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Post by collegecoach on Feb 27, 2018 19:25:01 GMT -5
Idiotic comments. You are not going to do better than Matheny. You have asked him to recruit athletes capable of winning in the CAA and in doing so, please come play in a gym that is smaller than most high school gyms. Who could have come in here and done any better in a high school atmosphere. Have you been to College of Charleston's arena, or in their locker room or in their player lounge? There is not one school in the CAA that has had to recruit to a recreational gym.
Elon is a great school. It has a lot to offer. Next year will be the first time that our coaching staffs will be remotely close to being on the same playing field as the rest of the conference.
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Post by robert on Feb 27, 2018 20:12:03 GMT -5
Fire Matt now! Send him back to Davidson or better yet statesville high school. Get him out or I will never see another game. Can not recruit or coach or communicate with fan base.
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Post by Elon2017 on Feb 27, 2018 21:01:39 GMT -5
SoCon 9-23 14-17 15-16 21-12 18-14 CAA 15-18 16-16 18-14 14-17
140-147 (.488)
May I ask “all these fire Matheny guys” what are you realistically expecting?
Tony Shaver 211-250 (.458) Pat Skerry 114-114 (.500) Earl Grant 74-55 (.574) Bill Coen 199-185 (.518) Joe Mihalich 88-75 (.540)
He is right in the pack in my opinion. Yes up to this point Elon has lacked facilities, but I personally think we lack power 5 transfers? Why doesn’t Elon get them? Seems like these other teams always have guys transferring in and transferring out?
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Post by euphoenix99 on Feb 27, 2018 21:58:02 GMT -5
Overall record means nothing. Let's compare CAA records over the past 4 years.
Tony Shaver 44-28 (.611) 4-3 CAA tourney Bill Coen 43-29 (.597) 4-2 CAA tourney Joe Mihalich 43-29 (.597) 3-3 CAA tourney Earl Grant 39-33 (.542) 4-3 CAA tourney Pat Skerry 35-37 (.486) 1-3 CAA tourney Matt Matheny 29-43 (.403) 1-3 CAA tourney
Matt knew what he signed up for. Facilities had nothing to do with taking virtually the same team from 10-8 last year to 6-12 this year. Facilities had nothing to do with early exits in the SoCon tournament with a team that could have and should have contended for the conference tournament title. Northeastern is playing in a 100 year old hockey arena. When you win no one has to use that as an excuse.
I still remember some event where Matt was trying to get the crowd excited and was talking about his goal was multiple NCAA tournament appearances and the Sweet 16. I think he even said Final Four. Obviously that's a bit ambitious and no one expects that level of results, but he didn't caveat it with him being hamstringed by facilities.
He's not getting it done and there is no reason we should blindly give him 2-3 more years at the Schar Center based on zero indication of ability to win at this level. All the Matt fans get to shrug their shoulders and say "Oh well, guess you were right" and the Elon fans (whoever is still around at that point) have to start rebuilding.
As I've said before, if Matt was killing it and Davidson came calling he'd be out the door, so why do we owe him anything?
Go Phoenix!
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Post by Tommy Boy on Feb 27, 2018 22:33:30 GMT -5
In evaluating positives vs negatives. I found Matheny's strongest support may be off the court and his financial benefit to the school not the team's actual on court performance. Mens Basketball is the number #1 fund raising sport/organization for the University Matheny graduates college athletes. Community members (local business, churches and youth programs) not just alumni support Matheny. Matheny basketball camps are sold out. Matheny loyalty to University and community. (He was offered UNCW job before Keatts and probably others) He was a super hot coach after Elon finished second in Southern Conf in 2012. Matheny recruits high character youth and good students. (In listening around the program it has been mentioned all recruits have a minimum 24 ACT when campus suggests 26 ACT for other applying Freshman - uncertain actual fact) Matheny is connected with USA basketball organization, Davidson, and Duke. Matheny does have a couple former players who are playing/played overseas. (Troutman, Isenbarger, Sampson, Eddy, and I'm pretty sure Bryant will also) All his teams have a punchers chance with system in any game with use or over use of three point arch. (Great for an underdog) Offense is actually enjoyable to watch when we make shots. If we don't make shots we can't defend anyone. Our overall athleticism is low and sometimes so is our desire. Which begins my Negatives with the mens basketball program. Haven't been totally excited about Elon's recruiting class since Dawkins, Hairston, and Eddy which were all landed when we were in SC. Troutman, Isenbarger, Koch, and Riley class was the group I couldn't believe came to Elon. I was an Elon fan prior to this but never a believer until this class. Then landed Samson (our highest rated recruit ever) I thought Matheny can recruit. I have changed my opinion. Matheny I thought was attempting to upgrade athletes in the program. I can remember being excited going early to watch warm-ups to see Hairston, Blake, Koch, Troutman, and Eddy slam. (Nice show) Currently I attend only 50 percent of our home games with purchased season tickets. I have went to all conference tournaments since 2010 but may cancel reservations this year in Charleston. This type of athlete hasn't been recruited in recent incoming classes. (maybe Bryant and Thompson but Meech seems slow in my opinion possibly because he can't dribble) We have declined in overall athleticism and our competition from SoCon to CAA has increased. A formula which isn't working. Some things must change especially recruiting for Matheny's other qualities to be rewarded and remain leader of Elon's Mens Basketball Program.
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Post by phoenix15 on Feb 28, 2018 9:30:44 GMT -5
@euphoenix - Could not have said it better. People claiming the facilities aren't good enough doesn't justify falling well below pre-season predictions and regressing. People claiming a move to the CAA is the reason we are struggling doesn't explain how Matheny couldn't get us to a conference tournament final/semi-final. People claiming we is unable to recruit good players does not explain the lack of development of players (e.g., Isenbarger, Koch, Hamilton, Samson, Eddy, Hairston, Blake, Thompson, now Santa Anna never took the "next step"). We tend to bring in a freshman, play them, they play above expectations (although with poor shooting %s) and then continue to play like that for the next three years. He can't develop players. I don't have a problem with his recruiting, everyone wants better recruits but that is not the problem. It's his inability to teach, coach, and make players better. Also I think the rest of his coaching staff is below CAA-level play standards too. Enough is enough. He has coached for NINE friggin years. That's not a samll sample size. By coaching standards thats a pretty big sample size for coaches. He hasn't showed progress. Is he a nice guy? Sure. Is he a good coach? No. Just because someone is nice doesn't mean you shouldn't fire them for not being able to do their job.
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Post by Dougie on Feb 28, 2018 11:53:23 GMT -5
I think it is this simple. If you think Matheny should stay, you have some other agenda. Either you don't really care much about basketball success and are prioritizing fund raising, good guy etc. Or you are personally invested in him for some other reason. From an on the court perspective (which includes results and recruiting), he has failed. Many others have done far more with less and in way less time
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Post by ElonHoops on Feb 28, 2018 13:06:21 GMT -5
If the team makes it to the semi-finals/finals this year, will that change anyone's position on firing Matt? Looking at our seed, we have as good a chance as anyone to make a run over the weekend. I have to imagine the team is going into the tourney with a bit of a chip on their shoulder and wanting to prove something as the 10 seed. I'm one of the more optimistic voices on this board, but I have faith this group can rattle off a few wins in a row.
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Post by Dougie on Feb 28, 2018 14:02:20 GMT -5
It would not change the overall 9 year body of work for me. And I have no faith this team can string together 2 or 3 wins. As harsh as that sounds, I say it with a sincere hope that I am wrong.
As an aside, it seems like something drastic happened the last 6 games. Granted, the team was losing before but were always competitive in spite of the flaws. The team really fell apart more than ever down the stretch. It seemed like the Dawkins injury had them on their heels for a few games and then the lineup change may have messed with any last bit of cohesion. The effort really was not there in the last 2 home games. I went to both and it was visible. And this is from someone who has seen about 40 losses in the last 5 years live and thought the effort was there in mostly all (flawed but gave effort)
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Post by phoenix15 on Feb 28, 2018 14:47:30 GMT -5
Agree with Dougie. 9 years of performance would outweigh a conference tourney semi/finals run in my opinion. Fear is that he would make a small run in the tournament and it would overshadow this season and previous seasons' disappointment.
With that being said, let's freaking win it. I know I have been one of the most outspoken critics of Matheny and this team, but gosh darnit I want this team and school to succeed.
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Post by rollphoenix on Feb 28, 2018 15:44:20 GMT -5
Criticism for Matt is certainly warranted after this recent 7-game skid, but I firmly believe he has earned the chance to try and right the ship next season. I know he and his staff have missed on some recruits, but Elijah Bryant really hurt this program when he left. He would have been a senior this year and I just pulled up his stats - he's averaging 17.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game at BYU who is 22-9. And for those that want to try and blame Matt's coaching for why EB left, just remember EB was named MVP of the team, freshman POY in the conference and was given the green light to launch as soon as he crossed half court - the offense was run through him and he would have set all-time scoring records if he stayed here. I'm not going to judge his decision to go to BYU, it looks like it was the right move for him personally, but the fact is it left us in a major hole on offense and his rebounding would have really helped us as well. This year has ended very poorly, can't argue that. I think Matt will have the boys ready for the Tourney this weekend though. Go Elon! Giving a coach a pass because a player transferred after their freshman year is laughable. Even if that player has turned into a very good player on a good team. Players transfer all the the time and it still does not change the fact that Matheny has done little to nothing to fix his deficiencies (i.e. defense). It's no coincidence that the one season under Matheny where he surpassed the 20 win threshold is the only season where he gave up <70 points per game.
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Post by CAA Hoops on Mar 6, 2018 0:01:31 GMT -5
Does anybody have information on Matheny’s contract situation? Outside of him being locked up I can’t see a valid reason to keep in at the helm of our program.
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Post by elonpride on Mar 6, 2018 8:16:47 GMT -5
How much progress has the program made since originally joining D1?
Granted, we have made 3 conference changes with each better than the last.
Mark Simons (in the D1 era) Conference: Big South Record: 47-66 (.416) Big South Record: 4 seasons average 11.75 wins per year 0 winning seasons
Ernie Nestor Conference: Southern Record: 67-117 (.364) SoCon Record: 39-61 6 Seasons averaged 11.16 wins per year 1 winning season Finished 1st in North Division 2005-06
Matt Matheny Conferences: Southern & CAA Record: 140-147 (.448) SoCon record: 43-45 CAA Record: 29-43 9 Seasons Averages 15.5 wins per year (remove his first season, and this average is 16.38) Finished 1st in the SoCon North Division 2012-13 Elon's only 20 win season in the D1 Era 2012-13 1 post season tournament 3 winning seasons & 1 .500 finish
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Post by Vote for pedo on Mar 6, 2018 9:36:54 GMT -5
Great, his record is like being the tallest midget. The program needs new blood, because the fans lost hope and interest. Do you really think Matt is going to be able to fill the new gym after that finish last season? He had a chance to sell the new gym to recruits this year and the class still sucks.
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Post by whoanellie on Mar 7, 2018 21:45:17 GMT -5
HPU's Scott Cherry canned w/ a plus 500 record
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