I don't have to tell you, last night was a disaster. A humiliation. For a school with a proud basketball tradition--of which you are a big part--this was a major major embarrassment.
I watched the game on the Pac-12 network, where your mentor, Mike Montgomery, did the color analysis. Monty is a huge fan of yours, as you know. He urged Cal to hire you as their head coach when he retired. If there is anybody who wants to see you succeed more than I do, it is Mike Montgomery.
And yet half way through the second half last night he delivered a devastating one-liner that's still ricocheting through my brain: "I cannot diagram the Montana offense."
You should take note of that statement, not only because it comes from Mike Montgomery, but because it echoes many of the complaints on this board about our offense: Where's the up-tempo offense Travis promised? Why do we keep enduring these long scoring droughts? Why in the three-point era do we shoot fewer three's than almost any other team in the country? Where is our low-post offense? Where is the movement off the ball? Why is it that in a game against Oregon our leading scorer doesn't get his first field goal until the second half?
Yes, I resemble those comments!
So let me give you some advice from my business-school training: Delegate! Delegate! Delegate!
When you first took over this program, you did just that. In a remarkable display of wisdom and maturity for a rookie head coach, you went out and hired a guy who had been a head coach at three different schools, a guy who by accomplishment was probably at least as deserving as you to be the head coach at Montana: Ken Bone.
Bone came to this program with a reputation as one of the most efficient offensive coaches in the country. (Duly noted, too, that he coached Klay Thompson at Washington State.) He left after two years and is now an assistant coach at Pepperdine.
So my advice to you: Go out and find another Ken Bone. A guy who can essentially be the offensive coordinator. A guy who can infuse this program with what it so acutely now lacks: An offensive identity.
And if you don't want to listen to some crankbutt from a fan board, then take it from a guy who called it out on the Pac-12 Network last night, a guy you respect, your mentor, Mike Montgomery.
I watched the game on the Pac-12 network, where your mentor, Mike Montgomery, did the color analysis. Monty is a huge fan of yours, as you know. He urged Cal to hire you as their head coach when he retired. If there is anybody who wants to see you succeed more than I do, it is Mike Montgomery.
And yet half way through the second half last night he delivered a devastating one-liner that's still ricocheting through my brain: "I cannot diagram the Montana offense."
You should take note of that statement, not only because it comes from Mike Montgomery, but because it echoes many of the complaints on this board about our offense: Where's the up-tempo offense Travis promised? Why do we keep enduring these long scoring droughts? Why in the three-point era do we shoot fewer three's than almost any other team in the country? Where is our low-post offense? Where is the movement off the ball? Why is it that in a game against Oregon our leading scorer doesn't get his first field goal until the second half?
Yes, I resemble those comments!
So let me give you some advice from my business-school training: Delegate! Delegate! Delegate!
When you first took over this program, you did just that. In a remarkable display of wisdom and maturity for a rookie head coach, you went out and hired a guy who had been a head coach at three different schools, a guy who by accomplishment was probably at least as deserving as you to be the head coach at Montana: Ken Bone.
Bone came to this program with a reputation as one of the most efficient offensive coaches in the country. (Duly noted, too, that he coached Klay Thompson at Washington State.) He left after two years and is now an assistant coach at Pepperdine.
So my advice to you: Go out and find another Ken Bone. A guy who can essentially be the offensive coordinator. A guy who can infuse this program with what it so acutely now lacks: An offensive identity.
And if you don't want to listen to some crankbutt from a fan board, then take it from a guy who called it out on the Pac-12 Network last night, a guy you respect, your mentor, Mike Montgomery.