KAEO: Tyler Bergantino

[UMass87]

^ mostly it is, though. As for answering a direct question with a direct and honest answer, I didn't see this particular answer as particularly problematic. I just wish TBerg had developed in the three and half years he's been at UMass.

[78]

^ You're pissed off to no end (your words) because the coach answered the question honestly. To me, it sounds like you just want to complain about something that DK did.

Either you are related to the head coach or you are his agent. Has to be one or the other.

In general, I continue to be amazed that people are happy with a head coach in his 8th year who sports a 57-57 conference record and whose best finish in the conference has been tied for 5th. Vive la mediocrity.

[Kelz626]

Exactly, most of the problems that plague this team fall directly on DK, all self-inflicted wounds. We have no proven depth in the front court what does DK do? Gets a grad transfer who was benched midway through the season and rolls with him H &H (2 unproven freshmen) and TBerg (at best an 8 minute a night player) as well as Coleman ( who is a stretch "4" if you wish to call him that) he doesn't get a Juco guy and roles into the season with a combo of unproven and bad players at the position...that's on DK. The 2 Florida blunders are a microcosm of what has plagued DK's team thru the years...that's on him. Not getting an assistant coach who's good with X's and O's...that's on him. Not making any changes when clearly doing what you're doing isn't working....that's on him

[uz2b-len]

Is there any one among us who is happy with DK as our coach?

[NilesGold]

^ You're pissed off to no end (your words) because the coach answered the question honestly. To me, it sounds like you just want to complain about something that DK did.

Either you are related to the head coach or you are his agent. Has to be one or the other.

In general, I continue to be amazed that people are happy with a head coach in his 8th year who sports a 57-57 conference record and whose best finish in the conference has been tied for 5th. Vive la mediocrity.

Who the fuck said I or anyone else on here is happy with UMass' performance over the last 8 years? I AM NOT HAPPY WITH UMASS' PERFORMANCE OVER THE LAST 8 YEARS. UMass needs to do better and there needs to be major improvement by 2017-18 at the very latest or I'll lead the charge myself for him to be fired. Is that clear? Are you happy now?

That being said, not every single decision or action DK makes is terrible or stupid.

[rayers]

Niles, I don't know you at all except from this board. I would guess you are a nice young guy. I have often questioned that you present your presumptions about players and the program as some statement of fact based on some inside knowledge. To me, that is how your posts read. I have read enough now to tell you with great confidence that you are full of presumption and you don't know squat about basketball. I know I am going to be taken to task for this by some, but man, you make this board really hard to visit. I suspect you have no idea that you present yourself as the judge and defense attorney at the same time, but you friggin do. Read more, post less, and grow the fuck up. At least get a clue as to how to post an opinion as an opinion. I am done. Unfortunately, I suspect you are not.

[NilesGold]

^ Thanks for sharing your opinion but I'll probably decline your advice. I've admittedly posted a lot the last week or so, some probably more forceful than normal, for some reason I feel compelled to defend the coaching staff because although I don't think they've been good, I don't think they've been nearly as bad as most seem to think.

[78]

^^^^^^

I enjoy people who will go to the ends of the earth to defend mediocrity. Well done.

[NilesGold]

^ You don't seem to get it, or you're just trying to goad me on.

[Old Cage]

More than one person here needs to call timeout and come back in 2016!

[Jackson96]

I posted 4-5 times today which is the most I've posted in awhile and I don't visit nearly as much as I used to. Having a daughter has probably forced me to cut back but also the CNBC vs. FOX aspects of this place have also played a part in it.

Also some of you folks are goddamn depressing to read (and this has nothing to do with me "accepting mediocrity") and some medication might do you some good (Hint: if you think I'm talking about you, I probably am).

I have my own thoughts on the state of the program but there are a lot of grey areas in those thoughts and there doesn't seem to be much of a place for that here. Which is fine, people can do whatever they want and feel however they want to feel. Just means it's not much of a place I want to spend a lot of time at.

Anywho, enjoy your holidays everyone!

[78]

More than one person here needs to call timeout and come back in 2016!

I think 2017 might be a better year to return.

[Mark W]

^ Thanks for sharing your opinion but I'll probably decline your advice. I've admittedly posted a lot the last week or so, some probably more forceful than normal, for some reason I feel compelled to defend the coaching staff because although I don't think they've been good, I don't think they've been nearly as bad as most seem to think.

I am 100% in agreement. I often wonder what we all would think of DK and the coaching had we not had the "outlier" years of coach Cal. I think at times people tend to forget that we are UMass. We are not P5. We are not G5. We are UMass. Years of indecision and failing to act have put us where we are today. It appears the current administration is attempting to rectify some of that, but it appears a day late and many dollars short.
I too am disappointed in the progress of the basketball program (football, hockey, lacrosse, women's softball too). It is far too easy to just take the "fire the coach" approach. Sure, you can do that as often as you like, but to what end? Where do we really believe UMass belongs in the entire landscape of college athletics. Are we up there with UConn? Sure, we could be had Cal decided to follow Calhoun's lead and stay at UMass, but he didn't. Are we up with BC? Not with the athletic budget we have, we're not.
Look, I'd like to see change too. I think Bamford needs to sit DK down and have a talk. He needs to stress not only DK's strengths but his weaknesses as well. That is what good bosses do. He needs to form a coaching staff that has all the bases covered and what it lacks now is an X and O guy. That can be addressed. Does anyone here know how good Calhoun was at X's and O's? Probably not because he had George Blaney. We need our George Blaney. The positive thing about Bamford being new is that he has no nostalgic ties to any of our coaches. He can assess them purely on results and act accordingly. Who knows, maybe DK's ego would prevent him from going along with a plan like that. Then the AD would have to do what he has to do.
I believe DK can be good for this university and can be a very successful coach. He might have to shuffle the deck on his coaching staff, but so be it. He recruits well, he recruits the kind of kids we want wearing our school name across their chests, and he is good for the community. He's human and has weaknesses. They can be addressed.

[kdogg8173]

^im not sure how on one hand you say fans are expecting too much out of the coach and the on another talking about the AD having input on how the program is set up. If the AD is dictating that much, then something is wrong and the coach is not head coach material. Its not expecting too much for a coach is his 8th year to be able to figure out a coaching staff and to be able to figure out a system.

His recruiting "well" storyline is really starting to take off too. Yes, next years class is great but up until this point our recruiting is been very average IMO.

[Not Trigger]

There is a huge gap between the Cal years and accepting a program that is nothing better than the middle of the A10 pack. Suggesting that somehow the Cal years skewed our vision of what Mass basketball should aspire to is nothing but a red herring to deflect from the realistic disappointment many of us feel about the last eight years. Eight years is a large enough sample size to convince me that the only way for UMass basketball to be where it belongs as one of the elite teams in the A10 is thru regime change.