I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it's interesting how much good will Boals gets from most people here. This same board eviscerated TOS for insufficiently loving Athens but no one cares that Boals lives in Columbus. This board loathes Jim Christian because he took an ACC job (yes, I know he also gets blamed for non magically returning us to the Sweet 16 as if that were a fait accompli) but everyone seems cool with Boals grabbing the next ladder rung that comes available. This board slammed Saul Phillips when Ryan Taylor and Jaaron Simmons transferred but Boals loses two starters (so far) and it's no big deal.

I get that none of those are totally apples-to-apples and that Boals has one tournament win compared to none for the other coaches, but the situations are really not all that different.

And one final one that might explain why Boals may not be such a flight risk just yet: This board thought (correctly) that Saul had to go because he didn't recruit enough MAC-caliber starters. Other than Sears (now gone) and Wilson, who has Boals brought to Athens that have made a significant impact? Preston, BVP and even Carter were all Saul guys.

This may seem like I'm slamming Boals, but I am not. I like him and hope he's our coach this season. Just throwing it out there for some perspective and to stir the pot a bit in our long offseason.

Well, just for the record and pot-stirring, some of us did not attack TOS or Saul, do care quite a bit that Boals lives in a Columbus suburb and were not jumping on the "sign a 10 year contract now" bandwagon thread, and are not "cool" with anyone using OU as a quick ladder climb, especially one of our own who has preached how special is this place. But outside of internet rumors none of this last bit is apparent to me so why are we going there? Because the IndyStar 'speculates?" It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who spends any amount of time on here that there were and are BAers who go batsh*t crazy at any opportunity to spew hate or slobber depending on which way the W-L wind might look like it is blowing or going to blow.

It's just an interesting contrast. Jim Christian only got the BC job because Brad Bates is an idiot - not because he was hunting for a better job. BC fell in his lap and he'd have been even dumber than Bates if he passed up a massive raise to coach in the best conference is college basketball. The notion that he used and abused Ohio is ridiculous. As over-his-head that Saul was, he brought in more talent than Boals has so far. I agree that next year is critical for him. He might want to call Jim Christian to learn how to grab elite JUCO talent.

The answer here is obvious. Boals should hire Saul as Recruiting Coordinator.

Roderick was a Saul recruit who chose to stay on after the coaching change. McDay too.

I think BRod was a Boals recruit.... but don't fact check that

Not saying JC used or abused Ohio. It's just that he came from a not-good program in a more prominent conference (MWC) and it was clear that he was looking to move to the "big time." I can't remember if he was fired at TCU or just moved to Ohio to avoid being fired, but it was pretty clear that he wasn't the coach to take TCU into the B12, given that he had just one winning season in the four he was there. Given his earlier success in the MAC and his family ties to Ohio some (maybe most) of us thought he'd be here a while longer than he was. Also, he was the second Ohio coach in three years to leave for "greener" pastures, so maybe that has something to do with the feelings toward him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb_cS2KOxAY/?utm_medium=copy_...

Early returns are quite good for Clayton and some bigs really make leaps forward but it's way too early to call him a home run. He averaged 3.3 pts in 10 minutes as a freshman. A true home run MAC recruit looks more like Payton Sparks, who averaged 13.5 pts and 8.5 rebounds as a freshman.

I agree with some here about the talent that Saul brought in. However once these players were on campus he didn't know how to coach them.
Bowls on the other hand developed these players he inherited and along with the Pandemic giving these players an additional year also helped them improve.
Now as we get back to a normal, so called normal year, we will need to see what additions Jeff brings in to offset those going into the portal.
Once the roster is full then we will need to see how he coaches all these new guys.
It currently looks as if there could be between 6-8 new faces for next year.




GO BOBCATS