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Was Grant considered a better or worse hire than Oats?
Posted on 3/27/19 at 5:24 pm
Posted on 3/27/19 at 5:24 pm
What was the reaction then compared to now? Refresh my memory because I honestly don’t remember.
This post was edited on 3/27/19 at 5:26 pm
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Posted on 3/27/19 at 5:25 pm to Goldtide1
Grant was a "hotter" name simply because he beat Duke and was supposed to be the replacement for Billy Donavan.
Posted on 3/27/19 at 5:34 pm to Goldtide1
I'd say Grant's hire was viewed way more optimistically, from what I remember. Bill D had just recently won 2 straight national titles, and he was an assistant for those teams, and his VCU team had just beaten Duke in the tournament. Grant was very highly respected in the basketball community.
Posted on 3/27/19 at 6:03 pm to The Spleen
quote:
I'd say Grant's hire was viewed way more optimistically, from what I remember. Bill D had just recently won 2 straight national titles, and he was an assistant for those teams, and his VCU team had just beaten Duke in the tournament. Grant was very highly respected in the basketball community.
We also had more hope for Alabama in relation to getting a new facility to replace Coleman. Grant felt like the guy who would help lead the rapid build up of the basketball program in the way Saban was doing with football.
Posted on 3/27/19 at 6:11 pm to Goldtide1
I was so hyped for Grant.
Posted on 3/27/19 at 6:40 pm to Goldtide1
I was optimistic on the hire but I know better now. Grant is from Florida, when is the last time that state produced good-great basketball minds? Thankfully, Oats is from Wisconsin, a mecca of great coaching.
This post was edited on 3/27/19 at 6:48 pm
Posted on 3/27/19 at 6:40 pm to JackieTreehorn
I think the difference is Grant was to quiet to be a good coach here. Cant come somewhere like Bama and not want to interact with people.
Posted on 3/27/19 at 6:42 pm to Goldtide1
In terms of national reaction it was about the same.
Alabama reaction I think Grant was much higher. We were also far less gun-shy back then, so many were less skeptical of mid major hires.
Alabama reaction I think Grant was much higher. We were also far less gun-shy back then, so many were less skeptical of mid major hires.
Posted on 3/28/19 at 7:24 am to Goldtide1
Grant was a great hire on paper and should've been great on the court. Unfortunately, he got paid and got lazy. There is no way for a fan to see that coming. An AD however should be able to pull that shite out in an interview.
Posted on 3/28/19 at 7:53 am to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
In terms of national reaction it was about the same.
Alabama reaction I think Grant was much higher. We were also far less gun-shy back then, so many were less skeptical of mid major hires.
This is how I remember it. As fans, we hadn't suffered through enough bad coaching to yet know how difficult it can be to get a hire right if you're not a basketball blue blood.
Posted on 3/28/19 at 8:01 am to Teague
quote:
As fans, we hadn't suffered through enough bad coaching to yet know how difficult it can be to get a hire right if you're not a basketball blue blood.
We were coming off the Gottfried era where it went off the rails at the end but our expectation level was still basically the NCAAT.
At the time of Gottfried's firing we'd been to the NCAAT 17 of the previous 28 years and 5 of the previous 7.
Posted on 3/28/19 at 8:21 am to Goldtide1
As good as he looked on paper and as much as he was respected nationally, hiring a basketball coach in the SEC at a football-first school is about fit as much as anything else. And Anthony Grant was an awful fit.
Posted on 3/28/19 at 5:49 pm to Goldtide1
Whyyyy better
Posted on 3/28/19 at 7:03 pm to remaster916
Just about everyone was pumped about Grant’s hiring, I honestly thought that he would be the man who could take us to the next level. Yeah, that thought didn’t last long. Lol
Posted on 3/29/19 at 10:20 am to Goldtide1
Personally, I remember really wanting us to go after Anderson after Gottfried because I loved his style of play. When Grant was announced I was a little bummed but quickly got on board and was excited. Not too different from this hire in that Oats wasn't really on my radar but I am getting excited about him the more I read and hear.
Illustrates the gamble with mid-major guys that has been discussed in other threads. They can look great but you really don't know until they are on the court.
Illustrates the gamble with mid-major guys that has been discussed in other threads. They can look great but you really don't know until they are on the court.
Posted on 3/29/19 at 6:05 pm to Goldtide1
At the time, I thought Grant was an incredible hire (whereas I was pretty skeptical of the Avery Johnson hire).
Grant checked a lot of boxes but the main one was that Florida was the model for a "football school" becoming basketball elite and Grant had been Billy Donovan's right hand man during their entire rise.
That he'd not yet had a full recruiting cycle as a head coach was just considered a minor question mark at the time.
Whether due to poor player evaluation, bad luck, discomfort being the face of the program or unwillingness to "get his hands dirty" -- most likely a combination of all four --- recruiting did ended up being his fatal flaw.
I still think Grant is a pretty solid coach and a lot of Bama fans are gun shy of mid-major hires for that very reason. Just a thin line between mediocre and getting momentum for an extended Top 20 run of years.
Grant checked a lot of boxes but the main one was that Florida was the model for a "football school" becoming basketball elite and Grant had been Billy Donovan's right hand man during their entire rise.
That he'd not yet had a full recruiting cycle as a head coach was just considered a minor question mark at the time.
Whether due to poor player evaluation, bad luck, discomfort being the face of the program or unwillingness to "get his hands dirty" -- most likely a combination of all four --- recruiting did ended up being his fatal flaw.
I still think Grant is a pretty solid coach and a lot of Bama fans are gun shy of mid-major hires for that very reason. Just a thin line between mediocre and getting momentum for an extended Top 20 run of years.
Posted on 3/31/19 at 3:14 am to The Spleen
quote:
his VCU team had just beaten Duke in the tournament. Grant was very highly respected in the basketball community.
Yes. And he got them to the Sweet 16. So did Shaka Smart. And he has been meh at Texas. VCU....Where coaches go to seem awesome, but end up being not awesome.
Posted on 3/31/19 at 7:52 am to harmonics
I wanted Grant like two years before we got him.
I'm a moron.
I'm a moron.
Posted on 3/31/19 at 8:13 am to Goldtide1
Grant was probably better known in these parts and he was a Bill D former assistant. He had been a HC at VCU for only 2 years where as Oats has been one for 4. Had Oats coached somewhere closer to Bama then he probably would have been a household name.
Posted on 3/31/19 at 8:13 am to harmonics
Grant didn't get to the Sweet 16 at VCU. Furthest he got was the round of 32 in his first season. His teams (record wise) also seemed to get worse year by year.
The thing that gives me hope about Oats is his teams (other than the 2nd year) did improve their record. I'm still very skeptical (especially with how the last two hire have went) given you don't ever know how a mid major coach is going to do in a bigger league, but it's encouraging to see improvement.
The thing that gives me hope about Oats is his teams (other than the 2nd year) did improve their record. I'm still very skeptical (especially with how the last two hire have went) given you don't ever know how a mid major coach is going to do in a bigger league, but it's encouraging to see improvement.
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