Hi, stlcatfan. Thank you for your post.stlcatfan wrote: ↑March 20th, 2024, 9:59 pmIf we are going back to former coaches, I think Coach Huggins deserves a huge amount of credit for pulling our basketball program off the mat, even though he was here for only one year.
Frank Martin was able to use Huggins' recruits (along with some good ones of his own) to continue the success. Still, though, I didn't care for Frank's antics as well the way he operated very close to the line of NCAA rules. I still think if it had not been for Currie being so anal about NCAA compliance, we would have had the NCAA sniffing around our program because of the way Frank did things.
I liked Coach Weber and was happy with him for running a clean program, not to mention the two conference titles and the Elite 8. I was one of those who was in favor of giving Weber one more year when others were demanding him be fired after two straight losing seasons. After the third one, I felt it was time for a change. He did seem to be snake bit with injuries to key players, not to mention the Foster fiasco.
I'm very happy that we hired Coach Tang. Like Weber, he has good values and runs a clean program. Yes, he has made mistakes, but he is still growing himself as a new head coach. I like how he and his staff work to instill good values in the players and truly care for them as future fathers, husbands, and leaders in the community. He has also been snake bit with some issues involving key players, but it is too early to be overly critical of Coach Tang. He has already given us an Elite 8 and back-to-back winning seasons. Let's see what next season brings before we pass too harsh of a judgment on him.
1. Huggins was breaking the rules in order to jumpstart the program and that's the problem I had with him. Martin continued the same. Weber saved us from the FBI sting. You see, this is another area where Weber doesn't get near enough credit. Make no mistake about this. The NCAA would have caught Martin as they did in South Carolina. The NCAA would have hammered Kansas State like they did Oklahoma State. KU? North Carolina? They get a pass.
2. I have no problem with Tang's record for the first two years. As I pointed out, I do have a problem with the bravado and brash statements based upon the crazy faith ideology. There is no need for me to repeat them. I see a danger here as great as Frank's abuse of players.