Topic: Was it a bad thing?

[herd2win]

That we hired Kim.  Because of her style of play we lost a key player before the season and now if the portal holds we will lose half the team.  Is 1 year of success going to set us back years if Spears doesn't hire a perfect coach?

[Flat Tire 2]

No offense, but the OP's post is so typical of the Huntington "mindset". Always looking for the negatives; like we are located in bad area; small enrollment ect. Always making an excuses for failure.

At a school like Marshall, you should always be hiring coaches that would be hired away by larger programs. That is the way it is going to be the way for a school like Marshall in the world of college sports. Once in a while you might get lucky and hire a great coach who wants to stay like a Grassie or Jack Cook. We don't have the resources to compete with P5 programs. The key is to keep hiring good coaches and keep the program winning and growing.

Look at the positives with hiring Kim. She won a conference championship (something men's football and basketball didn't accomplish). She showed us a winning program will attract fans, even if it is a women's program. She created excitement which helps build a fan base. I would rather have a coach for one great year than than have a coach who doesn't play for championships. The positives outweighs the negatives. JMO.

[NewfieHerdFan]

No offense, but the OP's post is so typical of the Huntington "mindset". Always looking for the negatives; like we are located in bad area; small enrollment ect. Always making an excuses for failure.

At a school like Marshall, you should always be hiring coaches that would be hired away by larger programs. That is the way it is going to be the way for a school like Marshall in the world of college sports. Once in a while you might get lucky and hire a great coach who wants to stay like a Grassie or Jack Cook. We don't have the resources to compete with P5 programs. The key is to keep hiring good coaches and keep the program winning and growing.

Look at the positives with hiring Kim. She won a conference championship (something men's football and basketball didn't accomplish). She showed us a winning program will attract fans, even if it is a women's program. She created excitement which helps build a fan base. I would rather have a coach for one great year than than have a coach who doesn't play for championships. The positives outweighs the negatives. JMO.

Well said. And for Marshall, that's the formula. Hire successful coaches, they eventually move up, rinse and repeat. Deviating from that results in Doc and Danny situations.

[overherd1]

It was absolutely worth it.

[jdonaccbus]

I would rather win at the highest level (regular season championship & tournament championship) and have that coach leave due to that quality success, then get a coach who comes in and lectures the fans about how hard it is to win at Marshall & Huntington. I would rather get a young and motivated coach than some of our other coaches who felt mediocrity was fine & collected a decent check for year after year. We have had more than one of those.

With Kim leaving for Tennessee, it does show prospects at the head coaching position that you can come to Marshall.....achieve championships and also have future opportunities. I also enjoyed the softball season last year. I hated to lose the softball coach but that is part of the winning process.

The key is to finding the next head coach. I hope that Spears has the ability to find the next quality coach. I hated to lose Stan Parrish, but we did hire George Chaump. I hated losing Chaump, but Donnan upgraded the program. When Donnan left, we got Pruett.

We botched men's basketball for so long in many different ways. The roster was on the right path when Donnie Jones was here and then left. It was the hire after Donnie that was not good. I think Hamrick hired well in Olympic sports, but we was awful for the two main revenue sports. Marcum was worse.

[bighat]

It was a good hire but as the orginal poster said one and dones don't build a program.  You can sugar coat it all you want.

[jdonaccbus]

It was a good hire but as the orginal poster said one and dones don't build a program.  You can sugar coat it all you want.

It is also the wrong approach to recruit a majority of your roster to have freshmen recruits and think they are going to be here all four years. This isn't the '60s. The rules have changed.

[Herdiowa]

No offense, but the OP's post is so typical of the Huntington "mindset". Always looking for the negatives; like we are located in bad area; small enrollment ect. Always making an excuses for failure.

At a school like Marshall, you should always be hiring coaches that would be hired away by larger programs. That is the way it is going to be the way for a school like Marshall in the world of college sports. Once in a while you might get lucky and hire a great coach who wants to stay like a Grassie or Jack Cook. We don't have the resources to compete with P5 programs. The key is to keep hiring good coaches and keep the program winning and growing.

Look at the positives with hiring Kim. She won a conference championship (something men's football and basketball didn't accomplish). She showed us a winning program will attract fans, even if it is a women's program. She created excitement which helps build a fan base. I would rather have a coach for one great year than than have a coach who doesn't play for championships. The positives outweighs the negatives. JMO.

You need to get used to losing players every year to the portal.  Almost every team is going to lose players to the portal annually. 

[herdorbust2]

I would hire Kim again in a heartbeat. But make no mistake the woman's basketball program is in shambles. We lost the coach and style that will be almost impossible to duplicate. And there isn't any roster left to build on. At least Corny has to big men to build around in Obinna and Martin. He gets 3 good guards and the will be ready to go. It's going to be tough for the woman's team. Just wait and see where they finish next year.

[Flat Tire 2]

I would hire Kim again in a heartbeat. But make no mistake the woman's basketball program is in shambles. We lost the coach and style that will be almost impossible to duplicate. And there isn't any roster left to build on. At least Corny has to big men to build around in Obinna and Martin. He gets 3 good guards and the will be ready to go. It's going to be tough for the woman's team. Just wait and see where they finish next year.

I don't think WB program is in shambles, not in the transfer portal world. We just need to hire the right coach who knows how to work the portal. Just read the below link, this years Utah State was ranked and went to The Big Dance. Times are changing.

Every player who scored a point for Utah State basketball last season is gone
https://www.deseret.com/2023/5/2/23709039/every-player-who-scored-a-point-for-utah-state-basketball-last-season-is-gone/

[chris88]

I would hire Kim again in a heartbeat. But make no mistake the woman's basketball program is in shambles. We lost the coach and style that will be almost impossible to duplicate. And there isn't any roster left to build on. At least Corny has to big men to build around in Obinna and Martin. He gets 3 good guards and the will be ready to go. It's going to be tough for the woman's team. Just wait and see where they finish next year.

Not true. The portal players have not left yet and there is still some nice talent including Meredith Maier, the FR Timberline, and a few others that played pretty significant roles (Tudor, Redmond etc). KC was going to have to restock at guard and that hasn't changed. And we have no idea what the new coach MAY bring with them as well. The SBC is still there for taking IMO in many ways. Troy loses a ton. Appy coach quit and half team in portal. JMU losses significant but they will still likely be favorite. ULM has a lot of holes as well. The goal should still be top four in SBC and postseason in some form.

[herd2win]

Kim impressed me at every level.  It is always good for your coach to get a top P5 job I was just wondering about the level of reset we will go through. 

The new coach will need to be portal savvy and it could be an upside they will have scholarships to give.

[jdonaccbus]

There is no question that the next coach will have it harder than Kim did. Caldwell inherited some very good players. She also had an assistant on board that she was already familiar with.

The next coach will need some recruiting cycles (ie portal players, freshmen, jucos) in order to get the ship up and running. It would be hard to come close to doing what we did this year with a new coach who has to rebuild most of the roster.

[MUonium]

with the right people, anything is possible.  but yes, the odds are a litlle bit tougher unless all players were to come back.  i don't think that's going to happen due to what some players said to make it sound final.  there are other Kims and other players.  go get em

this is another opportunity for Spears/Smith to cement a record of good-to-great hires

[FilmJunky]

That we hired Kim.  Because of her style of play we lost a key player before the season and now if the portal holds we will lose half the team.  Is 1 year of success going to set us back years if Spears doesn't hire a perfect coach?

It's the landscape of college basketball now. A coach leaves, so does half the team no matter whether a coach has been there for 1 year or 5 years. Mid Major college basketball you hope to have a tournament team every 3-4 years if possible. Consistent trips to the NCAA tournament are highly unlikely.

[gochneaur645]

Set us back from what? The 27 previous years where we had a losing record more often than not and never even sniffed the NCAA tourney?

[bighat]

It is not a question of setting us back but where are we going now.

[chris88]

It's the landscape of college basketball now. A coach leaves, so does half the team no matter whether a coach has been there for 1 year or 5 years. Mid Major college basketball you hope to have a tournament team every 3-4 years if possible. Consistent trips to the NCAA tournament are highly unlikely.

Goal should be top 100 program. Kim got us to about top 50 in one year imo and if she stayed I think we could have been legit top 25-30 program in time. In top 100 you're going to one of the three postseason tourney's every year. SBC has a bunch of programs in the 100-150 NET range. MU/JMU/ODU/ULM have best chance at top 100 on a consistent basis with right coaches. The next coach doesn't have to be KC to have us in top 100.

[Big City]

Winning is never a bad thing.

Winning and losing a coach at Marshall's level isn't a bad thing.

Notice, not one program has tried to hire away a MU coach in football since Pruett and basketball since Jones. This imo is the glaring problem.

[elginherd]

I agree that winning is a good thing...and winning while attracting larger and larger crowds is better.

The coach responsible for the winning and attendance leaving after just one season before a program is solidly established and a tradition somewhat started is not a good thing for Marshall. Yes, Coach Kim had to take the offer, but don't pretend that it's good for the Herd. If the offer had come 3-4 years in the future, then it could be regarded as a positive.

[Nicks Pizza]

Has there ever been a time when women's basketball was discussed on these boards as much as it has been this season?

[GreenWhite]

It was not a bad thing to hire Caldwell. Unfortunately, if any coach does well here, 99% of the time they will take the better offer and leave. It's just the way it is at a school like Marshall. If a coach is doing well, they should be here no longer than 5 years unless they decide they want to stay and turn down the offers.

[herdorbust2]

I'll just say that imo the men will have a much b tier year than the woman next year. Corny has 2 really good bigs for the SB conference. And he will do what Danny wouldn't. Recruit the players in the portal he needs to fit the system. I expect him to bring in some nice guards to go with those 2. The woman had a great year but it's going to be tough for them next year.

[elginherd]

It is also the wrong approach to recruit a majority of your roster to have freshmen recruits and think they are going to be here all four years. This isn't the '60s. The rules have changed.

Valid observation regarding men's basketball..
Not quite as much with women's.

However, most of the teams that did well in the tournaments had well established programs. On the men's side there were more transfers than on the women side.

[wlf]

Has there ever been a time when women's basketball was discussed on these boards as much as it has been this season?

Media used Clark to drive WBB nationally and it worked, plus the women being more skilled nowadays makes it easier to watch. It became a phenomenon this year, it's what's happening now stuff.