Porter on "The Family Business"

[skyvue]

We had 3 players in May of 2021. No committed assistants. Lack of NIL support. No plans for improved facilities. Most logical people say we are in better shape now and are more talented than Harkless, Hill, and Gibson.

There were many more than three players on campus in April when Moser was hired. He just didn't convince many of them to stay. He did convince Cortes and Noland to stay and while it's easy in retrospect to dismiss them, Noland was as highly ranked a prospect--top 100 overall and top 20 at his position--as players Moser has signed who are cited as good recruits by Moser's defenders.

One could argue we're in better shape now than then, but having to hit on a new crop of one-year guys every offseason is not a solid recipe for success.

 

[MJSooner]

There were many more than three players on campus in April when Moser was hired. He just didn't convince many of them to stay. He did convince Cortes and Noland to stay and while it's easy in retrospect to dismiss them, Noland was as highly ranked a prospect--top 100 overall and top 20 at his position--as players Moser has signed who are cited as good recruits by Moser's defenders.

One could argue we're in better shape now than then, but having to hit on a new crop of one-year guys every offseason is not a solid recipe for success.

Porter Moser was announced as the HC on April 7, 2021. Transfer outs:
- Trey Phipps announced March 25
- Anyang Garang announced March 30
- Victor Iwuakor announced April 5
- Devion Harmon announced April 15
- Alondes Williams announced April 15
- Brady Manek announced April 16
- Kur Kuath announced April 20
-Josh O’Garro announced April 24
- KT Turner and Emmanuel Dildy announced as ACs April 16.

Three players already formally entered the portal prior to his hire, and three more within 9 days. For some I guess that’s a terrible coaching job that Moser didn’t convince them to stay with no coaching staff and no relationship.

Even so, all of this is missing the forest for the trees and the broader point of my first post- there have been other coaches, including here, that began where fanbases were not happy with the end result and started vocalizing for change. But the admin saw something in the coach that made them confident they had the right guy and it turns out to be the right decision.

Maybe that doesn’t apply here, maybe Moser isn’t the guy. But maybe he is and the patience pays off. Based on OPs post and interview(s), I’m pulling for him.

That was the point.

 

[skyvue]

Porter Moser was announced as the HC on April 7, 2021. Transfer outs:
- Trey Phipps announced March 25
- Anyang Garang announced March 30
- Victor Iwuakor announced April 5
- Devion Harmon announced April 15
- Alondes Williams announced April 15
- Brady Manek announced April 16
- Kur Kuath announced April 20
-Josh O’Garro announced April 24
- KT Turner and Emmanuel Dildy announced as ACs April 16.

Three players already formally entered the portal prior to his hire, and three more within 9 days. For some I guess that’s a terrible coaching job that Moser didn’t convince them to stay with no coaching staff and no relationship.

Even so, all of this is missing the forest for the trees and the broader point of my first post- there have been other coaches, including here, that began where fanbases were not happy with the end result and started vocalizing for change. But the admin saw something in the coach that made them confident they had the right guy and it turns out to be the right decision.

Maybe that doesn’t apply here, maybe Moser isn’t the guy. But maybe he is and the patience pays off. Based on OPs post and interview(s), I’m pulling for him.

That was the point.

I agree with your larger point. But it keeps getting repeated on this board that the cupboard was empty when Moser arrived. It wasn't. Only Phipps, Garang and Iwuakor had announced they were leaving--not exactly our star players. The other players started leaving after Moser was hired. And Williams didn't sign with Wake Forest for more than a month after announcing he was entering the portal, so Moster had four or five weeks to convince him to stick around.

I've acknowledged more than once that it can be tough for a new hire to retain talent, and yet some coaches manage it. Is Moser to blame that all those players left? Hard to say. All we know is that he couldn't convince them to stay. And the players he did retain all transferred out sooner or later. As did his first recruits--Mason, Oweh, Uzan. And it's three years down the road and we've yet to make the tourney.

I dearly hope we make the tourney this season and that it signals an upturn in our fortunes. That would be great. I'm just tired of hearing the excuses for the first three seasons. Each year, I've done a reset, taken a wait-and-see attitude and tried to forget the previous season (and those that preceded it). I'm still in wait-and-see mode this year. So far so good, but given we've only faced teams in the 300s, we don't know much yet. We'll learn a bit more on Wednesday and we'll learn much more starting in January.