If Travis Ford gets fired

[Sooner23]

Marcus Smart gets out of LOI and ends up at OU? The Basketball Gods still owe us for Damion James and Scotty Reynolds, IMO.

/dream

 

[BoulderSooner]

they can't afford to fire him ... 16 mil

 

[Perk's Scowl]

Marcus Smart gets out of LOI and ends up at OU? The Basketball Gods still owe us for Damion James and Scotty Reynolds, IMO.

Man this would be awesome. The only problem I see is that we already signed Hornbeak and Hield. They all play the same position. Obviously, you take Smart no matter what, but we would have a lot of 2 guards.

 

[bgrch1350]

Its sad to say but most likely true...Budke's death most likely saved Fords job this year.

 

[DenverSooner]

they can't afford to fire him ... 16 mil

I seriously doubt that is the buyout just because that is the salary if he keeps his job.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Pickens might try to pay another school to hire him.

 

[tycat947]

osu is a football school now! They are not going to fire Alfalfa unless he commits a criminal act. They can't afford and they don't care!

 

[AdaSooner]

I think Ford's job is safe this season. It's never good, though, when a program is headed in the wrong direction under a new coach.

Ford's best year so far was his first, argurably with Sean Sutton's players. OSU was 23-12 (9-7and tied for 4th in conference) that season, advancing to the second round of the NCAA tourney. His teams have been on the decline since that time, finishing in a tie for 6th in conference in his second year; and in 9th place the third year.

OSU's post-season play followed that same trend, with a first round loss in the NCAA the year after making it to the second round, and a NIT birth last year. This year's team will have to make a dramatic turnaround to even sniff the NIT.

My guess is that with Smart coming in and a whole slew of young players coming back next season (providing Travis doesn't chase most of them off), he'll get a pass, at least for now.

 

[oSuJeff97]

He won't be fired after this year, even if we end up with a losing record, which looks very likely.

But if next year looks like this year, I think there's a 100% chance he gets the axe.

We'll have to eat half of his contract at that point... but I think that would be better than languishing at the bottom of the Big 12 for another 5 years.

 

[AdaSooner]

Sounds reasonable to me, Jeff. What do you see as the problem with this team? It's certainly not a deficiency in talent. Youth, to be sure. But there has to be more

 

[oSuJeff97]

Sounds reasonable to me, Jeff. What do you see as the problem with this team? It's certainly not a deficiency in talent. Youth, to be sure. But there has to be more

Youth is part of it, but to me the major issue is that nobody can shoot outside of Page.

Certain players have shown that they can knock down shots in spurts (Gurerro, Brown, Olukemi), but nobody can consistently make shots. So we have big stretches in games where the offense just grinds to a hault.

 

[5hrenergy]

Youth is part of it, but to me the major issue is that nobody can shoot outside of Page.

Certain players have shown that they can knock down shots in spurts (Gurerro, Brown, Olukemi), but nobody can consistently make shots. So we have big stretches in games where the offense just grinds to a hault.

Actually your biggest problems are that you don't guard anybody and don't consistently move the ball on offense for a good shot. OSU is so poorly coached it's hard to even make fun of it. Alabama had a good night last night but OSU had a lot to do with that. They hit WIDE OPEN shots. Very often on offense OSU will never reverse the ball or even attempt to get it inside before jacking up a shot. The team is not good.

 

[cowboysooner]

First, Travis doesn't have an established and competent point guard in charge of and running this team. Like Gottlieb, I sort of think Page could do it, but Travis doesn't think so, apparently. I think dowell given enough minutes consistently could do it, but apparently, nobody including travis agrees with me.

Second, they are terrible in transition because they everybody with a jersey on is allowed to dribble the length of the court and run the break. Consequently, they are a joke in transition. They don't run their breaks correctly and/or with the correct numbers and/or with the right people on the wings.

Their half court is deficient mainly because of point number one above and also because it doesn't seem that anyone has parameters on what they can or can't do offensively.

Finally, they just never get in a rhythem or flow because Travis' substitution pattern is -- well, -- not a pattern. He never has the same guys on the court for more than a few seconds. I don't know how they ever are going to have any continuity. This being said, there have been some great coaches that subbed like this, pitino and Roy williams to name a couple. I just don't see how that works and never have.

I think OSU is talented, but disorganized. By year's end, they could be a different team and a dangerous team. But, I agree they look horrible right now.

 

[5hrenergy]

First, Travis doesn't have an established and competent point guard in charge of and running this team. Like Gottlieb, I sort of think Page could do it, but Travis doesn't think so, apparently. I think dowell given enough minutes consistently could do it, but apparently, nobody including travis agrees with me.

Second, they are terrible in transition because they everybody with a jersey on is allowed to dribble the length of the court and run the break. Consequently, they are a joke in transition. They don't run their breaks correctly and/or with the correct numbers and/or with the right people on the wings.

Their half court is deficient mainly because of point number one above and also because it doesn't seem that anyone has parameters on what they can or can't do offensively.

Finally, they just never get in a rhythem or flow because Travis' substitution pattern is -- well, -- not a pattern. He never has the same guys on the court for more than a few seconds. I don't know how they ever are going to have any continuity. This being said, there have been some great coaches that subbed like this, pitino and Roy williams to name a couple. I just don't see how that works and never have.

I think OSU is talented, but disorganized. By year's end, they could be a different team and a dangerous team. But, I agree they look horrible right now.

It works when you have loaded rosters like Roy Williams and Pitino usually have.

 

[Sam]

Man this would be awesome. The only problem I see is that we already signed Hornbeak and Hield. They all play the same position. Obviously, you take Smart no matter what, but we would have a lot of 2 guards.

Smart can play the 1-3.

 

[oSuJeff97]

Ford's best year so far was his first, argurably with Sean Sutton's players

Of course, he did get "Sutton's players" when they were all mostly juniors and seniors. It helped that guys like Eaton, Harris, Muenelo and Anderson were already multi-year starters in the Big 12 when Ford got here.

Remember what those guys, Anderson aside, were like when they were freshmen and sophomores? Pretty brutal. Not unlike some of the stuff we're seeing with this OSU team.

Actually your biggest problems are that you don't guard anybody and don't consistently move the ball on offense for a good shot. OSU is so poorly coached it's hard to even make fun of it. Alabama had a good night last night but OSU had a lot to do with that. They hit WIDE OPEN shots. Very often on offense OSU will never reverse the ball or even attempt to get it inside before jacking up a shot. The team is not good.

There's no question the offense is bad.

I would disagree with the notion that OSU "doesn't guard anyone". We're 47th in the country right now in adjusted defensive efficiency, which is in the top third in the NCAA. Not lock-down defense, but hardly bad.

For comparison's sake, OU is currently 96th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Do you guys "guard anyone"?

But yeah - the offense isn't great. Everything tends to look better when you hit open shots... and this team just flat can't shoot.

 

[AdaSooner]

Of course, he did get "Sutton's players" when they were all mostly juniors and seniors. It helped that guys like Eaton, Harris, Muenelo and Anderson were already multi-year starters in the Big 12 when Ford got here.

Remember what those guys, Anderson aside, were like when they were freshmen and sophomores? Pretty brutal. Not unlike some of the stuff we're seeing with this OSU team.

I agree. My point, though, was that Travis failed to build on that momentum, recruit to needs and continue to improve from there. His teams have gotten worse every season, not better.

If you'll recall, that observation comes from someone who has been complimentary of Ford the past three years when others were not. I still believe he is a good coach. But he seems to have lost control over this group of kids...if indeed he ever had it. On paper, I actually thought OSU would be pretty good this season, despite their youth. And, that's still a possibility. It will be interesting to see if Travis can pull a rabbit out of his hat.

 

[boksooner]

I do find it interesting that his system seemed to work better with Sutton's players than it has with his own. Is he not doing a good enough job of evaluating players to fit his system or is he not adapting his system to fit his players?

 

[seniorsooner]

 

[oSuJeff97]

I agree. My point, though, was that Travis failed to build on that momentum, recruit to needs and continue to improve from there. His teams have gotten worse every season, not better.

If you'll recall, that observation comes from someone who has been complimentary of Ford the past three years when others were not. I still believe he is a good coach. But he seems to have lost control over this group of kids...if indeed he ever had it. On paper, I actually thought OSU would be pretty good this season, despite their youth. And, that's still a possibility. It will be interesting to see if Travis can pull a rabbit out of his hat.

Agreed.

The problem is that his first recruiting class (2009) has been a total disaster. This class are juniors now and should be the backbone of the team.

He signed 6 guys (not counting the elusive Karon Johnson), and there's only one left - Reger Dowell.

Guys who are gone from that class: Jarred Shaw, Roger Franklin, Torin Walker, Ray Penn and now Fred Gulley.

If even two or three of those guys would have stuck around, I think they would be solid contributors and this team would be much better.

The optimist in me will say that the 2010 recruiting class looks much better at this point. He signed 5 guys that year, and outside of Darrell Williams, they all look like solid players who will be contributors - provided they stick around.

That class was Olukemi, Mike Cobbins, Brian Williams, D. Williams, and Markel Brown.

Had Darrell Williams not engaged in his shenanigans, I would say that class would be looking excellent right now.