TJ's transfer portal hit rate
- Thread starter clones_jer
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TJ is an elite recruiter. I think that’s all that needs said.
Brockington and TJ eclipsed Fran McCaffery’s entire career in one season.
Ummm... I know people don't want to admit it but Hunter was the best player in the game against LSU for sure at least. Not sure I would give it to Brockington single-handedly.
You don't get to the sweet 16 if you don't make the tournament. Without Brockington, we don't even sniff a winning season, let alone a tourney berth.
The issue with ranking transfer is that they are all brought in for different reasons.
JFC to saying that TJ isn't a great coach. Every single basketball analyst would disagree with that horrible assessment. Taking a 2-22 team to what will be four consecutive tournaments, including a 2 seed (and there's a good chance we will be a 2 or better again this season) is absolutely elite. I would easily put TJ in the top 10 right now for college basketball coaches. He knows how to relate to the young guys yet his guys respect the hell out of him and will leave everything on the floor, every game, for the guy. His players absolutely love having him as their coach. There may be a few head scratching decisions he's made in game, but not every single coach gets everything perfect every time. Coach K has made plenty of head scratching in game decisions. Roy Williams has made plenty of head scratching in game decisions. Bill Self has made, and still makes, tons of head scratching decisions in games. Coach K, Roy Williams, and Bill Self are considered some of the most elite coaches of our lifetimes. TJ is going to end up easily being the best coach in ISU history if he stays here. Stop saying he isn't great. Him and his wife loves Ames and want to stay here and build a perennial powerhouse. Hiring TJ to coach Iowa State was absolutely the best move that Pollard has ever made, even though so many people doubted the hire at the time.
How about putting the CEO Conrad Hawley on this list. I know he doesn’t contribute on the court but off the court is where he shines. Dudes just an all time teammate and think he deserves a mention even if he’s not what we think about with a transfer
Exactly! Heck, he's a big improvement from the last coach based only on the success of inbound plays. Success rate has to be over 50%, the best we've had since Hoiball.
Jones and Gilbert are better all around players than Gabe/Brockington so they would be my top 2 transfers in the TJ era.
Agreed and:
He IS an X and O's savant.
Either directly by diagraming schemes or indirectly by hiring folks that he knows have effective schemes or most likely - both.
The shut downs taking place at then end of each half aren't coincidental.
Being #3 in the country in Off Efficiency isn't by accident.
There aren't more than 5 programs in the country that have had his level of performance since his arrival at ISU. That does not happen without an elite coach.
Isn't a coach that is GREAT at putting together a roster, GREAT at getting the most out of a roster and GREAT at creating culture a GREAT coach? I'm so confused lol
In any event, he took a program that was 2-22 before his arrival and immediately delivered (literally immediately) two Sweet 16s in his first 3 years, 3 straight NCAA appearances and now a powerhouse program in his 4th season. Just think about how incredible this accomplishment is, almost on par with what Scott Drew did at Baylor but not quite on that level because Baylor was a dead program for so many years before his arrival.
In any event, has there been a better coaching job in the last 4 years? This is a great coach and we should be very thankful if he sticks around Ames for a long time and doesn't get poached by a bigger name university.
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He's not only an elite recruiter but he gets buy in from all his guys. That's a rare combo for any coach.
TJ has the highest winning % of any coach in the history of the program at the moment.
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Even Scott Drew was absolute ass at Baylor his first few years. His 5th year was the first time the team finished above .500 and first time they made the tourney. I get that Baylor was in complete shambles before Drew, but I'd still argue that TJ is on his way to being a better coach for a program than Scott Drew. 86.7% of the scoring in TJ's first year was comprised of all new players. I respect the hell out of Scott Drew, and would put him in that elite category, but TJ is capable of similar success over a much shorter time frame. Drew is a better recruiter, but give TJ time and I'm confident he can pull in a 5 star close to as often as Drew. Only time will tell if Otz ends up being more successful than Drew or not. Either way, it's so damn awesome having TJ at the helm. He's absolutely a "great" coach.
One other thing to add about TJ: there are so many games where the team has fallen behind for the first 30+ minutes of the game, sometimes by double digits, but ends up winning the game. That's not coincidence. That's elite x's and o's decision making by TJ and his staff. The way he has his guys clamp down on defense late in the game and is able to calm down his offense when they start getting silly shows he's an absolutely "great" in game coach. He never hits the panic button or gives up. Not once this season, when we were behind, did I think "whelp, it's over." Because of a guy like TJ I have never thought these guys were going to lose the game. Sure, we were murdering Auburn at halftime, but Auburn is also the best team in the country and there was no way we were going to sustain that kind of success in the second half.
IMO, what Scott Drew did is the most remarkable coaching job in sports history alongside Bill Snyder at K-State. Two programs with absolutely zero tradition, bottom feeders for decades, that became powerhouses within 5 years.
Don't get me wrong, TJ has done a remarkable job but Iowa State was a blue blood traditionally compared to what Baylor was when Drew took over. Orr, Hoiberg, Eustachy, Floyd all had success. Hell, even Prohm had a good season.
Ironically, McDermott was their only dud coach of the last 3+ decades and I only say ironically because he's had success at a worse program after and pretty big success at that.
