re: Dan Wolken: if Kirby doesn't win the East in 17, he's a clown

quote:

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Georgia, on the other hand, should be trying desperately to change its basketball image.

Go ahead though. I'm sure hiring some dude from UT Chattanooga or some shite will totally reverse a history of basketball failure. The program is totally fine. We just haven't had the right coach yet.

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Sure... And if Tubby had been our coach circa 2017 rather than when he was (and for more than 2 seasons) or if Harrick's tenure doesn't end the way it did even, there's a good chance we ride the wave of success into greater interest and booster donations into a new arena and we're not having this conversation. Right now, with where the program is under Fox, it's just good enough to be a bubble team, but he's *consistently* just good enough to be a bubble team. That's a very difficult sell to get boosters excited to spend a bunch of cash when there's very little variance from "almost relevant".

The sad part is, I'm not sure we'll be any better off with any hire that McGarity might make, but that's a really shitty place to be. Keep the coach who can't get the job done because the AD who can't get the job done is likely to botch the next hire...

What we do know is that without vocal and strong financial support from boosters, there is essentially no chance that Ears opens the purse strings for construction of a new arena... I think it was Durden who positioned partnering with the Classic Center downtown. That was actually an interesting idea... You don't have to tear down Stegeman, so you still have the classic building on campus and can keep Womens BB and Gym there... could play some UGA Mens BB games there if needed with scheduling conflicts, but otherwise could move the game downtown...

But once again, to say that our facilities are keeping us from being good enough to *make the tournament*, is just not grounded in reality. Put a product on the floor that makes the tournament a couple of seasons in a row and maybe wins the first round, and you have seen that UGA basketball interest goes up... it's not some monumental or herculean task. (see: Harrick, Jim - regardless of your thoughts on him as a coach, the program was having success and there was interest. The "scandal" would have been nothing compared to the shite going on at UNC that up until they mishandled the 2nd NOA, looked like it might just fizzle out into not much, as mentions to the Football and Basketball teams were removed from the NOA.)

Incremental successes... and it starts on the court, not with facilities.