What should (now) seated Virginia Tech Athletic Director do about coach James Johnson, specifically?
Fire him?
One could make the argument that he (Bab’s) should terminate coach J’s tenure; and pronto.
Or should he (Whit) stand pat and do nothing?
Let this contractual trifecta of fiscal hurt play itself out, first. Then wipe the burnt-orange and Chicago-maroon hooping sheet clean? Keep reading, and you will see what I mean…
Well, what can he afford to do may be the more salient conversation and that’s the bottom line! Don’t believe me? Check it out… (see the pun?)….
Seth Greenberg 2014-2015 Virginia Tech head coaching salary=$300,000.oo
James Johnson 2014-2015 Virginia Tech head coaching salary=$680,000.oo
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According to my McBryde Hall Calc’ and stats: that amounts to =$980,000.oo
Or right at a million dollars to pay two Virgina Tech men’s basketball (former) head coaches NOT to coach.
Now mix in a third and coach; and we all hope it to be a sexxy or splashy hire, so let’s just use the even number of at least another cool million dollars.
Now riddle me this…………what kind of A.D. is actually gonna pay three different head coaches $2,000,000.oo (or better) to only have one of them coach???
On the other hand, can Babcock afford not to???
Because after all, when you hit rock bottom, is it actually a salient idea to start digging?
Why not rip the band-aid or yank the tooth?
Get it over with.
Move on.
***
Though that is a very expensive move; is it not? And either way; A.D. W.Babcock sure inherited -though no fault of his own- a pickle of an opening salvo of a major league general manager decision.
So what would you do???
Loading ...Jim Weaver=2 Whit Babcock=???
“LETS GO!”
“Hokies!”
bourbonstreet**
I think you actually give the man a chance to coach and see what he can do. He lost all the best players. Two guys didn’t qualify. Several transferred. He’s still coaching Greenberg’s guys mostly. NOONE could have won this year with the situation he came into. He has three guys committed for next year along with the PG from Germany who appears will now qualify and enroll. Give the man a chance.
J’s had been dealt a very thin deck.
No doubt.
And yah; that may not be the best tell of what J’s is (or is not).
b.street
Until the last two games (not exactly a big field of data), JJ’s boys haven’t even been COMPETITIVE in ACC play. Not to mention he was gift-wrapped his first head coaching job in the premier NCAA league. In a world of “what have you done for me lately”, JJ hasn’t shown enough to merit being retained.
I think you have to give one more year. I know that make JJ a lameduck coach but I think it seems fair. Hes learning on the job frankly and people can say what they want about that not being appropriate for the ACC but it is what it is. The team has not quit on him, he changed style based on roster limits recently (good coaching move) and Wilson, JVZ, Thompson, Emelgou have all improved. Eddie is not a 1 or even a 2 option but more like a 3-4. He is ADV without Deron, Delayney etc.. Raines is done except when really finds a matchup, CJ is coming back and helps and he has had lots of hurts. Three decent players coming next year and I think this years Frosh will be much better after an offseason. If next year he does not win 6 games in the ACC then time to make a change. Also gets you another year down the salary highway so you can really pay someone good.
While I agree it makes less financial sense to pay three coaches, I would rather money not be the driving factor here. Make an assessment of his coaching abilities at the rate he’s paid against what you want the basketball program to be.
As you mention here, firing JJ and hiring a new coach will be a financial negative. Just as much a negative would be the coach trying to get his players in house with his system, upsetting/letting current players leave to demolish depth (the same issue JJ had last season that he’s been fighting to correct), and another potential 2-3 years of wondering if the replacement can recover from the SG & JJ firing.
Stay the course, but not because of money. Get a topnotch assitant to complement JJ in the offseason. Let the team he is building develop further. All the coaches mentioned in the recent bball article didn’t have nearly as bad a situation to take over, nor did they all of sudden in 1 year take a team to the final four.
If Whit wants to make a good hire, bstreet, it’s going to take at least $2 million. So if he did it now, it would mean paying 3 guys $3 million next year. That’s a lotta cheese.
So J’s + Seth actually = two coaches on the cheap???
b.street
The problem with keeping him for next year is we would be in the same boat UVA is with London in football. What recruits we can get a foothold on they will be recruited away with “they’re going to fire their coach” so the coach that recruited you won’t be there after you sign. The odds of going from dead last in the ACC to a respectable enough upsurge to keep your job is very, very slim in the league with Louisville coming into the mix making it even more top heavy.
To me waiting another year just digs the whole deeper that the next coach has to dig out of. We’re not competing for talent that other ACC schools is even pursuiting, we’re back to the Ricky days where we are competing with mid majors and non BCS schools for our recruits in upcoming classes.
Yes.
Good point.
And we need not hand out any more negative recruiting ammo.
b.street
We’d be on the hook for ALL of JJ’s 680k annual salary as a buyout rather than a percentage? Blech.
The man does not know how to coach defense. Will Johnston is too slow to guard his shadow, can’t shoot on the move. Eddie has been a no show on both ends of the court, bench him. Let’s bite the bullet and fire JJ. Can’t afford anymore OJT for coaches.
Lighten Up Francis…who do you put in besides who we got…JJ recruited well with the time he had…I like our young players…
Well, I’d rather just ask………where is the Trapping tempo-forcing defense
that he (coach J’s) talked so effusively about for openers 1.75 seasons ago?
b.street
Can’t do it due to injuries, 1 guy that is ineligible and 1 that was denied admission
You start 3 true freshmen, 1 soph and have only ” roll players ” and walk-ons to sub. Two others are injured. JJ is a good person and has 3 decent recruits coming plus the point guard from Germany. Tech is a tough sell right now. We need stability. I support 2 more years for JJ unless next year is a total disaster. Plus he is in the running for some top recruits for 2015.
Thin deck, little to work with, sure but some of that was created by js, imo. He hasn’t shown any real game day coaching upside and only a little recruiting horsepower. People say he made a change to adapt to the manpower he had – what took him so long and what good has it done. We don’t lose by 20 now.
Hire a new coach. Structure the deal so he gets good pay next year and a lot more when Seth and J’s get off the payroll. It puts another hurdle into getting a really good coach here but the cost not to try is huge and there should be some creative way to get it done.
Yah; I can count the in-game adjustments (by J’s) that really wowed me
on one hand. (4) to be exact.
b-st.
Bstreet – the trapping defense you referenced went by the wayside when 1) the ncaa changed the hand checking rule and 2) we got thin at guard and particularly point guard. Doing what JJ said he wanted to do would have ended up with our guys being on the bench with foul trouble and then we’d be playing 2 walk ons. That wouldn’t be fair to either the team or those walk ons. My guess is you will see that style next year and with the recruits coming in all being rather long armed rangy guys. Bench will be deeper as well so foul trouble wont be as big an issue.
Is there no middle ground? No compromise? No third or fourth possible courses of action? Is there a way to help JJ be successful next year? Is it all on JJ to sink or swim? I really thought the idea of creating a brand or team identity around the 2-3 zone or zone defense was great. Could Whit help JJ find an awesome zone defense assistant? How about going after the very best assistant available to coach up JVZ and TT on holding onto the ball and finishing in the paint? Those two show so much ‘want to’ and heart I believe they’d jump at the chance and put in the effort to make it work. A little killer instinct and points from the paint during those long dry spells when it seems no one on the team can score would go a long way on a team that could control tempo and play good defense.
If the ad is picking assistant coaches for the head coach, you should just fire the head coach.
He deserves a real shot. So far, he hasn’t had one. The Curse has truly impacted his teams’ potential. However, I’ve seen great progress and growth from our young players with the exception of Wood this year. I’ve seen our older players (Eddie and Raines) exposed without a dominating front man.
JJ has recruited some excellent players for this team, and they need to grow in the roles. He wants to play another style, but right now, he’s adopted the styles of his previous bosses- Larranaga, DeChellis, and Greenberg out of necessity.