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Would Anthony Grant have been successful at Florida?
Posted on 3/16/15 at 8:58 am
Posted on 3/16/15 at 8:58 am
In 2007, when Donovan was cuckolding the Orlando Magic, the top candidates to take over the juggernaut were (as I recall) Anthony Grant from VCU and John Pelphrey (who was a year away from a 23-12 renaissance in Fayetteville that he could never recapture). Grant was considered the frontrunner given his stature in coaching at that time and his connection with Donovan.
The question is if Donovan moves on and Grant gets the Florida job coming off back to back titles, would he still be the coach at Florida today rather than fired at the graveyard job he ended up taking?
Could Grant have been successful had he ended up at a good basketball program instead of trying to save a struggling one?
The question is if Donovan moves on and Grant gets the Florida job coming off back to back titles, would he still be the coach at Florida today rather than fired at the graveyard job he ended up taking?
Could Grant have been successful had he ended up at a good basketball program instead of trying to save a struggling one?
This post was edited on 3/16/15 at 9:00 am
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:01 am to tiger perry
No. I think he is a good assistant but doesn't have the personality to recruit and coach a top tier team.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:01 am to therick711
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rather than fired at the graveyard job he ended up taking
quote:
instead of trying to save a struggling one
Make up your mind.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:06 am to therick711
Hard to say, but I would lean more towards no.
I remember Grant taking the job and thinking, damn, Bama just made a really good hire. The fact that he has struggled so much was really a surprise to me at first. I thought he would make a Mike Anderson turn around between years 3-4.
Needless to say I think we all know how that turned out. Unless your willing to spend big time money like the blue bloods or you've got an Alum that's home sick, it's a crap shoot with the up and comers. Really looking forward to who the next HC will be. For the sake of the conference I hope Bama does their due dilligence and goes and makes a strong hire.
I remember Grant taking the job and thinking, damn, Bama just made a really good hire. The fact that he has struggled so much was really a surprise to me at first. I thought he would make a Mike Anderson turn around between years 3-4.
Needless to say I think we all know how that turned out. Unless your willing to spend big time money like the blue bloods or you've got an Alum that's home sick, it's a crap shoot with the up and comers. Really looking forward to who the next HC will be. For the sake of the conference I hope Bama does their due dilligence and goes and makes a strong hire.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:09 am to TRUERockyTop
Going to be a tough sell this time around. They forced out his predecessor and hired a rising star and hot name and he flamed out. It will be interesting to see what route the search takes. Also, Mal isn't around for this hire, so it could be a different philosophy.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:16 am to therick711
Dave Hart had a lot of influence in the Grant hire 6 years ago.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:42 am to CapstoneGrad06
He would probably have more talent but his style is just so....confusing. Bama constantly runs down the shot clock on every possession and then somebody drives with 5 secs left to shoot and gets it blocked or tries a pass that is intercepted or he heaves up a 3. Pretty much a 30 percent chance of scoring each trip.
There is no flow to the offense, guys standing around, no set plays that are worth a flip. This is why Bama lost games in the final minute. I don't know how many times instead of running a play we waited at mid-court until 5 seconds and then tried to run a play. Puts too much pressure on the players.
I think in an assistant role where there is no decision making or at a school like VCU that is basketball only and plays a much weaker schedule he's fine.
I don't think he would do much more at UF than get to the tourney. He would never win much of anything. Ask Florida fans if they would like to replace Billy with Anthony. That'll give you a pretty good answer.
There is no flow to the offense, guys standing around, no set plays that are worth a flip. This is why Bama lost games in the final minute. I don't know how many times instead of running a play we waited at mid-court until 5 seconds and then tried to run a play. Puts too much pressure on the players.
I think in an assistant role where there is no decision making or at a school like VCU that is basketball only and plays a much weaker schedule he's fine.
I don't think he would do much more at UF than get to the tourney. He would never win much of anything. Ask Florida fans if they would like to replace Billy with Anthony. That'll give you a pretty good answer.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:52 am to therick711
To a certain extent. Imo we'd have been an annual tourney team but not the national contender we usually are under Donovan.
It's easier to get talent at Florida than Alabama.
It's easier to get talent at Florida than Alabama.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:55 am to GatorsGators
Not trying to start anything with you, but the talent coming to Florida appears to have coincided with Donovan's arrival there. For this thread though, Florida had already been established and was coming off of back to back titles.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:56 am to GatorsGators
Grant was successful at VCU. He had trouble translating that to Bama.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:57 am to BloodSweat&Beers
quote:
Grant was successful at VCU. He had trouble translating that to Bama.
Interestingly enough, Grant accomplished almost the same thing at Alabama that he did at VCU.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 9:59 am to therick711
It also had a lot to do with Florida's population booming and the great increase in in-state talented that resulted. Not to take anything away from Donovan because he's the best coach we've ever had in any sport and this is his program, but there's too much in-state talent now for us to not be successful.
Compare that to a state like Alabama that produces one or two Top 150 players a year. The only SEC state that has had less talent of late than Alabama is South Carolina.
Compare that to a state like Alabama that produces one or two Top 150 players a year. The only SEC state that has had less talent of late than Alabama is South Carolina.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 10:03 am to therick711
No. God himself could not make that offense Grant runs into a winner.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 10:57 am to the808bass
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No. God himself could not make that offense Grant runs into a winner.
He switched philosophies about mid-way through his tenure. It was bizarre.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 11:10 am to therick711
No. He's just a poor X & O's coach (especially on offense). And he doesn't inspire his team to play well, which is especially bad, since he isn't TEACHING them to do so.
Posted on 3/16/15 at 11:21 am to therick711
I don't think so, not near the level they've been.
I figure you can take Donovan's record, and add 4 losses or so each season (similar talent level, worse coaching). So for Donovan's GOOD years, Grant would have bubble teams. Years Donovan slid in on the bubble, you'd have NIT teams. Off years (like this year) you'd be awful.
Hate to derail this, but you have to figure Grant is about like LSU's Johnny Jones, maybe worse. What would Billy Donovan have done at LSU the past 2 years? I think deep runs with LSU's talent. Jones at Fla, you'd be worse off.
edit- I consider Grant to be a worse recruiter than Jones. Jones is getting legit players to LSU, while nobody is going to Alabama. If Grant had gotten players like Martin, Mickey, and Simmons to come, Alabama would likely be in LSU's shoes.
I figure you can take Donovan's record, and add 4 losses or so each season (similar talent level, worse coaching). So for Donovan's GOOD years, Grant would have bubble teams. Years Donovan slid in on the bubble, you'd have NIT teams. Off years (like this year) you'd be awful.
Hate to derail this, but you have to figure Grant is about like LSU's Johnny Jones, maybe worse. What would Billy Donovan have done at LSU the past 2 years? I think deep runs with LSU's talent. Jones at Fla, you'd be worse off.
edit- I consider Grant to be a worse recruiter than Jones. Jones is getting legit players to LSU, while nobody is going to Alabama. If Grant had gotten players like Martin, Mickey, and Simmons to come, Alabama would likely be in LSU's shoes.
This post was edited on 3/16/15 at 11:30 am
Posted on 3/16/15 at 12:11 pm to Scoob
Anthony Grant and Johnny Jones aren't really similar. They had much different paths, they do different things. It isn't really an apt comparison. Johnny's signature is recruiting. Grant's signature has been pressure defense concepts. Grant is more Steve Wojciechowski than Johnny Jones.
This post was edited on 3/16/15 at 12:13 pm
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