Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="LStudfellow, post: 3539947, member: 5436"] As many of you may recall, the following topic was hotly debated on here, particularly during last off-season (around this time when the staff was recruiting A.J. Cole, Joel Ntwambe and others): [B]Should Hurley run off guys who were not going to be major contributors to the team moving forward?[/B] Interestingly, at least for those actively involved in the debate, the support for each side was fairly evenly split. Some agreed with Hurley and his being loyal to players who stuck by him and the program when he first got here, even if it was questionable if they could help improve us in 2019-2020 after a 3rd losing season in a row in 2018-2019. Others felt that he needed to cut bait with several players (in fact, Isaiah Whaley was considered one of the expendables by this group at the time) to get players into our program who could help improve our chances right away for this last season. Their point (a strong one, I might add) after 3 long years stuck in darkness, our team needed to improve NOW... and too bad if it hurt a few young men's feelings. They were not good enough and should not have been here in the first place. I for one supported (and will always support) Hurley's position of being loyal to the young men who stuck by him when he first took the job as our head coach. Yes, it may have hurt our record last year (it probably did). But without question his and the coaching staff's standing by that group as they stood by him is a significant reason we are in the position we are in today - 2 top recruiting classes in a row, and more importantly attracting the kind of recruits who have talent AND the right attitude to have us back on the brink of the Top 25 and NCAA Tournament status once again. It's great to be heading back toward contention again... and honestly it is even better because of the way Dan Hurley has gone about doing it. No shortcuts, no screwing people over. And don't think for a second that the right kind of young men are not committing to play here because of it. They are. And they will continue to do so in the future. I am happy that I am neither an LSU fan, nor an Arizona fan (or a few other colleges out there, I might add). Thank you Coach Hurley... and thank you to this ultra-professional staff you have put together as well. Oh, one other thing: [B]WE'RE BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK...[/B] ... and man it's going to be fun to watch Dan Hurley mix and match these guys with all the talent and versatility he now has at his finger tips! [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach