I purposely stayed in the shadows the past few days, as I wanted to properly process the hire. My emotional spectrum ran in the following chronology:
1. Anger when I first heard about the hire. How could we veer away from Dustin? Are we penalizing him for being an alum and former player? It's like a politician with a long career voting record running for a higher office. He can be penalized for so many things instead of a guy like Tebow who is lauded for not throwing INT's - because he doesn't throw the ball. Either way, I wanted Dustin to get the job, and was flat out angry when I heard it was not going in that direction. To me, it was a Steve Jobs --> Tim Cook progression. Plus, we could have had him a great deal cheaper, with the $ difference being put back into facilities and the program.
2. Skepticism when I heard about the money. I thought Schaus and Rod had lost their marbles. $600,000 and private jets?!?! It was like Ric Flair was stylin and profilin all over the Convo, with limousines and gold watches! We're always hearing about the budget woes and being asked for larger contributions, even in the face of worse scheduling. I just couldn't imagine we were going to give a TCU failure $600 large to come back to the MAC.
3. Horror when my mind started racing about the potential roster issues. Oh my, DJ is gone. Oh my, Walt's an emotional mess. Oh my, we're going to lose Bradds, Caris, Kadeem, and Anthony the Giant. Oh my, Reggie might declare for the draft. Ok, I made the last one up, but the worries were real and they were vivid. I had horrible visions of Whittington's corn rows, Hester's scowls, and Ottrix standing in street clothes in the tunnel during games. How could we make such a disastrous move that would break up such a once-in-a-lifetime group that had already proven its mettle?
4. Entertainment when I remembered JC's foot stomps, fire, and east coast tenacity. Not totally sold by any means, but I did start to think back and recall some of the hallmarks of his Kent Teams. I remembered the '06 and '08 teams and how good I thought the '08 team really was. I remembered how he had Geno on his bench and how he was pretty collaborative with the Assistants. I remembered the jacket never staying on long if it was ever on at all. I remember him beating TOS, a lot. I was starting to come around.
5. Happiness when I heard most of the presser yesterday. I thought JC said all the right things. Talked about not re-inventing the wheel. Paid homage to Groce. Talked open and honestly about his 20 year relationship with Dustin, although I almost choked on my lunch when he mentioned possibly having Geno's number retired. I liked how his wife is an alum. I liked how this feels like a better "fit" for him and how he hoped Schaus would call him when the job came open. He also talked about the Sweet 16 accomplishment many times, which I loved, because he realized how important those games and those experiences were to us as a fanbase. And he talked about community, which is a hallmark of Athens.
6. Confusion during the presser when he wasn't sure if Levert was a signee or not, and had to confirm with Schaus. Um, might be something you research considering there are all of TWO HS kids in the next class along with Kadeem.
7. Anger again when he wanted to "get the current kids out on the floor to workout for him." - Yeah, I'm sure that's what all our players want to be doing right now, after an emotionally draining Sweet 16 run and 37 game season. Interviewing for their own jobs, like it's a Management Consulting firm coming in and making recommendations to the Board of Directors. "Walt, I'd like to see you spot up for a few 3-pointers." - "Hey Coop, let me see you make some passes to Reggie in the post." - Um, no. Here's what I'd say - "Coach, if you want to see how I operate, there's plenty of film from the 37 games we just played over the past 5 months. No thanks. Just being honest, if you did your homework on this team, you know what you have in each player. This is the time to get to know personalities, watch film, and think about the future. Not put everyone on the floor for workouts with you.
8. Satisfaction that we made a good hire. Did we hit it out of the park like everyone is saying? Pretty sure we did NOT. Did we whiff like others are saying? Definitely not. I wanted so badly to email Schaus and give my input on the search. "Jim, if you stay inside the program do this. Jim, if you look outside, here's a list of names." - But, I held off. I held off b/c I trust Schaus's track record in these situations. I thought he was a great safety net the day Groce left us, and I think our mid-major friends at Wichita State would echo the same thoughts. He's inside this world on a daily basis and he's got his finger on the pulse of the finances. If he think it's a good hire, I'm going to fall into line and accept the decision and see how it plays out over the life of the contract. Maybe I'm getting older or wiser, but Schaus is at the helm, and there's no arguing with Ohio's success during his tenure. I'm not about to start arguing now. It was fun being front and center on the National stage this year, I'm hopeful we can all be in the Georgia Dome next year watching the 'Cats take us a few steps closer to our goals.
LOVE