Without needing tons of detail - why do folks dislike the current HC so much? I know he gets no respect here on the BY, but for the life of me I'm stumped how folks come to the conclusion he's awful. I'm not claiming he's great, but still . . . As an aside, I have to add that I met him when he was at Washington and they were playing at Arizona and he was quite nice in person.
I can't speak for all the OSU fans, but myself and other fans I've spoken too just feel like he's underperformed with all the talent he had on the roster. He was brought in to go further in the NCAA's than Foster had been yet, he's had equivalent success rate and I'd think McGuff's talent level was higher his previous two season (Mitchell/Harper/Mavunga/Doss/Hart, and they had good chemistry). Maybe similar talent to the Jantel Lavender/Brittany Johnson/Sammy Prahalis/Tayler Hill season but they (that team not those three specifically) had a lot of chemistry issues that caused issues. The gentleman who sits next to me at the games, says (reguarly) "He doesn't know what he's doing out there." and many fans were annoyed with the style of play he was implementing last season, rush and chuck up a 3pointer. And the Mitchel&Co.l seasons (which, i know...) he never looked like he had any sort of game plan during the game. He looked stumped and unable to make in game adjustments. The only reason OSU won the regular season title last year was because Maryland, for some reason, fell apart in their last four games and OSU had the tiebreaker win.
I will say though, I went to the game last night, and I could see improvement within the team from the beginning of the season. The talent level is not where the teams have been in seasons past, but I think these players have learned to play with each other and are enjoying growing with each other, most of them. McGuff has stepped away from the "offensive" schemes he ran last year (and at the beginning of this season) and is working to play more to the these players strengths, i.e. Grande's playmaking and scrappiness, Santoro's quickness and toughness to the basket, Crooms' confidence in slashing to the basket, instead of asking them to only look for the three point opportunity. In the beginning, they didn't look like they knew how to penetrate and would just pass around the arc and hope a three opportunity would open up. Dorka Juhasz would also post up strong and work to make space for herself but they guards wouldn't even look to her, which was an issue they had last season when the guards wouldn't even look to Mavunga as an option. But that has changed more so recently. We still take more than I think the players should (until they practice more) but whatever. They also play tougher Defense than OSU teams past, which is nice, still could use a more defensive minded assistant coach to take them to the next level though. It's a shame Caretti hasn't blossomed more. She is athletically gifted, long, and a creative passer but she just doesn't seem to be in it mentally and he doesn't trust her enough. But she's a junior and he recruited her and this would be the season to get her game-time experience since we aren't expected to win the league or anything and to get her confidence up.
I think this season has turned out better than I, and many, expected and maybe he'll win back the fans more so, but last night at the game when they introduce the teams the fans were loud and excited for all the players announced but when McGuff's name was announced the cheers dropped significantly. I've also heard from a coach in the area whose player he was recruiting, that when he'd come around, which wasn't often, he just seemed a bit socially awkward. I just don't know if he does enough within the community to gain that support? But maybe I'm wrong and I'm (a young professional with no kids) not his target for community activation. Haha.
