Huse's Future

[CatBlitz]

You guys should throw Tom Ferch an offer. There's a guy who could coach and provide the exciting basketball you've been missing for over 20 years.

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Do Shann and Kral still have eligibility though?

[bobcatbob]

I say get the young coach with charisma. If he leaves after a few years because he was successful, I agree that the program is at least set up for success. When Pitino was at Providence he took them to the final four. He left the year after but the school then attracted other good young coaches like Rick Barnes and Pete Gillen. I guarantee if we get a winning team attendance will skyrocket!

[wbtfg]

I say get the young coach with charisma. If he leaves after a few years because he was successful, I agree that the program is at least set up for success. When Pitino was at Providence he took them to the final four. He left the year after but the school then attracted other good young coaches like Rick Barnes and Pete Gillen. I guarantee if we get a winning team attendance will skyrocket!

Any specific suggestions?

[bobcatbob]

No, don't have any suggestions as I have not been following basketball as closely as I used to do. I am sure there are some good young coaches out there at the Div. II level that would love to move up.

[allcat]

No, don't have any suggestions as I have not been following basketball as closely as I used to do. I am sure there are some good young coaches out there at the Div. II level that would love to move up.

Wasn't one of those guys named Huse? It is always a crapshoot when you bring in a new coach, look at how well Solomonson did in football.

[CPACAT]

No, don't have any suggestions as I have not been following basketball as closely as I used to do. I am sure there are some good young coaches out there at the Div. II level that would love to move up.

Wasn't one of those guys named Huse? It is always a crapshoot when you bring in a new coach, look at how well Solomonson did in football.

You Bastard!! You used the S word.

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

That is an issue though. Yeah you get rid of Huse, then according to Colter, the other two candidates that Huse was selected over have either a record equaling Huse (in division 2) or someone whom is completely out of coaching. OK, you hire a young hungry coach like say Sprinkle, he gains some success, makes the program a contender in 5-6 years, boom gone. I believe that happened with Portland State's coach a few years ago, went to Wyoming I think. Then you get to go through the coach hiring process again. How does that establish a tradition where the public is kind of aware of your coaching style and philosophy and potential recruits can mesh their talents (ie. run and gun, half court grind, pressure defense). I think this is established by a long term coaching hire, someone that wants to be here. There is the rub, rolling the dice with young on the rise coaches using our program as a stepping stone, or suffering through sub-par years and playing the law of averages with a long term coach like Durham and winning a few Big Sky titles possibly by luck over time.

No, don't have any suggestions as I have not been following basketball as closely as I used to do. I am sure there are some good young coaches out there at the Div. II level that would love to move up.

Wasn't one of those guys named Huse? It is always a crapshoot when you bring in a new coach, look at how well Solomonson did in football.

Obviously, any new coach the Bobcats hire would be successful or unsuccessful. And if he was successful, then he would move up to coach somewhere else, and the Bobcats would have to find another coach.

However, the Bobcats are already unsuccessful. They're a losing team. No reason not to take the risk of failure when the alternative is accepting failure.

[allcat]

I'm saying that hiring is always a crapshoot. When someone says, why don't we just hire some successful D2 coach that is charismatic, I think that is always the hope when you hire a new guy. But yes you do roll the dice when your last roll crapped out.

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

I'm saying that hiring is always a crapshoot. When someone says, why don't we just hire some successful D2 coach that is charismatic, I think that is always the hope when you hire a new guy. But yes you do roll the dice when your last roll crapped out.

Getting a new coach certainly isn't a guarantee of success, you're right about that.

[aucat]

I go back to what I said earlier. Knowing everything that we know right now, if we had it to do all over again, would we hire Brad Huse today? If the answer is yes, then we are happy with what we have and let's give him another 3 year extension. If the answer is no, then we need to hire another coach. As many on this board have said, yes, Brad Huse seems to be a fine guy with a wonderful family. I wish like heck he would win. Sometimes coaches take several years to get on track. If I'm not mistaken, the guy at Indiana had horrible records for the first 3 or 4 years before he got it going.

I don't know what the "job description" for the MSU hoops coach says, but I hope it says something about being competitive in the upper tier of the BSC.

[John K]

I go back to what I said earlier. Knowing everything that we know right now, if we had it to do all over again, would we hire Brad Huse today? If the answer is yes, then we are happy with what we have and let's give him another 3 year extension. If the answer is no, then we need to hire another coach. As many on this board have said, yes, Brad Huse seems to be a fine guy with a wonderful family. I wish like heck he would win. Sometimes coaches take several years to get on track. If I'm not mistaken, the guy at Indiana had horrible records for the first 3 or 4 years before he got it going.

I don't know what the "job description" for the MSU hoops coach says, but I hope it says something about being competitive in the upper tier of the BSC.

I would suggest that if a guy hasn't gotten it done in his first seven years on the job, then it's extremely unlikely that he'll ever get it done. That's more than enough time to determine whether or not a coach has what it takes. If he hadn't gotten lucky and won a couple of games in the BSC tourney back in 2009, he probably would've been gone a couple of years ago. If we make a change, maybe the next coach will do better and maybe he won't, but we can't afford not to give it a shot. At this point, we don't have much to lose, because things can't get much worse than they are already. If we have a couple more seasons like the first seven under Huse, we'll be lucky to get 1,000 people into The Brick for home games.

[bobcatbob]

I do understand it is a crapshoot. But we do need a change. When you look at the attendance at games, you can see a change is needed. Seven years and not good results indicates a dnage is needed.

[wapiti]

I do understand it is a crapshoot. But we do need a change. When you look at the attendance at games, you can see a change is needed. Seven years and not good results indicates a dnage is needed.

What is a dnage?

I googled it and here is what it is:
DNage is a life sciences company founded in 2004 as a spin off from the Department of Genetics of the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam.

So why does MSU Mens Basketball need a genetics life science company?

[allcat]

I do understand it is a crapshoot. But we do need a change. When you look at the attendance at games, you can see a change is needed. Seven years and not good results indicates a dnage is needed.

What is a dnage?

I googled it and here is what it is:
DNage is a life sciences company founded in 2004 as a spin off from the Department of Genetics of the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam.

So why does MSU Mens Basketball need a genetics life science company?

Cause the gritz don't have one. Doh.

[TrueCat]

Regradless of Huse's future, Cat fans should try to at least support the student athletes. The team is struggling, but the most constructive thing to do is go to the game and support both Bobcat Basketball programs. These kids are still wearing blue and gold and still wear "Montana State" on their jerseys. I will be there with a bunch of my friends supporting them and cheering for a Bobcat vistory over the griz

[Weltercat]

No, don't have any suggestions as I have not been following basketball as closely as I used to do. I am sure there are some good young coaches out there at the Div. II level that would love to move up.

Wasn't one of those guys named Huse? It is always a crapshoot when you bring in a new coach, look at how well Solomonson did in football.

I think Huse's head coaching experience was Jamestown College in ND. They are not Div II, I believe they are NAIA.

[Gidal Kaiser]

Jamestown is an NAIA school in North Dakota. http://www.jimmieathletics.com/ Brad Huse's career record in 8 years was 184-60,then he moved on to assist Krystkowiak in Missoula

[Colter_Nuanez]

North Dakota outscored MSU 36-16 over the final 10:48. The last five minutes of the game, MSU played Antonio Biglow (6-0), Michael Dison (5-9), Xavier Blount (6-4), Calen Coleman (6-4) and Christian Moon (6-3) because Blake Brumwell fouled out. They couldn't keep UND out of the paint for the life of them. UND had four old-fashioned 3-point plays in the games last five minutes.

I won't speak on what I think SHOULD happen with the men's program. My previous comment was solely a prediction. I honestly see this team, despite tonight's performance, getting to 11-12 Big Sky wins when Egwuonu returns. If MSU gets to the tournament and wins a game, Huse keeps his job. If they finish at or above .500 in league play, I bet he gets a one-year. Like I said, I don't have an opinion on what should happen. I'm just saying what I think will happen.

Now that the dust has settled, looks like I was a game off, but I was pretty close. Montana State finished 10-10 in league play, 13-16 overall. The Bobcats take the fourth seed into the Big Sky Conference tournament. What does this mean for the future of the program?

Despite all the heat Brad Huse took on here all winter, his team rallied when it needed to. The Bobcats won three out of four down the stretch to go from borderline tournament team to solid four seed with a decent shot at making a tournament run. You can all challenge the merits of Brad's coaching ability, but the fact is, here's what my Big Sky Coach of the Year ballot would look like if I got a vote:

1. Wayne Tinkle — despite devastating injuries to both his seniors, Tinkle's squad won 20 games for the fourth straight year and will host the tournament for a second straight year. The Griz have now won 34 of their last 36 conference games.

2. Randy Rahe — no Lillard, no problem. The Wildcats played tremendous team basketball all winter and handed Montana its lone league loss.

3. Brad Huse - despite working in four new starters and six newcomers overall, the Bobcats managed to finish fourth in the league. The coaches picked them 7th, the media 8th. I picked them 9th on my preseason ballot.

I know player turnover has been a tremendous point of contention, and I agree, with no foundation, it's impossible to build a program. But this year's team could have been DRASTICALLY different with a little luck.

Huse had absolutely zero idea Mohamed Fall played in some irrelevant player showcase and would lose his senior season years down the road.

Huse couldn't have predicted that Shawn Reid would hate Bozeman and it's weather. We love Bozeman. It's a sweet place. We probably all think it's beautiful and appreciate it's quality of life. But think back to when you were 19. Did you want to live somewhere peaceful, serene and beautiful, a place devoid of traffic with short lines at the grocery store and a ski hill just 15 minutes away? Maybe you did. My point is, we value much different things as we mature. Not very many 19 year olds think where they live is sweet because of the quality of life.

Huse couldn't have predicted Tre Johnson would break into a car and steal a GPS nor could he have predicted the tumultuous tenure of Jamie Stewart.

So many on this board champion Rob Ash for taking care of internal problems swiftly and punishing kids right away. Brad does the same thing. It's just that losing a senior guard like Stewart has a profound effect on a 12-man team, whereas kicking off a senior linebacker like Roger Trammell is a blip on the radar for a 104-man team. I understand Rob has built a tremendously deep program that can handle the hit, but the point is that these coaches recruit kids they think are good kids and that they think can succeed at Montana State. You can't predict things aren't going to work out.

There's no "landing pad" majors at Montana State like there is at liberal arts schools like Montana. For many of these guying coming from the JC ranks, it's hard for them to stay eligible. Christian Moon had to switch majors to regain eligibility. You can say "well, don't recruit JC kids" but when you need to fill holes and you need to WIN now, sometimes you have to get quick fixes.

It may sound like I'm making excuses for Brad, which I'm not trying to do at all. I think the continuity and depth of the program is a MAJOR issue that needs to be addressed. There's no other way to build a mid-major power than to recruit solid high school kids and develop them like UM and WSU have done.

But what I'm saying is there was a tremendous amount of adversity this team faced this season, regardless of where it came from...From Stewart's dismissal to Christian Moon missing the first half of the season with eligibility issues to Antonio Biglow's suspension to Flavien Davis' cousin getting killed to Paul Egwuonwu getting a concussion to Xavier Blount losing the rest of his senior season with a stress fracture in his foot. This team had low preseason expectations and rightfully so; the team was implementing four new starters, including a true freshman point guard in Marcus Colbert. And the team was trying to figure out how to mesh six players who were previously the No. 1 scorers on their teams into a cohesive unit.

If I were to tell you that one senior guard would be kicked off the team, one would miss half the season and a third would break his foot and miss the stretch run, then the starting point guard would be suspended, the starting SF would have to see a family member die because of violence and the starting center got a concussion, how many games would you have said this team would have won?

Following a 101-70 win over Northwest Indian that was proceeded by a players' only meeting, the Bobcats reeled off eight wins in 10 games. Then Davis and Egwuonwu went out. But when this team is at complete full strength, they are 11-6 this season. The full strength Cats split with Weber and lost to UM in overtime, then by three.

This team is far from perfect. They are one of the most fragile mental teams I've ever covered. When things are rolling, they are fun to watch and as good as anyone in the league. Once there's a speed bump in the road, they go on some pretty severe spirals. The defense is consistently poor. Opponents with slick shooters can almost expect to have career shooting nights. But there's one thing I think Brad has answered correctly all season long: as cliche as it sounds, this team never stops fighting. Sometimes it takes severe mental blunders to put them in situations where fighting is required, but there's no questioning their desire.

Now that March Madness is here, I can't say what will happen. I could honestly see MSU winning a few games and getting into the championship. I could also see a first-roudn exit. But any situation won't influence Huse's future, in my opinion. I think he will get a one-year contract. With almost everyone returning next season and the internal dissension no where near what it was a year ago, I think you will see a competitive squad again next year.

For those of you who STILL want Huse fired, you must remember, someone has to fire him. After overachieving and finishing in the top third of a newly expanded league, I truly don't see Fields giving Huse the ax no matter what happens this week.

[ilovethecats]

that's a great post colter. for me personally i said that if huse wasn't fired before the season than all he need to do was get into the tourney and there is no way he'd lose his job. and he won't. and while i agree that this team faced serious adversity it played out like all of the other seasons under huse. the big difference being these last few games that we won that we have lost every other year.

i guess for me i just want to see higher expectations with this program and i hate being labled a whiner or a bad fan because of my unhappiness. it's been what...a decade since we last hosted a conference tourney?! and even then we didn't win it. it's been nearly two decades since we represented the conference in the dance?! i'm just not happy with it.

so while i'd obviously rather be a 4 seed in a terrible conference tourney than not in the tourney at all i'm still not happy. i just want to see expectations raised. we would never tolerate this in football so i don't see why we should in hoops. as i said huse shouldn't have been fired because he was clearly doing a "good enough" job for administration before so he's doing "good enough" now. but for how long? what is not acceptable? if we don't win the conference for another 10 years is that ok? if we go another 17+ years without winning a conference championship is that fine too?

this conference is the worst i have ever seen it. you got um....weber a little below them....and everyone else. so there is no doubt in my mind the cats could wina couple games. but as you said we also could be outted in the first round. then we will do the exact same thing next year and the year after that.

my question is what should our expectations be and why is it out of line to expect that we can host a tourney more than once every ten plus years and make the dance once in every 20 years? i just don't get it.

[Old Skool Cat]

Good post Colter, and I agree that Huse will get at least one more season added to his contract because he was able to guide the team into the conference tourney this year. That said, he has made the BSC tourney now in 6 of 7 years, and his teams have only managed to make some noise in one of those. Every other year it has been a one and done. This year's conference was so bad, that there was no excuse for not making the tourney. So to use that as your measuring stick is definitely a great example of setting low expectations. I have no problem with him earning another year, but I think some higher aspirations need to be set into the contract for that year to be extended any further. It's been nice to see the Cats win the last 3 of 4 games, but we are also just a couple weeks removed from a 5-game losing streak; you never know what team is gonna show up. All of this "happiness" that has been established in the last few games will be swept away very quickly with a first round exit on Thursday. For Huse's sake, for the players sake, and for the sake of Bobcat Nation, I hope we can get at least an opening win.