a job elsewhere.

Understand that I don't know where even a few million is coming from. We're broke, and that's no exaggeration. There's also no donors anymore writing U of L checks. Think about it, some former donors might actually be welcoming this as a faster resolution to the change they really want (not the basketball coach).

The NCAA news will probably decide the path we're gonna be on...

I think he knows there’s a pretty good chance he gets 0. I think a negotiated buyout using the potential Level 2 sanctions as leverage has a lot of merit.
 
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I think he knows there’s a pretty good chance he gets 0. I think a negotiated buyout using the potential Level 2 sanctions as leverage has a lot of merit.
At this point I say just let the assistant coach take over seems like he did slightly better at minimum I think you play all the young guys the ones are going to be back next year
 
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Self-impose a ban? Absolutely not. When the university did that several years ago, it showed a total lack of respect for the players. After a season starts, that should never happen. It's 99.9% unlikely in this case, but the players who have come to any university should always know that if they somehow get it together in the conference tourney, they can still make it to the big dance.
 
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The assistant coach sucks we would have been better off never hiring him and keeping the 2 former coaches. I am wondering if the assistant coach thinks he is better causing a chemistry problem.
Zipp, how can we be broke we had plenty of money when Ramsey and Jurich were here and so many of our fans on here said we were better off now that they are gone.

I actually like Mack and hope he can turn it around but it looks doubtful. I still think Mack made a mistake changing his system. He was doing better running his system from Xavier but it’s what our fans wanted.
 
Koz the fact that Mack changed his system is probably a sign the job was too big for him. It's one thing to incorporate wrinkles, additional strategy and/or plays, and adapt to the changes the college game throws at you.

It's something else to just completely blow up your entire offensive philosophy literally overnight and turn your back on the system that got you here. This is what Mack did when he faced his first taste of adversity after last year's disappointing season. Installed a completely new offense, and really it doesn't seem he has the personnel he needs to execute it.

There is a human element to all things and what is going to be interesting is to see if Mack can just tune out the noise and return next year if he isn't removed. As Zipp pointed out financials are bad attendance is trending down, the noise is only going to get worse for Mack. This could get really ugly.
 
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Attacking or punishing the kids right now is the worst possible discipline that Mack could ever follow right now for several reasons, none more obvious than the consequences that it would generate on to the reputation of this University.

I must agree with IPARTIED, as the only event that could explain the unprecedented collapse of this UL Basketball Program is Mack’s decision to terminate his 2021 staff, bring in a new assistant who is responsible for implementing a new offense, and then adding 3 transfers, 1 JUCO and 2 Freshmen to a roster that is returning 4 full or part time starters from the previous season. What could go wrong with that?
 
Mack is human he panicked last year. College sports is pretty simple. Better talent equals more wins. It is rarely the system that changes a programs future. Really not any different than business. Talent acquisition is the key to any organization. Once you have to talent then culture and systems matter.

The players didn’t fit the system and when that is the case there are no tweaks. Always remember great players make great teams. It is rare that a coach makes great teams without great players. The great coaches have always acquired great players. There are no exceptions to this rule.
 
He just hasn’t recruited enough talent and the guys he has had seem to get worse with time under his watch.
 
I'm not well read on the subject, but I don't know that I'm blaming Mack 100% for the decision to fire his former assistants. Esp. when I look back at what's gone down in this department the last several years...
 
I'm not well read on the subject, but I don't know that I'm blaming Mack 100% for the decision to fire his former assistants. Esp. when I look back at what's gone down in this department the last several years...
It doesn’t matter if changing his assistants was his choice or someone else’s choice. They weren’t getting players and they weren’t winning games. The outcome this year is the same minus the whole FBI debacle.
 
The season irrevocably lost now. The positive thing is that there is now freedom to do whatever at this point. You could kick a guy or two off the team. You can play a different style. You can bench your old guys. You can self-impose a tourney ban. Everything should be on the table.

In my opinion, there's no way Mack is fired unless this turns into Petrino's final season where the coach just quits during the season. There's no president to hire and AD, no AD to hire a coach, and the hammer for the probation violations have not come down and all of the above have to deal with that. No way does a realistic long-term coach come to Louisville not knowing who their boss is under these circumstances.
 
The assistant coach sucks we would have been better off never hiring him and keeping the 2 former coaches. I am wondering if the assistant coach thinks he is better causing a chemistry problem.
Zipp, how can we be broke we had plenty of money when Ramsey and Jurich were here and so many of our fans on here said we were better off now that they are gone.

I actually like Mack and hope he can turn it around but it looks doubtful. I still think Mack made a mistake changing his system. He was doing better running his system from Xavier but it’s what our fans wanted.
What short memories we have. Mack is a social media guy. He read and heard about all the complaints of how boring and how unlike U of L basketball his offense was. He didn’t change his system. He found a guy who convinced him to shoot the ball sooner rather than using the entire clock. He is still using the pack line defense because he doesn’t believe in gambling for steals or shot blocking at the rim. What’s he shown is how desperate he is.
 
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