Topic: Goodman: D'antoni Out, Corny In

[GreenBison]

A friend sent me this following transcript.  I have no idea where it came from.  She didn't tell me where it came from and I did not ask.  She just knew I was a Marshall fan and thought I might like to read it.  She said it had been verified.  So, I'll pass it along because it certainly sounds plausible.

Last summer, Corny was approached by Kevin Keatts, the coach at NC State, about an assistant position on his staff.

Corny, was obviously interested, but also felt an allegiance to Marshall so he went to Dan and asked for some reassurances.

With how Spears wrote Dan's and Corny's contracts (three individual 1-year contracts) there wasn't much Dan could do other than ask for some revisions.

So he went to Spears and asked him to consider revising the contracts. Spears not being happy with the program said no. Then, Dan asked for Corny to be made the HCIW. Spears turned them down again.

At that point, Dan went directly to Brad (which nuked Dan's and Christian's relationship) and basically repeated himself.

Dan - "We need some reassurances."

Brad - "You have them. You have a 3-year contract."

Dan - "No, we don't."

Brad - "What do you mean?"

Dan - "Christian wrote them as three individual 1-year contracts, not a 3-year contract. Now, NC State is trying to hire Corny away so I want to name him Head Coach In Waiting but I want it in writing"

Brad calls Christian and asks him to come to the office

Brad - "Christian, I want you to write a release stating Corny is our HCIW."

Christian goes back to his office pissed off and writes a release stating Corny is now our associate HC, not the HCIW

(which damaged his relationship with Brad)

This was a Brad Smith situation all the way through. From the firing of Dan to the hiring of Corny.

All of this was prior to NC State showing interest of course.

Which brought us to last week.

Prior to last week, I think Dan was safe, but the situation most certainly soured for Dan.

Dan had NO CLUE the firing was coming. He was in his office yesterday (Monday) morning carrying on with business as usual.

He had zero intentions of stepping down and very little interest in reshaping the roster (Corny is already on top of that BTW).

Dan was livid.

For the record, I don't believe that Corny knew what was going down until after Dan was made aware that he'd no longer be the HC at Marshall.

As far as the Huggins information goes, there was zero interest from the Marshall side. That was all donors and fans who generated this nonsense.

Cornelius Jackson Named Associate Head Coach for Marshall Men's Basketball
7/7/2023 3:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

https://herdzone.com/news/2023/7/7/mens-basketball-cornelius-jackson-named-associate-head-coach-for-marshall-mens-basketball

[jdonaccbus]

I had heard that Keatts last summer wanted Corny for that 4th assistant coaching position that the NCAA granted all Division 1 teams last summer. That is the same rule that allowed us to hire Caldwell as men's assistant coach.

[herdorbust2]

Bottom line is CJ has a chance of a lifetime and I expect him to do everything in his power to get the job done. Will it be enough? Time will tell. But I think he will have to show that he is bringing in better talent and putting that talent where it needs to be instead of square pegs in round holes like Danny. Then I think he will need to show he can actually coach some in game day instead of throwing the ball up and watching them play like Danny. If he does then I think he will get a second year also. Personally I think CJ will bring in some solid talent and not be worried about upsetting existing talent on the team. Corny will want the best talent he can bring in and as much of it as he can get. And that part is refreshing to me.

[herd2win]

We will know very quickly about Corny.  If he brings in 4 solid transfers that should give us hope.  If we don't see anything different  immediately we are in trouble.  Portal allows for instant gratification.

[GreenDaddy]

I believe CJ will have 6 scholarships to hand out, so he has his work cut out for him. I like to see a true PG among the bunch.

[Buffalo Bop]

I had heard that Keatts last summer wanted Corny for that 4th assistant coaching position that the NCAA granted all Division 1 teams last summer. That is the same rule that allowed us to hire Caldwell as men's assistant coach.

I heard the same thing.

[wlf]

It's been about recruiting or lack thereof all along. There's no room for mistakes in recruiting for a coach in this program now. Saving grace is the double edged sword of the portal .

[elginherd]

The one item in above narrative seems out of sequence.
"Dan was livid."

Was he livid about Corny being announced as ACH instead of HCIW?  Or about modifying the terms of the contract or both?
In those cases, the livid moment should've been way before Monday.

Or was Dan livid because he was being asked to reshape the roster or modifying the approach of the program? (I see nothing regarding that in the narrative.)  In this case, the livid statement would make sense.

[overherd1]

Corny has his chance with the program.  It appears to be a tall order and maybe not in the best of circumstances.  I wish him all the best in his efforts, really hope he succeeds and is our coach for years.  It does sound like Dan was blindsided.  Good or bad, that is now behind us.   Best of luck to Corny!!  He wasn't that long ago that I believe Chris Duhon was in the same situation. 

[DC01HERD]

Pulling for Corny. Good guy.

[Garbanjo]

I believe CJ will have 6 scholarships to hand out, so he has his work cut out for him. I like to see a true PG among the bunch.

6 scholarships to give is a fantastic opportunity for Corny to quickly rebuild this program

Obinna, Martin, plus 3 new starters

3 new impact bench players plus Conner and Fricks

Depending on how well Corny recruits and coaches we could have a good team next year

Go Herd!

[MicDrass1]

The more scholarships available the better chance Corny has to be successful. 

[herdorbust2]

I believe CJ will have 6 scholarships to hand out, so he has his work cut out for him. I like to see a true PG among the bunch.

Corny will have 4 scholarships to give as of now.

Martin
Obinna
Conner
Fricks
Pruett
Nutter
Braun
Moore
Harding

So unless someone leaves he has 4 to give. IMO we need at least 1 really good PG that can really play and maybe 2. We also need a couple athletic shooters. With Martin and Obinna along the front and if they can get Conner to hit the weights hard and move back to the 3 along with a stronger fricks coming off the bench we could be pretty good with some athletic scoring guards.

On another note I'll be shocked if Danny stays around here. I expect him to move south. If he would have went out on his terms I could see him staying and hanging around the program. But since it got ugly, I see him moving on.

[MicDrass1]

He needs 4 new starters

[Collis P]

Corny will have 4 scholarships to give as of now.

Martin
Obinna
Conner
Fricks
Pruett
Nutter
Braun
Moore
Harding

So unless someone leaves he has 4 to give. IMO we need at least 1 really good PG that can really play and maybe 2. We also need a couple athletic shooters. With Martin and Obinna along the front and if they can get Conner to hit the weights hard and move back to the 3 along with a stronger fricks coming off the bench we could be pretty good with some athletic scoring guards.

On another note I'll be shocked if Danny stays around here. I expect him to move south. If he would have went out on his terms I could see him staying and hanging around the program. But since it got ugly, I see him moving on.

Bust I agree - we definitely need 2 penetrating ball handling PG's - we need a point forward  3 (small forward) and a athletic forward.  With that said -  ** We need to work A LOT with Fricks, Obinna, and Conners on inside post play with Martin...  **That in my opinion is a good nucleus for the 8 needed players.  The others Moore, Harding will need to fill in -  Nutter, Braun and Pruett should not be part of the core team...  Some minutes as needed............If Nutter, Braun or Pruett are anything else, that tells me Corny's hands are tied!!   JMO!
   

[MicDrass1]

Kelvin Munoz (so) - Delaware State would start here
Point-forward
All MEAC
23 pts @ Texas shooting over 60%
6.7? - physical

Bring Connor off bench

[MUther]

It does sound like Dan was blindsided. 

It's the only way it could have gone aside from him stepping down on his own.  If he'd been given notice in advance that this was coming, he would have rallied the troops to raise hell with the ADept and stop it from happening.  Once it's done, it has to be accepted.  They might be angry but they can't unring the bell and they have to deal with it.  Pretty smart, if you ask me.

I think at some point even the staunchest supporters had to have doubts in his ability to coach in the modern era (post portal/NIL).  It becomes a very fine line between being right and doing what's best for the program.  The hangers on wanted to be right as keeping him was clearly not what was best for the program by any recent metric.

Same thing as Doc.  He was not a bad coach for us, but year after year we were able to determine his ceiling and knew that we weren't ever going to get past that.  Both had that early success that made it hard to let go for a lot of people.

[svherd]

Corny will have 4 scholarships to give as of now.

Martin
Obinna
Conner
Fricks
Pruett
Nutter
Braun
Moore
Harding

So unless someone leaves he has 4 to give. IMO we need at least 1 really good PG that can really play and maybe 2. We also need a couple athletic shooters. With Martin and Obinna along the front and if they can get Conner to hit the weights hard and move back to the 3 along with a stronger fricks coming off the bench we could be pretty good with some athletic scoring guards.

On another note I'll be shocked if Danny stays around here. I expect him to move south. If he would have went out on his terms I could see him staying and hanging around the program. But since it got ugly, I see him moving on.

I wouldn't be shcocked if there is a change in the status of Pruett and Braun. Possibly freeing up 2 more schollies.

[herdorbust2]

I wouldn't be shcocked if there is a change in the status of Pruett and Braun. Possibly freeing up 2 more schollies.

I think Braun is likely but I doubt he pulls the scholarship out from under Pruett since he just got it.

[chris88]

I think Braun is likely but I doubt he pulls the scholarship out from under Pruett since he just got it.

Or maybe, just maybe he can develop those players into a suitable role where they see the floor and improve even though never going to be a top minute player. At most places you see pt and effectiveness improve over a career. Hard for players to do that when they are never allowed to play or their strengths are never emphasized as they get forced into doing things they shouldn't be asked to do. One can hope.

[GreenDaddy]

I think Braun is likely but I doubt he pulls the scholarship out from under Pruett since he just got it.

I don't know, it sounds like CJ wants to get away from one dimensional players. I've heard Pruett is not going on scholarship now, and Braun will be asked to look elsewhere.

Could all be the rumor mill working, but evidently CJ is already working on getting the roster the way he wants it.

I know you spent a lot time around practices early on. You've mentioned more than once that Dan wouldn't take some of the players that CJ wanted to because it would have created more work for him. Can you expand on that?

[Buffalo Bop]

Because of Dan, CJ has some players that aren't D-1 caliber. I want to see how CJ handles the roster going forth.

[MicDrass1]

If he?s a good recruiter the more scholarships he has the faster we improve.  He doesn?t have a lot of time to prove himself.  He needs to cut em if can?t contribute!

[herdorbust2]

I don't know, it sounds like CJ wants to get away from one dimensional players. I've heard Pruett is not going on scholarship now, and Braun will be asked to look elsewhere.

Could all be the rumor mill working, but evidently CJ is already working on getting the roster the way he wants it.

I know you spent a lot time around practices early on. You've mentioned more than once that Dan wouldn't take some of the players that CJ wanted to because it would have created more work for him. Can you expand on that?

Not sure what you mean about creating more work for him. I did say Danny turned down a lot a players brought to him by the staff. Personally I'm not very high on Eric Harding the big kid signed for next year. But those are the kids Danny went for. We need athletes and quickness.

[GreenDaddy]

Not sure what you mean about creating more work for him. I did say Danny turned down a lot a players brought to him by the staff. Personally I'm not very high on Eric Harding the big kid signed for next year. But those are the kids Danny went for. We need athletes and quickness.

Sorry Bust, I must have you mixed up with someone else. I swear I read someone saying that on one of these boards. Something about Dan turning down players because it would have required him to put in a little more work. I wasn't sure if that meant recruiting wise, or he would have had to spend a little more time keeping an eye on them once they got on campus.