So Groce is NOT a 50% Winning coach in MAC games?

Further am I comparing Groce and Phillips? Nope. I'm trying to comprehend your obsession or hardon for Groce. He won a few games at the right time which everyone acknowledges. MAC dynasties are not built .. teams have some good years and then often revert to the mean. Follow the game long enough and you'll see how the conference works. You can have the last word but I do laugh at your posts often.

I don't think you realize who people here are laughing at. Your inability to turn the page on the Groce era is bordering on pathetic, my man. We won some games in March. It was a lot of fun. But that was a long time ago and Groce left Ohio seven years ago. At this point, you're basically the 25 year old dude who is still obsessed with the girlfriend that broke up with him senior year of high school.

You gotta move on, man. John Groce did a long, long time ago. He's not coming back.

Me like this idea . . . the new improve John Groce. Would that be one who wins during the regular season as well as during tournament time? That's the man I'm after!

I think it's absolutely pie-in-the-sky and the fact that so many people here think it's possible speaks to how delusional folks here can be about what and where our program is. It's not as delusional as folks here calling for us to hire Thad Matta or Tommy Amaker, but it's not that far off, either.

How would that call go?

"Hey, John, how are things? Listen, the reason I'm calling is that I was wondering if you wanted to leave two years into the rebuilding situation you took over at Akron to start in on a three or four year rebuild here in Athens.

What's that? Oh, the pay? Yeah, it's gonna be a bit less than you're making at Akron. Or, you know, maybe more than a bit less. New President and all. What can you do?

What do we offer that Akron doesn't? Great question, I'm glad you asked. For one thing, our roster is completely bereft of talent. You know how you're bringing back basically your entire team next season and how that team's better than ours? Well good news, in Athens you get a clean slate. For another, we give your family an amazing opportunity to move again. I know how you must love that.

But finally, and most importantly, we can offer you a job for life. The same way it was Saul's job for life. The job's yours forever, unless you don't make the tournament in the first 5 years, then the fanbase will start calling for your head and comparing you to the John Groce of yore. That John Groce was amazing. Have you ever met him?

Anyhow, what do you think, should I send a car to bring you to the airport? Hello? Hello?"

We really have to move on from John Groce. His tenure here provides a solid blueprint for how we should approach this coaching search, but the fact that people can't move past a Sweet 16 appearance 7 years ago is a problem. It causes people to lose sight of the reality of where things actually stand now and the work and time it will take to get back there.

John Groce coming back to Ohio is ludicrous. I'm not in that camp at all. Would never happen in a million years. That isn't my point with my posts. I just laugh at the folks who continue to undervalue what Groce accomplished at Ohio....case closed..end of story. I moved on from JG seven years ago when he left, but I'll always respect what he pulled off in four short years at Ohio. Since then, Schaus has whiffed on two hires. One coach the players couldn't stand....Christian......and the other coach...Phillips....who was in way over his head and underestimated what he needed to recruit player wise in this league to compete. And now he has officially lost the team. Sorry, one full week to prepare for Miami and you lose by 20 points? Sure looks like a team full of players that can't wait for the season to end soon.

It's obviously time for the big pocket guys and gals here on BA to step to the plate and make Groce 2.0 happen. Money talks. And, while you're at it, send some extra millions for BTC's 35,000 seat stadium.

Not sure what my accent has to do with alliteration. Correct me if I'm wrong OCF, and you can ask your wife for help if necessary, but isn't alliteration the use of the same beginning sound for consecutive words?

If so, does "A November to remember" display any alliteration? Rhymes, yes. Alliteration, no. "What they remember in March" has no rhyming nor alliteration. Therefore, both saying are equally alliterative.

I've forgotten more about Ohio basketball than you will ever know, trust me. I acknowledged the NCAA wins. Groce has had player personnel issues at Ohio, Illinois and Akron. I'm not big on guys getting charged with assault I guess. Maybe that's okay with you.

At this point for 2019, FearLeon is 100% Akron fan and 0% Ohio fan.

You could not be more wrong.

This argument has two factions:

1. People who acknowledge the healthy dose of luck it takes to win in March

and

2. People who can't read the above statement without inexplicably thinking that saying so belittles what Groce's teams accomplished and is somehow a defense of Saul.

One of those two factions is logical and reasonable. I'll let you guess which.

There is nobody here arguing that they prefer Saul's tenure to Groce's. Full stop.

People are simply saying that there's a classy way to handle a coach's departure, and then there are threads like this one, which is classless, mouth-breathing garbage that attacks an imagined adversary to make a tired, universally acknowledged point.

I agree with this, and I know that 2010 in particular is an example of the stars just barely aligning. That said, any dose of luck has to include the ingredients needed to actually succeed. The 2010 team famously underachieved and had plenty of dysfunction. They got it together but they had the talent the whole time. Most of the starters went on to play pro ball in Europe, with Cooper starring in elite leagues. The last time this program recruited guys like that was when Jim Christian was recruiting Tone, pulling in Ndour and audaciously trying to lure Tariq Owens to Athens. Groce and Christian shot for the moon and sometimes got it -- THAT is what it takes to win in March, and all the luck in the world won't help if you don't have guys like that.

Saul's best two "gets" in five years are Ryan Taylor and Simmons. Their departures are not "bad luck" no matter what anyone says.