And once again no mention of the fact that he replaced a coach who had three of the eight winning seasons in the last 40 years!  The obvious question to ask.  Do they even teach basic journalism any more Sarah?

Just for the record, I believe RE had 4 winning seasons in the six years he coached here with one .500 season and only one losing season, his first. So far we have 1 .500 season and 4 losing ones under JF. Just to keep it straight. And for the record, I still attend some games and will continue to support the team as long as I feel there is still a chance that the university cares enough about the program. And for the record, I am on the bubble on that one!

Dukes2012 wrote:

I don't see any reason to come down on Sarah like that. The article was fine. I also don't think that ron's level of success changes the fact that the cupboard was bare when ferry got here. My issue is that any decent coach would stop using that excuse after two years. The beauty of basketball is it only takes a few players to get you moving in the right direction. Here we are at year five with only one .500 season to ferry's resume. That's simply unacceptable. If ferry would have assembled this recruiting class his second or third year, I think we would all feel much better about his prospects as a coach. However, it seems like we are three or four years behind schedule.

I'd feel better if at some point in the past 5 years, Ferry had shown some ability to coach. This is why the collapse last year probably sealed his fate. They were 15-7 with 9 games left on the schedule. They went 1-8. If they had just gone a modest 4-5 in those 9 games, and won one game in Brooklyn, then went 1-1 in the CBI, they would have finished 21-14. Not spectacular, but good enough to make you think he might actually be good enough to get the job done. After a 21 win season, I might have been willing to accept this season as a "rebuilding year", provided it wasn't an absolute disaster. However, he wasn't able to finish the job last year, thus he has no cushion to help him survive what is happening this season. He can whistle past the graveyard all he wants, the curtain needs to close on the Ferry Error after the A10 Tournament.
 

duq81 wrote:

Dukes2012 wrote:

I don't see any reason to come down on Sarah like that. The article was fine. I also don't think that ron's level of success changes the fact that the cupboard was bare when ferry got here. My issue is that any decent coach would stop using that excuse after two years. The beauty of basketball is it only takes a few players to get you moving in the right direction. Here we are at year five with only one .500 season to ferry's resume. That's simply unacceptable. If ferry would have assembled this recruiting class his second or third year, I think we would all feel much better about his prospects as a coach. However, it seems like we are three or four years behind schedule.

I'd feel better if at some point in the past 5 years, Ferry had shown some ability to coach. This is why the collapse last year probably sealed his fate. They were 15-7 with 9 games left on the schedule. They went 1-8. If they had just gone a modest 4-5 in those 9 games, and won one game in Brooklyn, then went 1-1 in the CBI, they would have finished 21-14. Not spectacular, but good enough to make you think he might actually be good enough to get the job done. After a 21 win season, I might have been willing to accept this season as a "rebuilding year", provided it wasn't an absolute disaster. However, he wasn't able to finish the job last year, thus he has no cushion to help him survive what is happening this season. He can whistle past the graveyard all he wants, the curtain needs to close on the Ferry Error after the A10 Tournament.
 

I agree. I should have added the apparent lack of in-game coaching in my mini rant, but my larger point was that we could have accepted this idea of rebuilding if there was something to have rebuilt from. There's no such thing as a rebuilding year after a .500 season. He hasn't earned any patience from the university and fanbase. At this point, I think he's banking on Lewis and Mike, as well as another good recruiting class, to save his job

Last time I'm beating these horses.

The Ferry "culture" is characterized by:
Lineups too small to compete in the A10.
Failed offensive strategy.
Inability to play defense.
Lack of attention to basics (FT shooting, etc.)
Massive turnover on the roster, leaving us perpetually "young."
Inability to capitalize on a weak non-conference schedule.
Lack of willingness to take the blame for losses.
Lack of restraint in throwing players under the bus.
Inability to win consistently in the A10.
Complete loss of whatever fan base we had. I see the crowds on televised and streamed games. The Playboys and Sheiks used to draw bigger crowds for IM games.

That's it for me on this topic. Unless I have something different or new to say, I may be somewhat silent for a while.

 

ElDuque wrote:

Last time I'm beating these horses.

The Ferry "culture" is characterized by:
Lineups too small to compete in the A10.
Failed offensive strategy.
Inability to play defense.
Lack of attention to basics (FT shooting, etc.)
Massive turnover on the roster, leaving us perpetually "young."
Inability to capitalize on a weak non-conference schedule.
Lack of willingness to take the blame for losses.
Lack of restraint in throwing players under the bus.
Inability to win consistently in the A10.
Complete loss of whatever fan base we had. I see the crowds on televised and streamed games. The Playboys and Sheiks used to draw bigger crowds for IM games.

That's it for me on this topic. Unless I have something different or new to say, I may be somewhat silent for a while.
 

ElDuque, that is quite the comprehensive summation of Ferry's performance.  I want to add one more - the consistent inability to beat teams in the upper half of the A-10 conference. Here's Ferry's record:

KenPom
Rank     2017  2016  2015  2014  2013  Total
-------  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----  -----
0-50     0-4 | 1-1 | 1-4 | 1-5 | 0-4 | 3-18
51-100   0-2 | 1-7 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 1-5 | 4-22
101-150  0-2 | 0-2 | 0-4 | 2-3 | 0-4 | 2-15
151-200  0-1 | 1-2 | 1-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2-4
201-250  1-0 | 2-0 | 2-0 | 1-0 | 0-0 | 6-0
251+     1-0 | 1-1 | 2-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 4-3

TOTALS   2-9 | 6-13| 7-13| 5-12| 1-15|21-62
In 5 years, Ferry has 9 wins (55 losses) in conference vs. teams with rankings of 1 to 150. Nearly half of his conference wins have come against teams with 200+ rankings.

Last edited by PhoenixRising2 (2/08/2017 12:36 pm)

Something new to think about. Maybe these articles are Duquesne's way of "thought leadership."

E.g., Ferry's not going anywhere. Get used to it.

Clearly, Harper can't just go out with "Not so fast there, Jimmy boy," but there's no evidence yet that consideration of change is even in the conversation.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I'm a Ron Everhart guy. Anyone here following my posts since Ron was fired already knows that I'm sure. As a result, I have tried to be restrained in my criticism of Jim Ferry. He didn't fire Ron, and how could you blame the guy for signing a 6 year contract at $660k a year or something close to that. But this bs about a 10 year rebuilding plan is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard - in fact it's unheard of. The restraints on criticism of Ferry are now off. He's still blaming Ron for the failure of the program, but that's not really the point. It's not enough that the program is pretty near Nee status, now he insults every followers' (notice I didn't use the word "fans')  intelligence by suddenly suggesting he has a 10 year plan as though that was the idea all along. Come on Jim. We all know that the 10 year plan is the result of the dismal and embarrassing failure of the original 5 year plan. For him to expect that would be acceptable to anyone with a brain in any area of endeavor is alone sufficient cause for termination. The restraints are off. He has to go.

duq81 wrote:

I'd be calling for Ferry's head even if Ron had been a failure who was justified in being let go.

Hear hear,
This five year plan is a failure, and the program is almost back to the Danny Nee era in everything. Regardless of how you felt about Ron this is the truth. And like many of you are tired of hearing me say, I wanted Ferry to succeed because this is my last ride on the "This is the guy to return Duquesne to blah blah blah........" I'm done when Harper announces Ferry's firing
 

I just got done watching George Mason beat Davidson on the road. A train wreck, turned around in two years. The right coach can do it. Find him Harper.

Yes I am done with the whole "Its extremely hard to have a winning program, it's going to take 20 years." No, their are so many school who were like us and then found success. We just have to be bold in what we do. And kicking Jim Ferry out isn't bold...its the right damn thing to do. 

Dukes2012 wrote:

duq81 wrote:

I just got done watching George Mason beat Davidson on the road. A train wreck, turned around in two years. The right coach can do it. Find him Harper.

On a related note (since gmu got their current coach from bucknell), I have watched a few bucknell games recently and really liked what I saw. Hopefully Nathan Davis gets a long look.

I'm always nervous looking at a coach who recently took over a winning program. Jim Crews sure looked good three years ago.