This is either a troll account or someone that is 10 years old behind the keyboard. Can one of the admins investigate this account? This ain't the first time absurdity from beyond the usual absurdity has flown around.

I agree with those who think it's time for "Saul Ball" to haul on out of Athens. I didn't read through the 12 pages of this thread, and I'd be stunned if my preference's name hasn't been mentioned more than once as a replacement.

It seems to me that in a league with a very large number of its teams in Ohio, playing most of its games every year in Ohio, the next Bobcats coach must be able to recruit Ohio very well. Of course, you're probably not going to get the kids that are OSU, Cincinnati, or Xavier bound (although Groce did OK there - think Caris LaVert before he transferred to Michigan when Groce left), but you HAVE to win a good amount of that next tier of players from Ohio. I would guess the ease of parents to attend their sons' games does probably help in recruiting.

Saul hasn't been able to recruit Ohio nearly as well as I think he needed to (know that Jason Carter had other deep-rooted reasons to be attracted to OHIO other than just the coach). I don't see that dynamic ever improving.

There is really only one guy that comes to my mind as the coach OHIO should go hard after at the end of this season, and that is Jeff Boals.

His stints as an assistant at Akron and OSU mean he has the relationships with Ohio coaches to get those recruits to come to Athens, just like Groce did. Boals would be coming back to his home state and his alma mater, so maybe he'd want to stay a bit and try to build a legacy of sorts. He currently makes a little more that $250K a year, so OHIO could almost double his income.

Those are my thoughts on the situation. I welcome your critiques.

Yep, he's demonstrated a path to consistently being decent and completely irrelevant at a national level.

The Potato Bowl is the equivalent of the CBI. Solich hasn't won any conference championships, which is what's required to get to the tournament in basketball. Not sure he's necessarily the standard we want to follow.

To be clear, he built a strong football program at a school that was consistently a bottom feeder and had won like 60 games in 30 years. Solich has brought huge value to Ohio University and will leave it better than he found it.

But our basketball program's much different than our football program and requires a different approach.

Is this board drunk Bshott44? Drop football (a consistent winning program) for men's basketball team that might be better off with our women's coach? Is that what I here? One of the highest paid coaches in the MAC can't recruit and getting blown out by 20+ points but in football we take 2 star athletes and win bowl games. Must be butane in their koolaid...

I'm not the one to tell you since I don't have it, but I'd love to hear why as well. One thing I read consistently is that he was a good player here and is an alumnus, so he should automatically want to come to Ohio over his currently well oiled machine at Stony Brook. And he'll be able to replicate that success at Ohio because he's an alumnus and came from one of the best era's of Ohio Basketball. That seems to be the prevailing thought process to me anyway - both here, and in other social media places I've seen his name mentioned as the supposed obvious replacement for Saul. Same logic seems to apply to Geno Ford.

Moton is still at NC Central. Neubauer is in his 4th season at Fordham where he is 48-64. No one can win at Fordham but he is trending the wrong direction:

Sometimes the cards just don't fall as you think they should or the way you want them to. Most of us love Saul as a person and were thrilled by the hire. Going back and reading the new coach thread for him is fun.

http://www.bobcatattack.com/messageboard/topic.asp?FromPa...

His offenses play an exciting brand of basketball...when it works. Lots of passing, drive and kicks for open jumpers, lots of movement without the ball and extra passes between big men. Anyone who knows basketball knows that Saul can coach an offense. I think if you go back and look, his teams have actually averaged better scoring numbers than Groce or Christian teams.

I'm for one who thinks defensively his teams haven't been that bad, but my issue lies with letting teams go on BIG runs without timeouts before it's too late. And frankly, we haven't had great perimeter defenders outside of a few guys to stop dribble penetration, which causes bigs to get in foul trouble. And if Ohio's bigs are in foul trouble, they can't stretch the floor and give room for guys like Jaaron or TK to operate.

And we've had some great players here during his time.

-Tony was on an upward trajectory before he arrived, but playing in Saul's offense turned him into a MAC POTY. His last season was taken from him and it's heartbreaking to see what he could have been.

-Jaaron, who I still think is Ohio's greatest PG outside of DJ Cooper in the last 20 years (fight me), was a perfect catalyst for the team when everyone was healthy. Once he had to do too much, then we slid.

-Mike Laster...his development over 4 years was a treat to watch.

-Jordy is one of the best shooters Ohio has ever had, percentage wise and his ability to go off in spurts.

-Jason Carter is already an Ohio great and he's barely played 2 years of basketball.

-TK may be one of the best rebounding guards I've seen in a while and is ultra athletic.

-Role guys like BVP, Gavin, Jimmy G, Doug, Kenny, and Treg are/were good players for this program that filled a need.

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Unless things turn around quickly this season I think Saul's tenure here will be a story of "what ifs" and that's unfortunate.

-What if Tony doesn't get hurt in Saul's 3rd year?

-What if Ryan Taylor doesn't transfer? (Can you imagine Year 3 with Ryan Taylor, Jaaron, Jordy, Tony and Jason in one lineup? My God.)

-What if Ohio lands a couple big names like Desmond Bane and Tyrese Haliburton?

-What if Jaaron decides to stay?

-What if the injury plagued 2017-18 season isn't as severe?

-What if Aaron Fuss sticks around?

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But that's not how life works. Some things just aren't meant to be. I love watching Saul's teams, but for whatever reason things aren't going as planned. For a myriad of reasons and adding those things together may be too much for this regime to overcome.

It seems this year's team is still trying to recover from last year's debacle and learning how to play together. I'm hoping they get some stuff figured out before March so we can see what the group is fully capable of, but it's going to be a long winter. Here's hoping for the best, whatever that is.

I'm not the one to tell you since I don't have it, but I'd love to hear why as well. One thing I read consistently is that he was a good player here and is an alumnus, so he should automatically want to come to Ohio over his currently well oiled machine at Stony Brook. And he'll be able to replicate that success at Ohio because he's an alumnus and came from one of the best era's of Ohio Basketball. That seems to be the prevailing thought process to me anyway - both here, and in other social media places I've seen his name mentioned as the supposed obvious replacement for Saul. Same logic seems to apply to Geno Ford.