End of the season Q&A with Brad Huse

[Colter_Nuanez]

Huse talked with four media members at 2 p.m. today. Here's the transcript.

End of the season Q&A with MSU head coach Brad Huse
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[SonomaCat]

It's kind of depressing how making the conference tournament is a measure of success right now.

[Colter_Nuanez]

It's kind of depressing how making the conference tournament is a measure of success right now.

Hasn't that always been the measure of success? Montana State hasn't been to the Big Dance since 1996 and has only made it farther than the conference tournament three times in the history of the program...

[SonomaCat]

It's kind of depressing how making the conference tournament is a measure of success right now.

Hasn't that always been the measure of success? Montana State hasn't been to the Big Dance since 1996 and has only made it farther than the conference tournament three times in the history of the program...

No. I can't imagine any MSU fan (or outside observer, for that matter) has ever said, "Well, we made the conference tournament, so that was a successful season." It's generally just seen as a measure of not being in the very bottom of the conference. The bar for "success" would be, in the minds of most, far higher. But it appears that from the tone of the interviews that the program is trying to manage our expectations so that merely not being one of the four worst teams in a conference of 11 teams is something we should be satisfied with. Just my cynical reading of the interview.....

[MSUcantouchus]

How is this man still the coach?

[DicTater]

That was a bizarre interview. Huse seems to be arguing that since the league is pretty even (It sucks) then we shouldn't expect the Cats to win. In effect, he was saying, gosh we sucked just a little bit more than 5 other teams sucked. But, not too many many teams had 10 returning players with 4 seniors. If we had just sucked marginally less, we would've gotten the last tournament spot. But, apparently he hasn't figured out that 7th place isn't good enough. He was below .500 in conference, just like he has been almost every year. How is he proud of that?

[BelgradeBobcat]

ugh. That was less than inspiring.

[MSU01]

The main thing I get out of this interview is that if MSU finishes 7th next season and gets blown out in the tournament, then it will be a successful season because the Big Sky is such a great conference (all those computer rankings must be wrong) and we really can't expect anything better than that. Buy plenty of curtains for next year, because the attendance will be dropping below 2000 per game and who knows how many of that 1800 announced attendance is actually present in the arena every night.

[wbtfg]

Huse has mastered the art of talking without actually saying anything.

I don't think I really took anything out of that interview.....

Colter, any chance you'd be able to do sit down one on ones with any of the assistant coaches? I wonder if that would yield any substance.

[Hawks86]

Other than "I quit" is there really anything else that needs to be said ?

[kennethnoisewater]

I don't even want to read it I'm so disinterested in this program. I used to be a due hard MSU basketball fan, but I can't watch anymore. I'm sure it makes me a bad fan, but we're only fans because watching sports is fun. When you can't field a decent team in a less-than-decent conference, it's not fun, and I have no obligation to care anymore. I would consider myself more loyal than the average person, but I have reached my limit.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2

[catatac]

It's kind of depressing how making the conference tournament is a measure of success right now.

Hasn't that always been the measure of success? Montana State hasn't been to the Big Dance since 1996 and has only made it farther than the conference tournament three times in the history of the program...

No. I can't imagine any MSU fan (or outside observer, for that matter) has ever said, "Well, we made the conference tournament, so that was a successful season." It's generally just seen as a measure of not being in the very bottom of the conference. The bar for "success" would be, in the minds of most, far higher. But it appears that from the tone of the interviews that the program is trying to manage our expectations so that merely not being one of the four worst teams in a conference of 11 teams is something we should be satisfied with. Just my cynical reading of the interview.....

Hes' just saying that this is the way it's always been. This isn't a new thing here. I don't think he's saying it's acceptable and that we should just live with it, but just pointing out that we've only made the dance three times... EVER.

I honestly don't understand why this program at some point couldn't turn into a Butler, a Wichita State, a Gonzaga... etc. What would it take? A dream coach? More $$? Better facilities?

[allcat]

It's kind of depressing how making the conference tournament is a measure of success right now.

Hasn't that always been the measure of success? Montana State hasn't been to the Big Dance since 1996 and has only made it farther than the conference tournament three times in the history of the program...

No. I can't imagine any MSU fan (or outside observer, for that matter) has ever said, "Well, we made the conference tournament, so that was a successful season." It's generally just seen as a measure of not being in the very bottom of the conference. The bar for "success" would be, in the minds of most, far higher. But it appears that from the tone of the interviews that the program is trying to manage our expectations so that merely not being one of the four worst teams in a conference of 11 teams is something we should be satisfied with. Just my cynical reading of the interview.....

Hes' just saying that this is the way it's always been. This isn't a new thing here. I don't think he's saying it's acceptable and that we should just live with it, but just pointing out that we've only made the dance three times... EVER.

I honestly don't understand why this program at some point couldn't turn into a Butler, a Wichita State, a Gonzaga... etc. What would it take? A dream coach? More $$? Better facilities?

Coach is the whole thing, those three were very lucky. The coach deal means that if the guy proves he's not the one, just give him a contract extension because why not keep doing it wrong.

[wbtfg]

It's kind of depressing how making the conference tournament is a measure of success right now.

Hasn't that always been the measure of success? Montana State hasn't been to the Big Dance since 1996 and has only made it farther than the conference tournament three times in the history of the program...

No. I can't imagine any MSU fan (or outside observer, for that matter) has ever said, "Well, we made the conference tournament, so that was a successful season." It's generally just seen as a measure of not being in the very bottom of the conference. The bar for "success" would be, in the minds of most, far higher. But it appears that from the tone of the interviews that the program is trying to manage our expectations so that merely not being one of the four worst teams in a conference of 11 teams is something we should be satisfied with. Just my cynical reading of the interview.....

Hes' just saying that this is the way it's always been. This isn't a new thing here. I don't think he's saying it's acceptable and that we should just live with it, but just pointing out that we've only made the dance three times... EVER.

I honestly don't understand why this program at some point couldn't turn into a Butler, a Wichita State, a Gonzaga... etc. What would it take? A dream coach? More $$? Better facilities?

Gonzaga and Wichita State don't have football programs. Butler does, but obviously bball is king in Indiana.

[John K]

It's kind of depressing how making the conference tournament is a measure of success right now.

Hasn't that always been the measure of success? Montana State hasn't been to the Big Dance since 1996 and has only made it farther than the conference tournament three times in the history of the program...

I think what most of us see as a short term goal is something in between the two extremes that you described above. Speaking for myself anyway, I would be happy (in the short term at least) if we could just expect to win a game or two if/when we get there, even if we don't actually win the tourney, but that hasn't been the case for many years. A couple of weeks ago you asked why all of us were so convinced that we wouldn't win a game, even if we did make the tourney this year, and the obvious answer is because we haven't done it in the last 15 years, with the exception of 2009 (not 2010) when we somehow lucked out and made it to the title game. Since beating Northridge in the 1st round in 1999, our tourney record is 2-12, with both wins coming in 2009. So in 14 of the past 15 seasons, we've failed to win a single tourney game. That's exactly why we're all so frustrated and disappointed. We can't even achieve such extremely modest goals. Huse's comments make it sound like we were just on the cusp of having a pretty good season, when the reality is that we were the 9th place team in an 11 team league, which if not the very worst conference in the country, is probably one of the two or three worst.

[John K]

It's kind of depressing how making the conference tournament is a measure of success right now.

Hasn't that always been the measure of success? Montana State hasn't been to the Big Dance since 1996 and has only made it farther than the conference tournament three times in the history of the program...

No. I can't imagine any MSU fan (or outside observer, for that matter) has ever said, "Well, we made the conference tournament, so that was a successful season." It's generally just seen as a measure of not being in the very bottom of the conference. The bar for "success" would be, in the minds of most, far higher. But it appears that from the tone of the interviews that the program is trying to manage our expectations so that merely not being one of the four worst teams in a conference of 11 teams is something we should be satisfied with. Just my cynical reading of the interview.....

Hes' just saying that this is the way it's always been. This isn't a new thing here. I don't think he's saying it's acceptable and that we should just live with it, but just pointing out that we've only made the dance three times... EVER.I honestly don't understand why this program at some point couldn't turn into a Butler, a Wichita State, a Gonzaga... etc. What would it take? A dream coach? More $$? Better facilities?

But at least we used to have a reasonable expectation of actually winning a game or two in tourney once we got there. Now, even that seems to be beyond our reach. Forget about becoming the next Butler or Gonzaga, or even the next UM or WSU for that matter. If we could just get back to what we used to be, back in the 80's and 90's, I'd be happy with that. We were never really considered a "power" in the BSC, but we were probably among the top three programs in the league during that era and made it at least to the semi-finals of the tourney fairly consistently. Even that would be a big improvement over what we've been during the Huse era.

[MSU01]

Nobody is realistically expecting MSU to turn into the next Gonzaga, or Butler, or Wichita State. Those three teams all play in far stronger conferences than MSU and are also schools without football programs where the basketball team is the #1 draw in town. All I know is that MSU's record in the past decade is pathetic. I don't care about tournament appearances, you have to win games when you get there. MSU has won two tournament games since 1999, none in the past five seasons, and hasn't won a regular season championship or played in a postseason tournament in 12 years now. We should be able to expect better than that, at least. I went to two games this past season, and will be shocked if I go to any next year. It just isn't fun any more, so why spend the money to go.

[DicTater]

One of the things that is striking to me is how consistent Huse has been over the years. Players come and go, but Huse remains. Over 8 years, he has won between 9-13 games every year, has won between 7-10 conference games every year, has lost between 14-19 games every year, and has lost between 7- 11 conference games every year. If you think about it, it really is remarkable consistency. Consistency is great if you're Duke, Florida, etc. Consistently winning at a .400 clip, not so much.

Huse's best year was 09-10, the only year he was over .500 in conference and 13-14 overall for a 48% winning percentage. His worst year was his first, before he hit his stride. That first year he was 9-19 overall for a winning percentage of .321. But, he was 8-9 in conference, 47%. But, if we give Huse the benefit of the doubt and throw out his first year (maybe it was a tough nonconference schedule, I don't know), then the range of overall winning percentage by season only varies between .379 ('10-'11) to the above .480 the year before.

Conclusion: Over 8 years, Huse has proven he will win close to 4 games for every 10 played. It doesn't matter who the players are, Huse will win 4 out of 10.

[allcat]

One of the things that is striking to me is how consistent Huse has been over the years. Players come and go, but Huse remains. Over 8 years, he has won between 9-13 games every year, has won between 7-10 conference games every year, has lost between 14-19 games every year, and has lost between 7- 11 conference games every year. If you think about it, it really is remarkable consistency. Consistency is great if you're Duke, Florida, etc. Consistently winning at a .400 clip, not so much.

Huse's best year was 09-10, the only year he was over .500 in conference and 13-14 overall for a 48% winning percentage. His worst year was his first, before he hit his stride. That first year he was 9-19 overall for a winning percentage of .321. But, he was 8-9 in conference, 47%. But, if we give Huse the benefit of the doubt and throw out his first year (maybe it was a tough nonconference schedule, I don't know), then the range of overall winning percentage by season only varies between .379 ('10-'11) to the above .480 the year before.

Conclusion: Over 8 years, Huse has proven he will win close to 4 games for every 10 played. It doesn't matter who the players are, Huse will win 4 out of 10.

Well we probably only pay him for the wins, I think he throws in the losses.

[grizzh8r]

It's kind of depressing how making the conference tournament is a measure of success right now.

Hasn't that always been the measure of success? Montana State hasn't been to the Big Dance since 1996 and has only made it farther than the conference tournament three times in the history of the program...

No. I can't imagine any MSU fan (or outside observer, for that matter) has ever said, "Well, we made the conference tournament, so that was a successful season." It's generally just seen as a measure of not being in the very bottom of the conference. The bar for "success" would be, in the minds of most, far higher. But it appears that from the tone of the interviews that the program is trying to manage our expectations so that merely not being one of the four worst teams in a conference of 11 teams is something we should be satisfied with. Just my cynical reading of the interview.....

Hes' just saying that this is the way it's always been. This isn't a new thing here. I don't think he's saying it's acceptable and that we should just live with it, but just pointing out that we've only made the dance three times... EVER.

I honestly don't understand why this program at some point couldn't turn into a Butler, a Wichita State, a Gonzaga... etc. What would it take? A dream coach? More $$? Better facilities?

Gonzaga and Wichita State don't have football programs. Butler does, but obviously bball is king in Indiana.

But WSU does have an historically strong baseball program, too. Of course metro Wichita has about 700,000 people, a large local alumni base and they REALLY support that school. But it can be done...