Am I the only one out here who is starting to feel somewhat uneasy about a trend that seems to be developing around our recruiting? Hopefully, all of our recruits are high quality young men who will only bring honor to Iona and themselves both in the classroom and on the basketball court! That said, I just hope that our apparent focus on what I will term "instant gratification" does not turn out to be a long term problem.
We're just giving the recruits that should have made the decision to sign up with Iona as freshman a chance to live out there dream in New Rochelle.
Also, I've heard from a reliable source that the next couple of years are critical to the future of Gael BB. The thought is that there will be BIG changes in the NCAA BB landscape and we are trying to be in a position to be one of the Have's, when the dust settles. My guess is that the BE becomes a football only conference, and the non-football schools spin off and form a new league. And since this will have a trickle down effect, it's important to be considered a strong program, and the coaches feel that Juco's are best for the near term. At least that's what I've heard. B/t/w, for all you home owners, you might want to hire the landscapers who are working on the Presidential home at Iona. Drove by the other day and the transformation was stunning. Looks like the house will be ready for Dr. Nyre and family in July. Check it out.
ic59, THANK YOU! That would both make sense and would show a good deal of forward thinking. Trusting your sources, you have gone a long way to easing my concerns.
I could be wrong but my guess is that this is a short-term strategy to backfill a very talented existing team. With the exception of Snoop, it wouldn't surprise me to see a shift back to recruiting traditional 4 year players with the 2012 recruit class. With what we'll be losing to graduation, that class will be given a lot more opportunities than this one. JMO.
CJB, I think you are dead on. Also, once Coach has established a consistent winning tradition, it will be much easier to get the 4 year "studs" to become 4 year Gaels.
Am I the only one out here who is starting to feel somewhat uneasy about a trend that seems to be developing around our recruiting? Hopefully, all of our recruits are high quality young men who will only bring honor to Iona and themselves both in the classroom and on the basketball court! That said, I just hope that our apparent focus on what I will term "instant gratification" does not turn out to be a long term problem.
I am also uneasy about Iona's recruiting trends. A few good JUCOs sprinkled in here and there are fine, but when you start to build your program almost entirely around JUCOs and transfers, (many of whom have jumped from school to school several times)I think you are asking for trouble. Also, Iona was recruiting that JUCO who was a convicted, armed robber who spent several years in prison, for apparently shooting someone.
If you bring a few JUCOs and academic or behavioral risks into a program dominating by good, solid, young men, I think the risky kids will tend to be influenced by the good kids and will generally do much better. But when you have a team comprised of mostly risky players, they will tend to run wild and even corrupt the kids who are on the fence.
All these "quick fixes" also have me wondering if Cluess is in a big hurry to try to move up to the big time and is looking to be at Iona for a very short time. I don't have a problem with him wanting to move up, but he should not do it by selling out the future of the program and the reputation of the school. Willard moved up quickly, but at least he left behind a strong foundation of talented, solid, young men.
I hope I am wrong, but this is starting to feel like the DeShaun Williams, Terry Sellers, Jermaine Small, etc. era.
Exactly CJB and Chelsdeal. The coaches are not going to recruit 4 year players unless the 4 year player meets up to their basketball standards, which looks to be a high major type player.
Once Iona has big years than they will be able to get high major type 4 year players and the program will be on its way for years to come.
Being a fan from back in the Valvano years I never got use to Iona not being able to get some of the best players from the city. It would be great to get back to that level and it seems Cluess doesn't think it is impossible and is trying to do that.
I really think with Cluess this program has a chance to be at least an a-10 level program going forward. He isn't here to get the next major job opening, he is here to build the program into a major type program and eventually get paid something like Ruland got or even more the VCU coach is getting.
These are exciting times for Iona basketball. It all starts in Puerto Rico, a big showing their and this program may be on its ways to heights we haven't seen since the 80's.
Just read Gaelman's post.Interesting opposite opinion of mine, but one of us is right. If Cluess is trying to make a quick fix than this is not good for Iona, but if I am right than I don't mind the temporary Juco recruits.
Exactly CJB and Chelsdeal. The coaches are not going to recruit 4 year players unless the 4 year player meets up to their basketball standards, which looks to be a high major type player.
Once Iona has big years than they will be able to get high major type 4 year players and the program will be on its way for years to come. quote]
I'm not sure I buy that argument. First of all, with the exception of Glover, none of Iona's JUCOs appear to be anything close to "high major type players".
Secondly, Iona should already be in position to recruit very well (for the MAAC anyway). The program is coming off of 2 straight 20 win season and has a lot of talent coming back.
Third, I don't think Iona (unless it move up to a much better conference) will ever consistently recruit high major 4 year players. High major players generally go to high majors.
If Jimmy V were alive today, and coaching at Iona, I doubt even he could bring many high majors to Iona. That was a different era, before the Big East and now the BCS.
Iona can stay at or near the top of the MAAC by consistently recruiting some quality A-10/CAA level players, along with high-end MAAC level players and developing them.
Before Glover, who was the last JUCO star at Iona? I think it was Bryan Matthew, (who was one of my favorite Gaels of all time and perhaps the most underrated player in Iona history), back in the mid 1990s. And, I don't think Matthew (who was from the Carribean) went JUCO for academic reasons, but because he was unknown .
Nearly every JUCO since then (until Glover) has been a bust, a dissappointment or a trouble maker (Allen, Dunmore (good kid, no skills), Smith, Sellers, Small, Camper, Carruthers) Donnell Mitchell was a solid starter on the 1998 NCAA team, as well, but that was 13 years ago.
When Iona has won, it has mainly been with quality 4 year players like Hameed, Kirksay, Timinskas, Wilson, Grant, Jenkins, Fields, McCullough, Waschmann, Burtt, Jr., Solliver, Machado, Rodriguez, Jenkins, Smyth, etc.
The knuckleheads that Ruland brought in with the Solliver, Burtt, Waschmann, McCullough class really set them back two years. That great (but not that highly recruited) freshmen class would have had much more success if not for the DeShaun Williams/Steve Smith fiasco, IMO.
I think this is a very interesting and valuable discussion. However, I return to ic59's post indicating that our coaching staff's current recruiting trend may be in anticipation of significant changes coming soon to the college basketball landscape. While I am the one who started this discussion in this thread, I have also been one to express confidence in our staff and their decisions. If, in fact, they are taking a pro-active approach to what they see coming in order to position Iona basketball for that future, we may very well be thanking them for having the foresight to plan now for those coming events. Admittedly, Iona has a past history of picking less than high quality Jucos. However, their lack of quality was not directly related to the fact they were Jucos - that went deeper. As far as I have seen, every player brought aboard to date by this staff has shown himself to be a quality person, be they Juco or not. As long as our staff continues to bring quality men into our program, I will defer to their expertise.
I'm not supportive of the whole JUCO movement either, but the surprise of Glover has me optimistic. And perhaps what Glover has done academically and on the court has proven to JUCOs that Iona can be a great place if your head is screwed on right. No, I doubt ALL the JUCOs will pan out, but I am curious to see how many: 1. contribute on the hardwood; 2. succeed academically; 3. stay out of trouble.
Finally, regardless of whether the landscape is changing, mid-major basketball is still generally cyclical. We've just put together a pair of 20-win seasons and should be in good shape for at least 2 more in a row (if we can get SOME sort of frontcourt talent to replace Glover), but beyond that is anyone's guess, regardless of whether you bring in JUCOs or frosh. That's what makes our level of ball more fun than the Dukes and UNCs of the world, where you lose a couple guys to the draft and just replace them with a could McDonald's All-Americans and keep on rolling. The bottom line is that Iona will eventually return to a down cycle, but the key is to not fall too far down as to require a complete rebuild.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
I also think this is a great topic to talk about. Usually when this discussion has come up in the past, the question about the where we play is brought up. In order to move up, you have to have a better facility the we currently have. Has anyone heard about plans to upgrade and expand Hynes to a more modern venue?
Plans to rotate the court and expand capacity were drawn up several years ago; however, that was subsequently dropped. I do know the new AD has hopes of partnering with local communities on projects - most notably, the City Field complex in New Rochelle. As to Hynes, I don't see any significant changes in the offing. Much work has been done over the past few years in upgrading many of the facilities which fans may never see. In addition, we just spent money on the new floor and lighting in Hynes itself.
Agree, this is an interesting discussion regarding this staffs recruiting strategy.
As stated, I am of the opinion that this is a result of the talented seniors in place and may be short-lived with a return to traditional recruiting with the 2012 recruiting class.
That said, we'll have our answer on all this in just a few short months.
I'm not at all interested in another conference unless it comes with a spanking new arena. My preference is to flat out dominate the Maac like the late 90's.
