Thoughts on the remaining season

Let's compare the last two head coaches at X. I have always broken down the success of the coach in three areas; Recruiting, Game coaching, and Player development. Recruiting - Steele B+ especially before he became head coach. Maybe a B overall. Miller A- I would give him an A for recruiting in the A-10. Obviously, it's a different game right now with NIL and the Transfer Portal but I'd give him a C+. In game coaching, Miller scores an A, while Steele gets a B-. The BIG difference is Player development. Steele didn't develop players - D. Sean is not developing players now - D. Miller in the A-10 was developing players at an A level. I believe Sean's most significant strength is developing players. In the last two seasons, Sean has developed one player - Swain. My advice is... Sean, go back to your most significant strength, bring in recruits, develop them so they don't have any desire to leave, and fill in from the portal when absolutely needed. I know you may disagree with the grading, but I really believe Sean is failing in his greatest strength.

Steele getting a B- in “in game coaching” is as generous as it gets. The teams weren’t horribly constructed. Decent talent. His issue was always coaching, and especially in game coaching.

There’s no comparison, Steele started this downward fall. Sean isn’t turning it around yet. He’s got one more year to show some level of upward movement. But we are struggling to get past the Steele trajectory.

This program has a severe identity crisis.

What in the world is happening?

I give Steele and F on everything coaching and an A+ in spousal choice. He sucked. Miller is just struggling but let’s have faith. We are only two years removed from the sweet 16. He is got to learn to adjust to the new game. He can do it and will do it. Let’s see how he does next year and if he fails again then I put him on the hot seat. If he fails in his 5th year then it’s time to move on.

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Originally Posted by OTRMUSKIE

I give Steele and F on everything coaching and an A+ in spousal choice. He sucked. Miller is just struggling but let’s have faith. We are only two years removed from the sweet 16. He is got to learn to adjust to the new game. He can do it and will do it. Let’s see how he does next year and if he fails again then I put him on the hot seat. If he fails in his 5th year then it’s time to move on.

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There were rumors some of the players thought his choice of spouse was A+ too.

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Originally Posted by drudy23

This program has a severe identity crisis.

What in the world is happening?

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I have a strong suspicion that it is exactly my predicted possibility when paying players was given the green light.

Large discrepancies in NIL money for a select few that are NOT EARNING IT on the court. When this becomes reality....with guys that have no real history together....locker room CANCER is inevitable. The precipitous death spiral that this team is living fits that cancer diagnoses to a T!

As Hett, myself and only a few others predicted....NIL will eventually destroy programs like X. All you supporters here, are so foolishly naive.

Could it be this season? Did some transfer get a big NIL deal that isn't producing? It's hard to point because not many of our guys are earning their NIL at all. Swain is doing well enough. Zach isn't terrible on the offensive end.

It's what I mentioned in my post. You are right... there is an identity crisis. This isn't Xavier basketball. Xavier basketball was built upon upperclassmen teaching younger guys what the Xavier way meant.

Those lessons went from guys like Kevin Carr, Darnell Williams and James Posey to guys like David West then to guys like Soto and so on. That is where the continuity came from. It's really was a program and no one person was bigger than that.

Now that is impossible in today's game. The Xavier way isn't possible in the Big East. If a freshman doesn't play... they are gone. If a freshman plays and plays well then they get paid to go to the next big school. If a transfer comes in then they are 1 and done.

No message is being passed on and there is no sense of team. It's all about playing well to get that NIL money elsewhere or come here for 1 year to play ball in the Big East and increase your exposure. The Xavier way we grew up with is dead and there is no bringing it back in today's college landscape.

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Originally Posted by Xuperman

I have a strong suspicion that it is exactly my predicted possibility when paying players was given the green light.

Large discrepancies in NIL money for a select few that are NOT EARNING IT on the court. When this becomes reality....with guys that have no real history together....locker room CANCER is inevitable. The precipitous death spiral that this team is living fits that cancer diagnoses to a T!

As Hett, myself and only a few others predicted....NIL will eventually destroy programs like X. All you supporters here, are so foolishly naive.

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Yup. I’d love to unearth some of the back and forth posts from 4-5 years ago where I accurately predicted this outcome. A couple guys were like “nah, it will be ok”.

Over folks

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Originally Posted by stammina0721

It's what I mentioned in my post. You are right... there is an identity crisis. This isn't Xavier basketball. Xavier basketball was built upon upperclassmen teaching younger guys what the Xavier way meant.

Those lessons went from guys like Kevin Carr, Darnell Williams and James Posey to guys like David West then to guys like Soto and so on. That is where the continuity came from. It's really was a program and no one person was bigger than that.

Now that is impossible in today's game. The Xavier way isn't possible in the Big East. If a freshman doesn't play... they are gone. If a freshman plays and plays well then they get paid to go to the next big school. If a transfer comes in then they are 1 and done.

No message is being passed on and there is no sense of team. It's all about playing well to get that NIL money elsewhere or come here for 1 year to play ball in the Big East and increase your exposure. The Xavier way we grew up with is dead and there is no bringing it back in today's college landscape.

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Pretty sure Kevin Carr isn’t on our Mount Rushmore. But I did get chuckle from that…even if you didn’t mean it.