Cluess

[Joebird]

As usual as the season progresses he is playing the Gaels best lineup which should put the Gaels in great position come maac tourney time.

If he were to stay here for another 5 years, I find it highly likely that he will get us an NCAA win. The question is can we keep him here that long.

It's hard to put up with his secretness and sometimes it's easy to find his anger towards the kids annoying, and the lack of defense they play is frustrating, but in the end this guy gives Iona a great chance to final get our NCAA win.

If we are lucky he will retire here after he has established Iona as a regular mid major power, we aren't that far away.

[Z-73]

I'd love to see TC stay at Iona for the long term, but I would think that the bigs will be calling soon. While I was kind of stunned seeing him ream out Tre on the sidelines during the Quinny game, I have to believe that he knows how to handle his players and I cannot argue with the success he has had. I couldn't blame him if he took a higher profile more money job, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that maybe he'll be a Jim Larranaga type and stay for a good part of his career at Iona before moving on to the bigs.

Go Gaels!!!

[iona05]

Joebird, good post. Some thoughts re: Cluess in no particular order:

- Credit should be given to TC and the coaching staff for the fact that the team has been able to hold onto leads for the most part so far this season. In the past our problem was giving up leads late in games, and the blame was placed on the coaching staff, so credit should be given to them for what seems to be a big improvement in this area so far this year.

- We are one athletic big away from being a mid-major force. It will come in time, and I believe TC knows this.

- If the powers that be did a better job of marketing our uptempo style and system, it would do wonders for increasing interest and buzz in our program, but on the other hand it would make TC an instant attraction as a coaching candidate on a national scale.

- Larranaga probably not the best comp to TC given GMU is a state school and has a big budget. Would say coaches like Pete Carrill would be more accurate.

- Let's not forget that we are less than a decade removed from the worst season in program history, surrounded by scandal, corruption and a bunch of other non-sense, and look at where we are today. We have made incredible strides, and TC needs to be credited big time for that, as he's been part of the solution not the problem.

- Not sure TC will leave tri-state area, so outside of SJU, Rutgers, SHU, you're looking at a small pool of potential poachers.

- To add to the above point, I actually think Stony Brook would be a place that TC would jump to if their coach moves on to another program, given proximity to home, school facilities, etc.

- Not sure how well compensated TC is right now, but to make him an Iona lifer we're going to have to pony up the cash at some point and pay him unproportionately compared to what other MAAC coaches are getting. We're not at that point yet, but it will come sooner than expected if we keep winning.

- Have to knock TC slightly for two things so far in his tenure as our coach:

(1) we have rarely beaten any teams that we shouldn't have beaten, in fact I can only think of a few BCS wins against teams that were bigger in name than in talent that we've beaten (e.g. Maryland, Wake, UGA, etc.), and none against teams that were legitimately GOOD.
(2) I know many will disagree w/this since we got an at-large, but my opinion is that we have not performed up to our capabilities when we have had the most talent. An Iona team w/Momo, Machado, Glover and Armand might come around once in every 20 years so we need to take full advantage of that opportunity when it comes, and I feel as though we underperformed that season, so TC needs to shoulder some of the blame for that. Gotta imagine these would both be considered as negatives for any other program who was evaluating his credentials.

[hawaii bill]

I think all that is pretty good '05. Just a couple of thoughts about timing. I think if Cluess had the At-Large team in year 3 or 4 and that if Taaj was a second year guy instead of his first year, that team beats BYU. Not sure we would've had the size to handle Marquette. The thing about big comebacks, imo, that people rarely mention is that in the vast majority of them you not only have to play with great intensity, but you need just about everything to fall your way. For BYU they took advantage of us running out of gas a bit mentally and making some questionable decisions, a few very helpful referee calls at key moments (e.g. Scott out of bounds) and their big guy making just about every shot he took with Mike hanging all over him. In other words you need a lot to go in your favor and other than calling some time outs and trying to set a few plays in certain spots, not sure what more a coach can do. People look at the size and timing of the comeback and throw out the "choke" label, but if Scott gets the call, and the BYU Big guy misses a couple of difficult shots he took, we win and nobody "choked." And those are things out of our control. Its one of the reasons I hate to use the term "choke." I've seen a lot of teams salt away games just by doing their normal thing and the surging team turns the ball over because of rushing to make up the deficit, or misses key FT's, or calls go against them. These favorable occurrences for a comeback all added together, can't have just one or two, and you get a spectacular comeback.