As an OSU fan, I thought i'd pop in and see your thoughts on your new coach. It seems like people are pretty excited, although I find the disses at OSU and Stillwater odd and petty. Here is my opinion of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The general consensus in Stillwater was that Underwood is a better public figure than coach, and a better coach than man. His greatest strength seems to be the off-the-court duties, specifically in the public relations domain. He tends to say the rights things and get people bought in, and that is very important for a head coach. At OSU, for example, we have two legendary coaches, Iba and Sutton, and he frequently made mentions to them that helped get the fans that had lost interest over the past decade reinvigorated and back in the stadium. He talked about the school history. He did a good job with social media. Years before he was hired he talked about his desire to coach OSU (and the Kansas schools), and upon being hired he called it his dream job. Sure, he had just lost a tournament game with SFA the day before, but as a fan base we were ecstatic to A) be out from Travis Ford and B) to have a coach with a high win percentage and high praise for the university. Overtime you hear some chirps about him behind closed doors, but the public persona is great and the results on the court are an improvement, so most of that never caught traction. In his introduction he already talked about his son's first jersey and all that mumbo-jumbo...so you're already witnessing his PR savvy.
On the court, he is stubborn and slow to adapt, as evidenced by starting conference play 0-6 before making a change. That being said, we did have one or two players make real strides this season, which can presumably be attributed to Underwood. All-in-all, the season was a success in my opinion, despite a first round loss in the tournament (that tends to happen when you find the hottest team in the country). Every player showed improvement and the unit as a whole was substantially better. Some fans were never happy about some players playing time...but that happens at every school in the country with every coach.
In terms of recruiting, how should we know? He brought Averette and his son with him (they may be Illinois bound now, which would be quite alright), and had a few recruits signed for this class, one being an ESPN100 player. Nothing too exciting though, and I didn't really anticipate him being lauded for excellent recruiting on an annual basis. Our main target was Trae Young, the third ranked PG in the country. He is an in-state kid and I know some of his family that are OSU alum and die-hard fans. Of course, we missed out on him. Similar to the dissatisfaction with the rotation, this is something that happens to all coaches in the country. Unfortunately, several reports came out that indicated the reason we missed out was Underwood botching the relationship with him and his parents. All of this to say; although Underwood is a smooth talker in public, we don't have any reason to believe the same can be said for when he's dealing with recruits and families.
Earlier I mentioned the occasional chirp about his true personality and it never really worrying anyone too much. Well, when he bolted and people on his staff were able to speak openly, and the fan base was finally all ears...it didn't paint a pretty picture. I'm sure some of this can be attributed to feeling betrayed (rightfully so), but again...these things were going on all along. Staffers saying he would disparage players about how they've never played an important game in their lives, this to a kid that was an MVP of the Texas State Tournament in HS, won several championships, and now owned several OSU records. He also had his son echoing the sentiment, which is just weird. He apparently used profanity toward children and then bragged about it, which is even weirder. The most telling thing to me...if you're really trying to see the caliber of
man he is, is that he would get angry and storm out of meetings with the AD and staff, which is both childish and pathetic. When told that Travis Ford (an okay coach with an abomination of a contract) had a better first year and warranted a bigger contract extension after year one, he stormed off and became your coach, haha. Several other character issues have come out of the closet since his departure. Apparently he also wasn't fond of playing second (or third) fiddle to Gundy and football...but that's just how OSU is now, more of a football school. I can't say for certain if Illinois even has a football team, so that should suit him well. I jest, is Wes Lunt still a thing?
So, what can you guys know for sure about your new coach?
- Great PR guy.
- Great at rallying the fan base.
- Good coach on the court.
- Unproven recruiter at best, poor recruiter at worst.
- No sense of loyalty, despite preaching it.
- Kind of a jerk, definitely has an inflated sense of entitlement.
All that said, I hope the juice is worth the squeeze and he works out well for you guys. Will he finally display some loyalty? Hope for it, or don't. Either way, you'll probably get burned. I had some other targets in mind when he got hired a year ago, and hoping now that one of those can come to fruition (we're actually in a much better financial situation now than then). Our fanbase was shocked initially, but the excitement of a coaching search is always fun and makes you quickly forget about what could-have-been.
Lastly, I didn't know the Illini shared our "pistols firing" hand gesture, that's really neat! A bow and arrow seems more appropriate for you guys, but hey...the more you know!
Oh, and that Ollie's Bargain Outlet isn't even a picture from Stillwater. Far too classy.