Steve Prohm returns as head coach at Murray State
- Thread starter Trice
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the valley is a one bid league.
those other leagues are multi-bid leagues.
I know last year was an anomaly with drake getting an at large but 90% of the time the MV is a one bid league
Losing Wichita state had a big impact on their at large profile at the time
Prohm was a nice guy, did it the right way and his program, himself and his players represented ISU well. But his record speaks for itself. For whatever reasons he failed at the P5 level. Leo D said "nice guys finish last" which in the real world means the only thing that matters is winning. Steve didn't win at this level and did at the MId-Major level. We will see how this works out. For reference: How's Fred doing?
I was posting in another thread that since DePaul seems to just perpetually not break through there is definitely a huge opportunity for a mid major program in Chicago whether it's Loyola or somebody else.
I think UIC has always been a bit of a high potential sleeper program not that different than how NIU has always seemed to win very easily in MAC football.
It's not like they even need to sign the second or third tier kids in the city. When I lived in Chicago I would marvel at some of the local hs talent both mens and womens. Credit Prohm for pulling THT out of that talent pool.
I am so thankful that he’s a bad coach but not bad enough to fire.
I completely agree with you. Chiz is the one guy I was actually glad left us as the 2 years he was here I felt his teams showed no discipline on the field like they were poorly coached. You saw what CPR did with his talent in year 1 both on the field and the change in culture which was proof Chiz was just not that good of a head coach. I never felt that he genuinely wanted to be here and leaving for Auburn without hesitation just proved that.
Nearly every coach besides him that Pollard has hired I felt wanted to stay at ISU and succeed and that includes Fred to some extent too. I have no doubt TJ is here for the long haul as long as he keeps building this and sustains success. I feel that Campbell would have left by now if he didn't want to see this through as he's had plenty of opportunities to go. CPR, McDermott, and Prohm all guys who I felt that would not use ISU as a stepping stone to a bigger job if they had success here and genuinely wanted to be here too.
I'm not a fan of the binary "success" or "failure" choice, because it's such a moving target based on a school's history or the situation a coach walks into - like cleaning up a dumpster fire like Fran did, or inheriting a winner like Prohm did. And if you're a "success" for 10, 15, 20 years and then start losing or bring down huge NCAA sanctions on your program and leave on bad terms, were you a "failure?"
But for all the deserved ridicule he gets, I think you'd have to consider Fran mostly successful. Rebuilt a moribund program, recruits well enough (especially in Iowa), wins enough games, gets to the NCAA tournament fairly regularly, seems to have the program on solid footing. His public persona isn't that likeable but bullying the media is par for the course at the U of I...he seems to be better liked internally than externally.
But here's where the moving target comes in. By Iowa standards of the 2000s, Fran is a smashing success. But he's also now a victim of his own success because their standards have changed, and by those standards he's underachieving.
Iowa is a badly mismanaged athletic department that has enough money to buy its way out of its mistakes, and if Fran can't take them to the next level sometime soon they may have to buy him out, if only to keep interest in the program from waning.
Caring about a good human being is bad?
Even with adding Murray and Belmont most years the Valley will be a one bid league. The bottom half of the league really drags the numbers down and with the emergence of all the extra holiday tournaments teams aren't looking for quality games against Valley type conferences anymore.
WCC can easily become a one bid year too if St Mary's has a down year. BYU has been their 2nd or 3rd best on average this decade they have been playing there. That's a really big loss.
Agree it's stronger than current MVC, but after losing BYU the gap won't be huge. It's not a deep conference at all.
Picking Gonzaga to lose to Arkansas wasn't that difficult. They get treated with the all the same hype and worship as Duke but play a schedule that is much more like Northern Iowa's.
The B12 is loaded with hall of Fame coaches. It's not an understatement to say 90% of college coaches are worse at X's and O's than your average B12 coach. Prohm won't be at as much of a disadvantage in the valley.
Good explanation. Someone that just came to mind as a decent comparison is maybe he's Iowa's version of Dan McCarney but without the likable personality of Dan. Took over a mess, built it up to have some success then just plateaued and can't take it to the level fans have expectations for now. That sounds like Dan to a T as we had those 2 years we peaked and could not win the last game to get to win the Big 12 North. Fran took over a mess from Lickliter that took time to build back and then has flirted with success but never won the big games to take it to the level fans want to see it at.
Good for him. Great guy. I don’t get the hate. It’s not like he was a jerk here- it just didn’t wind up working. Either recruited guys who left early to go pro or swung and missed. No in between. Couldn’t recover from losing Tyrese and THT. Just my opinion
I just wasn't ever convinced Prohm was as nice a guy as everyone keeps saying. He seemed extremely inconsistent in his "teaching character" and Yada Yada.
TJ says someone doesn't fit in with what his program wants to stand for, and he means it. Prohm's answers were vague and his actions didn't match.
I understand by this time he was desperate and under the gun, but it made me sick to my stomach the time he left Haliburton playing with one arm. And at the press conference after the game he said he didn't think it was the right choice, but Haliburton WANTED to stay in. Haliburton was only 19 years old, he could have done damage to his arm that affected his future. I lost a lot of respect.
My money says he can't build a program.
TJ says someone doesn't fit in with what his program wants to stand for, and he means it. Prohm's answers were vague and his actions didn't match.
I understand by this time he was desperate and under the gun, but it made me sick to my stomach the time he left Haliburton playing with one arm. And at the press conference after the game he said he didn't think it was the right choice, but Haliburton WANTED to stay in. Haliburton was only 19 years old, he could have done damage to his arm that affected his future. I lost a lot of respect.
My money says he can't build a program.
This is such a wild take. Gonzaga has been in the tournament every year since 1999. 12 Sweet 16s. 5 Elite 8s. 2 Final Fours. 2 Championship games. They get one and done talent now. They get multi year starter P6 talent. They get some of the top transfers now. They were like the premier mid major school up until 2015 when they rose up and have been one of the best teams in the country since.
I would trade our last 20 years for theirs in a heartbeat. And so would just about every team in the country except the blue bloods and even then I bet some would, like Indiana.
