UNM's new coach

[kansasCowboy]

Any thoughts on Craig "Noodles" Neal?

 

[BeaverPoke]

Any thoughts on Craig "Noodles" Neal?

I think he might be the engine behind Alfords success and or he is a tool also.

 

[ProudWYOAlum]

I think he keeps stability in the program. Snell & Kirk were both at his presses today, good sign they are staying.

They've already built a solid program, just have to keep it moving forward!

 

[kansasCowboy]

I don't know. He's not a proven Head coach. So we don't know what to expect.
Honestly, it kind of reminds me of Utah's Ray Giacoletti (Spelling) hire. He took over a fully loaded Rick Majerus team and had a great first season. His flaw, he couldn't recruit. No one wanted to play for a coach they didn't know and Utah fell apart the rest of his career and has NEVER recovered.
I think Neal has great talent coming back. Enough to give him a great first season. But, who knows how he recruits and if he can replace his star players? Maybe we see a UNM do a Utah scenario?

 

[NowherePoke]

I don't know. He's not a proven Head coach. So we don't know what to expect.
Honestly, it kind of reminds me of Utah's Ray Giacoletti (Spelling) hire. He took over a fully loaded Rick Majerus team and had a great first season. His flaw, he couldn't recruit. No one wanted to play for a coach they didn't know and Utah fell apart the rest of his career and has NEVER recovered.
I think Neal has great talent coming back. Enough to give him a great first season. But, who knows how he recruits and if he can replace his star players? Maybe we see a UNM do a Utah scenario?

Very different situation from Giacoletti though. Remember Giac was an outsider, hired from Eastern Washington. Neal has been integral to the building of this program from the very beginning.

Wishful thinking to think they would pull a Utah. I kind of wished they had gone outside like Utah did, but by keeping Noodles they are in good shape. They will keep their core roster together it appears (at this point it looks like Snell might even stay) and I don't see them slowing down in recruiting.

I just wish they would either lose some conference games or win some NCAA tournament games. It sure makes the rest of us look bad when they kick the crap out of us and then lose to Harvard. Alternatively, we could build our own program up to that level, but that doesn't appear to be our current path.

 

[BeaverPoke]

Alternatively, we could build our own program up to that level, but that doesn't appear to be our current path.

Seriously? Here we go....
I guess after year 2 of Shyatt being back we have seen everything we are gonna see and know exactly what Shyatt is aiming for...forgetting the fact that all the talent left when Shyatt got here...but no that doesn't matter.
And because CSU did well with their upperclassmen teams means we ahve no drive and ambition to succeed.

I'm so tired of hearing people bitch and moan and play woe is me with this team. YEAR 2! That is what we just finished....Give it some time!
two 20 win seasons isn't enough to make you think things are changing after having two 10 win seasons?

What would make it appear to you that we are trying to build up to that level? Would we have to win the National Championship back to back in Shyatts first two years back? 25 win seasons?

Shyatt and company are finishing up their 3rd recruiting class, and 1 of them we had to scramble to find people. Give. It. Some. Time!

 

[NowherePoke]

Alternatively, we could build our own program up to that level, but that doesn't appear to be our current path.

Seriously? Here we go....
I guess after year 2 of Shyatt being back we have seen everything we are gonna see and know exactly what Shyatt is aiming for...forgetting the fact that all the talent left when Shyatt got here...but no that doesn't matter.
And because CSU did well with their upperclassmen teams means we ahve no drive and ambition to succeed.

I'm so tired of hearing people bitch and moan and play woe is me with this team. YEAR 2! That is what we just finished....Give it some time!
two 20 win seasons isn't enough to make you think things are changing after having two 10 win seasons?

What would make it appear to you that we are trying to build up to that level? Would we have to win the National Championship back to back in Shyatts first two years back? 25 win seasons?

Shyatt and company are finishing up their 3rd recruiting class, and 1 of them we had to scramble to find people. Give. It. Some. Time!

Shyatt has only been here two years, the degradation of our program has been going on for well over a decade.

Go watch a game in the AA and then go watch a game in the new Pit and tell me which program is committed to winning on a big stage. They put $60 million into upgrading the arena and they put 15k fans in the stands every night. The AA has barely been touched in 30 years and we average less than 1/2 capacity.

We have a very difficult time scheduling, partially because it's difficult to get teams to come to Laramie, but also because we can't afford to pay decent teams to come to Laramie (see Shyatt's recent comments about the cost of games).

There are a lot of reasons for the lack of attendance and revenue, but not least is the simple fact that we have been losing for so long and a significant reason for that losing (particularly the really embarrassing rock-bottom 10-21 seasons with home losses to Hampton and North Florida) was a basketball hire made on the cheap and a classic case of cronyism. Yet, Tom Burman is still in charge.

My conclusion is that as an overall entity we are simply not interested in trying to compete at that level. If we were, we would look for other solutions to lead our athletic department.

 

[NowherePoke]

Some further notes:

1. CSU was fortunate, they have no drive to succeed in Men's BB either. Moby sucks and we still outdrew them even though they just had arguably the best season in their history. I do think Eustachy is a good hire, but CSU will spend far more time in the bottom half of the league than in the top half IMO (just as they have for the majority of their tenure in the MWC).

2. I am disappointed in our performance this season, but I am more disappointed because I didn't see the level of play from the younger players (minus Larry Nance, who was terrific when healthy) that give me hope for the future.

3. I do think Shyatt is a good coach, but I don't honestly feel that we will be competing in the top 1/2 of the league in the near future. My expectations for UW programs are simply that we maintain around a .500 record in conference play over a 4 year period. I think that is reasonable. Neither revenue program is approaching that threshold.

 

[BeaverPoke]

Alternatively, we could build our own program up to that level, but that doesn't appear to be our current path.

Seriously? Here we go....
I guess after year 2 of Shyatt being back we have seen everything we are gonna see and know exactly what Shyatt is aiming for...forgetting the fact that all the talent left when Shyatt got here...but no that doesn't matter.
And because CSU did well with their upperclassmen teams means we ahve no drive and ambition to succeed.

I'm so tired of hearing people bitch and moan and play woe is me with this team. YEAR 2! That is what we just finished....Give it some time!
two 20 win seasons isn't enough to make you think things are changing after having two 10 win seasons?

What would make it appear to you that we are trying to build up to that level? Would we have to win the National Championship back to back in Shyatts first two years back? 25 win seasons?

Shyatt and company are finishing up their 3rd recruiting class, and 1 of them we had to scramble to find people. Give. It. Some. Time!

Shyatt has only been here two years, the degradation of our program has been going on for well over a decade.

Go watch a game in the AA and then go watch a game in the new Pit and tell me which program is committed to winning on a big stage. They put $60 million into upgrading the arena and they put 15k fans in the stands every night. The AA has barely been touched in 30 years and we average less than 1/2 capacity.

We have a very difficult time scheduling, partially because it's difficult to get teams to come to Laramie, but also because we can't afford to pay decent teams to come to Laramie (see Shyatt's recent comments about the cost of games).

There are a lot of reasons for the lack of attendance and revenue, but not least is the simple fact that we have been losing for so long and a significant reason for that losing (particularly the really embarrassing rock-bottom 10-21 seasons with home losses to Hampton and North Florida) was a basketball hire made on the cheap and a classic case of cronyism. Yet, Tom Burman is still in charge.

My conclusion is that as an overall entity we are simply not interested in trying to compete at that level. If we were, we would look for other solutions to lead our athletic department.

2 things. We are about to re-do the AA. That shouldn't be news to you, the info is out there. And the AA when it is done is gonna look just as nice as any MWC arena and even some NBA arenas. The outside glass wall. The press boxes.
And second..we are getting a new president who might decide to fire Burman. But if not...then well we are stuck with him for a while. But that doesn't mean that the team we have can't compete and we are not trying to get better.

 

[NowherePoke]

Alternatively, we could build our own program up to that level, but that doesn't appear to be our current path.

Seriously? Here we go....
I guess after year 2 of Shyatt being back we have seen everything we are gonna see and know exactly what Shyatt is aiming for...forgetting the fact that all the talent left when Shyatt got here...but no that doesn't matter.
And because CSU did well with their upperclassmen teams means we ahve no drive and ambition to succeed.

I'm so tired of hearing people bitch and moan and play woe is me with this team. YEAR 2! That is what we just finished....Give it some time!
two 20 win seasons isn't enough to make you think things are changing after having two 10 win seasons?

What would make it appear to you that we are trying to build up to that level? Would we have to win the National Championship back to back in Shyatts first two years back? 25 win seasons?

Shyatt and company are finishing up their 3rd recruiting class, and 1 of them we had to scramble to find people. Give. It. Some. Time!

Shyatt has only been here two years, the degradation of our program has been going on for well over a decade.

Go watch a game in the AA and then go watch a game in the new Pit and tell me which program is committed to winning on a big stage. They put $60 million into upgrading the arena and they put 15k fans in the stands every night. The AA has barely been touched in 30 years and we average less than 1/2 capacity.

We have a very difficult time scheduling, partially because it's difficult to get teams to come to Laramie, but also because we can't afford to pay decent teams to come to Laramie (see Shyatt's recent comments about the cost of games).

There are a lot of reasons for the lack of attendance and revenue, but not least is the simple fact that we have been losing for so long and a significant reason for that losing (particularly the really embarrassing rock-bottom 10-21 seasons with home losses to Hampton and North Florida) was a basketball hire made on the cheap and a classic case of cronyism. Yet, Tom Burman is still in charge.

My conclusion is that as an overall entity we are simply not interested in trying to compete at that level. If we were, we would look for other solutions to lead our athletic department.

2 things. We are about to re-do the AA. That shouldn't be news to you, the info is out there. And the AA when it is done is gonna look just as nice as any MWC arena and even some NBA arenas. The outside glass wall. The press boxes.
And second..we are getting a new president who might decide to fire Burman. But if not...then well we are stuck with him for a while. But that doesn't mean that the team we have can't compete and we are not trying to get better.

I know about the plans to re-do the AA. IMHO, the plans are fairly small time (Phase 1 will be in the 6-9 million range and just include club seats, scoreboards, and a few other minor improvements) and to the best of my knowledge are not yet funded. The state has authorized matching funds, but the private donations have not yet been fully raised.

There are some Phase 2 plans which are much larger (I have read in the $20 million range, which include a host of upgrades including exterior, concourses, etc.), but I don't believe there is anything concrete or any realistic timeline for those upgrades.

I do think the Phase 1 upgrades are important because as I understand it they will provide the opportunity for removable sections, allowing the arena to be more productive as a practice space for both Men's and Women's teams and I am sure the coaches appreciate that aspect. I don't see anything that is going to make it comparable to the top arenas in the MWC (Pit, T&M, Viejas) however, much less the NBA.