Time to move on from Larranaga

Joined
Aug 31, 2016
Messages
3,802
This is year 9 and I have a hard time believing we have a higher ceiling than we've already seen in Coach L's tenure. He's 69 years old and it's time to move on.
 
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You do realize their best returning player is out? Not making any excuses for the terrible play this season, but to say "it's time to move on" based off this start they've had is a bit premature. Coach L is still one of the top coaches in the ACC.
 
Dewan is not that good that we should be losing to Yale and Penn, but it's deeper than that. Roster mismanagement has been awful and kids are transferring out or getting kicked off the team at an alarming rate. TF happened with Miles Wilson? Will we ever know? James Palmer is averaging 18 ppg for a team that will probably be at the top of the Big 10 this year. How did Manu Lecomte do once he transferred to Baylor?

Not sure how much he has left in the tank at this point but we don't need a 69 year old head coach roaming the sideline of a team who's ceiling is the 1st round of the tourney.
 
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Dewan is not that good that we should be losing to Yale and Penn, but it's deeper than that. Roster mismanagement has been awful and kids are transferring out or getting kicked off the team at an alarming rate. TF happened with Miles Wilson? Will we ever know? James Palmer is averaging 18 ppg for a team that will probably be at the top of the Big 10 this year. How did Manu Lecomte do once he transferred to Baylor?

Not sure how much he has left in the tank at this point but we don't need a 69 year old head coach roaming the sideline of a team who's ceiling is the 1st round of the tourney.
Again you're the loser who wanted Devan Reed to graduate. Why do you continuously post on here and make a fool of yourself?
 
Wait, someone wants to fire our coach after a rough patch of games?

No way.
 
This is year 9 and I have a hard time believing we have a higher ceiling than we've already seen in Coach L's tenure. He's 69 years old and it's time to move on.


I'm sure you don't remember when the U didn't have a team, and that was shortly after Rick Barry stared. Everyone, take a deep breath and be patient. Coach L has turned Miami in to a place where kids like Bruce Brown and Lonnie Walker came to play. lower your testosterone levels and relax.
 
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The original poster is right, of course, but the basketball board has a weird love affair with Mullenaga, so the OP isn't going to get much support.

Being the "best coach we've ever had" doesn't guarantee a lifetime contract. Just because we don't have a great history doesn't mean we're stuck in basketball purgatory forever. People want to blame the FBI and Compliance, but we collapsed last year before any of that ever happened. And why is our roster so thin that we had to rely on the 2018 recruiting class?
 
OP,

If anyone wants to ACTUALLY discuss this. Let's do it.

A few things:

1. There is a post about this right here, no need to start a new thread. https://www.canesinsight.com/threads/attacking-coach-l.141082/

2. Then I made a post about evaluating coaches here. https://www.canesinsight.com/threads/evaluating-coaches.141168/

3. Here is a post I made after the Yale game. There clearly are issues. Some of them are not new or related to Dewan.

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Let me start off by saying there are numerous issues, some of which are to blame on the coaching staff (i.e. coaching) and some on outside factors.

1. Roster Management, Dewan and Miles Wilson.

I don’t blame Coach L for the Dewan situation. I also believe that if our school didn’t act like illogical, irrational and overreactive potatoes, we’re undefeated. With that said, we should have won each of the last three games without Dewan. Coaching matters just like Roster Management.

I also don’t blame Miles Wilson leaving on Coach L, per se.

I do blame him for our Roster Management. For the last three years we’ve held roster spots/scholarships open for no real reason. As stated numerous times, it is better to have someone over no one. Use the ship on a grad transfer rather then take nobody. A 5th Year Grad Transfer, like Joe Thomas, is an incredibly low risk move. As we know, these players are gone at the end of the season and they’re available each year too. A player of his caliber isn’t demanding burn...They want the opportunity to compete and/or possibly an additional degree. Where is the risk?

Back to Miles Wilson. Since Coach L has been here, we’ve lost (on average) more than 1 player per year (transfer out/booted/left the school). So I don’t blame Coach L for Miles Wilson...but he should know SOMEONE is going to be leaving each year and prepare accordingly.

Then there is this whole thing with waste on the roster and redshirting a subpar player (Miller Jr.). Not going there right now.

Please note I don’t blame Coach L for the FBI/DOJ and recruiting stuff in 2018 and missing big names. I do blame him for taking no one and not filling the class. He did a great job on transfers but...we need more bodies. Even taking someone local like Alvarez last year would have been better than no one.

2. Actual Coaching and Assistants

This isn’t the first time this has been said but It seems that since certain coaches left for HC gigs, we’ve failed to maintain our quality. We saw how good Caputo was against BC last year.

The last three games are somewhat telling of the last three years. Large parts of the game things fall apart and we play down to our opponents. We freelance too much and things go to ****. Stupid plays keep happening.

Why was Amp given so many opportunities the last three games to hit a 3PT at the end?

Is that the best shot or play to run?

I still can’t get over the last three games. Things are broken, I don’t know if they can be fixed in season. Changes likely need to be made.

Some of these changes are pretty easy too.
 
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Consistent with Consigliere's observations, here are a few things that I've noticed in the past 4 losses:

1. Lack of assists -- In the last 4 games, we have had 11, 12, 12, and 10 assists. That's far too few. Moreover, what that says is guys are having to create their own shots, versus being set up to make uncontested shots. Watch when Lykes drives to the lane. More often then not, our other 4 guys are merely watching, and are not finding space and making themselves available for a kick out for a 3. Some of that is on Lykes, who needs to be more under control and dish more. However, we also need to make guys available for passes, both around the rim and at the 3 point line. Penn put on a clinic last night of how to move the ball to create open looks. The result -- 23 assists!

2. Lack of any fast break -- For a team that rarely has more than 2 guys on the defensive boards at any one time, it's amazing to me that we don't push the ball at all. (As an aside, is there any site that tracks fast breaks points for college?) For a team that runs a fairly low-percentage offense, with the exception of Ezundu, we need some easy buckets from time to time, and we just don't seem to generate them. It all starts with the initial pass off a defensive rebound, and 98% of the time that pass doesn't do anything to threaten the opponent. I understand that we have a short bench and can't run for 40 minutes, but there's not reason for us to completely ignore the advantage of the fast break.

3. Too predictable -- Here is where our basketball team mirrors the football program. For several years now, our offense has been too predictable; we don't surprise anyone. Not sure why that is the case, but we used to mix it up somewhat -- for example, where's the back door pass for a dunk that we used to effectively employ at least 2-3 times a game? I know that Dewan was used for it, but can't anyone else run it. Last night, even our defense was predictable. In our standard man-to-man, I'm not sure that I saw our guys double team the ball even once. Another example -- when Penn is shooting the lights out on 3's, why not at least deny the pass way on the perimeter and make Penn do something else. Instead, we played a passive defense and permitted Penn to take continuous uncontested shots.
 
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HLSCane and Consigliere,

You are both right and saying the same thing in certain aspects.

Example, roster management (lack of a grad transfer point guard or backup point guard) has impacted our assist to turnover ratio as Chris Lykes may be dealing with the dreaded sophomore slump. Also, a lack of any fast break can also be associated with the roster management due to a lack of depth. 6 games in the last 13 days (I think) has caught up with this team. 50 points at halftime is a clear example.
Being too predictable is a coaching issue as I don't think the ball screen offense works well with this group. I don't see Sam Wardenberg as the stretch 4 as the coaching staff. He also could be dealing with the sophomore slump, hopefully he will get better soon. I think they should work the ball inside with a high low offense or a UCLA high post offense. In fairness, it is hard to change your offense during the season but you can do it during certain situations in the game. This team needs to play more situational basketball as I feel Coach L stays with those small lineups too long. Maybe they should also play more zone but all of this is due to a lack of talent and players on the roster. This definitely is not positionless basketball.

Coach L should not be fired but he should definitely make some changes to how he has approached the roster over the past 3 years.
 
Where's the porster whose answer to everything was more Amp Lawrence?
If you mean me, I only said we need Amp to Excel and that he could be a key player to a good season.

He obviously has had his "moments" unfortunately too many on the disappointing side at very critical times.

It's a bit awkward to talk about Amp here since his Dad reads and comments here. That being said just a day ago in another forum Dad (Lawrence) said something like he "thinks Dewan will be back for the next game". I sure hope he is right, and if he is reading this please give us a clue if you can why you think so.
 
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