A huge mistake for going to Utah. He is not going to have the success there like he did at Utah State. It is interesting when a long time Ute fan said it is pathetic watching a team where half the players are just plain lazy! I don’t feel that our players were lazy when he coached us. I think Smith is way in over his head at Ewetah!

At USU we have got to get a very good shooting guard from the high school ranks from Utah, Idaho, or California.
We need to hit the California high schools hard. Like we did with, Vince Washington, Kevin Nixon, Marcos Saxton, Lance Washington, JC Carroll, Reid Newey, Sam Merrill and many others that you posters could name. Those shooting guards could and did win us many games. We have got to have great guards that can shoot and drive. Oh, and the Mountain Crest great guard that I’ve drawn a mental blank,

Tony Brown?

Can a successful MW coach be successful as a PAC12 coach? How would the CS Aggie teams of the 3 prior seasons done in the PAC12? When people indicate CS is in way over his head and can’t be successful at the PAC12 level, it feels like they believe the PAC12 is significantly superior to the MW. I believe CS can be successful, but he’ll need to get players like Neemi and Sam. The PAC12 teams have a lot more money, but are they really that much greater than MW teams?

Pacobag wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 7:14 am

Tony Brown?

Can a successful MW coach be successful as a PAC12 coach? How would the CS Aggie teams of the 3 prior seasons done in the PAC12? When people indicate CS is in way over his head and can’t be successful at the PAC12 level, it feels like they believe the PAC12 is significantly superior to the MW. I believe CS can be successful, but he’ll need to get players like Neemi and Sam. The PAC12 teams have a lot more money, but are they really that much greater than MW teams?

The answer is no. Maybe the top 1-2 teams in the pac but after that it’s pretty equal.

Pacobag wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 7:14 am

Tony Brown?

Can a successful MW coach be successful as a PAC12 coach? How would the CS Aggie teams of the 3 prior seasons done in the PAC12? When people indicate CS is in way over his head and can’t be successful at the PAC12 level, it feels like they believe the PAC12 is significantly superior to the MW. I believe CS can be successful, but he’ll need to get players like Neemi and Sam. The PAC12 teams have a lot more money, but are they really that much greater than MW teams?

Pac12 is pretty on par with the MW.
Problem is that Craig ain’t getting Sam or Neemi style players for Utah and he wouldn’t have for us either had he stayed. He would have regressed to his mean because his recruiting is very substandard.

Sl7vk wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 7:23 am

Pacobag wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 7:14 am

Tony Brown?

Can a successful MW coach be successful as a PAC12 coach? How would the CS Aggie teams of the 3 prior seasons done in the PAC12? When people indicate CS is in way over his head and can’t be successful at the PAC12 level, it feels like they believe the PAC12 is significantly superior to the MW. I believe CS can be successful, but he’ll need to get players like Neemi and Sam. The PAC12 teams have a lot more money, but are they really that much greater than MW teams?

Pac12 is pretty on par with the MW.
Problem is that Craig ain’t getting Sam or Neemi style players for Utah and he wouldn’t have for us either had he stayed. He would have regressed to his mean because his recruiting is very substandard.

I don’t know he did well when he was in South Dakota. Those teams had some great players especially at that level.

CS knew he'd caught lightning in a bottle after winning the MWC Championship in his first season and knew it would parlay into his next job. I highly doubt he was worried about recruiting. At that point he had Neemi for two more years and Sam for one more and the focus was having one more good year to pad his resume.

This is the problem with coaches who see us only has a steppingstone. They aren't recruiting a player they think can be a contributor in three years because they aren't going to be around anyway. Their recruiting efforts are stop gaps for next year or the year after at best and that's it.

At this point Utah needs to bring in warm bodies. They lose over half their top scorers, and when I looked at the PAC-12 basketball recruits on 247 Utah wasn’t one of the 11 teams listed. Basketball coaches usually last a little longer than football coaches. Teams are a lot more patient. I would be concerned if I was a Ute basketball fan, he gets a pass on this season. However, if recruiting follows the same pattern as the teams performance in the PAC-12 he may last less time at Utah than he did I at Utah State. He’s had a really bad first year so far.

he's making a ton of money and if he gets fired he will make similar money in his next job that he made at USU.

There are some really bad takes on this thread. I hope Craig Smith does not do well in Utah and so far that is the case. That said, Smith has won everywhere he has gone. It's only his first year and he is a good coach.. You can't judge him now... and yes I hope he does regrets it.

He is going to have a major problem getting pac12 caliber players to play at Utah. Once BYU goes to the pac12 Utah will never get a coveted recruit from Utah ever again. Why on earth would you chose to go to Utah and play in front of 5,500 fans w no student section in a dead arena and lose over 12,000 fans and a loud student section at BYU plus play against Baylor, Kansas, and Texas Tech. I honestly don’t see why a recruit would chose to go to Utah even over Utah State especially if Gonzaga joins the MW considering our attendance has been better than theirs and the Hurd is in full force. That’s not the biased opinion of a Utah State fan those r the facts. Funny fact: Utah sells out their center plus some regularly for Gymnastics, and gets 1/3 of the attendance for basketball

bpd wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 9:48 am

There are some really bad takes on this thread. I hope Craig Smith does not do well in Utah and so far that is the case. That said, Smith has won everywhere he has gone. It's only his first year and he is a good coach.. You can't judge him now... and yes I hope he does regrets it.

Agreed.

I don’t think Craig will get a job like Utah State if he fails miserably at Utah, and things aren’t looking good for him. I can see he’s been out recruited by San Diego State, Fresno, and UNLV and every PAC-12 team. I also see there are 5 seniors on the roster that account for the 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8th leading scorers on the team. They are also the 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8th in minutes.

USU has some recruiting issues for 2022 as well, but Falslev flipping from the Utes to the Aggies gives USU the advantage. Bean, Horvath, Miller, and Eytle-Rock are all Seniors. USU needs some incoming talent with at least three open roster spots. However, USU hasn’t ever had a coaching staff that was bringing in four star recruits every year like Utah had with Crisco.

I though Craig could win at Utah, but I’m starting to rethink my position. I’m not sure his recruiting at USU was good enough, and it has not improved with a move to a P5 conference. From my perspective it makes poaching a coach from USU less attractive, so it’s good for the Aggies. He also lost a recruit to USU, which hurts when you have have one commit and five open roster spots.

maybe he'll get his old old job back eventually?

aggieborn wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 11:33 am

He is going to have a major problem getting pac12 caliber players to play at Utah. Once BYU goes to the pac12 Utah will never get a coveted recruit from Utah ever again. Why on earth would you chose to go to Utah and play in front of 5,500 fans w no student section in a dead arena and lose over 12,000 fans and a loud student section at BYU plus play against Baylor, Kansas, and Texas Tech. I honestly don’t see why a recruit would chose to go to Utah even over Utah State especially if Gonzaga joins the MW considering our attendance has been better than theirs and the Hurd is in full force. That’s not the biased opinion of a Utah State fan those r the facts. Funny fact: Utah sells out their center plus some regularly for Gymnastics, and gets 1/3 of the attendance for basketball

That is true.. When Collin Chandler signed with BYU a lot of Utah fans started to cry over it being about some NIL deals under the table (and I’m definitely not doubting that could’ve been true), but the reality is that Utah did them no favors by looking like an attractive spot. No big time recruit is going to want to play in an empty gym with no strong fan base. It’s just so wild to me to see a school with such a strong fan base for football be so completely dead for basketball.

ViAggie wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 12:08 pm

maybe he'll get his old old job back eventually?

I don’t think the ‘Yotes are going to be bad enough to fire their coach or good enough to have their guy poached. My guess is 12-8 (5-4) is the Summit League version of Leon Rice.

I would imagine Craig Smith's bank account would argue that he didn't make a big mistake.

Trent Johnson..Nevada to Stanford, to LSU and to TCU. Varying degrees of success but one constant..He got rich

Mark Fox..NV to Georgia, to Cal..Varying degrees of on court success but excellent bank account success.

Eric Mussleman..Nevada to Arkansas..Varying degrees of success..Really nice flow of the dollars coming in.

This is how these guys make their living..Smith saw a chance to cash in and took it..

nvspuds wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 12:53 pm

Trent Johnson..Nevada to Stanford, to LSU and to TCU. Varying degrees of success but one constant..He got rich

Mark Fox..NV to Georgia, to Cal..Varying degrees of on court success but excellent bank account success.

Eric Mussleman..Nevada to Arkansas..Varying degrees of success..Really nice flow of the dollars coming in.

This is how these guys make their living..Smith saw a chance to cash in and took it..

Eric musselman is an elite recruiter both with high school kids and the portal. That is what separates him from fox, johnson or craig smith. Had utah hired him from nevada utah would already be "back." Utah blew it with hiring smith. You have to study who you are hiring and know what level of players they are capable of bringing in. Utah should have known smith was not capable of recruiting in the pac 12. Not that I mind. Im always happy when utah loses.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 1:15 pm

nvspuds wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 12:53 pm

Trent Johnson..Nevada to Stanford, to LSU and to TCU. Varying degrees of success but one constant..He got rich

Mark Fox..NV to Georgia, to Cal..Varying degrees of on court success but excellent bank account success.

Eric Mussleman..Nevada to Arkansas..Varying degrees of success..Really nice flow of the dollars coming in.

This is how these guys make their living..Smith saw a chance to cash in and took it..

Eric musselman is an elite recruiter both with high school kids and the portal. That is what separates him from fox, johnson or craig smith. Had utah hired him from nevada utah would already be "back." Utah blew it with hiring smith. You have to study who you are hiring and know what level of players they are capable of bringing in. Utah should have known smith was not capable of recruiting in the pac 12. Not that I mind. Im always happy when utah loses.

It was very clear the U didn’t do any homework whatsoever. They went after a couple alumni in the NBA, botched that, then grabbed Smith without hardly looking into things. Gotta do your due diligence. But it’s cool, I don’t know that smith would’ve had good success this year at USU either. Hard to tell at this point.

Where can I sign up for that kind of mistake?

I’m the best exec at a mid sized manufacturing plant. Just got offered money to go the the competitor in a large plant for millions more.

Failure at the next job is not a concern of mine. I’m gone.


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ViAggie wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 12:08 pm

maybe he'll get his old old job back eventually?

Dakota?

WAAggie wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 2:05 pm

I’m the best exec at a mid sized manufacturing plant. Just got offered money to go the the competitor in a large plant for millions more.

Failure at the next job is not a concern of mine. I’m gone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if this is legit or you’re just trying to prove a point, but congrats if it’s legit!

analogy. I've got just over 3 more years of work and I'm happy to stay where I am at and the security of my job.

CS has bank now and if he fails, he can choose what to do. Keep coaching at some level if it's in him to develop kids and programs, or drive around in his razor and enjoy family/wife outings as he pleases

Watching local (SLC) news this week and Utah B B came up. Seems that Coach Smith has a Freshman that has been player of the week 2 times in the PAC12. It's a start, and I'm sure we'll see more as he and his staff are brilliant recruiters. The Utes were pretty average last year, and many of their fans are delusional.

Our new coaching staff should get a recruiting mulligan, for this season anyway. I believe Hartwell made another good hire, yet the herd was pretty thin going into this year. No big man, and the imported bigs have under performed. Miller is nursing a sore back, plus we have a new system that may take the team some time to adjust to.

Get over it Aggie brothers and sister. I personally feel that he would have made a bigger mistake not taking the money or the opportunity to coach in the PAC 12. He got better resources, conference, facilities and he'll win over the media and fan support. Sports media is joke anyway.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but he inherited one of the best players to come out of Utah in Sam Merrill. Who doesn't win with that guy? He put good players around Sam to support his skill set, including Queta. I feel like Sam and Queta got better because of Smith's coaching. The guy will figure it out. He'll get the players to come.

And.........so will Odom.

IBleedAggieBlue wrote: ↑

January 28th, 2022, 4:45 pm

Get over it Aggie brothers and sister. I personally feel that he would have made a bigger mistake not taking the money or the opportunity to coach in the PAC 12. He got better resources, conference, facilities and he'll win over the media and fan support. Sports media is joke anyway.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but he inherited one of the best players to come out of Utah in Sam Merrill. Who doesn't win with that guy? He put good players around Sam to support his skill set, including Queta. I feel like Sam and Queta got better because of Smith's coaching. The guy will figure it out. He'll get the players to come.

And.........so will Odom.

Ill never get over utah being terrible. It will always be something I enjoy. As for who didnt win with sam merrill? He had a losing record as a player with duryea as his coach. And smith hasnt shown he can get players to come. He has gotten destroyed on the recruiting trail. If he doesnt turn around his recruiting woes, he will be out at utah as quickly as boylen was.

IBleedAggieBlue wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but he inherited one of the best players to come out of Utah in Sam Merrill. Who doesn't win with that guy?

Tim Duryea? Smith definitely inherited some talent but he coached that team up. His recruiting has been less than impressive though. No doubt he made the right decision. Had he regressed at Utah State he would have been on the hot seat and eventually fired. As a coach you always take the money.

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The Freshman (Stefanovich) with 2 freshman of the week awards was recruited by Krysco, not Smith or his staff.