Empire 8

[keystonelight]

i've always looked at him as being one of the few local coaches who could make the jump up another level

[thebear]

From what I understand, It's exactly what he said.  New baby, wife is the top earner in the family, he's been living away from his family to work for the the few crumbs a D-III coach gets thrown his way.  Probably after taxes, an apt, the cost of gas & wear & tear on his vehicle, and the fact that most D-III coaches are constantly having to dip into their own pockets to feed their teams, because of tight expense budgets, he sat down, took a long look and said, this is dumb.

Only D-II program in the Albany area is at St. Rose, & Beaury is entrenched there.  If Andre Cook were to leave HV, that might be a situation that would be tempting, but I really think the guy meant what he said. 

Being a basketball coach isn't very family friendly, at any level.  If your wife has a high powered job, for which she spent 4 yrs of college, 4 years of med school & 3-6 years of residency, she is not always going to be home to put the kid on the bus or pick the kid up from day care.  I think he didn't want his child raised by strangers.

[sjfcards]

I think the big difference in tonights game was the Coaching. Kornaker just outcoached Mullens by a long way. IC kept trying the high screen that worked so well the first two times they played, even tho it was obvious about a minute in that Fisher was not going to allow that to beat them.
Burton is incredible. I thought Fisher did a very good job on him tonight, and he still got 25. Fisher's roll players really stepped up, and really put Fisher on the winning track.

IC may not have played their best game of the year, but Fisher had a lot to do with that. They were really commited on the defensive end, and the rebounding.

Should be fun tomorrow with Fisher/Naz 3 for the whole thing. Hopefully Kornaker left some tricks in the bag Naz.

[UCgrad45]

Does anyone know what schools would be going to the ECAC's from the E8?

I wanted to be the first to post Tom Murphy's name with Utica, nice work ucgrad45. I think it would be great to get him back in the area.  I think he got a raw deal at Hamilton.  Some names that I think should be considered, although purely speculation on my part...

Head Coaches from other places
Coach Goodemote-maybe they can convince him to reconsider
Tom Murphy-(already mentioned) maybe, just maybe...
Chris Downs-head coach at SLU-can't believe he would leave the team he has coming back, but would be a nice hire for Utica
Tobin Anderson-head coach at Hamilton-could see him being interested
Bob Montana-Head Coach at Union-just a hunch
Rob Kornaker-Head Coach-SJF-same with Downs, can't see him leaving, but maybe.
I don't know who, but I would guess a SUNYAC coach or two may want to look at Utica

Junior College coaches
Andre Cook-Hudson Valley head coach-#1 JC team in the country-was rumored to be in the mix for Skidmore last year
Dave Pasiak-SUNY OCC head coach-ties locally to Utica area-have heard his name come up before for jobs
Matt Lee-Herkimer head coach-may be ready to jump to four-year school

Assistants to look at
Jeff Gorski-assistant at Union-already mentioned, have to think he has inside track if it stays in house
Gallagher Driscoll-assistant at LeMoyne, has been at the DI and DII levels as an assistant-could have solid enough resume to get it
Rich Gilooly-assistant at RPI, very good young coach, highly thought of by many coaches
Gregg Hepler-assistant at St. John Fisher, already mentioned
Ryan Kadlubowski-assistant at Rochester-nationally ranked program, ranked number 1 for a while this year.
I could also see a NESCAC assistant be a guy Utica would be interested in.

Maybe it is just a coincidence, but your handle...

Could you possibly be somebody on that list or close to somebody on that list?

[FisherDynasty]

I agree gobombers, it is all about matchups and out of all the teams in the e8 i think naz is the toughest for Fisher.  They are more experienced at every position, a little stronger, and has more scoring power at the guard positions.  However, I think Fisher plays better at Ithaca than Naz does, in addition, as you mentioned it is always tough to beat a team 3 times, and with a rivalry is big as this one, idk if i see that happening.  I hope not anyways.  I think Naz will win by 5, i said it from the beginning i think its the year they finally come together, Ryan is getting healthier game by game.  We'll see.

[UCgrad45]

I agree gobombers, it is all about matchups and out of all the teams in the e8 i think naz is the toughest for Fisher.  They are more experienced at every position, a little stronger, and has more scoring power at the guard positions.  However, I think Fisher plays better at Ithaca than Naz does, in addition, as you mentioned it is always tough to beat a team 3 times, and with a rivalry is big as this one, idk if i see that happening.  I hope not anyways.  I think Naz will win by 5, i said it from the beginning i think its the year they finally come together, Ryan is getting healthier game by game.  We'll see.

I think Naz is terrible, as they looked terrible every time I saw them. However, they always play well in rivalry games.

Regardless, as I said before, Fisher is dangerous this time of year.

[superman57]

ok about that list...It's a laugh to even put Kornaker on the list....in all reality it would be a step down for Korn...nothing against Utica but they aren't quite at fisher's level they did it once, fisher has done it for a while....  and well Ithaca layed a huge egg today like usual...how much more of a disapointment does mullins need to be before they say screw it and fire him, they had an incredible team this year and blew it to a sub-par fisher squad on their own home court...TWICE

[Caz Bombers]

ok about that list...It's a laugh to even put Kornaker on the list....in all reality it would be a step down for Korn...nothing against Utica but they aren't quite at fisher's level they did it once, fisher has done it for a while....  and well Ithaca layed a huge egg today like usual...how much more of a disapointment does mullins need to be before they say screw it and fire him, they had an incredible team this year and blew it to a sub-par fisher squad on their own home court...TWICE

I was all about firing Mullins before firing Mullins was cool.  He is fail, as they say on the internets these days.

[FisherDynasty]

I do think Mullins is a bad coach but superman...ithaca has an incredible team? come on, you might have lost it.  Ithaca is Solid/good at most.  what is sub par for Fisher? sub par compared to previous years? then yes definatly, sub par to the conf? i dont think so, sub par to the region? no.  all in all i think Fisher is better than Ithaca, a not as good as Naz and about even with Stevens.  If they do come together and each game the young players to play in and smalt gets in they might be able to overcome naz, idk though, the lack of leadership could back fire.  All though, Naz still has an outside shot at an at large where Fishers season besides ECACs is over if they lose.  They are going to come out extremely pumped up.

As ive been saying all year long, Ithaca is still a year away from being a NCAA tourny team, they had a very good season, burton is very good.  From watching the game tonight some of the subtle things he does is impressive.  He is very good at drawing contact.  I think coyne and mckeever did a great job defensively and burton still got his points.  Leahy needs to hit the weights and cut his hair, bostic will be better next year after another year of lifting and some of there other younger role players could develop into what that team needs to get to the next level. 

[met_fan]

Head Coaches from other places
Coach Goodemote-maybe they can convince him to reconsider
Tom Murphy-(already mentioned) maybe, just maybe...
Chris Downs-head coach at SLU-can't believe he would leave the team he has coming back, but would be a nice hire for Utica
Tobin Anderson-head coach at Hamilton-could see him being interested
Bob Montana-Head Coach at Union-just a hunch
Rob Kornaker-Head Coach-SJF-same with Downs, can't see him leaving, but maybe.
I don't know who, but I would guess a SUNYAC coach or two may want to look at Utica

Just curious, but barring some strange circumstance, why would any of these coaches be interested in trading their job in to go to Utica?

[UCgrad45]

Head Coaches from other places
Coach Goodemote-maybe they can convince him to reconsider
Tom Murphy-(already mentioned) maybe, just maybe...
Chris Downs-head coach at SLU-can't believe he would leave the team he has coming back, but would be a nice hire for Utica
Tobin Anderson-head coach at Hamilton-could see him being interested
Bob Montana-Head Coach at Union-just a hunch
Rob Kornaker-Head Coach-SJF-same with Downs, can't see him leaving, but maybe.
I don't know who, but I would guess a SUNYAC coach or two may want to look at Utica

Just curious, but barring some strange circumstance, why would any of these coaches be interested in trading their job in to go to Utica?

Murphy- Legend in the area. Hosed out of his head coaching job. Longtime Rival of UC when the rivalry was crazier than Fisher/naz is now. A return to the area as a head coach could be very interesting for him.

Downs- Having coached at a school a few miles from there, that area is beautiful, but absolutely sucks if you ever need consumer goods or medical care. The -40 degree winters take a toll as well.

Anderson- Hamilton has done some crappy things to coaches.

Montana- Utica is a better job.



BTW, Mets are on SNY today! Should be a great season!

[jasper]

I do think Mullins is a bad coach but superman...ithaca has an incredible team? come on, you might have lost it.  Ithaca is Solid/good at most.  what is sub par for Fisher? sub par compared to previous years? then yes definatly, sub par to the conf? i dont think so, sub par to the region? no.  all in all i think Fisher is better than Ithaca, a not as good as Naz and about even with Stevens.  If they do come together and each game the young players to play in and smalt gets in they might be able to overcome naz, idk though, the lack of leadership could back fire.  All though, Naz still has an outside shot at an at large where Fishers season besides ECACs is over if they lose.  They are going to come out extremely pumped up.

As ive been saying all year long, Ithaca is still a year away from being a NCAA tourny team, they had a very good season, burton is very good.  From watching the game tonight some of the subtle things he does is impressive.  He is very good at drawing contact.  I think coyne and mckeever did a great job defensively and burton still got his points.  Leahy needs to hit the weights and cut his hair, bostic will be better next year after another year of lifting and some of there other younger role players could develop into what that team needs to get to the next level. 

Last night was an example of an old fashion butt kickin period. Fisher was faster to offensive rebounds, loose balls and beat Ithaca in about every aspect. Burton had 25 but he earned them. You can 't even breath on that kid and its a foul. If Fisher plays like that today it's gonna be another Empire 8 tourney title. I think J. Beig proved he is at least second team. He owned Bostic just like Fisher has owned Ithaca in Ithaca.

[superman57]

If Ithaca could not win this year with the players that they had...then they will never win...

[FisherDynasty]

idk superman I think they will have a descet shot next year, theres a big difference between being a junior and a senior.  they do need one or two more good players to fill out their starting spot, i think with another year of experience brown or brendon rogers can get there and maybe an incoming frosh can get some quality minutes.

although Naz is going to be tough next year with both mcadams back, higdon, dehimer if they get bozzeli back, and other fresh.

[UCgrad45]

Don't forget, everybody but Munch is coming back for UC.