Eastern Kentucky coach Jeff Neubauer took the fordham job .. I think this would be a good fit for geno ..

Geno to BG when Jans goes back to Wichita to back fill Marshall?

Bradley has a pretty rich history and Geno's leaving it in pretty bad shape -- and that's without the Kent State mess factored in. He might have to spend some assistant time somewhere before he gets another D-1 head coaching job.

He did a good enough job to get an ACC head coaching job. And one bad year is hardly a mess.

We Americans love to blame the predecessor! Bottom line is: there was enough returning talent to have a decent year...at least on paper. Even SP said that. The reality is this coach never got his stars to play in any kind of system offensively or defensively. Thus, the year sucked!

That "awful" job of not getting us back to the tournament comes down to one game. Groce beat Akron in the MAC final and Christian lost. The 2012 team finished the regular season with a 24-7 record (11-5 in the MAC) while the 2013 team finished the regular season with a 23-8 record (14-2 in the MAC). How friggin "awful" is that? If Groce loses to Akron in the 2012 final (a 1 point victory by the way) would you consider his job that year "awful"?

I'm worshipping at Van and Recovering altars on this one.

Not only that, but he may not have ended up at Illinois that year.

In terms of record no his season wasn't awful, but in terms of building a program and moving us forward he did awful. How did we go from one of the better seasons in school history and making the sweet sixteen to three years later having one of the worst and going 10-20 and losing in the first round of the MAC tourney???? Who is to blame for that?? Are we just going to let him off scotch free and put all the blame on SP? No we shouldn't. I have seen very few people blame JC for the state of the program and I don't know why. While he coached here his starters were players JG recruited except for one that I can think of and that's Mo. Once all of JG's kids were gone except for Stevie he bailed and what kids did he bring in for Ohio to work with in the years to come?

Not to mention when you return a entire roster of a sweet 16 team I expect a 1 point W to turn in to a 10 point W. Not a 20 point L. Plus in that 20 point L Akron's star PG was in jail correct? Again not to mention who cares about the regular season??? All that matters is what you do come tourney time.

This board cracks me up with how much we still discuss Groce. I've been leary to post about him but the hell with it. Hind sight being 20/20 it was a mistake for both parties. The 2013 Bobcats had the potential of being really special. Don't get me wrong 24-8 with a share of the regular season title and a championship game appearance would've been wonderful season in almost any other year. Unfortunately 2013 was one of those seasons that those wonderful achievements were in fact a let down. Looking back at the schedule, we had some big let downs. Under Groce, I don't think we get embarrassed by Memphis. We don't lose to Winthrop at home, we beat either UMass, Oklahoma or Belmont. Maybe all 3. We had an at large bid schedule but crapped the bed in the big games. 2013 didn't have one game where it was a surprise or great win. Groce had the 2012 team play toe to toe with North Carolina and the eventual 2013 National Champion Louisville. (Phantom block call on Walt). The team trusted Groce in the big games and it was clear looking at the results of 2013 they didn't trust Christian.

Shaka Smart played it smart. He built sustained success at VCU and then took a great job with unlimited resources. Texas has their own network, and no state taxes. Austin is a fantastic town. Take historical relevance off the table and it's a better job than UCLA. Again hind sight being 20/20, Groce jump on the first pretty girl to come along instead of waiting for a super model.

The Illinois move was short sighted in my opinion. Yes the money was better and it is a better program. However in my opinion it was not a top 5 job in the Big Ten at the time. I think Michigan State, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio $tate, Wisconsin, and Purdue are all better jobs. Now it is another step lower because Maryland is a better job. Groce left a great returning roster not to mention having a signed potential NBA first round talent in Caris Levert. When comparing 12' and 13' we don't often mention the X factor in Levert. Again adding to the chance of being a really special year. What did Ohio get with the Levert scholarship? Travis Wilkins a good role player in the MAC. We take Levert every time. Groce would have had a chance at the Texas job and we probably still end up with Saul ball. Patience is a virtue for a reason and if Groce would have exercised that patience things would be better for both of us.

I understand we had a dumpster fire of year and there were a bunch of variables that contributed. I think Groce, Christian, and Philips contributed. I can't entirely blame this year's seniors for doing there own thing. 3rd coach in four years is tough. This was not what they envisioned going into this year. It was hard selling those seniors on another system as well as their senior year will be a rebuilding year. It didn't work, it happens. Take away the 3 seniors and really what was left in the cupboard? Tony and Setty were the only real contributors. The lost recruiting class would've have been a nice contribution to this years returning core. Setty being the 8th or 9th guy off the bench would have been a much better situation. I like Laster and Taylor but they were scramble signings. The silver lining from this mess was that we had open scholarships to offer to the talents of Kaminski and Simmons. I think they will be better than what we lost including Owens. I think we're a year away, the 16'-17' Bobcats look very good on paper.

In my humble opinion 2013 was a missed opportunity for both Ohio and Groce. I wish Groce didn't choose the other Green. I guess it falls under the category of if wishes were horses beggars would ride. Honestly I believe Groce leaving when he did hurt the program in an unquantifiable amount. Keeping the momentum going after two magical runs is easier to sustain then just one run and a pretty good season. It didn't help Groce's replacement turned out to be a carpet bagger. The early departure might end up hurting Groce's career as well.

Groce could have maxed out our squad in 2013 or we could have played well all season long and still crapped the bed in the 2nd half of the MACC against Akron and ended up in the NIT all the same. It wasn't JC that went 1-20 from behind the arc. Would Groce on the sideline and a freshman Caris LaVert have been able to overcome Cooper, Kellogg, Baltic, Johnson, and Wilkins combining to shoot 1-18(0-11)? I don't know.

Groce leaving $400K/yr for $1.7M/yr is not the same as Smart passing on offers while making $1.8M/yr.

What's done is done.

From where I sit Geno made only 1 mistake, leaving Kent and making a futile attempt not to pay the buyout clause. This coupled with his poor W-L record at Bradley will have a negative impact on when and where he ends up.
He made a poor decision that will follow him the balance of his life. All future contracts he negotiates will have some kind of clause that will protect the university more than a normal contract would.
He's scarred.




GO BOBCATS

I was at the ESPN bracket buster game (at Belmont) and JC looked like he couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag, especially compared to Rick Byrd. (and people went ballistic over the suggestion that Byrd would have been a better hire than TOS way back when)