Re: UNH 2018 Offseason- Out with the old , in with the semi new?
Nobody knows how Souza will do as the Head Coach. We can not judge him off of his years as an assistant coach. He was not the final decision maker. I believe most of the people on this thread have coached some sport in the past. There have been head coaches I assisted that I agreed with them 90% or more of the time and a couple I only believed in about 20% or less with what they were doing. Needless to say, I did not assist the head coaches I did not agree with a second season.
We need to support Souza as the UNH program moves forward!
Fair points, but let me expand on it just a little bit, Ray. When you disagreed with the HC as much as you did ... I'm assuming there was no extensive hiring process involved, or else you probably wouldn't have agreed to assist the HC in the first place - correct?
In Souza's case, he would clearly have already known who his HC was going to be, having played four years for him almost 20 years ago, and probably had a really solid idea of what to expect. He also would have had the opportunity to have extended discussions with the HC about what his role would be during the transition, and how it might evolve over the 3 year waiting period. He'd just gotten a promotion to Associate HC from Luce at UConn, so he was already seen as upwardly mobile in that program. So it's not like he was without options.
And with the extended time period in the recruiting pipeline these days, one thing for sure I would think (hope?) Souza was given free rein on would have been with recruiting. I totally agree with you, on the game day stuff, tactics, personnel, etc. I have no question at all he'd have to suppress his own opinions to a degree, or at least understand that when there is a difference of opinion on those things, the HC is going to do things his way. Fair enough. But unless you think the current HC somehow retained veto power over the players Souza (and Stewart) have been recruiting that did not project to matriculate at UNH before the transition was completed, then I think we have to assume Souza has ultimately been responsible for most of the players coming to UNH this past season or so, and into the future. And I think that a lot of us have been underwhelmed at what we've seen, or more precisely haven't seen on that front to date.
I want Souza to be successful, no doubt about it. Liked him as a player; he was a big part in some of the biggest moments in the program's history. But I'm trying to be objective here, and if I'm being honest, I'd hoped to see his fingerprints on a better recruiting outlook than what we've seen to date. We'll see soon enough once October rolls around where else his approach is different than that of his predecessor, and I agree, that's where the rubber will meet the road on whether Souza will be successful at UNH ... or not.
THAT would test my allegiance to UNH like nothing else ...