Reply With Quote
I am excited about the next season again.
I have just renued my season tickets and can not wait til Nov.
A&M couldn't have made better hire
COLLEGE STATION — There are good days in the life of a college sports program, and then there are a few really good days. Texas A&M had a really good one Tuesday.
Considering all that has gone on the last couple of weeks, it was an unimaginably good day. Mark Turgeon is about as close to a perfect hire as Bill Byrne could have made.
Turgeon is every bit as good a hire as Billy Gillispie was three years ago, and there's no reason to believe A&M basketball will take a step backward. Byrne got lucky, because Turgeon had plenty of chances to leave over the years.
Let's be clear about something else. Byrne found himself embracing a coach he didn't want to hire. He gave Gillispie almost everything he wanted, and Gillispie indicated he would stay. In retrospect, it seems Gillispie agreed to that deal only to have a fallback position if Kentucky landed Billy Donovan or Rick Barnes.
When Gillispie got the call, he forgot all about that com-
mitment to Texas A&M. He didn't even have the decency to meet face to face with his players. If you're angry at him, Aggies Fan, don't be. He used you to get a better job, but you used him, too.
Gillispie made basketball relevant at Texas A&M. He proved A&M could attract great recruits. Turgeon should send Gillispie a thank-you note when that recruiting class arrives and the new practice facility is finished. Thanks to Gillispie, the Aggies should never again settle for being second-class citizens in basketball.
Gillispie's memory hung over everything that happened Tuesday. Byrne spoke of loyalty.
"You demand it from your players," he said. "You should expect it from your coaches."
A&M's interim president, Ed Davis, said: "I'm a great believer that things happen for a reason."
A&M fans will love Turgeon. He's a dynamic recruiter and a first-rate motivator and strategist. If he seems low-key, he's not. Far from it. He played for Larry Brown at Kansas and worked for Brown and Roy Williams. He has a little bit of both in him.
Brown was the one who encouraged Turgeon to think about a career in coaching. Actually, Brown watched him play awhile and said: "Son, you need to think about coaching."
Turgeon built a solid program during seven seasons at Wichita State. The Shockers had a higher winning percentage for six straight seasons, culminating in last year's trip to the Sweet 16. This season's team was ranked as high as eighth before losing 14 of 22 and missing the NCAA Tournament.
Turgeon will emphasize defense as much as Gillispie. He prefers a fast offensive tempo. His teams do the basics. They don't turn the ball over. They make the extra pass.
"I think when James Naismith invented this great game, he invented it as a team game," Turgeon told the Kansas City Star. "We talk about it all the time. Also, you have to recruit a certain kind of kid, a kind of kid who wants to play in this sort of unselfish system. We've been very lucky. We have amazing kids."
Turgeon is different from Gillispie in one basic way. He's married and the father of three. Gillispie was single and something of a night owl.
"With me, what you see is what you get," Turgeon said. "I am who I am; I don't try to fake it. I'll be candid; I'll be honest. Sometimes I am too honest. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I'm passionate about what I do."
One thing they have in common is raging compe ive fires. Turgeon limits when he can watch an opponent's video because he gets too excited. He said he forces himself to hate another coach when they're both recruiting the same kid.
Once when wife Ann beat him four out of six games in backgammon, he went an entire dinner without speaking to her. Turgeon related that story to K.C. columnist Joe Posnanski.
Wait, there's one other part of that story that's relevant. This incident occurred during their honeymoon.
In the Wichita State media guide, players are asked to describe their coach in one word. Smart, optimistic, clever and positive were used.
Loyalty? Turgeon cried when asked about the players he was leaving behind and what he said to them during a team meeting Monday night.
"It's hard," he said. "I am here today because of those players. I told them I loved them and that life isn't fair. I hope they are not as mad at me today as they were last night. I told them I loved them and I cared about them and that I was sorry. It was an opportunity for me and my family and just something that I had to do."
Gillispie built something at A&M that should endure long after he's gone. Turgeon is the right man to pick up the story from here.
[email protected]
I am excited about the next season again.
I have just renued my season tickets and can not wait til Nov.
i enjoy reading just about everything justice writes.
Didn't Turgeon's Wichita State team lose 14 of 22 games at one point last season?
That was mentioned in the article.
spin it, baby.
The article is a litte over the top. I think most aggie fans are excited about seeing what he can do, but we shouldn't be as bold as to predict Sweet 16 (JGW). I think it's a good hire but I think the search should've taken a little longer...
most of his articles are. he likes to play the aggie and longhorn fans against each other for more hits on his blog.
No way...the Aggies had to act fast so the recruits can meet their new coach, settle down and not worry about their roles under his tenure.
He wasted no time in talking to every player on the team and every recruit...that was very important.
well now that makes sense.
and the guy may turn out to be a great hire for you guys. and if that's the case, great.
at first i thought this was way to quick of a hire. now i'm not so sure. dolla bill had to know bcg had bigger fish to fry in kentucky when he wouldn't publicly commit to the new contract that was offered him. sure seems like byrne unofficially and quietly was already compiling a short list for his replacement and probably had this guy in his top 2-3.
If Turgeon gets AM to the sweet 16 next year I'll be extremely surprised. Of course, I would also be surprised if Barnes gets UT to the sweet 16 as well.
dude, it may turn out to be a good hire but to say "A&M couldn't have made a better hire"???
that's getting a little carried away.
maybe he should've said "A&M couldn't have made a better hire at this late date"
If that is the absolute best hire A&M could have made, it doesn't say much for the A&M job. Turgeon is at best the #3 coach in the Valley (and #4 at worst).
And yes, I am fully aware that I am an alum of the school that just hired Frank Martin (insert your 'who?' here).
That's all I have been saying. Watch out for the stones.
Who would you rate over Turgeon in the MVC?
At the least, you would have to bump him up to #2 or #3 after Altman left Arkansas. It would be risky to include him on your short list after his return to Creighton.
I listened to his whole press conference and to his interview on KZNE The Zone this morning and I am quite impresssed with this guy.
So off...if you disagree, cuz I could care less.
Altman has clearly accomplished more. Lowery is an easy pick ahead of Turgeon as well.
Jim Les would be the questionable pick, he's probably interchangeable with MT at this point in time.
Bear in mind that I was not ranking from a perspective of the order that A&M should be looking at to hire Valley coaches. I'm just saying that Turgeon is at best the third best coach in the valley (and at worst, the 4th).
I remember back in the day when Richard Justice was a respectable and knowledgeable sports journalist, rather than a cheap sensationalist trying to drum up hits on his blog.
I'm unsure why he decided to sell out like that.
UT and a&m fans attack him quite viciously on that blog no matter what he writes. guess he's just trying to have fun with it, at least. my comment was made mostly in jest.
I listened to his whole press conference and to his interview on KZNE The Zone this morning and I am quite impresssed with this guy.
So off...if you disagree, cuz I could care less.
I agree. After reading about the press conference, he seems like the right guy for the job. At the least, it's way to early to make a negative judgement.
I like Richard's columns. I read it everyday, sipping on my morning cup of coffee, after picking up my Chronicle from my driveway. I like John Lopez' columns even more though.
I really like the Turgeon hire. While he might not have been the absolute best coach that could have been hired, it seems as though Byrne knew exactly what he was doing and got the right coach for the job.
Similar, but different than Billy.
I like how K-State Spur has become the most bitter, whiny in the world since Huggins left
I guess K-State Spur and Capt Mike have to on other programs to make them feel better about their shattastic coaches.
Three weeks ago, according to aggys universal, BCG could walk on water and take their program to heights never seen.
Now that he's gone, this nobody that was hired is similar to Billy Boy? will take them to the Sweet 16? pick right up where gillispie left off?
what color's the sky in your world?
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
