bpd wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 8:47 am

In coaching circles, Craig Smith is a really good coach. I agree. While on a different thread, a lot of fans drool over getting Will Wade (not going to happen), Smith beat Wade on a neutral with a walk on point. Craig's problem is his recruiting. Utah is in a better spot than when Craig took over, but I think he thought he could get fans. He can't. For whatever reason, he and his staff cannot get recruits.

On another note, I do not want to play CU in the tournament. They have been injured all year and now they are healthy and they look good.

LarryTheAggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 9:18 am

I am telling you all. Smith is an Aggie through and through. He hate utah as much as the rest of us. I would take 12 million dollars to keep Utah irrelevant in basketball too.

aggies22 wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 11:29 am

LarryTheAggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 9:18 am

I am telling you all. Smith is an Aggie through and through. He hate utah as much as the rest of us. I would take 12 million dollars to keep Utah irrelevant in basketball too.

I don't think any coaches are Aggies through and through unless they originally played here (Matt Wells) and even he bailed for a payday. Coaches are hired to be fired or do well and leave us behind. This has been said so many times about Gary Andersen and now he coaches where??? And he's left the program THREE times now. That's all you need to know.

I'll put Stew in the Aggies through-and-through category with Matt. Because he retired and stayed retired.

slcagg wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 6:39 am

Can you imagine giving up what he had at usu for this?

Bigger_Blue_Aggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 11:25 am

bpd wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 8:47 am

In coaching circles, Craig Smith is a really good coach. I agree. While on a different thread, a lot of fans drool over getting Will Wade (not going to happen), Smith beat Wade on a neutral with a walk on point. Craig's problem is his recruiting. Utah is in a better spot than when Craig took over, but I think he thought he could get fans. He can't. For whatever reason, he and his staff cannot get recruits.

On another note, I do not want to play CU in the tournament. They have been injured all year and now they are healthy and they look good.

CU has scary talent on their team and their coach holds the most wins all time for their program.

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 10:08 am

bpd wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 9:56 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 9:38 am

bpd wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 8:47 am

In coaching circles, Craig Smith is a really good coach. I agree. While on a different thread, a lot of fans drool over getting Will Wade (not going to happen), Smith beat Wade on a neutral with a walk on point. Craig's problem is his recruiting. Utah is in a better spot than when Craig took over, but I think he thought he could get fans. He can't. For whatever reason, he and his staff cannot get recruits.

On another note, I do not want to play CU in the tournament. They have been injured all year and now they are healthy and they look good.

When I watch the Utes I see a pretty loaded roster and size for days. I don't think it's a recruiting issue at this point.

You seriouis?

Yeah. Brandon Carlson and Keita would do very well in the MW, and they have 2 other 7 footers that are more than serviceable. The PG Smith is really good as well. They got at least three shooters to spread the floor.

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 10:27 am

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 6:30 am

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 2:25 am

MahlerFan1 wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 1:50 am

After falling to the Buffaloes.

Coach Smith, looked MISERABLE on the sidelines. Grass isn't always greener.

Don't think he would have won at USU long-term. Best for the program that he moved on

Interesting thought. He was the perfect coach at the time to breathe some much needed energy into the program. Would he been able to maintain the momentum? Wich leads to another question - is USU better off with these short-term rentals?

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 1:32 pm

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 10:27 am

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 6:30 am

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 2:25 am

MahlerFan1 wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 1:50 am

After falling to the Buffaloes.

Coach Smith, looked MISERABLE on the sidelines. Grass isn't always greener.

Don't think he would have won at USU long-term. Best for the program that he moved on

Interesting thought. He was the perfect coach at the time to breathe some much needed energy into the program. Would he been able to maintain the momentum? Which leads to another question - is USU better off with these short-term rentals?

I don't think he would have. I agree he was the right guy for that moment, but don't think he would have us recruiting well enough to win long-term and also think his act wears on guys. Utah had some very inexcusable losses this year. A good coach with the same roster doesn't lose to ASU(twice), Stanford and Oregon State.

MahlerFan1 wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 1:12 pm

Bigger_Blue_Aggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 11:25 am

bpd wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 8:47 am

In coaching circles, Craig Smith is a really good coach. I agree. While on a different thread, a lot of fans drool over getting Will Wade (not going to happen), Smith beat Wade on a neutral with a walk on point. Craig's problem is his recruiting. Utah is in a better spot than when Craig took over, but I think he thought he could get fans. He can't. For whatever reason, he and his staff cannot get recruits.

On another note, I do not want to play CU in the tournament. They have been injured all year and now they are healthy and they look good.

CU has scary talent on their team and their coach holds the most wins all time for their program.

I live in Boulder. Boyle has been here since 2010, which is an ETERNITY in college coaching. The program had some excitement under Ricardo Patton and Jeff Bzdelik, but Boyle has sustained a standard of excellence, even as the football program festered in the sewer all those years.

Aglicious wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 2:04 pm

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 1:32 pm

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 10:27 am

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 6:30 am

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 2:25 am

MahlerFan1 wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 1:50 am

After falling to the Buffaloes.

Coach Smith, looked MISERABLE on the sidelines. Grass isn't always greener.

Don't think he would have won at USU long-term. Best for the program that he moved on

Interesting thought. He was the perfect coach at the time to breathe some much needed energy into the program. Would he been able to maintain the momentum? Which leads to another question - is USU better off with these short-term rentals?

I don't think he would have. I agree he was the right guy for that moment, but don't think he would have us recruiting well enough to win long-term and also think his act wears on guys. Utah had some very inexcusable losses this year. A good coach with the same roster doesn't lose to ASU(twice), Stanford and Oregon State.

These are my thoughts as well. His intense attitude and high energy personality is exactly what we needed in the moment. He was like the anti-Duyea. After Queta, he and his staff seemed to strike out on most peer-level recruits and by year 3 I think he knew he was at the pinnacle with what he was about to lose.

We all like to point to the players that were already committed and fell in Smith's lap upon arrival but the one that mattered the most was Brito. That led to landing Queta (by Neemi's own admittance) which ended up being this single biggest impact on those teams. Yes, Merrill was good but Neemi's presence changed everything for us on both ends of the court and finally gave us a legit MWC level big. I'll always appreciate what Craig Smith did, he was the perfect guy for the perfect situation, but I don't believe he would have continued to have success in Logan had he stayed.

What I like the most about these quick coaching changes is that with them comes new assistants and new relationships and ties to new potential players. It's like Blake's first year and being able to bring in players from all over the country because of the relationships they had with the various coaches that BA had hired. Once that influx of new players is over though, if the staffs stay then they have to go out and build new relationships with new coaches, often in new regions of the country, and it's a complete reset in many ways. There's definitely something to be said about bringing in a new staff members with new connections.

bpd wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 8:47 am

In coaching circles, Craig Smith is a really good coach. I agree. While on a different thread, a lot of fans drool over getting Will Wade (not going to happen), Smith beat Wade on a neutral with a walk on point. Craig's problem is his recruiting. Utah is in a better spot than when Craig took over, but I think he thought he could get fans. He can't. For whatever reason, he and his staff cannot get recruits.

On another note, I do not want to play CU in the tournament. They have been injured all year and now they are healthy and they look good.

hickaggie wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 3:42 pm

bpd wrote: ↑

March 15th, 2024, 8:47 am

In coaching circles, Craig Smith is a really good coach. I agree. While on a different thread, a lot of fans drool over getting Will Wade (not going to happen), Smith beat Wade on a neutral with a walk on point. Craig's problem is his recruiting. Utah is in a better spot than when Craig took over, but I think he thought he could get fans. He can't. For whatever reason, he and his staff cannot get recruits.

On another note, I do not want to play CU in the tournament. They have been injured all year and now they are healthy and they look good.

Players are bought now and not recruited. So is he just bad at identifying talent or are the Ute boosters just not willing to pay enough for basketball program NIL salaries? Judging by the fans at games maybe its the latter.