Posted 14 June 2008 - 08:56 PM
First, it's not entirely clear whether you are picking up on why the Bill Fitch thing was brought into this--ie, that one cannot evaluate Coach X on the simple basis of their W/L record. And I say that because YOU yourself speak about all of these reasons why you consider Woodson a poor coach... not a word about W/L records. That would seem to suggest that you agree that it takes more than simple W/L records to evaluate a given coach's competency.
And as for the rest... Troy with all due respect, you kind of leave me hanging here... exactly what is it that I'm "dead wrong" about? Where did I "defend" Woodson? Quote me, please, so I can straighten this out for you... you appear to be reading too much into my words, because I promise you I have been somewhere in the middle, and definitely not at your polar opposite position on the guy as you seem to think.
And just generally, you appear to have scanned the posts a little too quickly here. I am not a Woodson apologist just because I'm willing to give Sund the benefit of a doubt that Sund feels good enough about Woodson to retain him. I'm more like a Woodson agnostic, while you, looking back at the history, appear to be the equivalent of Fred Phelps on this topic--a highly inflated opinion of their own expertise, a highly inflated opinion of their ability to evaluate a situation for what it is as-if having been revealed by Deity, and an intolerance so extreme that is even revolting to others who are intolerant.
I mean, really, just friend to friend, you're seriously reaching when you argue based on what Woodson did as a player. Honestly, Troy, if you'll bother to look (and I did so just to humor you), Woodson's record doesn't look terribly different from other recent CotYs. Sam Mitchell's overall. has a career that shapes up a lot like Woodson's. Mike D'Antoni, near and dear to any Marshall fan like myself, barely played in the NBA, and when he did he only played on one team that even contended for its division title. (Yes, yes, I know he was a great coach in Europe... as one who knew about and followed D'Antoni all the way back to his college days, it's not likely you can point out anything I don't already know.) Popovich?... let's seeeeee... Pop...o...vich.... hmmmm.... not to be found. Didn't even play the game at a professional level. Hmmm... but was a Larry Brown protoge' (... reminiscent of... ummm... yeah, that Woodson guy... ouch, that's not helpful). Rick Carlisle? Had three glory years with Larry Bird's C's, then two bummer years on his way off the court.
Some unsolicited, not-meant-to-be-offensive advice: Stick with all of your "10-15 things we all agree that he is poor at" argument(s)... on much stronger rhetorical ground. This player experience thing is completely tangential when some of the best coaches in professional sports, basketball and beyond, are found to have had far less success as a player, and in some cases not even any, at the highest level.
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