Yes it is. He either cannot effectively communicate these concepts in practice, he can't motivate them to do it, or he recruited guys that won't do it. Again, this is college basketball. The head coach gets most of the praise and all of the cash. He chooses every aspect of the roster, the scheme, how the practices are run, etc. It's all under his control.
I worded this all wrong, because it's on Steve at the end of the day for recruiting guys that cannot figure out how to play this defense this year, or it's his fault for not being able to figure out something to at least make the defense capable. If it's truly on the players, then that's on Steve. In my opinion our roster make up is not made for defense whatsoever, especially with Tyrese being hurt. I realize we weren't even good with him, but he was our longest guard, could switch out on longer, athletic players on the opposing teams, played the passing lanes extremely well, and could contest shots at the rim. We literally don't have any other player like that because Lewis and Griffin can't see minutes. We're at a tremendous disadvantage at about 2 positions.
Nixon defensively has regressed a ton on the defensive side. I think a lot of that has had to do with the "offensive load" he thinks he now has to carry on the other end. He rarely closes out as the game goes on and for the last month or so has fallen into the habit of simply fouling guys when he gets beat, which happens a lot. Mike is so slow and can't cover anyone off the dribble and can't close out to shooters. I couldn't even give you a legit number of how many times he's gotten beat which has thrown the rest of the defense off.
Here's the bright spot for the defense.. Jackson and Grill. They have not been perfect, but I can see that they're actively engaged with what Prohm is preaching. They both work their butts off on that end of the floor and Grill is rewarded with playing time because of that. Next year with the guys we have coming in and Johnson being able to play, we fill the void of not being able to guard that 3-4 man. I hope Prohm imprints into their minds that if they play defense, they will see playing time.